Year in Review

January 7, 2007

Despite being a week into the new year I reckon that I’d better do this for my own personal backlogging. As thats one of the main reasons why I blog. Anyways, put some reminiscing music on and prepare to take a stroll down memory lane.

But before I do that I’ll just crunch some figures, judging by the word document that I write my entries in I have written 62 personal blog entries in 2006. That equates to one every 5.88 days and most of the entries have titles relating to music.

January was a tough month, the holiday had been quite a difficult one. Due to being screwed around with a kitchen renovation, we had to cook or meals on a small outdoor BBQ and a portable stove. Not to mention the house being a mess and having to constantly stay home inwait for it to be fixed.

Aren’t kebabs just the coolest meal?

January was also the time I’d decided to maybe give the whole programmer idea a miss. I didn’t do it right away but had put it off after great frustration with C++. It just wasn’t me. But what was I spose to do, I’d had this idea stuck in my head for years? –link–This entry really reflects my predicament well.

The thought of learning Chinese entered my mind, so I left it up to the school trip to China that I was planning on going on.

Not all was doom and gloom though. I’d bought my laptop on the 8th which really freed up my previous creative restraints. Pity I spent too much time coding on it. In and out of what I was working hard to get the new NRX out. Which launched the day before we went back to school. The other plus was that Chris and I had began our spree of watching GTO, such a brilliant anime/manga/live action series.

Onizuka, thats Great Teachr Onizuka

The first 7/8 weeks of year 12 were the most relaxed. Between school work I managed to get out a bit which was great, I spent my time at home customizing my laptop. I had a few issues with Firefox’s lack of RSS support, WMA encrpytion and Thunderbir as a mal client. As well as tweaking my laptops appearance. I soon found a great theme that I have used constanty for the past 8 months. I also ditched WMA and ripping thru WMP and got MP3s and CD-ex sticking with Winamp as my player. Everything Mozilla went out the window in replacement of Opera.

Something that surprised me was how quickly my friends went nuts on NRX, the forums should I say. It was really pleasing to see everyone maintaining such an intrest. Pity it wasn’t more so for the content. Thru it and also thru Alex I managed to meet Mel. Whom is now a good friend of mine. You know I made only a handful of new friends this past year. Mainly strengthening old relationships. With Shaun at night school Chris and I got to learn more about Garion. I managed to make a few friends at work. Chris Thomas and I managed to be mates as well as that Fieldy guy and Ryan. To think about it I made quite a few friends this year and became closer to people that I previously didn’t know as well. Much like Krystal whom I asked out before th China trip(timing actually did work out nicely). But we split a month or so later.

Our trusted rickshaw driver, what a champ

If I had to choose a highlight of 2006 it would be the China trip. A very inspiration and mind opening experience. We went to 3 main cities, ShangHai, Xian and Beijing. We also stayed with a student. It wasn’t the modern complexity of ShangHai or traditional sites of Xian that opened up my mind. It was being able to speak Chinese with my exchange student for hours on end. My Chinese improved dramatically. Likewise for Chris, which was great as it made Chinese lessons so much better when you have no trouble speaking the language. After the trip I put piles of effort into my Chinese studies and for it it I received the Chinese effort award which just means so much to me.

Before the China trip I discovered that I wasn’t going as well at my school work as I had previously thought. So from then on I made radical changes in how I approached my school work and pushed myself as hard as I could. This was the beginning of what I believe to be one big life lesson and a test of my strong morals.

Its been 3 years that I’ve been wearing these now

My second preference to getting a career in chinese language was a career in digital design. I’ve been doing it for years but had never taken it seriously. It took a while to learn but I don’t have the nack for it. But I can get the job done for previous/current/future projects and myself and my brother(as a team). I also found myself interested in photography, luckily my Grandpa use to be in a photography club so he taught me how to take photos and also let me use some equipment. He also critqued some of the try-hard shots that I took while in China and future shots. So photography and design is what I started to do in my free time.

It sure was a struggle working hard through term 2 after a rough school holiday and then a school trip. Fortunately I managed to get a break from school, go out and just relax. The holidays concluded nicely with my 18th birthday party. I found it to be a bit less exciting than last years but it was still a great night. Oh and Avcon was sometime in term 2 which was really awesome.

My actual birthday was on the Wednesday, I think. In which our Chinese exchange student arrive. The night before we had Chinese food with some of the family members. We took Ju(exchange student) to a number of good touristy places and we managed to amuse him during the week and somehow fitting in school. For my birthday(and Chris’) we went to the Hogs Breath Cafe as its a good place for Aussie food. I throughly enjoyed my meal. I forget what I got for my birthday, mainly 18 year old stuff, oh and m Chinese pen pal(whom I still keep in contact with) gave me a traditional Chinese music CD for my birthday. I was so surprised! Its a really good CD too.

Who are these ugly bastards and how did they get on my blog?

The rest of the working year was pretty dull. Mainly just focusing hard at school and having my morals be tested, oh boy that shit really pushed me. I think that we had our school formal sometime around this date. I enjoyed that.

Yeah August, October and November where all really boring. I got plenty of assignment done which is great. Improved my design and photography skills a bit. Thats it really.The last week of school was a great one. Chris and I went around with our trustry camera and got plenty of good pictures with our mates and teachers. Everyone seemed happy and got along really nicely. What more could you ask for?

They can’t believe how light I am

Piles of revision and then the final exams. Had 3 in 3 days and then Maths Specialist almost 2 weeks after. So we got to a point where Chris and I’ just couldn’t care. We knew that the exam would be full of garbagy stuff hardly relevent to the course that relies souly on your ability to apply what you’ve learnt ito abstract siuations. If it wasn’t that it’d be some mindhumingly long, trivial and difficult questions.As for the time after school. Its been enjoyable but unfortunately the Christmas and Post Christmas sales have made it hard to meet with mates during that time period. But we’ve still managed to get plenty of that stuff done, few parties,WGA meet ups and general gaming sessions. What we’re trying to do ow though is having 2 meet ups a week, a small one and a large one. So far its working out.

I’ve managed to continue saving my cash as well. Since I was so busy during August to Novemeber all of my working profit went straight into savings. Wanna buy a car next.

Christmas and New years were both great days. At Christmas we had the best meal in ages. Gotta love your Grandma. I got piles of anime for Christmas which stocked up my collection, no games which is the opposite to the previous year.

The canceled Designer Impulse

New Years was at Cams, just a bunch of us chilling out, playing games and relaxing. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. Which was great. Chris got an hrs sleep and Cam didn’t.

Progress Report

Anime

The biggest development here is that Chris and I got into GTO. Which is the best series out there. Then the plethora of anime I got for Christmas stockes up the collection really nicely. I’ve also been collected the GTO Early Years and manga.

Music

There’s just so much to like about Jay Kay

My love for 2 of my favourite bands has returned. Jamiroquai and Matchbox 20. I manage to pick up most of the Jamiroquai CDs for a good deal in a Kuala Lumper music shop. The band as influenced me dramatically. It’s got me into randomly dancing and singing whenever I feel in the mood. I’ve also gotten into Richard Ashcroft, Massive Attack, Boysetsfire(4 years to find one of their CDs and I stumble on all of them!), Creed and SilverChair.

Games

Hardly had time to play games this year. I’ve 100% finished 8 games and currently having 33 games to 100% finish. Some of the have been around for 2 years and are really plaguing me. At least I have most of the games to cap off the Gamecube and GBA sagas. I just need to finish them. I have 14 games which I haven’t even touched yet. 19 that I need to full finish. So plenty of work cut out for me over the holidays. I really need to focus on some key GBA and GCN games.

Its irrelevent but does it matter? No Funky Kong is no.1

Games 100% completed in 2006:Metroid Zero Mission

Project Rub
Wario Ware Touch
Kirby Air Ride
Mario Power Tennis
New Super Mario Bros
Tony Hawk DS
Red Steel

Personal Development

2006 has been the hardest year of my life. Not only have I worked through a set of difficult school subjects but have also juggled photography, design, retail work, china trip and the exchange, games, mates and anime. Unlike a number of people that get thru year 12 by throwing their life out the window I have managed to build upon my passions and still achieve success with school.

I’ve noticed that I seem to be more expressive this year. I’ve opened up more so than in previous years. I find myself speaking my mind all the time now. I’ve discovered my natural ability to communicate in an interesting way. And am using that as another strength.

This year has been a real test for me, on several levels, but I’ve managed to push through. In the process proving to myself and others that I am much more capable. As much as it pains me to admit it I rekon that I have a reputation that has come with my success. I’ve never had that before.

I’ve found my happiness, I know what I want and can now say that I can get it. I feel so content with my efforts. I feel equipped and ready to make my own splash. Hopefully this shall be emulated into 2007. Thanks for reading my garble.