Sunday, January 10, 2010

平成22年が来たぞ!

The 22nd year of Heisei is here!

And after a busy Xmas and New Year full of toddlers, snow, Avatar*, snow, okonomiyaki, one woefully inept circus, one singularly amazing circus, snow, Space Marines** and buggers knows how many thousand suburi with a beyootiful new shinai, here I sit, taking stock of the year that passed and pondering the year ahead.

So, first things first, how did I do with last year's resolutions?

1. Get back to kendo - Hell, yeah! 2 kyu up from the day that resolution was made and totally stoked for the next grading in a fornight! And then it goes downhill from there.

2. Go to Japan - Practically everyone I know has been there. After many months of study, here I sit, confident in the knowledge that I speak Japanese better than almost every non-Japanese person I know. And yet I haven't gone, coz I simply can't bear to leave my cats behind. I've been away for a little over 2 weeks and Haruka's gotten really, really clingy since then. She's sleeping in my lap as I type this.

3. Finish my 1st book - I won't sugar-coat this one. I suck, big time. Too much procrastination, too much self-doubt. Have I learnt nothing from kendo? This is ridiculous, and will be remedied.

4. Get back my Physics kung-fu - This one was a bit half-arsed, but I can honestly say that I'm more intellectually vigilant than before! Not that hard when you're an atheist. I probably should have set more concrete goals...

5. Learn a programming language - Didn't even make a start on this one and, given the current relevance of programming to my present activities, this one has been struck out.

6. Get my weight below 83kg - I'm 86kg now. All I need is a good dose of, say, cholera, and the last 3kg are history. Ahem.

7. Get good enough in Japanese so I don't need subtitles - I'm calling this one half accomplished. I can watch basic no-brain anime like Bleach and Naruto sans subtitles, but Bakemonogatari continues to mystify me. My efforts continue.

Well, apart from the kendo, that was lame. What the hell, something's better than nothing, so here's 2010's resolutions:

1. Finish 1st book!

2. Get back Physics kung fu. At least enough that I can fiddle about with 1st year Quantum Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Calculus with reasonable confidence. Bonus stage: Find out what the hell it was I was missing all those times I slept during Waves lectures...

3. Really, go to Japan. And while I'm at it, pick up a load of cheap little goodies to customize my swords and armour. Hell, maybe pick up a new breastplate.

4. Reclaim ALL my 3-club juggling tricks. Also, construct a nice, big firestaff. About 6 feet should do it.

5. Finish the reading list! Seriously, there's an obscene number of books in here demanding my attention and RM110 in book vouchers to boot...

6. Paint up 1000pts of Blood Angels. Expand to 1500pts. Because old habits die hard. On the upside, I don't need to waste any money on codices, coz the lovely Japanese Games Workshop site has the pdfs (in Japanese, of course) for free. We'll put it down as part of my Japanese studies, eh? ;-) Plus, it's something fun for my nephews to look forward to when they get old enough to learn to WH40k... sometime in 2016. かの者ら、恐怖を知らざる者ゆえに。。。

Alrighty, then. Gotta read, gotta paint, gotta train, gotta write, gotta go, right now...

*Watched it 3 times, twice in 3d. Don't ask.

** Via a series of fortunate events, coupled with my own woeful inability to shake the Games Workshop addiction.