In which I review my 2008!
Not that I've ever done this before, but... it's Loki's 2008 Year in Review! Woooooo~ Excitement.
My journal isn't as exciting as Sheena's, so I'll try to make this as interesting as I can!
World
Nothing much I could say, here, would be news to anybody; this affected almost all of us.
In the span of 2008, gas prices hit the highest I remember since Hurricane Katrina, then dipped to about the levels I vaguely remember from high school. When I filled up my tank for $35, I never thought it'd only be a few months before I was doing the same thing for $17. With the economic crisis hitting almost everyone, I have a feeling more monetary wackiness will be whirling about through 2009.
2008 is the final year of the Bush administration, and gave us the first ever minority to be elected as President of the United States. I honestly never thought I'd live to see this kind of thing happen. Also, I'm leaving my personal feelings on the current and future presidents out of this journal, because Politics and Religion are usually bad things to talk about; everyone believes they're "right", even though it's quite clear that only I am! =D
Friends
This one is kind of complicated, because for the great majority of this year, and probably a few years before this, I have secluded myself and only really socialized, offline, with a single person (Mike). I went to see Legally Blonde: the Musical with Karen, since I had to go wtih a girl to feel less strange about wanting to see it. I don't think she liked it much, but I paid for her ticket, anyway, so I don't really feel too guilty about dragging her along. Later, I learned that Jen and Meghan both had interest in seeing it; I could have taken them and not some unwilling participant! Live and learn, I guess.
In November, I had this strange thought that I shouldn't be resigning myself to a fate of near-solitude, and I could actually change things for the better. This lead to a sort of early New Year's Resolution to be more social, and will culminate with something later today that... well, I'm not sure how that will turn out. I'll update about it, if it doesn't go horribly wrong!
But my timing for wanting to be social couldn't have been better. A new guy appeared at work who is also Asian and a gamer! He's a more hardcore gamer than I; he's actually gone around to tournaments all over the country and stuff. One of the ACTUAL pros! He said he could help me get better, which is an excuse for me to get out more. Last week, a whole group of us met up at Jason's (another work-friend) and played Rock Band, Street Fighter, and Scattegories (Something you shout that begins with the letter D: DOUCHE). New Year's Eve was even better, and I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time. It was strange, since these people ARE still always in my thoughts... it's like time froze and I came right back into the same people I left.
And finally, with my move to be social, comes something that's a mix of friends AND family; my uncle invited me to play in a D&D 3.5 campaign. Mind you, I haven't really played D&D since 2nd edition... I feel like a noob all over again.
Family
Whereas before, most of my family-based crises were because of my mother's near-fatal illness, this time it was my grandmother's THREE near-fatal illnesses happening simultaneously. A brain tumour, a lung tumour and two clogged carotid arteries made everyone in the family silently mourn that we wouldn't have her around for this holiday season. Little did we know she'd recover from the surgeries with near-miraculous speeds (she was awake the very night of her brain surgery), and her final operation is scheduled for next week with a very good prediction that she will come through as flawlessly as she did with the last few.
My mother got a Wii for Christmas. She's already accidentally punched two of the dogs while bowling.
Online
Being as I spent the majority of this year parked in front of this computer, I figure this had to be a seperate category.
I've let Fortuna run mostly in the hands of the new staff. Every time I tried to do something with the server, it seems that some player or another does their best to make me want to shut down the whole thing. People can be extremely insensitive when there's just faceless text on a screen. The only few times I've really intervened in the direction of the game was when they proposed to create an official Ventrilo server (after the Ventrilo's pivotal role in nearly destroying Fortuna, I can NOT let that happen) and when they proposed rules for creating player-controlled villains (that never works well in ANY form of role-playing). Otherwise, I think the thing runs better without me, so I'll just manage the "grown-up" side of paying the bills and dealing with the technicals.
Lord of the Rings Online, however, has been going far better. My main character got some good peices of raid gear (still hasn't killed the Balrog or reached level cap), and I've developed a love for the new Rune-keeper class. It's not very Lord of the Ringsish, but I LOVE shooting things with lightning. ZAP ZAP ZAP MUAHAHAH!
My stint in SecondLife was a very short one. Was that this year or last? I dunno. Apparently, when I left SecondLife, the entire sim my house was on also vanished. I wonder what happened, there? I wonder what will happen if I log back in?
I've uploaded many sketches and concepts for my webcomic, but... will I ever get this thing off the ground? With me trying to be more social, will I even have the TIME for it?
Personal
I was hit by the economic crisis personally, a few months ago, when I took a cut to my hours... right after they gave me a raise. So basically, I'm working less for the same money... I have no problems with that. I always made enough money to keep me happy, which honestly doesn't take a lot.
Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, Fable 2, Mortal Kombat vs. DCU, Castlevania Judgment... I think I got too many games that I don't play much, this year. The musical games keep my attention the longest, it seems. Weird, weird, weird.
I doubt anybody has even read this far, so I'll wrap it up!
Resolutions
1) Be more social offline!
2) Set some fun goals for myself to achieve.
3) Get at least the first few comics posted!!!
4) CLASSIFIED - More on this later!
My journal isn't as exciting as Sheena's, so I'll try to make this as interesting as I can!
World
Nothing much I could say, here, would be news to anybody; this affected almost all of us.
In the span of 2008, gas prices hit the highest I remember since Hurricane Katrina, then dipped to about the levels I vaguely remember from high school. When I filled up my tank for $35, I never thought it'd only be a few months before I was doing the same thing for $17. With the economic crisis hitting almost everyone, I have a feeling more monetary wackiness will be whirling about through 2009.
2008 is the final year of the Bush administration, and gave us the first ever minority to be elected as President of the United States. I honestly never thought I'd live to see this kind of thing happen. Also, I'm leaving my personal feelings on the current and future presidents out of this journal, because Politics and Religion are usually bad things to talk about; everyone believes they're "right", even though it's quite clear that only I am! =D
Friends
This one is kind of complicated, because for the great majority of this year, and probably a few years before this, I have secluded myself and only really socialized, offline, with a single person (Mike). I went to see Legally Blonde: the Musical with Karen, since I had to go wtih a girl to feel less strange about wanting to see it. I don't think she liked it much, but I paid for her ticket, anyway, so I don't really feel too guilty about dragging her along. Later, I learned that Jen and Meghan both had interest in seeing it; I could have taken them and not some unwilling participant! Live and learn, I guess.
In November, I had this strange thought that I shouldn't be resigning myself to a fate of near-solitude, and I could actually change things for the better. This lead to a sort of early New Year's Resolution to be more social, and will culminate with something later today that... well, I'm not sure how that will turn out. I'll update about it, if it doesn't go horribly wrong!
But my timing for wanting to be social couldn't have been better. A new guy appeared at work who is also Asian and a gamer! He's a more hardcore gamer than I; he's actually gone around to tournaments all over the country and stuff. One of the ACTUAL pros! He said he could help me get better, which is an excuse for me to get out more. Last week, a whole group of us met up at Jason's (another work-friend) and played Rock Band, Street Fighter, and Scattegories (Something you shout that begins with the letter D: DOUCHE). New Year's Eve was even better, and I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time. It was strange, since these people ARE still always in my thoughts... it's like time froze and I came right back into the same people I left.
And finally, with my move to be social, comes something that's a mix of friends AND family; my uncle invited me to play in a D&D 3.5 campaign. Mind you, I haven't really played D&D since 2nd edition... I feel like a noob all over again.
Family
Whereas before, most of my family-based crises were because of my mother's near-fatal illness, this time it was my grandmother's THREE near-fatal illnesses happening simultaneously. A brain tumour, a lung tumour and two clogged carotid arteries made everyone in the family silently mourn that we wouldn't have her around for this holiday season. Little did we know she'd recover from the surgeries with near-miraculous speeds (she was awake the very night of her brain surgery), and her final operation is scheduled for next week with a very good prediction that she will come through as flawlessly as she did with the last few.
My mother got a Wii for Christmas. She's already accidentally punched two of the dogs while bowling.
Online
Being as I spent the majority of this year parked in front of this computer, I figure this had to be a seperate category.
I've let Fortuna run mostly in the hands of the new staff. Every time I tried to do something with the server, it seems that some player or another does their best to make me want to shut down the whole thing. People can be extremely insensitive when there's just faceless text on a screen. The only few times I've really intervened in the direction of the game was when they proposed to create an official Ventrilo server (after the Ventrilo's pivotal role in nearly destroying Fortuna, I can NOT let that happen) and when they proposed rules for creating player-controlled villains (that never works well in ANY form of role-playing). Otherwise, I think the thing runs better without me, so I'll just manage the "grown-up" side of paying the bills and dealing with the technicals.
Lord of the Rings Online, however, has been going far better. My main character got some good peices of raid gear (still hasn't killed the Balrog or reached level cap), and I've developed a love for the new Rune-keeper class. It's not very Lord of the Ringsish, but I LOVE shooting things with lightning. ZAP ZAP ZAP MUAHAHAH!
My stint in SecondLife was a very short one. Was that this year or last? I dunno. Apparently, when I left SecondLife, the entire sim my house was on also vanished. I wonder what happened, there? I wonder what will happen if I log back in?
I've uploaded many sketches and concepts for my webcomic, but... will I ever get this thing off the ground? With me trying to be more social, will I even have the TIME for it?
Personal
I was hit by the economic crisis personally, a few months ago, when I took a cut to my hours... right after they gave me a raise. So basically, I'm working less for the same money... I have no problems with that. I always made enough money to keep me happy, which honestly doesn't take a lot.
Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, Fable 2, Mortal Kombat vs. DCU, Castlevania Judgment... I think I got too many games that I don't play much, this year. The musical games keep my attention the longest, it seems. Weird, weird, weird.
I doubt anybody has even read this far, so I'll wrap it up!
Resolutions
1) Be more social offline!
2) Set some fun goals for myself to achieve.
3) Get at least the first few comics posted!!!
4) CLASSIFIED - More on this later!