Shoot, a whole three months has already gone by and no blog? What’s the reason! Well, simple: I haven’t done anything. It’s hibernation time for this bear and let me just tell you that my video game intake is way up, along with my TV, books, and just about everything else intake. Strangely, I haven’t watched that many movies, but mainly because most of the movies out in January and February were pretty trash. Straight up, the only strong recommends I can give for the past three months of movies is 20th Century Women, the ESPN O.J. documentary, and Logan starring Dafne Keen. Killing the books though, as I’m well on my way to breaking fifty, a goal that will become a top five moment for me this year.
Top one worst 2017 moment: Remember when the Atlanta Falcons made the Super Bowl? Remember when they scored three early touchdowns and was killing the Patriots and I was on the ground just ready to burst with joy? I hate watching big games with other people and in a game of this magnitude I could only survive if I was surrounded by loved ones. Of course, AMR was cheering for Brady (I hate him, Brady and AMR both), George fell asleep right as the Falcons were falling apart, and Greta, who can blame anything on wonderful Greta, who sat in my lap for a few moments during the crucial Green Bay game that launched Atlanta into their second Super Bowl? Of course, Greta was sleeping as the greatest collapse in Super Bowl history was happening, so at least she was spared that destruction.
I give up. Football, I’m over you. Coming two or three minutes away from a championship is going to be as good as it gets and the pain’s just not worth it. I had been planning to message a friend from middle school — the only other Falcons fan I’ve ever met — and congratulate us for our journey (we haven’t talked since high school), but alas I guess that won’t be necessary.
Instead, I have funneled my emotional well-being into inanimate things like my new $200 Muji toaster, my new 4k computer monitor that invites me into the Netherworld of the internet (apparently not capitalized anymore) where I can hang out with my own kind. I caress joy in reflecting on the infinitesimal odds of finding a mostly exact replica of my beloved denim jacket, but in a perfect lighter shade. What are the odds?! (Thank you Forever 21 for being so good at copying.) Also I bought a PS4 because you can’t spend all day staring at a screen — gaming on a TV doesn’t count right? In-between bouts of Call of Duty: Black Ops I make friends online with gamer tags, aka strangers, whom I only communicate with via brief in-game chats or moving my character around in various expressive patterns. It’s a life my friends. It's the future.
How well does this all dovetail with the grand plans I made for 2017? Well, you can figure that out for yourself. Above is my mind map, which outlines everything I hope to accomplish and focus on this year. It’s semi-tiered, because things should be prioritized and arranged. The most important categories on the map are: House, Job, Writing, Adult.
So far the house thing is looking great, as we’ve vacated the old tenants and I sort of know how to drive there without consulting Google Maps. People have been asking me if I’ve moved in yet but the truth is we haven’t even started on solid remodeling plans. So I won’t be moving in for a few months at least. Also I am learning about the tyranny of “future buyers” and how that impacts house decisions. Like apparently people won’t buy a house if you don’t have a bathtub. (I don’t take baths.) Or how it’s important to keep the value of a house up by not converting a bedroom into a glass enclosed office. Or how it would be bad feng shui for me to not sleep in the master bedroom but instead turn it into the ultimate movie and karaoke room. Basically I want to transform the house into a combination diner / cafe / theater / board game / office / collectibles monstrosity that wouldn’t sit well with other home owners. You know, strangers who may want to buy my house in a few years.
Newsflash: Once I get into this house I’m not leaving it, so I feel like I should just design it for me, and not some prospectives who will need to wash their dog in the non-existent bathtub. Also, no dogs allowed.
So yeah, there will be lots of house talk in the coming days. But then what? Well, I’m getting itchy already. For example today I deep dived into Remote Year, which is a program where you travel with seventy-five strangers for an entire year, staying one month each in a new city and working from the road. It seems ideal for me, and the cost is not prohibitive. Upon further investigation though, I would probably hate it. Too many (white) Americans, too many bad accommodations, too many headaches, and from what I can tell half the group ends up leaving by the end. Still, it’s got a certain romance to it doesn’t it? Twelve months away with a group cohort, globe hopping, having adventures, laughing about all the bad things that will inevitably happen. And think of the moblogs, it would be a moblog explosion!
Interestingly, Taiwan also has such a program, but only for one month. Maybe this is a thing now, an all-inclusive travel experience for digital nomads. It sounds great right? I was also thinking maybe this should be my summer to summer in Amsterdam, as I have always said I want to do that. But really, who would I go with? I have a few unemployed friends at the moment but they seem to be mostly concerned with finding their next employment — a responsible, solid idea — and there’s no way I can go hang out in a foreign country by myself, right?
Instead I’ll likely, steel yourself...join a gym soon (somehow according to the weigher thing closest to me, I've dropped weight recently). I'll continue to explore the world of “pizza on demand,” and generally just hang out around Poway and Rancho Bernardo, with the most exciting thing being a ride down to Convoy for boba. Let’s not underestimate that by the way, this ShareTea boba is pretty freaking good - my new thing is the "Okinawa double boba."
I guess I knew this is what this year would be like, and I am thankful for the company I have and how mundane everything has gotten. There is a quietness in the mundane. My focus is able to turn internal, and this is a nice Reset Year (patent pending) and toward that end I have had expansive time to fall into my old do nothing habits, which has forced me to become mentally productive, at the very least. And even some writing has been accomplished (!), as I kicked out a few chapters of a project as well as version one of a non-fiction book proposal.
Plus in an effort to get myself out there — out there! — I’m volunteering as a programmer for Pacific Arts Movement, which throws the annual San Diego Asian Film Festival. The people already seem culturally a cut above (what is usually in San Dieog), and it’ll be a change to be involved in something that is so far in the future -- SDAFF is in November. Also I just returned from the Bay and Joshua Tree, so I can also legitimately say I’ve been out of the house this year.
To spring.
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