...for me that is.
I imagine if I do go back in time to just before 2011, and told myself how much I'd be getting into all this, I might believe myself. But tell that to the me I was in say... June 2010, I'd never have believed so.
While no doubt army has taken away a signifcant portion of my already short life (on the cosmological scale), I at least managed to find and develop a bit outside of it. Not that throwing another several hundred hours into anime is considered as "development", but I'd like to think that at least I furthered myself in an area which I chose to, and learnt... many things.
2011 was the year of the beginning of serious anime watching. And by serious, I mean I don't watch dubs, only subs, listen to the Japanese dialogue while using the subs to understand it better. Sometimes, you can catch nuances that can't be translated into english, and that kind of makes you understand a little more about what's going on.
That was also the year of learning Japanese, because the end of 2010 only got me a little way into it, i.e. the basics: Hiragana and Katakana tables, and the basic grammar structure. I've been trying to make it sound more natural in writing, and that's also one reason I try not to use the polite form, even though it may be easier sometimes.
2011 was also the year of serious photography improvement. I won't say serious photography, since I actually started somewhere in 2009, and decided to get a DSLR in 2010. But my skills somewhat stagnated in 2010, and only in 2011, specifically the second half of it, where I made it a point to research more into technique and composition. My rate of "keepers" has signicifantly improved, and my "worth showing" rate has gone up tremendously.
I also purchased more equipment to help. 2011 saw me getting (in order) the EF 50mm F/1.8 II, the EFS 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5, the Manfrotto 190CX3 with the MH054M0-Q2, and pre-ordered the YongNuo 465 which is due to arrive sometime later this week, or next week.
2011 was my second AFA, this time being waay more serious, and I spent a hell lot on it (almost $500). This had the combination of Anime AND Photography, which was awesome since these are the two biggest things currently for me.
So, quite a big change there for the year 2011...
2012 promises to be an awesome year as well. January is busiest for me since there are all sorts of events happening, while February is gonna be awesome, 'cause that's when we go for our Epic Trip. March and April will determine my future location for the next 4 years, (hopefully it will be the location I've always wanted to go to), then June-July will see DSTA preparing all of us for it, and August will be my self-preparation, followed by September/October which is when I'll get to see my new location, and the start of a new life that will take some getting used to, and I'll probably be able to come back here for a while over December, before you see yet another post stating how awesome my new life is. Wow....
Oh yes, and not to forget those people who will be killed/made fun of/pummeled because they thought the world would end before the next Christmas. Regardless, I'd have already have lived an awesome year anyway.
Heh.