Tuesday, January 03, 2012

2011 summarized and thought about

Things I/We Did in 2011:
-Went to Japan, Bear Lake, Minecon, and California
-Raised Koko from puppy to... older puppy
-Themed parties (I know, dorky, but I think they are fun): Japan, Magic: The Gathering, Scrabble (was that this year? I can't remember), and Harry Potter
-Played about 40 hours of Persona 3 and I think I am only halfway through (but I beat Pokemon! And I have spent many hours playing Glitch. And I bought a lot of games... I need to spend less time reading about games and more time playing them.)
-Dropped out of grad school!
-Wrote about six articles for Deseret Connect
-Got to know my ward better somehow
-Decided to insist on tall jeans! If it's not long enough I don't want it!
-Attempted Christmas baking for the first time. It is a lot of butter and a lot of work.
-My husband's company was acquired by Autodesk. Holy taxes, complicated things.
Bear Lake's library is quaint; their raspberries imported.


little Koko!

Pretty much grown up?




How I think I have changed?:
-Mixed feeling about having children. I'd like to try it, but honestly some parents and children really scare me. Also I have decided not to stress out about being pregnant or not.
-I care more about cooking and housekeeping. These are things I will be doing a lot in the future, and dangit, I might as well get good at some of it, or find a way to get machines to do it for me (thank you, bread maker).
-I'm an elitist about some things. I don't have to tell everyone what I'm thinking about their taste in reading or music, but I am okay with thinking that some things are better than others. 
-I think I'm less abrasive with others. If I think someone's diet is stupid, I don't usually say anything (although... is sugar really that bad for us?). But if someone asks me my opinion on something, I will be gently truthful!

Some library books are gorgeous
Things I'm trying to do this year:
-I would like to post to my video game blog twice a week, or at the very least once. I want to write posts about psychology research on video games, and I want to do an analysis of all the video game post mortems I can find.
-Read more manga! Seriously if I am reading a good manga I feel like I'm on vacation. It is a luxury I want to indulge more! I recommend Oishinbo, an 80s manga about foodies.
this is a matter of life and death!

-My husband made a goal to either walk Koko for 30 minutes or play DDR for 30 minutes. I think it's a good goal! I guess I would like to do either or both of those things every day, and maybe do some more youtube yoga videos.
-I want to at least plan dinner in advance each week. It makes me less stressed out about preparing food. I would also like to make a few really gourmet bentos this year (for Acius, or maybe for a summer picnic or something).
-I want to beat some video games! My favorite part of playing a game seems to be the beginning but beating a game is also very satisfying. But I don't want to keep playing a game I don't like... I just have a hard time starting sometimes, and then afterwards I think "why don't I do this more often instead of checking facebook all the time?"
-I would like to keep up on my Japanese language learning somehow, but I don't have a good plan. Even if I made some sort of schedule I doubt I would keep it;;... but maybe I can try scheduling an hour a day to study.
-I still have some vague dream of making a video game with Acius, so work on that somehow?

3 comments:

Cara said...

Some parents and children scare you? Ha ha ha. If it helps, sometimes my own children scare me and I'm constantly overwhelmed by my lack of patience and wisdom when it comes to raising them. :)

I love this sort of post, thank you for sharing! I wish there was some easier way to learn/keep a foreign language. A friend of mine hired a tutor that came over for dinner once a week and then did a lesson after dinner with her.

Christina said...

This is such a great post! What a good way of looking at the past and coming years.

Koko is such a pretty dog! I hope I'll get to meet her someday. And I concur about other kids and parents. Spending time with other people's kids makes me anxious, but it's totally different with my own kids. That's the beauty of having lots of shared genetic material, I guess. :)

Andrea Landaker said...

Yay for Bear Lake & video games & tall jeans! I'll be looking for you on fitocracy. :-)