New Year's Resolution 2018

Reflection of 2017’s Resolutions:

1) Improve on quantity and quality output of audio projects this year. I have 4 remix albums planned already and started on 2 of them last year. I also want to produce original work I’ve had planned for years as well as record all the past piano arrangements I’ve created throughout my life thus far.

- So I did manage to raise my quantity of work completed from 11 (2016) to 27 (2017), and yet I still feel unsatisfied with how much I put out.  I worked on a lot of remixes and got 2 of the remix albums started with a planned 5^th one.  I didn’t get to work on any new original work, per se.  I revisited my old compositions and recreated all the recordings and remixed half of them.  So they’re old original work made new from the remixes.  I also didn’t record any piano arrangements at all.  However, I am still happy with what I created and some of the best stuff I made was late in the year.

Some of my favorite works from 2017:

-Future Ninja (Absolute favorite): https://youtu.be/Us5FEL4SVMU

-Ghosts ‘n Ghouls ‘n Goblins: https://youtu.be/aoBZ5BCfO1M

-Practitioner of Bajiquan: https://youtu.be/c9H1c_LRODg

-Toughen Up, Dragon!: https://youtu.be/Jb44rSy7PdQ

-Drive Me Mild: https://youtu.be/pYVERoBBWck

2) Further improve my health. I did well on exercise and diet in 2016 and it (mostly) paid off. I’m still considered medically overweight and I know it’s affecting me. I’ll try to eat less, sleep earlier, try new exercises, etc.

-My health in 2017 has been the most stable it’s has been in the past few years.  I managed to push my weight down to 148 lbs before it climbed back up to 150 lbs, so I’m still considered overweight.  After another blood panel test from the doctors, I finally found out a lot of my problems from 2015 and 2016 was from a fatty liver storing too much iron.  It’s nothing serious, but it can be if I ignore it and let it get worse.  I finally got glasses this year and I use them when I work or play videogames on the TV (or anything that requires a lot of reading).  I feel like I’ve stabilized myself, but I want to do better and be healthier.

3) Practice instruments again. I’ve put so much time and effort into composition and production of music the past few years that I haven’t been practicing piano and guitar as much as I used to. Going through my old work and files inspired me to want to learn new songs on the piano again. I think it will benefit my composition skills as well.

-I practiced a lot more piano in 2017, and it really helps to have a full-sized, weighted keyboard right next to me.  I didn’t practice nearly as much as I wanted to, but I did learn a few new songs throughout the year.  I didn’t practice enough guitar, but I did play a decent amount early in the year to record for the VA-11 HALL-A remix “Drive Me Mild”.  I also recently bought a Melodica, Harmonica, and Otamatone to mess around with and try to get me to practice more music, no matter the instrument.

4) Put out non-audio work. I had planned on doing other work other than audio-work last year, but I never got around to them other than drawing for INKtober. I really want to do some animation work, even if it’s just for fun.

-I never got around to this.  I was so focused on music this year that I decided to not even participate in INKtober and draw.  It would have been a nice break, but I had the momentum going from September to December and didn’t stop working.  I still want to do the animation projects, but I’m not sure how realistic that is in terms of time.

5) Control myself with the purchases! Okay, I kind of went overboard with videogame purchases and pre-orders last year when Amazon started offering 20% off new games. I will admit it was a good source of happiness for me, but I think I can afford to show some constraint. I will probably fail this resolution…but it’s worth a try~

-LOL, I FAILED THIS SO HARD!  I ended up with more games acquired (bought and/or received) than completed which adds more to the backlog.  It’s been such an incredible year for Videogames in 2017 and it’s hard to ignore with that 20% off on new games still going on Amazon.

2017 was honestly a horrific year for a lot of people.  A lot of residences in the south lost their homes from hurricanes and floods.  A lot of gun related terrorism plagued the country including the Las Vegas shooting.  Civil unrest and terrorism seems to escalate over in Europe.  It’s been a scary year for the rest of the world.  For me, I think my experience throughout 2015 and 2016 has changed my way of thinking a lot.  Throughout 2017, I felt a bit more at peace with myself and where I stood in life at the moment.  I never took for granted what I have, but I guess it’s because of all the awful things that have been happening around the world that I felt grateful.  I’m confident with what I’m doing.  I feel healthier and stronger (but at the same time I’m feeling my age catch up to me).  I had a LOT of fun playing videogames this year.

2017 wasn’t anything special, but it felt…..nice.  I’m content with the year I had, possibly because I didn’t feel so good the two years prior.  But I know one should not be satisfied with simply being “content”.  I still hold my ambitions strongly and plan to move forward with my life.  As stressful and unnerving these past 7 years have been without knowing where my next step in life will be and not being able to find change or improvement, I’m probably going to look back on these times one day and regard them as fond memories of simpler days (much in the way I see my teenage years and college years now).

My Resolutions for 2018:

1)      Produce at least 30 pieces of audio work with at least a dozen original compositions.  I’m expecting a lot from myself this year.

2)      Learn one difficult piece on piano and one difficult song on guitar.  I already know which piece and song I want to learn, I’m just going to have to put in the time and effort.

3)      Get my weight below 145 lbs.  That’s realistic, right?

4)      Create one game.  I have a ton of games I want to make, but I never go through with them.  If I’m serious with my career path, I want to prove to myself that I still have the drive and motivation I had when I was younger.  I need to do this.

5)      Finish at least 5 books.  I actually love reading books.  But given the choice between playing videogames and reading a book, I will almost always choose to play videogames.  I have a backlog on books as well, and I’d like to get back into reading and finish a few.

6)      Play through Persona 3 & 4.  I keep saying I’ll play them these past 5 years and now Persona 5 is out…..

I might be overzealous in my resolutions this year.  I’ve been keeping my resolutions general for quite a few years now, but I’d like to see some real goals met in 2018 and find improvement in myself.  Aside from all the productivity and practicality, I’d really like to have more fun in 2018.  2017 was a great year for videogames and I had a lot of fun playing them.  I’m already looking forward to a lot of games in 2018.

Let's talk about Tekken 7 [SPOILERS]

After 2 years of waiting for the home console version, was it worth it?  Yeah, I'd say so.


I honestly wasn't that excited for Tekken 7.  I wasn't even planning on buying it until it was much cheaper.  I don't know what compelled me to pick it up, but I pre-ordered it and hoped that I wouldn't be disappointed with it like I did with Street Fighter V.  I played through Story mode and was sadly disappointed with it.  It wasn't as contrived as Street Fighter V's story mode, but I didn't really like the reasons that panned out the events that has happened.  Heihachi threw Kazuya down the mountain because he knew he's survive the fall?  WHAT?  I think "trying to kill him" would've been a better reason as evil as it seemed.  And I find it strange that Kazumi wants to kill Heihachi because "he'll be a threat to the world" AND YET STILL HAD A SON WITH HIM!  Things don't add up and it bugs me.

As for the game itself, it's oddly refreshing and feels new to me.  The core basis of Tekken is still there, but the addition of Rage Arts (a revenge super) is an interesting new mechanic.  The cast of characters is much smaller than Tekken Tag Tournament 2, but has a decent variety of unique styles to choose from.  The graphics are beautiful playing on my own monitor (didn't seem much different from TTT2 watching on stream).  The music is some of my favorite in the series aside from TTT2's music.  But what really got me into the game (and still has me playing the game) is Treasure Battle.  It's a mode where you fight one opponent after another and the more wins in a row you get, the better your rewards.  The only consequence of losing or quitting is breaking the bonus chain (and maybe your own pride).  You can use the fight money you earned to unlock items and outfits to customize your characters, unlock images and videos from the gallery, or unlock banners and stuff for your profile card.  It's the incentive that drive me to keep playing, the bonus chain that makes me want to get better, and the depth of each character that makes me want to learn another character so I can play some more treasure battle to unlock stuff for.  This is what I was hoping for from Street Fighter V: being able to enjoy the game with single-player content and earn in-game currency to unlock new content to further enjoy my experience (this might still be possible with Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition update coming next month).  Tekken 7 lacks content with modes and characters compared to its predecessors, and yet I'm so drawn to it.  I think I've played Tekken 7 the most among the fighting games I bought this year.