2018 in Retrospect / Goals for the New Year · 9:34pm Dec 31st, 2018
Another year come and gone. In a lot of ways, I can't believe that 2018 is in its final hours.
But anyway, I wanted to share some thoughts, both about looking back at the year, and also about looking forward and what I hope to accomplish for the new year.
2018 had its ups and downs, as any year is wont to have. Some of the ups:
- I added a history minor to my degree, and had a great time with that history research class to boot.
- I got to go visit my big sister and her husband in Wisconsin back in February, that was a very nice trip.
- I saw many great movies this year, from undisputed triumphs like Avengers Infinity War, to more contentious (but in my mind, quite underrated) fare like Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom and The Crimes of Grindelwald. Though perhaps the biggest surprise for me this year was that I saw Aquaman last week, and it was actually really damned good. Finally, Warner Bros. gave us a new DC superhero movie that didn't suck!
- My dad and I went on that big trip out West that I've been wanting to go on for a few years now. Having seen Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, a good number of fossil sites, I can safely say that it was a wonderful time and that I'm VERY happy I got to go 
- I discovered the superb Witcher series, both the books and the video games. Definitely made a lot of tough times go by easier thanks to having the stories of Geralt of Rivia there, I gotta say.
- I've made my share of friends and watchers on this site. And I just want to say thank you, to each and every one of you. 
- Besides the movies I saw in theaters, as a cinephile I also got to see plenty of other great movies, from hysterical comedies like The Producers and Tropic Thunder, to to-notch action movies like the John Wick movies, as well as more surprising fare like Christopher Robin and Brigsby Bear. (Not to mention, I finally saw my first Kurosawa movie in Yojimbo, so all in all this was an awesome year for me as a movie-watcher!)
Now that being said, the year also had its share of downsides, some of them serious ones too. I don't want to dwell too much on them, but I've had my share of things with real life biting me hard.
(And I mean that literally. I got bit pretty good by someone's dog in September, and am still getting crap from the medical people over the bills. 
Thank God for my parents' help in all of that...)
But at any rate, that's not how I want to end this post on.
It's been a tough year in some ways. There's a lot of crap going on in the world. There often is.
But I want to say, right now, that that's not the end of it.
I want to go ahead into the new year, with a sense that we can make it better.
Even if that is nothing more than just continuing to write, to make new friends, or continuing to talk to old ones... little things can make the biggest of differences. I've only been on this site for a little over a year, and yet I'm very happy to have known and met some of the people that I have here. I can only hope to have more happy memories on this site, be it through something as simple as posting reviews of movies that I like...
Or by actually writing up stories and posting them.
And yes, that's something I've become motivated to actually DO now. I've had ideas, lots of them, for a long time now, but aside from some posted teasers and idle talk, I've done precious little besides plan and make notes for them.
That, hopefully, will change. I've got ideas I want to write up in full now, from lighthearted comedic stuff (one of which is admittedly my tribute to the sadly-departed Stephen Hillenburg ) to more epic-scale fare...
From that long-awaited Star Wars crossover I've wanted to write for so long; to a superhero story that I've been motivated to do more of, in light of the tragic passing of Stan Lee a month ago. That one will be in tribute to him, as a "thank you" to the man whose comics shaped so much of my childhood and interests.
It's a tall order, I admit. I've got a LOT of stuff I want to get done, both in terms of writing, and in real life.
But I think it's good to have some high goals to strive for sometimes. ^_^
Happy New Year, everyone and everypony.
Let's all do what we can to make it a good one.
Happy New Year ya silly!
*raises glass and Party Cannon*
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And a Happy New Year to you as well!
Let's do what we can to make it a good one!
Happy New Year!
I've had both of my hands bitten by a dog and I know how you feel. Hope you healed up okay.
Yeah, this year has been an up and down for me too. Some good has come from it though. I've actually got a bit more confidence due to an ordeal I've suffered at work and I plan on building on that realization. I've also found out that I'm a pretty decent repair man and I plan on going back to school for it as well as tackling some responsibilities that had been intimidating tasks before.
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Happy New Year to you as well!
Yeah, I've healed up pretty well, honestly. I very occasionally get a twinge in my knee, but aside from that it's all good. Just the bills and crap like that in the aftermath, that's the true pain of it XD
Anyway, there's that. I wish you the best with the new year and your own endeavors, friend, and I hope that we both have success in the days ahead!
What about Wonder Woman?
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I have some mixed views on Wonder Woman to be honest. Yes, Gal Gadot is amazing, but Ares's mustache makes me cringe, the final battle between him and WW is too Zack Snyder for my tastes, and I have some issues with some of the World War One content of the movie.
In short, it's good, not great. I liked WW okay, but I had a ball with Aquaman.