Happy New Year, 2017!
Once again, I wrote about things that happened by the end of 2015, and had it posted on the last day of 2016. Now, let’s see what happened in 2016.
Click here to read the capsule from the end of 2014.
Greetings from 2015! Another year has come and gone. With the success of your 2014 time capsule, it’s only right to make one for this year, as well. Although this blog was written on January 3, 2016, it only encompasses the dates between December 31, 2014, and December 31, 2015. Please comment as you see fit!
K.
You can’t remember the first half of 2015 very well, since it was pretty meh. You made the decision to take a semester off school to clear your head, and in the process found a part time job to help earn your keep. Plushies have been put on hold for the most part, in favour of learning to cook new dishes from scratch. Your current signature dish is chicken “stoup,” as dubbed by Shoony this New Year’s Eve.
This is a recurring attitude for me; the year starts off slowly, something terrible occurs, but then it picks up in time to end happily. Kind of like a movie. Dunno if I’d recommend watching it.
Your cooking continues to improve, if I do say so myself! You made chicken stoup again this year, and you just might have figured out how to keep it looking creamy and white, without compromising flavour. You’re getting better at this roux business.
Chicken Pot Pie Soup, with a side of Shoony finger
The semester you spent in school was not a waste, of course! You studied Mandarin Chinese, discovered a new interest in video editing, and made a cutscene for your Demo Reel Development class. The latter is your first step towards completing your game project. That’s good! Next stop, the prototype. Expect to graduate in 2017; better late than never.
I’d like to think that school is never a waste. If you actually learn something useful, then you’ve got your money’s worth. Who wants to spend $40,000 on a piece of paper that you’ll never use? I mean, getting a fancy degree, just to sit behind a desk and fill out spreadsheets? That may be fine for some people, but what about the people who would rather work with their hands, and create things? What about the people who would rather travel abroad, volunteering their time to literally make the world a better place? There are jobs and careers out there besides doctor, lawyer, and accountant. In fact, I’ll leave this here for you, and anyone else who needs to see it. (Source: Facebook)
Sadly, this year was not a good year for your game project. During the first half of the year, you lost sight of this goal. Your passion for game development waned, and suddenly all you ever did was go to class, and work your job. (The latter of which you began to resent, as well) It wasn’t until October, that you regained passion enough to at least redraw your webcomic. Let the cringey old stuff remain lost to the depths of the internet forever.
Your first Anime North was great! You went with your birthday buddy, and you cosplayed Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sadly you didn’t stay long, due to exhaustion, and the fact that your cosplay was derpy at best. Assuming you do return this year, you were considering cosplaying either Sheena from Tales of Symphonia, or Oliver from Ni no Kuni. Hopefully, you’ll run into more people you know.
You didn’t attend Anime North this year. You simply forgot it was happening! XD; Sigh. I don’t think you’ll ever get used to this “adulting” thing. There are plans to attend this year, hopefully with the newlywedded Kitty and Bear. 😀
Tay moved away this year, but you still say hello now and then. You two spent a day together in the summer, and you sent him a Sadaharu plushie after he moved. Thanks to him, you got back into anime, and even found a couple new series to watch. Don’t forget, once he gets his own place, he owes you a sweet snack! Ginger is still as adorable as always, and you continue to pray for his good health. As a matter of fact, you were talking to him moments ago! Conversely, you haven’t spoken to East much since he graduated this year. He’s keeping busy busy, working on everything and stopping for nothing. Whatever that means.
You haven’t spoken to Tay much this year, if at all. He still owes you that snack, of course! And you’ve stayed into anime, thanks to your new friend Cassie. ^_^ As of writing this response, you’ve just watched the first two episodes of Yuri on Ice. It’s pretty good! You could’ve stood to watch a lot more anime this year, but you watched a lot of Doctor Who, which is just as good. 😀
Ginger continues to be adorable, and by the grace of God he is well again. Or at least, as well as he could possibly get. He was there for you during a particularly difficult time, which we will discuss later.
Aburr is doing well, too. Thanks to his suggestion, you can now eat all the creme brulee and real-cream ice cream you want, and not get those horrendous gassy episodes. *pause here to let Shoonie sing her famous song* XD; You got to hang out with him in person twice this year, which is more than you can say for Ginger. ( ; w ; ) Gingy! If you’re reading this, come playyyy!
As far as the blog and crafts go, you entered and won a couple contests on DeviantArt, and you may have earned some fans among Shoony’s friends.
You succeeded in making two more giant plushies: Kirby, and a Master Ball. This year was focused on crafts, particularly sewing and decorative desserts. If anything, you’ll make a good housewife, right? Ha! Ha! Ha!
You didn’t enter many plushie contests this year; not many took place that really piqued your interest. You did, however, become more familiar with beading. Your first “profesh” project was a pair of earrings shaped like Muffet from Undertale. You’ve also decided to leave the fancy dessert deco to Shoonie: Just look at the cake she made for Christmas this year! Sigh… can you believe she’s graduating high school in the coming year? Seems only yesterday, that she was a little ball of energy running around. ;w;
*heavy breathing*
As for being a housewife, to quote you at Top Hat’s place earlier this year, “NO HATCHING EGGS YET, NO!!!”
Speaking of which, you met someone very special this year. We’ll call him M. You met him while visiting Top Hat, and your first words to M were, “hi! Do you taste good? :3” He likes Magic: The Gathering, Doctor Who, cheese, and eating pasta raw. His personality can be described as quirky, silly, nerdy, and cute. He’s also quite keen on you learning to play Magic.
You two had your first official date on July 29, first kiss on August 8, and became “official” on September 1. That means as of writing this blog, you’ve been official for 4 months. Not to mention, he’s convinced you to start watching Doctor Who! Kitty and Brandon seem to like him, as well. This Christmas, you rode the VIA rail train for the first time, and had an “actual” Christmas dinner with his family. (The kids’ table is a thing! People really do bake stuffing inside the turkey! You thought these things only happened on TV!) Maybe things can work, maybe you can make it to an anniversary…
I really didn’t want to get my hopes up by asking this, since we know how things can come crashing down at a moment’s notice: are you two still together? It would be really nice if you are. If not, well like I said last year, you’re hottest at 25, so he’s totally missing out.
You and M didn’t last very long in the end. Yet you’ve managed to maintain friendly contact, which I think is a sign of maturity. Besides, you’ve found someone else. Someone who encourages your creative hobbies, and helped you get back into interests you completely forgot about. And who’da thought that person was right there all along…
Now, it’s time for a checklist of goals, and things I’m looking forward to in the coming year:
- Game: Making a playable prototype.
- Animation: lots more of it.
- School: finally passing “that course.”
- NaNoWriMo: actually complete it this time.
- Plushies: complete at least one per month, even if it’s just a small thing, or not even my own pattern.
- M: our first anniversary.
- Friends: Introducing more of them to M, and attending Kitty’s wedding! =O
- Anime North: attending for the second time.
Well, 2016 Pika? How’d we do? What do you think of your 2015 self? Comment in your next response!
Sigh. What a depressing list. I’ve only completed…1? Maybe 2 of the things on the list? Let’s see how many plushies we’ve made this year:
Napstablook (March 12, 2016)
Umbreon (September 17, 2016)
Korilakkuma (September 25, 2016)
Strawberries (October 2, 2016)
Bunny (December 18, 2016)
That’s 5/12 plushies. Yeah…um… I’ve completed 1 thing, on the list of 8.
No. I don’t want you to think for a second, that 2016 was a waste.
Recently, you were playing Pokemon: Sun, and you caught a Skarmory at long last. Genius that you are, you didn’t bother plugging in, and your battery ran out before you remembered to save. But when you booted up the game again, you caught a shiny Minior, and you caught a Skarmory much easier. Sure you failed the first time, but that just made you further appreciate the good things that happened in its place.
Sure, you didn’t work on a game prototype or animation, but that just left you with more time to get back into drawing.
Sure, you didn’t finish NaNoWriMo, but you wrote 10,000 words. That’s at least 10,000 more than you wrote last year!
Sure, you didn’t make a plushie a month, but that gave you time to make other cool blog posts. You got back into pixel art, and have since found other uses for it. And the plushies you did make were special:
Napstablook went to Dan, as a spirit animal. You were used to seeing him as a sulky, antisocial guy. So it was a treat to see him swoon over “Blookie~”
Umbreon went with you to your first FanExpo. Here, you met Kitty’s friend Amy, saw Charles Martinet and Alex Kingston in person, chatted with a fellow “kawaii krafter,” and bought your first poster after 10+ years. Not to mention, Umbreon had a grand time finding itself. Literally.
Korilakkuma finally exists! Now Rilakkuma is not lonely, and he doesn’t crash into walls with his eyes closed anymore. The two of them together, symbolizes Kitty and Bear’s wedding, and the other, very special event that occurred that same weekend. :3
And the strawberries! The chocolate covered strawberry might be one of your most popular plushies to date. You made this while your house was the fullest it’s ever been.
Bunny was your latest, and most special ami this year.
And sure, you didn’t last with M. But if you were still with M, you wouldn’t have had a chance with the Mad Hatter. You wouldn’t have noticed that he had blue eyes. You wouldn’t have gotten to meet his wonderful family. And you would never have been able to learn proper beading techniques, travel on your own for more than one night, or become a cat mediator.
Kitty on the right was ripping threads out of my pants. ;w;
So if anything else, the resolution this year is to appreciate the good things that spring from bad things. Just as ripe, fresh vegetables thrive in gardens filled with manure, so too must we endure the bad, if we want to enjoy the good. At least, that’s what I believe.
This year, I’m going to write down, or at least printing out goals. I find it’s easier, and a lot more motivational to have a tangible checklist. Now, on to writing the time capsule for January 1 – December 31, 2016.
Have you stuck to any resolutions from 2016? Have you made resolutions for 2017? Comment below!
Pika, happy new year~
Val's Crafts 