Looking Back

Year-end evaluation!

2012 was a SUPER bad year for me. I don't think I've ever had a year so bad in my entire life. It was as if every month, I had to deal with at least one event filled with utter bullshit. I went through a family death, work troubles, personal troubles, THE WORKS. 

But thankfully, I've stopped counting these things that made my year bad and started taking them in as a collective experience, one that helped me improve as a person who's going to be ready for even more crap that's sure to be slung her way on 2013.

That said, let's take a look at how well I've kept up with my 2012 resolutions! 



★☆
From a scale of 1 to 5 stars, I will gauge how much I've accomplished the goal I've set for myself this year. LET'S GO.

* Lose weight/look like I lost weight - ★★★☆☆
Once again, I haven't lost a significant amount of weight, but I've decided to stop looking so much at weight as a factor in health. That said, let's look into my sub-goals.

Exercise/General Activity - ★★★☆☆
ONCE AGAIN, I have failed to actually stick to an exercise routine. However, I've tried to at least do some crazy dancing in my room once a week to make up for it.

Food Intake - ★★★★☆
I think I've been pretty successful in this department! I now consciously make an effort to include greens in my meals, as well as balancing my meals whenever I've eaten something too heavy. Also I've stopped drinking so much carbonated drinks. I think I still need to improve with eating breakfast though. I found that it DOES make me feel better when I eat something in the morning. 

* SERIOUSLY start learning French and Korean, and take the JLPT N5. ★★★☆☆
I'm not as happy with this goal as I should have. I had been trying to learn on my iPod (which has been stolen, BTW), and that wasn't very successful. I'm going to look into podcasts as a better way of learning. 

This year, however, I finally caved in and took the JLPT N5! It was a bit more difficult than I expected, especially since I didn't study a lick. I don't think it really matters whether I passed or failed though, because I can still take the N4 regardless. I'm glad that I did get the chance to gauge my abilities. This year, I hope to study more intensively.

* Buy a tablet, and color something/make an artwork once a week. ★★☆☆☆

Awww man. I super failed at this goal! I think it was also my iPod's fault, because I've been using it more to surf the net, as opposed to this desktop. Damn. Well, next year I'm hoping to get into drawing more, not just in digital form. Oya has still not reclaimed her tablet lol but I'm giving it back to her so I could be motivated to buy my own one.

* Read 4 books per month ★★★★☆

Wah. So close. My last count was 41 books. 7 books short of my 48 book goal. I was actually planning to round it off to 50, but that never happened lol. The good thing about this year though, is that I picked up on books that I really liked. Not just books that I picked up for the sake of adding to my book goal, but books that have left a mark on me. Next year, I'm bringing the book goal back down to three books a week, and if I go over the mark, I'll try the 50 books thing. 

* Watch more movies/TV shows. ★★★★★
With the help of friends, I've discovered more movies and TV shows this year, a good change from just sitting here and re-reading manga. Next year I might have to make a more quantifiable movie goal though.

* Do something drastic with my hair  ★★★★★
DONE! My hair is now a light brown instead of black. I was contemplating on (a) coloring my hair (b) cutting my hair really short, and (c) getting a digital perm. But since my cousin gave me a bottle of bubble hair dye, I went with (a). Hoho. It's been strange seeing my orangey brown hair in the mirror, but it's a very welcome change.

* Expand my musical repertoire ★★★★★
I don't think I've listened to so many artist as this year, lol. In part, I think getting lots of mixtapes and FSTs helped in discovering new artists! I'm going to stop making this a goal and make more of a subconscious effort in discovering artists next year.

* Expand my website creation knowledge ★★★☆☆
I got a bit of practice when my friend asked me for help with her craft shop's website, and also when I tweaked this website and my Tumblr. I still need more practice though! Next year, I'm going to try and get more commissions. 

* Get out more and go to places ★★★★★
This has been my best kept goal so far, methinks. Whenever something comes up, I have this internal struggle with myself on whether or not I should go because the couch is way too good of a persuader. Thankfully I've made it a personal mission to say "yes" to more outings this year, and I've gotten to so many places I've never been to before. This has been my most well-traveled year, and I plan to continue the trend.

* Keep a planner! ★★★★★
Lack of any picture taking device means there's no photographic evidence of this, but I'll try to get to it sometime. I'm glad I utilized my planner a lot this year, not just for tasks but also as a semi-diary. 

* Be a BAMF (WHUT)
LOL. I don't think this is a goal that can be quantified. Basically, I wanted to be more aggressive and outgoing this year. I feel like I'm still a long ways to go from being BAMFy, but I'm slowly getting there! This year, I've made more of an effort to have my voice heard when it comes to arguments and shit that I disagree with. It cost me a friend, but I realize that this is a friend I was SERIOUSLY better off without. My social anxiety will hinder me from being truly outgoing, but I'm being less of a wallhugger and more open to new people and new opportunities. Let's continue this until the years to come :D

It's been a bad year for me, but a good year in transforming myself and becoming a beter person! I'm satisfied with my resolutions last year. For 2013, I've yet to come up with resolutions, but I have a general idea of how I want the year to go. I just need to map things out more thoroughly. 

Onward 2013! Please be good.