spiderpig | And another year gets eaten by goblins.

新年あけましておめでとうございます皆さん！

And so I'm 1 hour into the new year and barely feeling a thing. I suppose 18 successive new years have made me more of a veteran to this whole thing - I no longer possess the childlike wonder that somehow the numbers of the years could just change after 365 days. Frankly speaking though, I still have no idea why they do, but I've given up wondering why.

The past few days have been laced with meet-ups and dinners, so much so that I think I should probably just sell myself as a stuff turkey to recompensate the trauma that comes with being a fat, overweight fangirl. There, instead of being a hikikomori fujyoshi, I declare myself a FOF. It sounds a little more pleasant than FYG in any sense. Ramblings aside, it's the whirlwind of activities in the past week which have reminded me what 2007 was about, or wasn't about.

All in all, I have to say that I'm glad I was around in 2007. Even with all the negative things that happened, it's those awesome moments that will always (hopefully) dry that wetblanket. For one thing, travelling to Japan without a chaperone was possibly the best thing that could ever happen to me - and most probably marks the start of subsequent pilgramages there - and maybe for my travelling partners. If planning the whole thing and carrying it through doesn't count as a feat, I don't know what else I can do to justify how much I can actually accomplish. I'm your almost perfect travel planner, that's what I am!

Cushioned between good things, I'll choose to rant about the unsavoury happenings of the year. As much as I hate to admit it, ever since that event happened (or that course of events I suppose), I've nearly lost myself. What defined 'me' and 'I' was nearly swept away by something so silly - now that I look back on it. But at that point of time, and for many months after, I just felt myself wasting away. To be melodramatic, the very core of my soul was polluted. I thought I had found something, but in the end, it was sheer rubbish. The thing is that, I've changed. I'm not the same anymore. I don't know if I can ever fully recover from it, but thank god for my friends, for Japan, and thank god for everything that I've been doing to keep my mind away from it. And who said that being an otaku was unhealthy? Being an otaku veritably has saved my life!

2007 will always be remembered as the year I died, and when someone else emerged out of the wasted heap. I don't know who I am right now, or who I will become but I'm sure that I'm going to at the very least, become someone that I'm going to be proud of.

This year also marks the first of many things: going to university, travelling alone, getting a debit card (and credit card XD), learning how to drive and having my car stall for the first time; all these firsts make my life seem a lot more worth living and a lot less the kind where I just sit and watch things go by. Being a real crazy fangirl and chasing after Masi Oka (who will forever remain on the pedastal I erected for him) with my bouken and huge banners and then appeared on the Heroes NBC website is something that I'll never forget. Having that 12 hour marathon at SINGFEST where

spirylstatic and I couldn't go to the toilet and got manhandled by the increasingly rowdy crowd. Getting my phone fucking stolen by those fucking thieves in Shenzhen. Things that I'd rather have not happen, things that I wish I could relive again - 2007's been a mindblowing experience.

And hopefully I'll write even more in this year, what with the creative streak that I've been blessed with in the past year. Writing has always been a part of me, and I hope I get to further hone in my skill in order to achieve my ultimate goal ~~of taking over the universe~~.

I've grown jaded with resolutions. My goals tend to adapt to the situation and setting concrete ones will just further the disappointment somewhere in the future. So what do I want for 2008? Well, everything actually.

2008's Wishes (a.k.a things that I'm not really obliged to fulfil like resolutions, but just try my best in accomplishing them and enjoying the journey)

Continue my good grades and aim for even better grades (oh ho ho ho)
Retain my sanity amidst the hordes of events I'm dealing with next year : HOOKED, writing for other publications, the UN seminar in June, helping with the Anime Club stuff (here's to re-aquainting myself with a friend from the old TwistedHopes days!)
Partake in more creative writing competitions to build my portfolio
Put in more effort into mastering Japanese - half-baked doesn't cut it! --> This means that I'm going to do at least one full Japanese post once a week! Starting from this week!
Set up the KAITEN SOSHI network.
Further improve on Tachikomatic Days! It's no where near the level of alafista.com or moeside, let alone the ranks of DarkMirage or the king (LOL) DannyChoo but I want to expand on my otaku blogging!
PASS MY FRIGGIN DRIVING TEST BY JUNE. Which means I need to stop procrastinating and just face the mutated Mohinder.
Start drawing again. My skills have been reduced to pretty looking heads and nothing else. =A=;;;
Source for writing internships, venture out of my saftey zone and find free-lance writing jobs for hobby, game, and/or tech magazines. If I'm going to carve out a niche in these few segments, I better start now when I'm still young and in Singapore.
Save enough money for a Winter trip to Japan in 2009 (OMG WINTER COMIFES!) / OR, my upcoming exchange trip

That probably sums it all up. I love lists. Everything seems a little better when you list them down and slowly cross them off. It's a visual thing, I swear. (And oh man, USP, please tell me that I've been shortlisted for the Waseda DDP!)

Thanks for a wonderful year LJ and friends!