One book per month

Not that I don’t read books. I used to get the borrower of the year award from the library when I was in high school. It’s just that I haven’t had some free time for myself. And this is what I really missed doing… the speed reading and the fantasy worlds it leads me.

Well, my target for this year will be to read a book a month. Manga not included, of course. Sort of like the monthly book reading reports we had when I was in high school. And it shouldn’t be just about romantic fiction.

I haven’t started yet and January is about to end. I got one more week left… better find a book asap.

See more progress on: read books

What's in a day?

I failed to finish this last year. I only managed half a year before my schedule became so hectic I missed a lot and ended up not completing this.

So far this year I haven’t missed yet. It helps that in the forum I’m in quite a number of us want to give it another try so we sort of encourage each other to continue. :)

Project 365 list

See more progress on: complete project 365

I finally enrolled in language classes

I finally got the nerve to enroll in language classes rather than try learning on my own. I have just started my elementary Japanese classes and have attended two sessions already. It’s supposed to be for a year but since I wanted to finish earlier I took the intensive course which will end in June. Not sure if it’s a good thing as my schedule this year is a bit hectic. Plus, the pace is quite fast. Right now I’m struggling after just two sessions. But just like my fave Japanese athlete, Mao, I will try my best and persevere. haha!

While studying intensive Japanese is already quite difficult for me, my roomie wants to enroll in a French class since she might be assigned to work in a French-speaking country. And since I have always wanted to learn that language, too, I enrolled with her. Better have someone you know as your classmate. At least I can practice with her. :-P

See more progress on: Learn another language

The Merlion from my Nokia 5800

Here's a shot of the Merlion taken from my Nokia 5800. I finally got a night shot that's acceptable (for me). My Sony Ericsson w800 actually took much better night photos before.

Been too busy

*sigh* been too busy since the start of the year that I'm not able to update my blogs. I'll try to make updates again and start with at least a post a week. Hope I'll be able to do this... =)

For starters, I've started doing one of the things I loved doing before and that is collecting postcards. It's such a wonderful feeling when you receive postcards from different countries. I'll be making another blog dedicated to this hobby. =)

Will update you soon.

My Project 365

I've stated in my New Year's resolutions posted yesterday that I wanted to do a project 365 where I have to take a picture a day for an entire year. Well, I started yesterday also. =) Here's to hoping that I can actually consistently do this 'til the end of the year. Of course, they're not photographer quality material as I'm only using my mobile phone's camera (as of the moment) but it's ok with me. What's more important is that when I look back later I can still remember how my year went by... ;)

So here goes my project 365. I made a photoblog just for this: Project 365: What's in a day?! 

If you're also doing your own project 365, feel free to share them here.

Goodbye 2009! Happy New Year 2010!

Goodbye 2009. May the new year bring me and everyone happy times and more success!

2009 hasn't been quite good to me. Well, there were good things and there were bad things. I was able to do some of my resolutions last year. Would've wanted to accomplish all but certain issues seem to have affected my goals. Some of the goals I'll list for this year will be a bit related to what I posted last year so here goes:

• Refrain from letting other people use my credit cards' limits no matter what. They're just good at making me feel guilty so that I'd let them "swipe" or pay something online and then never bother to fulfill their promise of paying me on time even if they know it affects the other items on my billing statement, my good credit standing and my finances. It's a tad bit better if they'll give partial but, alas, I'm left to pay for what they've enjoyed... including the charges. Can't believe even professionals will do something like not paying. They've totally ruined their credibility to me. 
• Pay off my CC bills hopefully within the first quarter so that I can finally save for myself. [related to no. 1]
• Save, save, save money and look for feasible investments
• Have the courage to finally use contact lenses
• Have my hair rebonded [hehe]
• Learn another language [again. But this is a must this time]
• Overseas vacation
• Take a picture for every day of the year [project 365]
• Strive for self improvement
• Forget the word "tired" 

Career-wise, I found this post tweeted by Smashing Magazine very interesting. I'll pick some I'd like to achieve this year:

• Get some exercise. Working from home make me stick to my chair most of the time so I really need this goal.
• Live beyond your workspace. Pretty understandable.
• Don’t be scared of the dark side, take more risks
• Work on stuff outside your comfort zone. I think I've started this last year. I'm quite happy so would like to continue doing so this year.
• Read more... that and learn more from what you've read
• Make time for personal design projects. I've started some projects last year and would like to give them a bit more priority this year.
• Network and connect with people (it’s part of the job)
• Work smarter
• Use the internet to make your life easier, not harder

I guess... that's majority of what the writer posted in that article. But they're all very useful anyway so... ;)

Here's to hoping I'll be able to do most of what's listed here this year. I'm not aiming for all since that's quite impossible, I think.

Again, Happy New Year to all!!!

Mao Asada is back and gets Olympic spot! Japan Olympic Team named.

Japanese Figure Skating Nationals was such a nailbiter! In the Men's event, I was pretty sure Daisuke Takahashi, Nobunari Oda and Takahiko Kozuka will be named in the Olympic Team. Nobunari Oda already clinched a spot when he placed 2nd at the Grand Prix Final but Takahashi and Kozuka still have to prove themselves at nationals. Daisuke Takahashi won, Nobunari Oda was second and Takahiko Kozuka third. :)

The ladies' event, however, was even more of a nailbiter with so many competitors deserving of an Olympic spot. Miki Ando already got a spot when she placed 2nd at the Grand Prix Final so only two remaining spots are up for grabs. Yesterday and today proved to be stressful for fans. Point-wise, they were all so close with Mao Asada in the lead. But it was a very minimal lead. Yukari Nakano, Miki Ando and Akiko Suzuki were close behind. I think Mao shouldn't have gotten a downgrade, though. Her triple axel looked fully rotated to me. But aside from that, she delivered a wonderful performance. Her spirals and steps have been modified and they looked even better now. She's also held her spirals longer so she got high levels. Most of all, I love her reaction at the end of her skate. It was so nice to see her smile like that again. That's what made me a fan in the first place. :-D

Today's free skate was even more nerve-wracking than yesterday because of the point difference in scores -- just less than 2 points separating the top 4 ladies. Even more so when Yukari Nakano skated really, really well and posted a high score. Miki had some problems, I think. But when I read that Mao skated clean and got 204 I was really, really happy and relieved. She did only one triple axel today and a 2A-2T instead of her 3A-2T. After watching her FS it was good to see her finally skate to it cleanly. I do think she skated conservatively and not with her intended full program content seeing that her 3A in the SP got downgraded. I do wish she used her blue and black Japan Open costume. I like it much better than the red and black one she's using now. So... Yay! Congrats, Mao!!!

Fumie Suguri didn't do so well and Akiko fell. I thought it was a fall on a jump but glad to find out later it wasn't. While I'm ecstatic Mao made the team, I know my heart is going to break for either Akiko or Yukari. They both got the same PCS but Akiko got higher TES. Overall, there's only 0.17 separating them with Akiko winning silver and Yukari getting bronze. Akiko got the third Olympic spot while Yukari goes to Worlds. Both ladies deserve to go to Olympics so while I'm very happy for Akiko I'm also very sad for Yukari... :'( This is the second time she missed being named to the Olympic team. But I hope she rocks at Worlds next year and show them all what she's got. It also seems Fumie didn't get named to either 4CC or Worlds so nationals is probably her last competition this season. I don't know if she's going to retire after or not...

It's interesting to note that there are so many junior skaters who are also doing well in this competition esp. Kanako Murakami. Such a joy on the ice! It looks like Japan will have a strong presence in the future seasons to come.

Aside from Men and Ladies, Japan is also sending Cathy Reed and Chris Reed (Ice Dance) to the Olympics.

Congratulations to all of them and I hope they do really well in Vancouver!