Let's Welcome 2014!
And it's back! My annual New Years meme to reflect the past year and welcome the new one!
1. Did you enjoy this year?
Yes I did. It's been a good, fun year for me. My winter term was pretty chill if I remember correctly and in March I went off to Ottawa to visit one of my Japan Friends which was great. Things didn't exactly go my way in summer with a job and all but I volunteered, practiced my Cantonese a lot, and was able to relax. Went off to Europe, started my second year of university and now we're here in December. My second year has been pretty good so far too (although I'm probably only saying this because my marks haven't come out yet!!) and although this break hasn't been a relaxing as I had hoped it's great seeing my family. I'm getting this sense that this will be one of the last years I'll see my family all together like this again... we're growing up and drifting off and it's kind of sad. So I'm glad we got the chance this year.
2. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Many things!
- Volunteered at a nursing home where the only language I could speak was Cantonese.
- Went traveling by myself (even if it was only taking a bus to another city).
- Internship - tutoring kids with learning disabilities.
- Psych Research (designing and executing my own experiment - even if it was only a 'mini' one)
- Go to a bar and actually order drinks for myself
3. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Well according to my post from last year I ended up by saying I wanted to chill, get a summer job, and figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my university career. Well. I managed to do two of the three - chilling and figuring out the rest of my uni life.
Resolutions for next year? Study for the GRE, learn Korean, get into the habit of working out (which means actually work out for longer than two weeks - I just need to break that wall and make it a habit...)
4. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, another of my cousins gave birth to a baby girl early in June (I think?). Her name is Ava, she's adorable and I can already tell she's going to be so beautiful when she's older. Indian-Chinese mix, how can she not be sexy? Haha
5. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, a family friend. I actually didn't even know about it until recently and I believe he passed away quite a while back (within the past two months but still..). Although I wasn't surprised when my mom told me, I could've guessed the fact. He had taken quite a fall and injured his neck, becoming quadriplegic and he wasn't the type of guy who would've enjoyed his life continuing like that with nothing to do so he chose to end it. One could say it's sad but the alternative would've been much worse.
6. What countries did you visit?
UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria
7. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
Someone to borrow a game console from in Montreal so I can play games without having to buy new consoles. Oh and the obligatory mention of Arashi concert tickets. Haha.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Honestly I don't think I had any big achievements this year. Although if I get anything higher than a B in my abnormal psychology course this semester I'd count that as a big, HUGE, achievement of astronomical proportions. Sadly the marks have yet to come out so I don't know what my grade is so I can't put that down yet. Darn it.
9. What was your biggest failure?
What indeed? I'd say it was my inability to get a proper job this summer. Volunteering was great and all and I think it definitely helped my resume a lot but I'm 19 and I have no idea what it's like to get a job, or go through a job interview, or do any of that sort of stuff and that's kind of... well it's sad. It's ridiculous. It reminds me of just how spoiled I actually am (I appreciate it but still...), and it's something I'll have to experience eventually so I wish it had happened this summer rather than later in life when getting a job is much more important.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No but I have started suffering from the periodic migraine that actually has caused me to throw up. Also stiffness and joint aches seem to be happening quite a bit more which is why I need to start working out. Lack of exercise is not doing well for my body and I need to try a lot harder to stay fit.
11. Did you have to go to the hospital?
For myself no, to visit someone else - yes.
12. What was the best thing you bought?
Hands down, Okami for $10. Awesome deal and the game is amazing. Glad I bought it, happy I get to play it, sad that I probably won't finish it before i have to fly home.
13. Where did most of your money go?
The same as every year - games, books, Arashi. I'm a very simple person.
14. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Pretty much any time I was able to come out I was super excited. Aside from that? Honestly I can't remember. I feel like I got excited about many things this year. Haha. Starting my internship... the semester ending... home, home, home. Always coming home.
15. Compared to this time last year, are you (i) happier or sadder? (ii) Thinner or fatter? (iii) Richer or poorer?
(i) Probably the same. I'm home, I'm relaxed, and there's nothing really big tipping the scale either way for me right now
(ii) Probably thinner because I haven't done much exercise and I don't really get fat, so lose muscle, no gain of fat... = thinner?
(iii) Poorer. How can I be richer if I don't make any money to begin with?
15. What do you wish you'd done more of?
As always - read. I read a lot this year but I wish I'd spent more time reading new books.
16. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I wish I focused less on school. Not for the reason you're thinking. The thing is, when I focus on school it doesn't mean that I study a lot or anything - it just means that my mind is always on school so I don't like to do other things like read, or play games so.. when I procrastinate I literally just waste time scrolling through tumblr or reorganizing music files or just basically not doing anything productive. I don't even watch anime or movies. So much time wasted that could be spent doing something else.
So really I just wish I focused less on school so I could spend the time I do procrastinating actually doing something productive that is not just internet, internet, internet.
17. How did you spend Christmas?
In a nice and relaxing way. My mom made her traditional brunch (bacon, eggs, bread toasted in bacon fat which sounds disgusting but is so good) and invited a friend over to chill and we watched Crazy, Stupid, Love. All in all, very quiet and nice. Also went to a family dinner and had turkey and all that but the best part was the morning.
18. Did you fall in love in 2013?
I'm going to cheat here - romantically no because we've gone over this but can I just say that I love Riza Hawkeye and her relationship with Roy Mustang like no bodies business? Like. I've always shipped Royai in that "oh ya they're cool" kind of way but something just hit me one day and I cannot get off this ship and they're just devouring my mind and soul and just having them in the same picture makes me squeal a bit inside.
19. What was the best book you read?
A lot of the books I read this year happened to be stuff that I was re-reading, and if we chose among those I'd say The Queen's Thief series by Meghan Whalen Turner. It's an amazing series filled with plot-twists, amusing and interesting characters everywhere, and just so, so, so good. They're short too and quite easy to get through.
If we picked among the new things I've read... I'm going to say that it would be Shingeki no Kyojin which I know is a manga but honestly there were no new books I read this year that really caught my interest much. SnK on the other hand blew me away first with the anime, and then the manga - although I will admit my love for it is fading a bit because we have yet to get an answer to anything and it's hard to keep enjoying something when you're just constantly confused. What exactly are you supposed to love?
And again, I feel like I need to mention fanfic because I stand by the firm belief that some fanfic really are just as good as, or better, than many novels out there - and this time we're heading in to some Royai territory because this craze has yet to die and I've been devouring fic about them for 3 months and I've hit upon some golden ones. The one I'd like to mention is Here Dead We Lie by Mebh because it is one of the few fics where I actually had a physical reaction while reading it. It doesn't help that it's a tragedy through and through, and the entire time I was literally just rolling around sobbing at every chapter hoping for some happiness in the end. I actually teared up at the end, and if I was the type I probably would've cried - instead I was just doing these odd heaving sobs in between fits of hysterical laughter at my own ridiculous reaction. I don't think I could ever re-read the fic but it deserves an award for just... being written.
20. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I've rediscovered how awesome GReeeeN are
21. What did you want and get?
Okami. And Animal Crossing. Oh and my new laptop - Acer S7 although not entirely because I wanted the perfect Taiwanese version with 8hrs of battery but instead I get some crappy Canadian only version that for some reason only came with 4hrs battery? WTF CANADA.
22. What did you want and not get?
...A chance to play Assassin's Creed?
23. What was your favorite film of this year?
Oooh. This is difficult. How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me 1 and 2 and... Ratatouille. Haha. All animated movies not from this year but they were pretty awesome. I can't choose.
I feel like The Hobbit should get an honorary mention for making me laugh the hardest though - even though it wasn't supposed to be a funny film I cried laughing in this movie it was so ridiculous.
24. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went out with some friends to a place called Pub Randolph which is a place where you can play a ton of board games and that's what we did. We played Cards Against Humanities, some trivia game, Jenga and I feel like a third thing but I could be wrong. Anyway, it was pretty chill, nice and fun.
25. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Having a game console in Montreal to play with - and I'm not talking about my 3DS. And if I had a paying job in the summer but the console is more important. Haha.
26. What kept you sane?
What did keep me sane? Anime. Books. Games. Lots of games - downloading the emulators on my laptop really kept me sane I think.
27. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Right now? Honestly, I'd say Jennifer Lawrence. Haha. She amuses me so much. I don't really get in to actors or actresses much but she is a real character.
28. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
Go out there and do stuff. Nothing is going to happen if I just sit on my ass all day right?
29. What was your favourite moment of the year?
When I got to come home for summer? This makes me sound really homesick, but it's not really that. I just like this whole feeling of "coming home".. and then after a couple of days I'm all ready to leave again. Haha.
30. What was your least favourite moment of the year?
My abnormal psychology final exam, and studying for it... and pretty much anything related to it. Oh - actually - the week after I came back from Europe. That was a horrible week. It was a good 9hr flight or so and when I got off I was feeling kind of nauseous due to hunger so I got back to my place, ate something... and then threw up and then felt too tired to do anything but sleep. Then after that, for the whole week due to this I pretty much felt nauseous the whole week because I was so starved but I couldn't actually get anything down my throat and it was horrible cause it meant I had no energy to physically do anything and ya... thank god I still had a whole week before classes started.
31. Do you have a new years resolution for 2014?
I think I mentioned it above but study for the GRE, learn Korean (big one), and start working out. Oh, and for the working out I feel I should clarify, I don't mean going to the gym and running on treadmills nor do I mean lifting weights. I'm just going to do strength exercises cause like I said, cardio isn't too big a deal for me but it'll just be the simple stuff, push-ups, planks, wall-sitting all that. Want to work out my arms and abs mostly.
32. Did you make any new friends in 2013?
I met some nice people but I wouldn't exactly say they are friends. Then again it's kind of hard for me to make friends... like - I can talk to people when I meet them but it takes a while for me to let them cross the bridge into the "friend" area. But it's fine, I don't need more friends - I have quite a few very close ones and that's all that's important :D
33. What was your favourite month of 2013?
Ooh... May or August. May was just a really nice relaxing month for me but August I went traveling through Eastern Europe.
34. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Something I feel ashamed enough about to remember throughout the year? Nothing. Clearly because I can't remember anything at the moment but I feel like there were a handful of moments where I felt incredibly ashamed of something I did. If only I could remember them right now.
35. What was the worst lie someone told you in 2013?
Oh. My cousin about my Harry Potter books. I forgot that was 2013 but apparently it was.
36. What was the worst truth someone told you in 2013?
Hm. What would it be? Probably when my TA had to adjust the marks for my first abnormal psych midterms and somehow I went from 83% to 68%. What the hell happened there?
37. Did you treat somebody badly in 2013?
I may have when I was feeling particularly grumpy and I'm not one to apologize when I lash out at people.
38. Did somebody treat you badly in 2013?
Well, I'd stick my uncle and cousin here for the hell they put me through for my Harry Potter book but overall... I don't believe so. You know, it's really hard to remember all the stuff that has happened throughout the year.
39. How much money did you spend in 2013?
Too much? Haha. Too much, for sure.
39. What was your proudest moment of 2013?
What was it indeed? I don't think I've done anything to be particularly proud about this year. Oh, well, not really a specific moment but I'm pretty proud at myself for being able to work at a Chinese nursing home.. my Cantonese isn't the greatest but I still managed to muddle through and talk to the patients and apparently I made some of them pretty happy so... that's pretty awesome.
40. If you could go back in time to any moment of 2013 and change something, what would it be?
Nothing. Even though I keep mumbling about not having a job I wouldn't change the fact that I did volunteering. I think it was a good experience. Although I guess I could have a job and volunteer at the same time but I would have volunteered a lot less and I don't think it would've been the same.
41. What are your plans for 2014?
Finish Winter Semester, hopefully find some sort of research position for the summer just so I can say I've had the experience, or find some other sort of summer job. Possibly going to Toronto, and New York in the summer. I actually have a lot more planned for 2015 actually. Haha. Already thinking away ahead.
So to sum it all up I just want to say that 2013 was a pretty relaxed year. There were no specific moments of awesome or amazement but I did a lot of new things that I'm happy about, and learned a lot from them (still learning!). I feel like 2014 is going to be very much the same in that respect but I can't wait until 2015. If things go my way I'll be back in Japan and hopefully perfecting my Japanese to an almost natural level of fluency.
Past Years:
2011
2012
2013
and a little something new for this time around because I've actually started keeping track of the books I've read, games I've played, and shows/movies I've watched. I'm just going to dump them here too in case anyone else is super interesting in my life.
Games Played
- Kingdom Hearts 3D
- Tales of the Abyss (incomplete)
- Fire Emblem: Awakening
- Assassin’s Creed
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Gone Home
- Luigi's Mansion (incomplete)
- Assassin's Creed 2 (incomplete)
- LoZ: Wind Waker (incomplete)
- Katamari Damacy
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Okami [incomplete]
Shows Watched
- Pride and Prejudice (BBC)*
- Reply 1997 (KOR)
- Hellsing: Ultimate
- Sherlock (BBC)
- Shin Sekai Yori
- Saikou no Rikon
- Wolf’s Rain*
- Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
- Shingeki no Kyojin
- Chihayafuru
- Chihayafuru 2
Books Read
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Of Mice and Men
- Hound of the Baskervilles*
- Harry Potter*
- The Queen’s Thief*
- Shingeki no Kyojin (マンガ)
- The Heir Series (1-3)*
- Song of the Lioness Quartet*
- Immortals Quartet*
- Daughter of the Lioness*
- Protector of the Small Quartet*
- Tortall and Other Lands
- A Study in Scarlet
- Fushigi Yuugi (マンガ)
- Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden (マンガ)
- The Sign of the Four
- Sailor Moon (マンガ)
- The Fault in Our Stars
- The Enchanter Heir
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (on-going)
- The Hunger Games
- Catching Fire
- Poor Little Rich Slum
Movies Watched
- Iron Man 3
- The Great Gatsby
- Star Trek: Into Darkness
- Wreck-it Ralph
- Rise of the Guardians
- How to Train Your Dragon
- The Amazing Spider Man
- 21 Jump Street
- She’s the Man
- Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Despicable Me
- Despicable Me 2
- Platinum Data (日本)
- Insidious 2
- Tokyo Godfathers (日本)
- Wolf Kids: Ame to Yuki (日本)
- Stepmother
- Crazy, Stupid, Love
- The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
- Frozen
- Ratatouille
- Akira
- From Up on Poppy Hill (日本)*
anything with a (*) means it's a re-watch/re-read - although I didn't put any movies I re-watched in the movies section because that would be a lot since I tend to just... re-watch movies when I study and all that. So everything on these lists are things I seriously re-watched as in I paid attention to them and it's not something I re-watch like..every single year just for fun. (which is why FMA is nowhere on there, nor LOTR, or The Devil Wears Prada... or any sort of older disney movie like Mulan, and Hercules). Also no Chinese movies cause I don't remember their names (or don't know them).
Also I kind of started this list in summer so high chance I'm missing stuff from the first half of the year. But anyway. Enjoy!
1. Did you enjoy this year?
Yes I did. It's been a good, fun year for me. My winter term was pretty chill if I remember correctly and in March I went off to Ottawa to visit one of my Japan Friends which was great. Things didn't exactly go my way in summer with a job and all but I volunteered, practiced my Cantonese a lot, and was able to relax. Went off to Europe, started my second year of university and now we're here in December. My second year has been pretty good so far too (although I'm probably only saying this because my marks haven't come out yet!!) and although this break hasn't been a relaxing as I had hoped it's great seeing my family. I'm getting this sense that this will be one of the last years I'll see my family all together like this again... we're growing up and drifting off and it's kind of sad. So I'm glad we got the chance this year.
2. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Many things!
- Volunteered at a nursing home where the only language I could speak was Cantonese.
- Went traveling by myself (even if it was only taking a bus to another city).
- Internship - tutoring kids with learning disabilities.
- Psych Research (designing and executing my own experiment - even if it was only a 'mini' one)
- Go to a bar and actually order drinks for myself
3. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Well according to my post from last year I ended up by saying I wanted to chill, get a summer job, and figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my university career. Well. I managed to do two of the three - chilling and figuring out the rest of my uni life.
Resolutions for next year? Study for the GRE, learn Korean, get into the habit of working out (which means actually work out for longer than two weeks - I just need to break that wall and make it a habit...)
4. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, another of my cousins gave birth to a baby girl early in June (I think?). Her name is Ava, she's adorable and I can already tell she's going to be so beautiful when she's older. Indian-Chinese mix, how can she not be sexy? Haha
5. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, a family friend. I actually didn't even know about it until recently and I believe he passed away quite a while back (within the past two months but still..). Although I wasn't surprised when my mom told me, I could've guessed the fact. He had taken quite a fall and injured his neck, becoming quadriplegic and he wasn't the type of guy who would've enjoyed his life continuing like that with nothing to do so he chose to end it. One could say it's sad but the alternative would've been much worse.
6. What countries did you visit?
UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria
7. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
Someone to borrow a game console from in Montreal so I can play games without having to buy new consoles. Oh and the obligatory mention of Arashi concert tickets. Haha.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Honestly I don't think I had any big achievements this year. Although if I get anything higher than a B in my abnormal psychology course this semester I'd count that as a big, HUGE, achievement of astronomical proportions. Sadly the marks have yet to come out so I don't know what my grade is so I can't put that down yet. Darn it.
9. What was your biggest failure?
What indeed? I'd say it was my inability to get a proper job this summer. Volunteering was great and all and I think it definitely helped my resume a lot but I'm 19 and I have no idea what it's like to get a job, or go through a job interview, or do any of that sort of stuff and that's kind of... well it's sad. It's ridiculous. It reminds me of just how spoiled I actually am (I appreciate it but still...), and it's something I'll have to experience eventually so I wish it had happened this summer rather than later in life when getting a job is much more important.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No but I have started suffering from the periodic migraine that actually has caused me to throw up. Also stiffness and joint aches seem to be happening quite a bit more which is why I need to start working out. Lack of exercise is not doing well for my body and I need to try a lot harder to stay fit.
11. Did you have to go to the hospital?
For myself no, to visit someone else - yes.
12. What was the best thing you bought?
Hands down, Okami for $10. Awesome deal and the game is amazing. Glad I bought it, happy I get to play it, sad that I probably won't finish it before i have to fly home.
13. Where did most of your money go?
The same as every year - games, books, Arashi. I'm a very simple person.
14. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Pretty much any time I was able to come out I was super excited. Aside from that? Honestly I can't remember. I feel like I got excited about many things this year. Haha. Starting my internship... the semester ending... home, home, home. Always coming home.
15. Compared to this time last year, are you (i) happier or sadder? (ii) Thinner or fatter? (iii) Richer or poorer?
(i) Probably the same. I'm home, I'm relaxed, and there's nothing really big tipping the scale either way for me right now
(ii) Probably thinner because I haven't done much exercise and I don't really get fat, so lose muscle, no gain of fat... = thinner?
(iii) Poorer. How can I be richer if I don't make any money to begin with?
15. What do you wish you'd done more of?
As always - read. I read a lot this year but I wish I'd spent more time reading new books.
16. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I wish I focused less on school. Not for the reason you're thinking. The thing is, when I focus on school it doesn't mean that I study a lot or anything - it just means that my mind is always on school so I don't like to do other things like read, or play games so.. when I procrastinate I literally just waste time scrolling through tumblr or reorganizing music files or just basically not doing anything productive. I don't even watch anime or movies. So much time wasted that could be spent doing something else.
So really I just wish I focused less on school so I could spend the time I do procrastinating actually doing something productive that is not just internet, internet, internet.
17. How did you spend Christmas?
In a nice and relaxing way. My mom made her traditional brunch (bacon, eggs, bread toasted in bacon fat which sounds disgusting but is so good) and invited a friend over to chill and we watched Crazy, Stupid, Love. All in all, very quiet and nice. Also went to a family dinner and had turkey and all that but the best part was the morning.
18. Did you fall in love in 2013?
I'm going to cheat here - romantically no because we've gone over this but can I just say that I love Riza Hawkeye and her relationship with Roy Mustang like no bodies business? Like. I've always shipped Royai in that "oh ya they're cool" kind of way but something just hit me one day and I cannot get off this ship and they're just devouring my mind and soul and just having them in the same picture makes me squeal a bit inside.
19. What was the best book you read?
A lot of the books I read this year happened to be stuff that I was re-reading, and if we chose among those I'd say The Queen's Thief series by Meghan Whalen Turner. It's an amazing series filled with plot-twists, amusing and interesting characters everywhere, and just so, so, so good. They're short too and quite easy to get through.
If we picked among the new things I've read... I'm going to say that it would be Shingeki no Kyojin which I know is a manga but honestly there were no new books I read this year that really caught my interest much. SnK on the other hand blew me away first with the anime, and then the manga - although I will admit my love for it is fading a bit because we have yet to get an answer to anything and it's hard to keep enjoying something when you're just constantly confused. What exactly are you supposed to love?
And again, I feel like I need to mention fanfic because I stand by the firm belief that some fanfic really are just as good as, or better, than many novels out there - and this time we're heading in to some Royai territory because this craze has yet to die and I've been devouring fic about them for 3 months and I've hit upon some golden ones. The one I'd like to mention is Here Dead We Lie by Mebh because it is one of the few fics where I actually had a physical reaction while reading it. It doesn't help that it's a tragedy through and through, and the entire time I was literally just rolling around sobbing at every chapter hoping for some happiness in the end. I actually teared up at the end, and if I was the type I probably would've cried - instead I was just doing these odd heaving sobs in between fits of hysterical laughter at my own ridiculous reaction. I don't think I could ever re-read the fic but it deserves an award for just... being written.
20. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I've rediscovered how awesome GReeeeN are
21. What did you want and get?
Okami. And Animal Crossing. Oh and my new laptop - Acer S7 although not entirely because I wanted the perfect Taiwanese version with 8hrs of battery but instead I get some crappy Canadian only version that for some reason only came with 4hrs battery? WTF CANADA.
22. What did you want and not get?
...A chance to play Assassin's Creed?
23. What was your favorite film of this year?
Oooh. This is difficult. How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me 1 and 2 and... Ratatouille. Haha. All animated movies not from this year but they were pretty awesome. I can't choose.
I feel like The Hobbit should get an honorary mention for making me laugh the hardest though - even though it wasn't supposed to be a funny film I cried laughing in this movie it was so ridiculous.
24. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went out with some friends to a place called Pub Randolph which is a place where you can play a ton of board games and that's what we did. We played Cards Against Humanities, some trivia game, Jenga and I feel like a third thing but I could be wrong. Anyway, it was pretty chill, nice and fun.
25. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Having a game console in Montreal to play with - and I'm not talking about my 3DS. And if I had a paying job in the summer but the console is more important. Haha.
26. What kept you sane?
What did keep me sane? Anime. Books. Games. Lots of games - downloading the emulators on my laptop really kept me sane I think.
27. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Right now? Honestly, I'd say Jennifer Lawrence. Haha. She amuses me so much. I don't really get in to actors or actresses much but she is a real character.
28. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
Go out there and do stuff. Nothing is going to happen if I just sit on my ass all day right?
29. What was your favourite moment of the year?
When I got to come home for summer? This makes me sound really homesick, but it's not really that. I just like this whole feeling of "coming home".. and then after a couple of days I'm all ready to leave again. Haha.
30. What was your least favourite moment of the year?
My abnormal psychology final exam, and studying for it... and pretty much anything related to it. Oh - actually - the week after I came back from Europe. That was a horrible week. It was a good 9hr flight or so and when I got off I was feeling kind of nauseous due to hunger so I got back to my place, ate something... and then threw up and then felt too tired to do anything but sleep. Then after that, for the whole week due to this I pretty much felt nauseous the whole week because I was so starved but I couldn't actually get anything down my throat and it was horrible cause it meant I had no energy to physically do anything and ya... thank god I still had a whole week before classes started.
31. Do you have a new years resolution for 2014?
I think I mentioned it above but study for the GRE, learn Korean (big one), and start working out. Oh, and for the working out I feel I should clarify, I don't mean going to the gym and running on treadmills nor do I mean lifting weights. I'm just going to do strength exercises cause like I said, cardio isn't too big a deal for me but it'll just be the simple stuff, push-ups, planks, wall-sitting all that. Want to work out my arms and abs mostly.
32. Did you make any new friends in 2013?
I met some nice people but I wouldn't exactly say they are friends. Then again it's kind of hard for me to make friends... like - I can talk to people when I meet them but it takes a while for me to let them cross the bridge into the "friend" area. But it's fine, I don't need more friends - I have quite a few very close ones and that's all that's important :D
33. What was your favourite month of 2013?
Ooh... May or August. May was just a really nice relaxing month for me but August I went traveling through Eastern Europe.
34. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Something I feel ashamed enough about to remember throughout the year? Nothing. Clearly because I can't remember anything at the moment but I feel like there were a handful of moments where I felt incredibly ashamed of something I did. If only I could remember them right now.
35. What was the worst lie someone told you in 2013?
Oh. My cousin about my Harry Potter books. I forgot that was 2013 but apparently it was.
36. What was the worst truth someone told you in 2013?
Hm. What would it be? Probably when my TA had to adjust the marks for my first abnormal psych midterms and somehow I went from 83% to 68%. What the hell happened there?
37. Did you treat somebody badly in 2013?
I may have when I was feeling particularly grumpy and I'm not one to apologize when I lash out at people.
38. Did somebody treat you badly in 2013?
Well, I'd stick my uncle and cousin here for the hell they put me through for my Harry Potter book but overall... I don't believe so. You know, it's really hard to remember all the stuff that has happened throughout the year.
39. How much money did you spend in 2013?
Too much? Haha. Too much, for sure.
39. What was your proudest moment of 2013?
What was it indeed? I don't think I've done anything to be particularly proud about this year. Oh, well, not really a specific moment but I'm pretty proud at myself for being able to work at a Chinese nursing home.. my Cantonese isn't the greatest but I still managed to muddle through and talk to the patients and apparently I made some of them pretty happy so... that's pretty awesome.
40. If you could go back in time to any moment of 2013 and change something, what would it be?
Nothing. Even though I keep mumbling about not having a job I wouldn't change the fact that I did volunteering. I think it was a good experience. Although I guess I could have a job and volunteer at the same time but I would have volunteered a lot less and I don't think it would've been the same.
41. What are your plans for 2014?
Finish Winter Semester, hopefully find some sort of research position for the summer just so I can say I've had the experience, or find some other sort of summer job. Possibly going to Toronto, and New York in the summer. I actually have a lot more planned for 2015 actually. Haha. Already thinking away ahead.
So to sum it all up I just want to say that 2013 was a pretty relaxed year. There were no specific moments of awesome or amazement but I did a lot of new things that I'm happy about, and learned a lot from them (still learning!). I feel like 2014 is going to be very much the same in that respect but I can't wait until 2015. If things go my way I'll be back in Japan and hopefully perfecting my Japanese to an almost natural level of fluency.
Past Years:
2011
2012
2013
and a little something new for this time around because I've actually started keeping track of the books I've read, games I've played, and shows/movies I've watched. I'm just going to dump them here too in case anyone else is super interesting in my life.
Games Played
- Kingdom Hearts 3D
- Tales of the Abyss (incomplete)
- Fire Emblem: Awakening
- Assassin’s Creed
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Gone Home
- Luigi's Mansion (incomplete)
- Assassin's Creed 2 (incomplete)
- LoZ: Wind Waker (incomplete)
- Katamari Damacy
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Okami [incomplete]
Shows Watched
- Pride and Prejudice (BBC)*
- Reply 1997 (KOR)
- Hellsing: Ultimate
- Sherlock (BBC)
- Shin Sekai Yori
- Saikou no Rikon
- Wolf’s Rain*
- Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
- Shingeki no Kyojin
- Chihayafuru
- Chihayafuru 2
Books Read
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Of Mice and Men
- Hound of the Baskervilles*
- Harry Potter*
- The Queen’s Thief*
- Shingeki no Kyojin (マンガ)
- The Heir Series (1-3)*
- Song of the Lioness Quartet*
- Immortals Quartet*
- Daughter of the Lioness*
- Protector of the Small Quartet*
- Tortall and Other Lands
- A Study in Scarlet
- Fushigi Yuugi (マンガ)
- Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden (マンガ)
- The Sign of the Four
- Sailor Moon (マンガ)
- The Fault in Our Stars
- The Enchanter Heir
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (on-going)
- The Hunger Games
- Catching Fire
- Poor Little Rich Slum
Movies Watched
- Iron Man 3
- The Great Gatsby
- Star Trek: Into Darkness
- Wreck-it Ralph
- Rise of the Guardians
- How to Train Your Dragon
- The Amazing Spider Man
- 21 Jump Street
- She’s the Man
- Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Despicable Me
- Despicable Me 2
- Platinum Data (日本)
- Insidious 2
- Tokyo Godfathers (日本)
- Wolf Kids: Ame to Yuki (日本)
- Stepmother
- Crazy, Stupid, Love
- The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
- Frozen
- Ratatouille
- Akira
- From Up on Poppy Hill (日本)*
anything with a (*) means it's a re-watch/re-read - although I didn't put any movies I re-watched in the movies section because that would be a lot since I tend to just... re-watch movies when I study and all that. So everything on these lists are things I seriously re-watched as in I paid attention to them and it's not something I re-watch like..every single year just for fun. (which is why FMA is nowhere on there, nor LOTR, or The Devil Wears Prada... or any sort of older disney movie like Mulan, and Hercules). Also no Chinese movies cause I don't remember their names (or don't know them).
Also I kind of started this list in summer so high chance I'm missing stuff from the first half of the year. But anyway. Enjoy!