Happy Birthday, you old fool.

Call this the obligatory Birthday Post. I feel that on certain occasions it's important to write, and it keeps me on some semblance of a schedule. (Though I would like to point out I've posted on both my translation blog and my group anime blog!)

Another year gone by. That's the first thing which comes to mind to say on a birthday. A birthday is such a strange symbol. Is it occasion to summarize what you've learned in the past year and reflect on lessons? Is it a marker that you're still alive, still fighting? A marker towards the glass half empty?

No, I refuse that. I don't think a birthday is any sort of an occasion to be depressed over. Really, I stop and think about what a birthday means to me, and it is a collection of possibilites. I think on events that are still to happen; a birthday is another year to experience, and learn. I'm a dreamer, and that's always left me with more ideas and "what ifs" than energy to act on them, but that is what a birthday means to me. It's an exciting bunch of possibilities.

I don't want to make a list of goals for the coming year. Maybe I should. It would give me something to rally my energy and motivation around. A humble list then:

- I want to improve my Japanese. It's my main skill, the scholarly sum total of my college experience, and looking for jobs recently I've noticed it's slipped quite a bit. I really do love languages, as few of them as I can keep in my head at once, and I want to be able to speak Japanese competently.
- I want to write on a regular basis. Like exercise, writing is a creative muscle that needs to be flexed. The last time I updated my DeviantArt account? I'm guessing six months. That really shouldn't be so. Even if it's terrible crap, I should be practicing accordingly.
- I want to get out more. My recent mold situation impressed on me how much of my life is spent at home, playing with my toys. I'd like to get out, meet new people, make new hobbies, explore the city, and if possible travel. (Also, writer within me, I felt like these things need to come in at least threes...)

So, that's what I'd like to build towards in the coming year. I'm sure I'll have half-baked, colorful notions and schemes pop into my head throughout til the next August 24th, but at the very least I want to get those three done.

Here's to another year. Happy Birthday, you old fool.