Last year I wrote a couple of reflection posts, and this year while thinking of what to write I reread them and realized that I haven’t done what I said I would do. My first game still remains in development hell (LUL – more like I haven’t made much effort to start it) and I’m still terrible at keyboards.
A lot of things have changed for me this year. Not sure if it’s for better or worse, but such is life and changes are inevitable. It is the only constant. This year, I experienced snow for the first time. While it wasn’t a lot of snow, it was more than enough for me and I realized that it’s not the best thing ever despite how romanticized it has been portrayed in film. Snow means the weather is really cold. I’m not a big fan of the cold. Cool weather is great, freezing temperatures not so much. Also, having to get rid of the frost on your windows every morning before you drive your car seems like a troublesome.
I left my job at Big Bad Wolf and took a long break before getting another job. During the break, I went on a solo retreat in Cameron Highlands. It wasn’t everything I thought it would be, but it was still an enlightening experience. Ideas don’t just come to you (or me at least). I wouldn’t say it was a waste of time, petrol and money – but I clearly didn’t accomplish what I had set out to do. It wasn’t a complete waste since I managed to come up with a couple of songs and did some preparation for my Nanowrimo novel, but it wasn’t my Morning View.
Speaking of Morning View, Incubus is coming to Malaysia again. I’m not going to see them since I’m not a big fan anymore, but it’s nice to know that this country is still on the map for artists overseas. The XX is coming as well.
I spent the whole of November working on my Nanowrimo novel. This year, I went in with a plan which worked great for the start, but I finished my novel before the 50k mark, so I had to expand and make up a whole bunch of other stuff to hit the target. The last time I wrote my novel, there was not much of a plan and it felt easier to hit the target since I just wrote whatever came to mind. Maybe the next time (if I ever do it again), I’ll go in with a looser plan.
I recorded a couple of songs this year. I didn’t manage to record an EP in a studio. I think I’ll focus on doing some home recordings for now. I’ll put some money into recording them when I feel like I really need to. Plus, it’s been a lot of fun doing recordings at home anyway. GarageBand and Audacity are pretty fun.
I’ll probably do more reflecting over the next few days but for now this will do.