As 2012 comes to an end, I would like to reflect on what happened in 2012 related to Anime Blogging and other stuff since it was a pretty eventful year. (Image Source)
Some Thoughts about Anime Blogging
Compared to 2011, I was posting a lot more since I no longer have the effects of an overactive thyroid hindering my health. At the same time, I didn’t watch many shows compared to last year, thus my backlog didn’t grow much at all. Still, it doesn’t mean that it got any smaller, but I’m thinking of tackling it sometime in the future.
On the other hand, I experienced hosting problems in March 2012 due to some exploit that took the server down. Given that another well-known blogger had problems with WPWebHost, I decided to move to a Virtual Private server. Despite having some problems because of OpenVZ overselling and hardware problems causing downtimes, I moved the server to a beefier Xen virtual server and everything seems to be fine. Hopefully now, I won’t face any more hosting problems in the near future.
Idolmaster Let’s Play
Sometime in July, I have finally completed my Let’s Play of Idolmaster 2. In this recorded play through, I was producing Miki, Chihaya and Yukiho in a unit named 春女の子 (lit. Spring Girls). Although I have limited Japanese skills and can only understand bits of it since I was at an Upper Beginner level, I still had fun recording the videos.
Also, I liked the ending as Miki tries to make love with the producer in the true ending. Still, I’m not sure if I’m going to do another recording of this game since it’s pretty much the same thing, but different story depending on what girl you chose as the leader.
Hurricane Sandy
Believe it or not, Hurricane Sandy is probably the most devastating hurricane to hit New Jersey. While I haven’t experienced a big loss since the basement did not get flooded, beaches where I used to go when I was a child are completely in ruins. It’s kind of sad since I do have pictures where I went with my parents and sister to Point Pleasant Beach during sometime in July before Sandy wrecked it. Even if they rebuild it, it probably won’t be the same.
On the other hand, Sandy had an impact on blogging as we were out of power for nearly a week. While we had a generator to keep the food from spoiling, it was difficult living a normal life. Not only that, I couldn’t get a signal on my iPhone after the storm passed by. This was the main reason I was inactive for a few days. On the other hand, it eventually got restored, so I was able to make a few posts through it even though it was painful. Thankfully, the power got restored several days later, allowing me to blog normally again.
Japanese Self-Study Progress
Like you would expect, I have finished all the elementary level Japanese grammar in August. Although I didn’t memorize all the Kanji yet, I’m still motivated to learn some more when I picked up an Intermediate Japanese textbook. While I experienced a few difficulties with some of the grammar rules, I was able to get used to most of it. Hopefully, I will get this done by late spring of next year and possibly tackle JPLT N4 or something. Even so, I still need to catch up on Kanji memorization since that is also important.
This wraps up what I have to say about what I experienced in 2012. With that, I hope everyone have a Happy and Healthy New Years. I’ll see you in 2013 as I post my future plans and goals for my blog.
お正月おめでとう、みなさん！
Have a Happy New Year! Good luck with your Japanese studies.
Happy new years to you to. 🙂
Onward! To victory!!
Staying strong… hopefully I survive for years to come. :p