2012

Commercial break to all this self-assessment stuff, although I'm sure I'll be doing a bit of that in this entry as well. I have a few things:

1. Not sure how to fix this egregious amount of white space in between paragraphs without going into the HTML, and doing that is just plain annoying. But I'll try to get to it. Apologies.
2. Is it legal to post two or more entries in a day?
3. I forgot to ask, how do you all like the "new" layout? Previously, it was the Final Fantasy XII one made by my friend from years ago, but now I customized it and added a bio page.
4. 2011 was such a life-changing and critical year for me. Thank you, 2011. 
5. Happy 2012!
6. And with the wake of a new year comes the infamous New Year's Resolution. What is yours?

For me, past resolutions, as usual, lasted for about a month and then I lost steam.  The good thing is, these things linger as habits of mine, so I can say that I gradually "improve" over time.  But of course, there is always more room for improvement. For me, we have the usuals: sleep more, keep working out regularly, eat healthy, make good grades, yay. But I must also add these:

• Get a job. Derp. Doesn't have to be the best thing in the world, just something for me to get more experience and money. And hopefully it's ethical.
• Only check Facebook for messages from people who matter to me. I'm gradually realizing how terribly annoying this site is--how in many ways it's just a way for people to create an image of themselves. And of course, it's a terrible time waster in terms of stalking people and such. I was greatly tempted today to deactivate my account, but then I realized I'd be cutting myself off from some people I care about in which FB is indeed the most convenient way to contact them.
• Limit my shopping. I assessed the backlog of video games, anime, manga, and books I own that I still have not finished or even started, and it's rather disgusting. 
• Play more piano. My granduncle once told me that one of the greatest gifts in life is the ability to create your own music and escape in it. 
• Write again. Not just for school or these hum-ho musings of mine, but for creative purposes. I was known as the award-winning poet in elementary and high school. Whatever happened to that girl? 
• I recently read in the Daily Finance that in 1987, people received a personal, handwritten letter from a friend every two weeks on average. By last year, this rate dropped to one every seven weeks. Well, as long as USPS hangs onto its fringes, I want to write more letters or at least send more cards to people. 
• Become even more aware of what I say and what I do. Good job, ethics classes. What I hate most is hurting people I care about because I said something stupid.
• Stop taking my girlfriends' comments to heart about watching my weight because whenever I think I'm gaining weight or getting fat, I'm actually getting skinnier. I'm a size 0/XS/S now. Maybe I'm still bigger than them because I'm not under 5 feet tall and I don't have a flat chest or look malnourished like the rest of these native Asian FOBs (<3). What happened? Life is funny. Maybe they're actually jealous of me. Maybe they're just crazy. Maybe they're aaaaall insecure. Or maybe looking malnourished and weak is beautiful to them? It's not to me.
• Be in the present moment. I think too much about the next five years or the next five days or the next five minutes or even the next five seconds. I need to think about now, too, and love it.
• These can all be summed into this one goal: enjoy life. Look past the fake or unsustainable joy in material things, hold onto my values... Yes, all the fluff your local priest or monk told you. 

But think about it. Life is dynamic. Life is short, life is long. Life is hard to predict. Might as well enjoy it. In such a time of economic crisis and ethics being thrown out the window, all the more do we need joy in our lives.