2013 Year In Review
Jan. 10th, 2014 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polychrome_penGreetings all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and accomplished everything they hoped to this year! The tail-end of 2013 has felt ridiculous fast to me. Perhaps because I spent November in a NaNo-induced haze and a late Thanksgiving shortened the Christmas season? IDK, but I somehow feel flabbergasted that New Year's Eve is already here.
I guess the only place to start with a true review of 2013 would be to go back and review the goals and plans I made for the year at the end of 2012:
"January-March: Finish up hanging fic projects - Dragon Flyz NaNo stuff, Heart Stone: A Tame of Tamara, and my one-shot Queen Kale fic.
April-September: Work my way through Holly Lisle's "How to Think Sideways." I bought the course earlier this year, but obviously didn't get through it.
October: Finish up any HTTS stuff and NaNoWriMo prep. I'm not sure if this will be original fic or another fanfic attempt.
November: NaNo! With actual registration and a burning passion to make it to the 50,000 word mark.
December: Die of exhaustion? I really have no idea here."
Well, that didn't go nearly how I expected it to. I don't know how I ever thought I could finish all the things I put in place for January-March. In fact, I didn't even finish the Dragon Flyz fic until June! Heart Stone was just finished this month, and the Queen Kale one-shot hasn't had a single word added to it all year.
I'm most sad that I never really got into HTTS. I did the first lesson and a half, but that was right before NaNo, so that kind of killed any progress there. But I did write some fun Flash Fiction and do a wonderful "How to Motivate Yourself" course from Holly Lisle. Some of the stuff I dug into with the Motivation course was kind of heavy.
At least NaNo itself was a success! That was actually one of my year highlights - I registered this year for the first time and even went to some write-ins, which proved to be a delightful surprise. I'm not sure I would have crossed the finish line without the support of the local writing partners.
So the writing stuff could have gone a little better, but I'm still proud of the 100k words I got between finishing up last year's NaNo project and what I wrote this year. Hopefully 2014 will be even more successful.
Vacations and trips were spread out nicely this year. I tried to institute a personal policy that I would take at least a few days off every 3-4 months, and I actually stuck to that pretty well. I went down to see my brother in San Jose four times this year - once for his birthday in January, once for my birthday/Sarah Brightman concert in October, and twice for anime cons.
Of the two anime cons, the first we attended was Fanime Con in May. This will forever be stuck in my head as "Line Con." We waited four or five hours in line to get the badges on Saturday morning, and most of that was outside. I then had a giant sunburn on my face for the next week, complete with peeling. :( Sadly, the guest list wasn't all that great either. It's kind of sad when my favorite activity for the whole thing ended up being the Rurouni Kenshin live action movie screening (which was awesome and hilarious).
The other con was Japan Expo. JE was actually an outgrowth of a large French convention, and their first US appearance. It was small for the first year, but I thought it had a nice guest list and because of the size I felt I was able to attend more things. The real treat was being able to see Noriyuki Iwadare (composer for the Lunar and Grandia RPG series) in concert with his band. It was like my childhood had jumped out on the stage. I also attended my first "idol" concert, which was just totally bizarre (how do the attendees know what color glowsticks to bring? Is there some sort of club?), and a fun J Rock concert. JE was strange, though, in that it had almost no evening programming. They actually shut the con down around 6pm!
I also had a chance to see some amazing shows this years. I already mentioned Sarah Brightman earlier in this post - this was my third time seeing her in concert, and the original Christine never fails to enchant. She even sang a song from "My Neighbor Totoro" this year, which was just lovely. I also got a chance to see "The Nutcracker" with the San Francisco Ballet again this year, which is always really impressive. Earlier in the year was also Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and the one and only Jerry Seinfeld live. So combined with the stuff I saw at the anime cons, it was a good year for shows. I only wish I'd been able to attend a symphony at some point, but my days off never seem to work out for that. :/
I've written at length about Fiji in another post, but it's worth mentioning again here. Despite the questionable housing conditions, that trip stands out as the highlight of the year. I made some wonderful new friends (some of whom I got to see just a few weeks ago!), and stepped outside my comfort zone in a big way. I heard rumblings from people at church that we might go back in 2015, and I'm totally on board if that happens. :)
Health wise, 2013 wasn't all that great. My old gym closed, but provisions were made for relocation of the memberships. However, the new gym is a little farther away, and I don't think the facilities are quite as nice, so I haven't been going as much (and let's be honest - I never really like going to the gym!) I've definitely gained some weight, and am actually looking forward to starting Paleo in January. I took in a bunch of candy and sugary gift stuff to work just to get it out of my house!
Anyway, onto media discussion!
Media wise, my watching this year was dominated by one large thing: I finally finished watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's final three seasons. This was the only 90s-era Star Trek that I never watched, and I have to say I think it was better I watched it now. The storyline (especially in the later seasons) is much more linear than other Trek shows, and there are many more recurring characters. It was definitely better to binge watch than do a week-to-week viewing. Though by the end I was ready to put Trek on a shelf for awhile. XD Maybe sometime in 2014 I'll start my rewatch of Enterprise and see if it enchants me more now than it did when I watched it on TV.
This was also the year that I discovered/binged my way through Downton Abbey! That probably stands out as my surprise favorite of the year. Everything about it - the acting, the writing, the period sets and sumptuous costumes - everything blends together so well to tell an amazing story of this family. I eagerly await the return of S4 to PBS on January 5th!
For cartoons, it was actually a light year. I did add a few superhero things into the mix this year, though. First and foremost was finally sitting down and going through all the Fleischer Brothers Superman cartoons. They were quite good (aside from the blatant racism in some of them!), and I can really see how the later Superman: The Animated Series was influenced by these amazing (especially for the 30s!) cartoons. Sticking with DC, I watched all of Green Lantern: The Animated Series. This takes the DCAU look and translates it into CG (sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much). Still, the series was better than I expected, and I'm sad it won't be seeing another season. For Marvel stuff, I was finally able to watch the 90s Silver Surfer cartoon (way ahead of its time!), and the second season of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest heroes (could have been better with more character development). Other toons included: Korra S1 (and part of S2), Adventure Time S1, MLP: FiM S3, and finishing Winx S5.
Anime watching was all over the place. My favorites of the year were Tari Tari (singing club!) and Princess Tutu (all about dance and classical music!), followed closely by Moyashimon (college kids fermenting weird things!). I did a fair bit of Gundam viewing as well, watching the three Original Gundam compilation movies, 0080: War in the Pocket, and The 8th MS Team. The last two months of the year, however, I spent rewatching the first two seasons of Slayers. Slayers, being fantasy and comedy, was one of my early anime favorites, and I have strong memories of renting lots of tapes from our local comic shop (back when it actually had anime). It was super nostalgic and lots of fun to revisit this old classic.
In movies, I think this was the year I finally had Superhero Fatigue (sort of). The best super-hero thing I watched was The Dark Knight Returns animated movie. Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Man of Steel, and the Wolverine all had good elements, but none of them pulled me in that well (I don't even like Wolverine as a character, and yet that movie might have been the best on that list?). So for movies, Frozen stands apart as my best of year choice. It follows Tangled as a true return to form for Disney, and couldn't have been more welcome. The Hobbit Pt 2 was enjoyable, but lagged a bit for me.
Anyway, books! I did some great reading this year. Some YA favorites that emerged were Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Legend and Prodigy by Marie Lu, and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. I continued my Harry Potter reread, going through Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix (loooong). My fastest read, though, was Beauty by Robin McKinley. I finished it in two days! I even managed to sneak in a nonfiction book this year with Appetite for America, which was the story of Fred Harvey, his eating establishments, and the civilization of the west. It was actually a very fascinating read!
As far as comics and manga go, I finally started in on my DC New 52 graphic novels that I've been hoarding for awhile now. Aquaman, Nightwing, and Batgirl remain my favorites so far of that lot. In manga, I've found my appetite for long series waning, and my appetite for short or one-volume works growing. The best stuff I read this year was Heart of Thomas and Thermae Romae. Comics-wise, I've continued with He-Man and MLP, though I'm super behind on reading both of those.
Whew! That was super long! Anyway, onto goals and generic year-long plans.
January: Finish posting Heart Stone, finish and post Queen Kale. Start Paleo eating.
February-August: Work through How to Think Sideways. Self-publish a flash fiction collection. Take a bloody vacation somewhere (Anime Expo?)
September-December: NaNoWriMo prep for original story. Start revisions from first novel. Self-publish second flash fiction collection or short story collection.
Big goals: Follow paleo eating plan for three months, then evaluate. Shift original fiction writing into gear. Spend way, way less money on toys.
I guess the only place to start with a true review of 2013 would be to go back and review the goals and plans I made for the year at the end of 2012:
"January-March: Finish up hanging fic projects - Dragon Flyz NaNo stuff, Heart Stone: A Tame of Tamara, and my one-shot Queen Kale fic.
April-September: Work my way through Holly Lisle's "How to Think Sideways." I bought the course earlier this year, but obviously didn't get through it.
October: Finish up any HTTS stuff and NaNoWriMo prep. I'm not sure if this will be original fic or another fanfic attempt.
November: NaNo! With actual registration and a burning passion to make it to the 50,000 word mark.
December: Die of exhaustion? I really have no idea here."
Well, that didn't go nearly how I expected it to. I don't know how I ever thought I could finish all the things I put in place for January-March. In fact, I didn't even finish the Dragon Flyz fic until June! Heart Stone was just finished this month, and the Queen Kale one-shot hasn't had a single word added to it all year.
I'm most sad that I never really got into HTTS. I did the first lesson and a half, but that was right before NaNo, so that kind of killed any progress there. But I did write some fun Flash Fiction and do a wonderful "How to Motivate Yourself" course from Holly Lisle. Some of the stuff I dug into with the Motivation course was kind of heavy.
At least NaNo itself was a success! That was actually one of my year highlights - I registered this year for the first time and even went to some write-ins, which proved to be a delightful surprise. I'm not sure I would have crossed the finish line without the support of the local writing partners.
So the writing stuff could have gone a little better, but I'm still proud of the 100k words I got between finishing up last year's NaNo project and what I wrote this year. Hopefully 2014 will be even more successful.
Vacations and trips were spread out nicely this year. I tried to institute a personal policy that I would take at least a few days off every 3-4 months, and I actually stuck to that pretty well. I went down to see my brother in San Jose four times this year - once for his birthday in January, once for my birthday/Sarah Brightman concert in October, and twice for anime cons.
Of the two anime cons, the first we attended was Fanime Con in May. This will forever be stuck in my head as "Line Con." We waited four or five hours in line to get the badges on Saturday morning, and most of that was outside. I then had a giant sunburn on my face for the next week, complete with peeling. :( Sadly, the guest list wasn't all that great either. It's kind of sad when my favorite activity for the whole thing ended up being the Rurouni Kenshin live action movie screening (which was awesome and hilarious).
The other con was Japan Expo. JE was actually an outgrowth of a large French convention, and their first US appearance. It was small for the first year, but I thought it had a nice guest list and because of the size I felt I was able to attend more things. The real treat was being able to see Noriyuki Iwadare (composer for the Lunar and Grandia RPG series) in concert with his band. It was like my childhood had jumped out on the stage. I also attended my first "idol" concert, which was just totally bizarre (how do the attendees know what color glowsticks to bring? Is there some sort of club?), and a fun J Rock concert. JE was strange, though, in that it had almost no evening programming. They actually shut the con down around 6pm!
I also had a chance to see some amazing shows this years. I already mentioned Sarah Brightman earlier in this post - this was my third time seeing her in concert, and the original Christine never fails to enchant. She even sang a song from "My Neighbor Totoro" this year, which was just lovely. I also got a chance to see "The Nutcracker" with the San Francisco Ballet again this year, which is always really impressive. Earlier in the year was also Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and the one and only Jerry Seinfeld live. So combined with the stuff I saw at the anime cons, it was a good year for shows. I only wish I'd been able to attend a symphony at some point, but my days off never seem to work out for that. :/
I've written at length about Fiji in another post, but it's worth mentioning again here. Despite the questionable housing conditions, that trip stands out as the highlight of the year. I made some wonderful new friends (some of whom I got to see just a few weeks ago!), and stepped outside my comfort zone in a big way. I heard rumblings from people at church that we might go back in 2015, and I'm totally on board if that happens. :)
Health wise, 2013 wasn't all that great. My old gym closed, but provisions were made for relocation of the memberships. However, the new gym is a little farther away, and I don't think the facilities are quite as nice, so I haven't been going as much (and let's be honest - I never really like going to the gym!) I've definitely gained some weight, and am actually looking forward to starting Paleo in January. I took in a bunch of candy and sugary gift stuff to work just to get it out of my house!
Anyway, onto media discussion!
Media wise, my watching this year was dominated by one large thing: I finally finished watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's final three seasons. This was the only 90s-era Star Trek that I never watched, and I have to say I think it was better I watched it now. The storyline (especially in the later seasons) is much more linear than other Trek shows, and there are many more recurring characters. It was definitely better to binge watch than do a week-to-week viewing. Though by the end I was ready to put Trek on a shelf for awhile. XD Maybe sometime in 2014 I'll start my rewatch of Enterprise and see if it enchants me more now than it did when I watched it on TV.
This was also the year that I discovered/binged my way through Downton Abbey! That probably stands out as my surprise favorite of the year. Everything about it - the acting, the writing, the period sets and sumptuous costumes - everything blends together so well to tell an amazing story of this family. I eagerly await the return of S4 to PBS on January 5th!
For cartoons, it was actually a light year. I did add a few superhero things into the mix this year, though. First and foremost was finally sitting down and going through all the Fleischer Brothers Superman cartoons. They were quite good (aside from the blatant racism in some of them!), and I can really see how the later Superman: The Animated Series was influenced by these amazing (especially for the 30s!) cartoons. Sticking with DC, I watched all of Green Lantern: The Animated Series. This takes the DCAU look and translates it into CG (sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much). Still, the series was better than I expected, and I'm sad it won't be seeing another season. For Marvel stuff, I was finally able to watch the 90s Silver Surfer cartoon (way ahead of its time!), and the second season of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest heroes (could have been better with more character development). Other toons included: Korra S1 (and part of S2), Adventure Time S1, MLP: FiM S3, and finishing Winx S5.
Anime watching was all over the place. My favorites of the year were Tari Tari (singing club!) and Princess Tutu (all about dance and classical music!), followed closely by Moyashimon (college kids fermenting weird things!). I did a fair bit of Gundam viewing as well, watching the three Original Gundam compilation movies, 0080: War in the Pocket, and The 8th MS Team. The last two months of the year, however, I spent rewatching the first two seasons of Slayers. Slayers, being fantasy and comedy, was one of my early anime favorites, and I have strong memories of renting lots of tapes from our local comic shop (back when it actually had anime). It was super nostalgic and lots of fun to revisit this old classic.
In movies, I think this was the year I finally had Superhero Fatigue (sort of). The best super-hero thing I watched was The Dark Knight Returns animated movie. Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Man of Steel, and the Wolverine all had good elements, but none of them pulled me in that well (I don't even like Wolverine as a character, and yet that movie might have been the best on that list?). So for movies, Frozen stands apart as my best of year choice. It follows Tangled as a true return to form for Disney, and couldn't have been more welcome. The Hobbit Pt 2 was enjoyable, but lagged a bit for me.
Anyway, books! I did some great reading this year. Some YA favorites that emerged were Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Legend and Prodigy by Marie Lu, and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. I continued my Harry Potter reread, going through Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix (loooong). My fastest read, though, was Beauty by Robin McKinley. I finished it in two days! I even managed to sneak in a nonfiction book this year with Appetite for America, which was the story of Fred Harvey, his eating establishments, and the civilization of the west. It was actually a very fascinating read!
As far as comics and manga go, I finally started in on my DC New 52 graphic novels that I've been hoarding for awhile now. Aquaman, Nightwing, and Batgirl remain my favorites so far of that lot. In manga, I've found my appetite for long series waning, and my appetite for short or one-volume works growing. The best stuff I read this year was Heart of Thomas and Thermae Romae. Comics-wise, I've continued with He-Man and MLP, though I'm super behind on reading both of those.
Whew! That was super long! Anyway, onto goals and generic year-long plans.
January: Finish posting Heart Stone, finish and post Queen Kale. Start Paleo eating.
February-August: Work through How to Think Sideways. Self-publish a flash fiction collection. Take a bloody vacation somewhere (Anime Expo?)
September-December: NaNoWriMo prep for original story. Start revisions from first novel. Self-publish second flash fiction collection or short story collection.
Big goals: Follow paleo eating plan for three months, then evaluate. Shift original fiction writing into gear. Spend way, way less money on toys.
