Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The 2014 Reading Challenge


That time again to document the books of the year~

I never actually finished 50 books, but it sure motivated me to read!
Oh those pre-teen years where I didn't even need a challenge to read books /o\



01) Looking for Alaska, by John Green
02) Paper Towns, by John Green
03) An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
04) Bet Me, by Jennifer Crusie
05) The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
06) Bridget Jones' Diary, by Helen Fielding
07) Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason, by Helen Fielding
08) Getting to know SEO, by Andre Kibbe
09) Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, by Holly Black (currently reading)
10) Divergent, by Veronica Roth
11) Insurgent, by Veronica Roth
12) Allegiant, by Veronica Roth
13) City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare (currently reading)
14) Drop the Pink Elephant, by Bill McFarlan

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Those Pesky Resolutions!


☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆ 
 HAPPY NEW YEAR !! ☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆


Wow, we're already well into 2014! It's that time again to make those yearly resolutions. I have been thinking about these since the end of last year, and honestly this post has been sitting in my drafts for a week .. but here we go~

1. Acquire a full time job and/or freelance jobs

Self explanatory really. And if the former cannot be done right away, then work on the contract and freelance gigs, portfolio, CV, and personal projects on the side so that I'll never be halting my productivity in this career path and never stop learning.

At least 40 hours of productivity a week. Time-track it!

(As much as I can, provided the circumstances)

[Objective Completed]

2. Get fit

I just joined the gym at the end of last year! (Before my Studentcard discount expired, oh boy am I cheap) Honestly, it was the discount that pushed me to finally join and heed way for fitness. I mean, I have no need to lose weight or anything but I am incredibly unfit, and since I am getting older I am starting to notice some flab appear since I sit on my ass all day. And, every time I walk up stairs or ramps, I'm always huffing and puffing.

Let's try at least 3 times a week, to be realistic.

3. Create costumes for cosplay

There are some plans I have. Let's just see if I can complete them ^p^

Asuna and Kirito (with Lunatarius) from Sword Art Online which would require me to make two costumes /o\ I think it would be really fun to do a joint cosplay, and Lunatarius loves this series too so I guess this is more for him than me. But it would be awesome to try creating something more ambitious, because I tend to stick to the easier costumes.



Annie from League of Legends. I thought I might give it a go. She's awesome and her outfit is quite cute. Being short, I guess I can suit these youthful characters, and I better do it before I get too old! Haha.



Trucy Wright from the Ace Attorney Series. I cosplayed Trucy before in 2009, but the costume got misplaced when we were packing stuff to go to our new house. I was devastated at the time and got really emotional because it was the first costume I ever made. But alas, I'm going to make it again!




4. Care less about what people think

I have been getting better in the past few years, which I am really happy about. I have learned that the only person who can make your life awesome is 'you'. It's the actions you take, the decisions you make, the thoughts you have. You decide how your life is, not other people. Sometimes other people think that they can control how you feel through their anger or their negative opinions, but if you decide to be happy then you can be happy.

In the past, I let myself become affected by negative views and yes from time to time I still do. But I want to make the decision to be positive.

For example self, don't stop doing something because it might be considered 'silly', 'pointless' or 'childish' by other people. I feel like in this world when you're an adult, suddenly its almost socially unacceptable to do things other than adult things because it will seem like you 'have a lot of time on your hands' or 'immature'. I think as long as you are realistic, are mature in those important issues, and aim for or have a job that will generate income, then you can do whatever the f*ck you want in your spare time.

Maybe I'm feeling like a Nerdfighter haha. Well, I don't know if I am one but they say if you are wondering if you are one, then you probably are one. I have started to watch John and Hank Green's video blogs and they're pretty awesome. I love their presumed philosophy in life - to increase the amount of awesome and decrease the amount of worldsuck! All the while doing what you love, whatever that may be.

Edit: Whoa this video is SO relevant to what I just wrote about, starting from about 1:18


And, DFTBA!

5. Speak more clearly

I would rather not elaborate.

But yeah, make a conscious effort to speak better in general. As much effort as I put into singing words clearly in my room.

6. Become more organised

This year, I have a lot of time tracking items that I will try to keep active. With a calendar, diary and use of the Google calendar as well. I want to make sure that I am aware of how I use my time and try not to procrastinate too much.

7. Read books

I did this for the past two years, and then end up reading a bunch of graphic novels instead. Well let's get this going again~ Aim for 50 books!

8. Keep in touch

Keep in touch with friends, through communication devices as well as meeting up from time to time. I am really bad at texting, so I think I should reply promptly more often as well.

9. Learn to drive

I am not getting any younger, and I need to get off my butt and drive properly. And not a half-assed attempt either. Like really drive, and get my effin' restricted already. Public transport used to be all I really needed, but I feel that its not going to cut it anymore. My main motivation here is to have more freedom, and to transport myself to work and faraway lands without having to rely on others~ I have a slight anxiety about this, but its got to be done.

This goal should actually be near the top : /

10. Save money, and spend it more wisely

Basically, try not to give into the temptations of the bright yellow sale sign.

11. Minor Resolutions

The goals that aren't really that important, but would be nice to do in 2014 and beyond.

  • Sew some clothing and make accessories
  • Keep up with digital drawing to maintain the skills
  • Practice drawing backgrounds
  • Catch up with television series that have been long overdue
  • Take more videos/photographs for memories
  • Guerilla art
  • Improve guitar playing skills
  • Improve singing skills
  • Create cover songs
  • Create an application
  • Illustrated website? *gasp*
  • Keep learning about new technologies (This is actually quite important!)
  • Blog more often
  • Try to keep my room tidy
  • Custom theme for this blog /o\ otherwise move to Wordpress

I feel like I am a bit ambitious with this list. It's like I want to be good at everything but its probably not possible, meh. It sounds like it will take some time. But I rather shoot for the moon and land among the stars, rather to just stand around in the dirt. Once upon a time, I stood around in the dirt being all afraid to do anything due to fear of scrutiny and I don't want to be like that anymore.

I apologise for the terrible analogy in reference to the dirt not really but it makes some sense to me~

And there's that lovely quote from Meet the Robinsons:

"Keep moving forward!"