2014 in review

The year's coming to a close and the semester is ending for many of us, so I thought it would be a good time to look back at 2014. Obviously the year's not over yet so Amaury you can stop typing right now, I am aware. Just write what your year was like or whatever.

Spoiler

2014 was without a doubt the most polarizing year of my life. The first part was one of the best periods in a very long time. It was probably my strongest semester academically in... ever. It was the first time I experienced taking a class that I truly enjoyed, liked doing work for, and consider a rewarding experience. I was in a strong place emotionally and came to multiple realizations that had been great sources of stress before. Things weren't perfect, but they were certainly better than they had been since like the first part of 2009 or something. And then came mid-summer. We spent most of the summer stressing over a sick relative, trying to take care of them and find out what was wrong and all that stuff. I spent the majority of my summer staying with them. And then they died in late August, like the week before school started. It was absolutely devastating for the family. Since it happened so late in the summer it made the start of the semester rather difficult. Not only emotionally, but also because of things that needed to be done and traveling and stuff. Where the spring 2014 was my strongest semester academically, the fall 2014 semester was easily the worst. I hated nearly all of my classes but they were requirements so I had to take them, and I won't go into detail but things got pretty bad. like really bad. I'm so glad that it's over and I eagerly await next semester when I'll be taking more classes that appeal to me. Because of the death this summer (which wasn't the only relative that died, actually), this holiday season will be an odd one. Things are changing and that can be rough, but we'll get through it. I will remember the first 5.5 months of 2014 as the time I read One Piece. Ah, One Piece. Started 1/11 and finished 6/7. It was quite a considerable undertaking and I did burn out once or twice, but man did I feel like a ****ing king when I finished it. So much fun. kinda want to do it again. I read a lot of other stuff this summer as well. Fairy Tail. Sex Criminals. A lot of Batman stuff since it's the 75th anniversary year. A lot of other stuff. Soul Eater in the fall which also became a favorite. I started playing Pokemon again. My comic, Blu-ray, and CD collections grew significantly. Garden of Words became my favorite anime after having a profound emotional experience with that. Watched in on my birthday, actually. One Piece is still my favorite anime/manga property, though. I developed a love for science fiction which is still growing. And other stuff. Overall it wasn't a bad year. If the second half had been like the first, it may have been one of the best. Hopefully 2015 will be better. I'm kinda nervous. Some major changes are coming up soon and I don't know if I'm ready.

 

Year's not over.

 

Eh

 

i was sad and i took a lot of selfies

( this is a cute topic maybe I will write up something better when it isn't 6:45am )

 

I'll have to end up writing something too~
I like this. This is nice. Proud of you dude

 

I graduated from university and passed my driving test. 2014 was a good year, would recommend

 

I had an uncle that passed away. I didn't really know him very well, but it still kinda stung.
I saw my first (travelling) Broadway play, which was really fun.
Watched more anime this year than I had any other year.
Published a novella, which also is the one piece of work I'm super proud of (thus far).
I wrote a feature-length film script
I made it to two-years post transplant without any signs of rejection (fingers crossed).
Did a panel at an anime convention twiced.
Got the notebook I used to craft my Madoka Magica panel signed by the English voice actress of Madooka.
Saw a lot of really great movies!

 

was stressed about entering college and now i'm stressed about being in college

( haha but for real i'll write up more post-finals or smth )

 

Let's see. I started Monogatari early this year. February or March, not sure. It became my favorite series. Then I graduated and got an associate in science at community college after taking a summer class. Currently smfhing at the cost of going to UNCC in January since we got no money saved away for college.

Still love Monogatari more than anything else after watching a lot of other anime.

Somehow accumulated ~800+GB of anime???????

????????????????

help

oh yea and i've progressively, through this year, gotten better at making gifs​

 

This year was both good and bad for me.

I lost both my grandfathers within a week of each other.
But I finally convinced my mother to let me go to therapy.
I started out the year with zero moneys.
I still have zero moneys, but at least now I have a job I adore that has kept me from completely draining my account.
My sister got married.
I started a professional Youtube and Twitter account.
My artwork has improved.
I started school again.

So yeah, except for the thing about my Grandad, not a bad year.

 

cut bc serious (yeah i am a former lj-er and i use words like cut deal)

Spoiler

in terms of mental health i cannot say this was a banner year, i was and am still coming out from under this weight that's been enveloping me for several months. what troubles me most of all is that it's not like other times where i can tell what's going on and there's some kind of emotional reaction, i've just felt flat and anti-social and like i don't want to do anything but curl up in bed and sleep for a few days. some days it's like i just completely shut off and that scares me, i don't want to do that again. at least when i've been depressed before, if that's even the right word, there was some emotional heart to it, so that i could try to find some solution. but when your brain is just switching off and you're just petering along on autopilot... it's so easy to get trapped there and i don't want that to happen again

but even so, the year has had its high points. i'm getting my two year degree in like a week and i'm really proud of that even if it's an insignificant accomplishment when considering the amount of schooling i have ahead of me, both for my chosen career path and because i basically just want to accrue as many degrees as possible. i read some cool books and watched some cool shows and listened to some cool music and did some cool things this year, i was promoted at work, and i generally feel like i'm starting to understand who i am and who i want to be, and maybe it'll be a long time -- maybe forever -- until i can close the gap between the two, but i definitely feel i've taken steps in the right direction. halfway through 2015 i'll be making a huge life change and even if 2014 wasn't great, i'm looking forward to working on myself and treating myself better early in 2015 in preparation

 

I did stuff and it was good.

 

Jan - Not much happened
Fen - Youngest nephew turned one
March- Went to a cool con
April - Not much happened
May- Birthday
June - Aug - Not much happened
Sept - Went to a con that was also **** but I met Brentalfloss
Oct - Sister got married
Nov - Took part in Nanowrimo
Dec - Went to Tunisia

 

I lost a lot of friends and gained some new ones, and learned that the power of introspection is mightier than you could ever imagine.

Advice, for those who are kind enough to accept it:

• Never be altruistic when it comes to money. I would say never be altruistic, period, but I guess you want to have some so-called decency.
• Stick to just one thing -- no matter the thing -- and never veer from it.
• Avoid contradicting yourself.
• Never put your wholehearted trust in somebody.
• Dream realistically.
• Be conscientious in the way you organize your priorities.

And that's just a few.

Be careful in 2015, guys. Take advantage of that raw potential and start afresh.

 

Definitely the most up-and-down year for me yet; I went through both the worst and absolute best days of my life so far. But to sparknote it:

• Had my late winter and spring practically ruined from stress over my senior thesis.
• Didn't get in to medical school and had to go through the ego-crushing process of reapplying.
• Got dumped by my long-term girlfriend.
• Got in to multiple medical schools soon after reapplying.
• Hit it off with a new girl and managed to start dating her.

The last month and a half or so was well worth the 10+ months of awful. It's been a year that's really matured me.

 

I'm going to sum it all up in a video*

Spoiler

*Video is not an actual summation of my year, I thought it'd be cute.... Unless we're talking about my year in terms of the game Sleeping Dogs, then that's actually pretty accurate. Fuck you, Square-Enix for taking all of my love with that F2P announcement

You know, I should make a scrapbook for this year. It was pretty good. minusthelastcouplemonths

 

Spoiler

I became sad and detached and looked off into the distance often. I also went to hip cafes and wore hats and drank coffee

 

Spoiler

Tried to lose weight again. Failed.
Got better at talking to people, kind of.
Found a lot of music I like.
Was pretty happy most of the time.
Did slightly better in school.
Slept a lot.
Was in hospital a lot.
Found out what I want to do in the future.
Looked forward to 2015.