Howdy There 2014

The new year has arrived folks. Frankly I'm excited as I accomplished a good bit last year and am hoping to continue the trend. One kind of lackluster note for any readers (anyone? Me?) is that I obviously didn't start my big project in mid-December. The not so big secret is that I was trying to start up a public domain movie show in the fashion of MonsterVision or Elivra but I decided that given current circumstances I won't be able to make the show to my desired level of quality. I plan on starting it up this year, after I give myself a few months to work on the logistics and get some other major accomplishments-jobs, book writing-cleared out. Now I'm aiming towards a launch date of spring/summer, so as many Japanese folks like to say, Please look forward to it.

Now that 2013 is over, I figured I'd note a few things I accomplished over the year that made it memorable. Most of these are things that occurred before I started this site, or just neglected to write about.

#1. My first website: Of course starting this site is chiefly notable. I'd been dreaming of having my own blog for years,a task I'd neglected for whatever reason before originally starting it up on wordpress. It was less than a week before I moved to the far superior blogging tools available here on blogger. Granted, this little enterprise isn't everything I want it to be just yet but here's hoping I can make it into something special over time.

#2. New hobbies: 3 new obsessions joined my already hefty portfolio of interests over the last twelve months. First up I fully dived into the world of tokusatsu. Previously I'd flirted with some classic Japanese heroes like Ultraman and Iron King but the time finally came for me to expand into Super Sentai and the like which resulted in me viewing all of Dairanger, both seasons of Akibaranger, and almost half of kakuranger, This year I plan on making my way through more shows, including my first Kamen Rider. Anyone have a suggestions for which one to start with?

Upcycling worked its way onto my life thanks to a combination of boredom and the need for some more furniture/decorations. I didn't complete anywhere near the amount of projects I wanted-thanks to the early onset of cold wet weather-which is going to have me jumping at the bit come spring.

Finally the big new hobby is getting into the board game scene. I started up around July, mainly thanks to a clearance priced copy of Settlers of Catan. That small start soon ballooned up to something like 15-16 games with multiple expansions as well. It's even led to my first kickstarter item. It's honestly a great-though pricy-hobby and there will definitely be more coverage on here about it.

#3. Public April Fools gags: Far too many years passed by with me usually forgetting about April fools. Last year I decided to make a proper tradition out of the day by making odd things to put around town in the hopes of fooling complete strangers. It's a tough thing to write about as there's only so much I can reveal about each prank without ruining it. However; I aim to continue this idea each and every year, finally making the first of April a very important day.

#4 Nerdy accomplishments: Finally beat my first Zelda game in the form of the minish cap.

I've now seen every single Godzilla flick.

Completed Star Trek Voyager, which was my last trek show meaning I've seen the whole franchise now. Honestly I'm feeling the need to delve into the books to get my trek fix.

Right before New Years I bought the last item needed to get my horror movie collection up to 600 titles, which made me feel amazing.

#5 Miscellaneous: Danced on a road sign. Chances are you won't come across a downed road sign, but if you do, I highly recommend doing a little jig on it.

First Maple Syrup Festival. Not a huge event by any means but it was nice to finally experience it after living nearby for so many years.

I'd been meaning to give to toys for tots for years, and thanks to a few decent toy deals at wally world I got my chance. It's an odd feeling to give to other people without ever witnessing the final results. Still very glad I did it.

There are so many other things noted out on my sheet of paper that I won't get into seeing as I've made my point that 2013 was a productive year and I hope to keep up the pace and finish some major projects. May good luck come to all of us this year.