It′s Hearth′s Warming Eve, Charlie Brown!

With another year closing, it’s been a pretty big time of reflection. More than Thanksgiving, it’s been a time of looking at everything I have in my life. My family, my home, and the culture I’m so fortunate to experience. For those of you not looking for a hokey emotional self-conversation, you can probably skip this week’s post. I’m sure next week I’ll complain about how MLP toys don’t match the show or something like that.

By day, I’m an elementary substitute teacher. Given the recent discussion surrounding school safety, and the overall lack of employment opportunities, it’s hard to be optimistic. I recall back to mid-April, a time when I wasn’t exactly feeling the best about myself with so many job applications sent and few responses.

On a trip to visit my sister in college, I decided to try something new. It’s difficult to avoid at least some exposure to these cartoon ponies on the internet. I’ve got several Steam friends with pony avatars, and memes pop up as you’d expect memes to, so one would figure that there HAS to be something to this cartoon that the internet has fallen in love with. I began watching Friendship is Magic on my iPhone Netflix. It was extremely feel-good, but it never felt saccharine or insulting. It was precisely what I needed, when I needed it.

I sometimes feel ashamed when I make a cynical comic. As a video game fan and a massive Sonic fan, I’m used to being exposed to the most dreadful bile the internet can spew, but something about MLP fans is different. Most fans I’ve been exposed to just seem happy to be there. A bit overenthusiastic at times, occasionally coming off as annoying or confusing to the untrained observer, but happy none the less. It’s a profound pleasure that I get to be a part of that, and I appreciate and savor every comment and e-mail I’ve gotten in the two short months we’ve existed.

Thank you. Thank you, readers. Thank you, Equestria Daily staff. Thank you, writers, animators, producers, and voice actors. Thank you, Jet, for bringing these ideas to life, Nuckles, for putting whatever misplaced confidence in me and my capacity to do this, and Shadi, for building the framework for a vision. Thank you to my friends who put up with my constant crap. Thank you for making this all worth while, and for making me want to continue this.

Peace out,
GX