New Year's Retrospective 2017
2018-Jan-01, Monday 21:33![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
Well, that was a year!
Last year,schoolpsychnerd and I went to ![[twitter.com profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
resaamnesia's New Year's Eve party, along with a giant bottle of お屠蘇 (otoso), like we did the year before. It was good! At least, I thought so. I don't think many other people drank much of it, other than when ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
chronicluscious mixed it with rose water and made a mixed drink that even oddsboy wouldn't drink, which is an accomplishment in itself. I'm told it smelled really good but tasted like soap. I'm glad I missed it. I stuck with plain お屠蘇 like I did last year. It was delicious.
Looking at last year's retrospective, I did accomplish some of my goals. I was a bit more social, and I was much more serious about Japanese. Playing all those video games in Japanese and reading 世界の中心で愛を叫ぶ with my Japanese tutor meant that I'm reading substantial lengths of Japanese every week, if not necessarily every day, and still getting plenty of speaking practice. I did play Android this year withdrydem and damaskrosechicago, and won again even though I was Floyd the bioroid this time instead of Raymond the P.I. I still haven't played Kingdom Death, and have all the minis unassembled in boxes around our apartment.
We saved an enormous amount of money coupled with a stock market completely detatched from how the economy is performing for anyone of median income, so on paper we made a bunch of money but our lifestyle hasn't changed at all, and seems to have hit a nice equilibrium where we can put money into both short-term and long-term savings sufficient to have enough to cover emergencies and to save for trips or anything we'd like to buy. We did switch to the new data management system at work and it's
, but we're probably switching to another system pretty soon. At the moment, I have to deal with the enormous amount of data that the system can't handle, but that's actually job security for me--my entire job is based around computers not being good enough to handle everything themselves yet, so more incompetent computers means more work for me, which means more reason for me to work. I will not complain.
My Warlords of the Mushroom Kingdom game is still going strong, to my happiness. It's not the longest-running game I've ever been in, but it's almost at two years now (it'll hit two years the second week of March). That's really good, since the average game lasts less than a year (around one academic year, in fact).
There's a traditional new year's meme that's going around Dreamwidth and, before it, went around LJ. I've never answered it before, but it provides a nice structure to my retrospective. Here:
1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?
Nothing immediately springs to mind. It'd be the JLPT N3 except I took it once already in 2012.
2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
See above. I mostly did. For next year, I think I'm doing pretty well as is, so I'll stick with it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No one close to me.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
I didn't travel outside the US this year. We were thinking about going to Europe, but going to a wedding in June and another one in September meant that our travel money went to that. And in 2018, we want to go back to Japan. Maybe another year.
6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
A better understanding of Japanese.
7. What date from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 9th,schoolpsychnerd and my tenth wedding anniversary! 
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
It may be the JLPT. That's yet to be seen. If that doesn't count, completing all those Legend of Zelda games in Japanese.
9. What was your biggest failure?
It may be the JLPT. That's yet to be seen.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I'm not sure I got sick even once.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our Nintendo Switch. I also really like this sweater.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
A lot of people I know got much more politically active in the face of the oncoming tide, and I appreciate them putting in their time and energy for the cause. I don't have the temperament to volunteer for campaigns or cold-call registered voters, and I'm grateful that people who do make use of their gifts.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I'd rather not do a call-out as part of a meme.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Food and savings, the same as every year.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The Nintendo Switch and Breath of the Wild. And then, because I'm behind on my Legend of Zelda games, I never even booted it up. Soon!
16. What song will always remind you of 2017?
Black Eyes by David Wirsig.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Played Zelda games faster. Done any minis painting at all.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Blandly scrolling through Tumblr.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Past tense, but sinceschoolpsychnerd and I both had time off anyway, we went to visit my parents in the suburbs.
22. Did you fall in love in 2017?
See above with "ten-year wedding anniversary."
23. How many one-night stands?
None
24. What was your favorite TV program?
I almost never watch television, and more so now that X-Files isn't on Netflix anymore. If anime counts, the Kirby anime (星のカービィ) is probably it.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No one I've met in person.
26. What was the best book you read?
I reread The Silmarillion, which is always amazing, but in terms of new books it's definitely Japan at War: an Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Dungeon Synth as a genre. It's the musical aesthetic of the DOS RPGs of my childhood, but as its own thing rather than being tied to a game.
28. What did you want and get?
A Nintendo Switch, thanks to some judicious days off and watching websites like a hawk.
29. What did you want and not get?
This maybe the JLPT. Have I mentioned we don't get results until February?
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
The only movie I saw in the theatre as Murder on the Orient Express, and it was okay. I guess it wins by sole entry?
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
It was my 35th birthday, so I threw a party! It was the same weekend as GenCon so it was sparsely attended, but it was nice. Probably won't do it again this year.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Winning the lottery.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?
Cyberpunk elf.
34. What kept you sane?
Reading, video games, studying Japanese, my gaming groups,schoolpsychnerd. The usual things.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Half the time I can't identify a public figure or put a name to a face. They're outside my interests.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The collapse of America.
37. Who did you miss?
No one, really.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anyone new.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.
Martin Luther King Jr. was wrong--the arc of the moral universe does not always bend toward justice. It is up to us to grab that arc and make it bend, or it will be bent by others.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I'll quote a whole bunch of lyrics, as is my tradition. And it's been long since this has been so apt:
皆様、明けましておめでとうございます。ご健康とご多幸をお祈り申し上げます。新年も宜しくお願い致します。
Happy New Year!
Last year,
schoolpsychnerd and I went to Looking at last year's retrospective, I did accomplish some of my goals. I was a bit more social, and I was much more serious about Japanese. Playing all those video games in Japanese and reading 世界の中心で愛を叫ぶ with my Japanese tutor meant that I'm reading substantial lengths of Japanese every week, if not necessarily every day, and still getting plenty of speaking practice. I did play Android this year with
drydem and We saved an enormous amount of money coupled with a stock market completely detatched from how the economy is performing for anyone of median income, so on paper we made a bunch of money but our lifestyle hasn't changed at all, and seems to have hit a nice equilibrium where we can put money into both short-term and long-term savings sufficient to have enough to cover emergencies and to save for trips or anything we'd like to buy. We did switch to the new data management system at work and it's
, but we're probably switching to another system pretty soon. At the moment, I have to deal with the enormous amount of data that the system can't handle, but that's actually job security for me--my entire job is based around computers not being good enough to handle everything themselves yet, so more incompetent computers means more work for me, which means more reason for me to work. I will not complain. My Warlords of the Mushroom Kingdom game is still going strong, to my happiness. It's not the longest-running game I've ever been in, but it's almost at two years now (it'll hit two years the second week of March). That's really good, since the average game lasts less than a year (around one academic year, in fact).
There's a traditional new year's meme that's going around Dreamwidth and, before it, went around LJ. I've never answered it before, but it provides a nice structure to my retrospective. Here:
1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?
Nothing immediately springs to mind. It'd be the JLPT N3 except I took it once already in 2012.
2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
See above. I mostly did. For next year, I think I'm doing pretty well as is, so I'll stick with it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No one close to me.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
I didn't travel outside the US this year. We were thinking about going to Europe, but going to a wedding in June and another one in September meant that our travel money went to that. And in 2018, we want to go back to Japan. Maybe another year.
6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
A better understanding of Japanese.
7. What date from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 9th,
schoolpsychnerd and my tenth wedding anniversary! 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
It may be the JLPT. That's yet to be seen. If that doesn't count, completing all those Legend of Zelda games in Japanese.
9. What was your biggest failure?
It may be the JLPT. That's yet to be seen.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I'm not sure I got sick even once.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our Nintendo Switch. I also really like this sweater.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
A lot of people I know got much more politically active in the face of the oncoming tide, and I appreciate them putting in their time and energy for the cause. I don't have the temperament to volunteer for campaigns or cold-call registered voters, and I'm grateful that people who do make use of their gifts.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I'd rather not do a call-out as part of a meme.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Food and savings, the same as every year.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The Nintendo Switch and Breath of the Wild. And then, because I'm behind on my Legend of Zelda games, I never even booted it up. Soon!
16. What song will always remind you of 2017?
Black Eyes by David Wirsig.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- i. happier or sadder?: About the same, I think.
- ii. thinner or fatter?: Thinner, but only very slightly. My weight doesn't vary that much and hasn't for years.
- iii. richer or poorer?: As above--richer on paper, not richer in our daily lives.
Played Zelda games faster. Done any minis painting at all.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Blandly scrolling through Tumblr.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Past tense, but since
schoolpsychnerd and I both had time off anyway, we went to visit my parents in the suburbs. 22. Did you fall in love in 2017?
See above with "ten-year wedding anniversary."
23. How many one-night stands?
None
24. What was your favorite TV program?
I almost never watch television, and more so now that X-Files isn't on Netflix anymore. If anime counts, the Kirby anime (星のカービィ) is probably it.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No one I've met in person.
26. What was the best book you read?
I reread The Silmarillion, which is always amazing, but in terms of new books it's definitely Japan at War: an Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Dungeon Synth as a genre. It's the musical aesthetic of the DOS RPGs of my childhood, but as its own thing rather than being tied to a game.
28. What did you want and get?
A Nintendo Switch, thanks to some judicious days off and watching websites like a hawk.
29. What did you want and not get?
This maybe the JLPT. Have I mentioned we don't get results until February?
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
The only movie I saw in the theatre as Murder on the Orient Express, and it was okay. I guess it wins by sole entry?
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
It was my 35th birthday, so I threw a party! It was the same weekend as GenCon so it was sparsely attended, but it was nice. Probably won't do it again this year.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Winning the lottery.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?
Cyberpunk elf.
34. What kept you sane?
Reading, video games, studying Japanese, my gaming groups,
schoolpsychnerd. The usual things.35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Half the time I can't identify a public figure or put a name to a face. They're outside my interests.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The collapse of America.
37. Who did you miss?
No one, really.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anyone new.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.
Martin Luther King Jr. was wrong--the arc of the moral universe does not always bend toward justice. It is up to us to grab that arc and make it bend, or it will be bent by others.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I'll quote a whole bunch of lyrics, as is my tradition. And it's been long since this has been so apt:
A long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember the last thing that you said as you were leavin'
Now the days go by so fast
And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think that I could be forgiven I wish you would
The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls
All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl
And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think you might come to California I think you should
Drove up to Hillside Manor sometime after two a.m.
And talked a little while about the year
I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower,
Makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her
And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass
And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean I guess I should
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
皆様、明けましておめでとうございます。ご健康とご多幸をお祈り申し上げます。新年も宜しくお願い致します。
Happy New Year!
