In previous years I'd given up Newgrounds, except for last year, when the 20th Anniversary Collaboration was still under way. So what about now, you ask, since I've been made mod?

Uh, good question. I think, I'm going to have to strike a bit of a balance.

Starting Wednesday, I'll still be on NG, but only responding in my capacity as a mod.

That means throughout Lent there will be no personal posts, no personal forum replies, no submissions and no PM replies coming from me. I will tend to the Audio Cleanup Thread and call @BrokenDeck when a thread needs locking, but that's about it.

I'll still be on Skype, so if anyone wants to ask me any questions or message me privately, you may do so there.

OH MY WORD OH MY WORD I GOT SECOND OH MEEP OH MEEP THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I GOT SOMETHING ACTUALLY HIGHER THAN THIRD PLACE OH MEEP MEEP MEEEEEEP

*ahem*

This has put a smile on my face. Thanks, everyone. Really, I can't thank you all enough.

Une Nouvelle Chance was basically written as encouraging / fighting music related to my circumstances early in the year, and I submitted it the day after New Year's Day. I hope that in future, there may be a vocal version of it incorporating live instruments and sampling the chiptune that I originally composed -- as soon as I'd finished this song, I came up with some lyrics. In French, strangely. Unfortunately, the lyrics that I have only span like, the first part of the "chorus" section. I'll have to think up some more... and when I eventually do, I'm going to need @Merlyne's help to render it into singable English.

On a related side note, I did quite a bit of ruffling through the material for Pixel Day (mainly in the way of audio and art) and I really, really enjoyed what I saw and heard. It brought out the creator in a lot of us, especially newer users who weren't necessarily familiar with Newgrounds "culture" as it is -- those of us who hadn't been used to Clock Day and Madness Day, for example, could feel right at home here. It transcends age and language. At least most of us enjoy pixel-related stuff in some way, shape or form. And I enjoyed it. Long may Pixel Day continue.

So what's happening with this whole case you ask?

Well, I'm going ahead with that appeal. Everyone who asked me about the last post unanimously said that the ruling was wrong on so many levels. So... yeah. There's no hiding it from the people anymore that even the justice system is prone to mistakes.

This week has been balm to my soul; it's given me a great sense of relief.

Some of you may have noticed that I've started work on a cover of a hymn called Ho Everyone Who Thirsts. This is one of my favourite hymns of all time, if not outright number one on my list of favourite hymns. I'm working on it as I write this, and I look forward to sharing it with all of you.

So the results of the appeal came out.

Case got rejected.

BUT!

We took a look at the judgment on Monday and we saw just so many contradictions. The most hilarious of them being this:

Now, if you have a witness who is asked to swear an oath saying that his statement is true, and he is not cross-examined, that makes the statement accepted 100%, verbatim, and therefore will have to be considered as evidence. However, if the judge doesn't consider it / rejects it, that means he's saying it's a lie even though it's been established to be 100% truth.

That brings us to Schrodinger's Law Theorem: a witness statement is both true and false at the same time! (With apologies to Schrodinger's Cat. And also apologies to Seán, who came up with the term 'Schrodinger's Law Theorem'.)

Of course this doesn't make any bloody legal sense. And gives me grounds for appeal, again! Hurraaaaaahhhh... For full details of this case, feel free to PM or Skype me, because I'm not here to give out names or anything of the sort. Please continue to pray for Seán and me, because it looks like we've got a long ongoing battle on our hands.

I'm not letting this get me down, of course.

In other news, I have heard from @Frootza that he's being kicked out of his house. I have no means of helping him financially, but all I can do is pray for him and spread the word around, with the hopes that someone might be able to help a friend out. When I got the news, I got it with a tone of desperation. So... I wonder if we can help him find a home, or anything. I'm a quarter of the way round the world from where he is, so how it works is unknown to me -- but hopefully with your help, we can get a friend back up.

Those of you who can Skype him, please do. Those of you who are on NG already, please PM him. If you live in New Jersey or somewhere, even better, because he is from there and he could use your help.

I hate to be a harbinger of only bad news... well, I guess it's not all bad news, but these are still things which need lots of prayers and support.

...and time to await the decision. My friends, my legal counsel and I have done everything in our power, and now, it's out of our hands.

D-Day is on Thursday.

Please pray / send some good thoughts my way that it all goes okay. Thanks for your support, everyone.

Some of you are probably already celebrating New Year's Day; for me, I have less than an hour to go before the clock strikes midnight. While I'm at it, and listening to an audio project of mine for the sake of ambience, I'd like to write my thoughts down here.

I was expecting 2015 to be my least creative year because of all the dealings I'd had not only with the Home Office, but also the tribunal system, to ensure my safety. (Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, refer to this earlier post of mine.) This year saw two adjourned hearings and a whole lot of frustration and shot nerves. It was also dampened by Seán being diagnosed with essential tremors -- a progressive condition similar to Parkinson's, and a whole lot of other things besides that I probably won't go into here.

Yet, it has been the year where I've given the heaviest output, musically and otherwise. 2015 has seen my highest number of audio submissions and art submissions to date. I'd made some background music in anticipation for @CartoonCoffee's and @glitchs2d's game project called Eden Blue, as well as @Hoeloe's project called Song of the Firefly. I'd also gone down to Comic Con this year and hopefully, getting my music out there might draw in some listeners. My best track for this year, Uplift, was played by BBC Radio Lancashire, something I cannot help but celebrate to this day.

I managed to collab with @Squidly and @dlxrevolution on another game jam -- Ludum Dare 33 -- and we came up with the... uh... Japanese parody, if you want to call it, called Oni Yu Can Scare Them. The sound effects still get me laughing madly to this day.

Elsewhere, I've been writing for the Kingdom Hearts Wiki magazine project, and it has led to some reflective pieces from me. At least, it helps me brush up my writing.

I'd also started a collaboration thread for an intended game called Sheol, and I hope to add more details to it soon.

But most importantly, this year saw me and 119 others get involved in the NG 20th Anniversary Collab. I have been credited with the initial idea -- I still maintain that @Deshiel sowed the seeds, and I fleshed the idea out so that we could at least have something to go by. The project went into the capable leadership of @Whirlguy and @TharosTheDragon, and I am happy to see it finished.

Also, this may or may not have come as a surprise to you. It certainly came as a surprise to me when it was first told to me. I have been made audio moderator, as evidenced by the change of aura on my level icon. I'd been tasked with taking care of the Geometry Dash problem, among other things.

I guess I quite like it. I like helping where I can. That's all I know.

With the appeal date scheduled for 7 January 2016, I'm going to keep my head up, and keep positive and keep the prayers going.

Fourteen minutes have passed since the start of this post till now. I'd better end it here before I get carried away with typing. I can get that way sometimes. Farewell, 2015. You brought out the worst, and perhaps the best in me, yet. I am apprehensive about the new year, but I pray that God give me the strength to bear it.

Christmas gifts from Seán and his mother, meep! <3 Uh. To say nothing about the oodles of chocolate and sweets that I received.

(The Zildjian sticks are 7As, for those who are curious about their size.)

I am shattered. Two Christmas Masses, vocal and percussion duty. I cannot imagine what it'd be like for the altar servers and everyone else who participated in every single Mass for Christmas besides. Time to enjoy the rest of the day, meep.

Happy Christmas, everyone. Regardless of whether or not you celebrate it, I hope you have a peaceful day today. My thoughts and prayers go out especially to those who aren't having a good Christmas due to hunger, destitution, loss of family members, depression, loneliness, sickness, whatever. I'm bearing that burden along with you all this year (just as I did last year) -- and I am with you in spirit.

To those who wish to read my thoughts, carry on. To those who wish to stop here, feel free to close the page right now.

The tribunal has set a new date for this asylum appeal, i.e. 7 January 2016. There seems to be a greater degree of confidence in my case than ever before. Yet, because my neck's on the line, I cannot help but feel scared at times.

I'll be drumming at the vigil Mass today, as well as the daytime Mass tomorrow. <3 I hope that it may somehow be used to bring joy to those who are present, especially those who come to Mass only on so-called 'days of obligation' -- Easter, Christmas etc.

Talking about the Mass and about bringing people joy makes me think about something very dear to my heart.

Regardless of who you are or what you believe in, those of you who have proven respectful have had good dialogues with me without necessarily understanding, or agreeing -- but without shutting me off. You have treated me with great dignity -- which is much more than can be said for a good bit of people around me. When I shared my dreams with you, you encouraged them, despite them being otherwise shunned and rejected by the vast majority of people. And most of all, when I told you about my situation, you never rejected me. I just want to say, thank you. You know who you are, and you have made my struggles bearable. You have put a smile on my face, and helped me to lift my crosses with joy.

I'm back in Preston after a long fecking day in Manchester with my friends who had also come as witnesses. As the title suggests, the asylum appeal hearing has been adjourned, again.

I am glad to be home and while everyone believes in me and in this case, I cannot help but feel a little upset. I'd been dreading this day so much; I'd been so nervous and I'd fallen sick because of that very same nervousness.

It's no one's fault this time. The legal counsel who was meant to represent me today took ill. At any rate, here's hoping that the best happens. I'll keep on praying and watching. Beyond that, Seán, my friends and I, we've all done everything we can.

This time tomorrow, Seán and I will be in Manchester with a few other friends of ours. Thursday, the 17th, is the long-awaited appeal I've got going against the Home Office. I ask for your prayers and/or good thoughts; I would appreciate as many of you being with me in spirit on Thursday.

Those of you who wonder what this appeal is about, kindly read this earlier post of mine.

For this reason and this reason alone, try as I might to finish up my recordings, I cannot. Apologies to @Ceevro, @Step and @Bosa -- I'd wanted to fulfil these obligations and I'd begun recording in my usual home setup, only to be seized by panic and fear. Also apologies to @frootza, the person to whom I was meant to gift my Christmas song. I think it'd be a gift enough for me just to be safe and by Seán's side, always.

Those of you who have Supporter status can now view the first of my recordings from Soundskills -- the studio run by Lancashire County Council which is not far from my place. It is a rehash of a 2009 song of mine, Somewhere Out There, for which the original isn't on Newgrounds.

For this rehash, I did vocals, keyboard and drums. Two friends helped me on lead and rhythm guitar, and bass. The song was finished last week, but now I have a version which is ready to listen. I hope to meet these friends and ask them, this coming Tuesday, if they're alright with publishing this audio project. Until further notice, this isn't going to be published.

Two of my pieces are in the Harris Open -- you've heard me talk about this last year. My mind is just too shot to take photos or even appreciate that my art is there.

One of the pieces now in the Harris for this exhibition is Sweet Regina, a piece which was intended for @ReNaeNae's Bee Creative contest in September last year. Hopefully there'll be a time where my mind recovers from whatever it's going through, and hopefully I may be able to share pictures with you all. This time, I didn't enter as Annette "Troisnyx" Singh -- I entered simply as Troisnyx.