year of the drowned rat.

Hi. It's 2008 here, and pretty much everywhere else now too.

I made an arbitrary run down of things from two007 in the last entry, so I figure I should make an arbitrary run up of 2008 here.

I turn 29 in April, so I can spend 8 months of 2008 wondering what happened to my 20's... something I've been doing as long as I can remember. It also means it just about the last chance to get my books in order before I'm just plain old (30).

So what books are there to get in order? Well,
1. learn to speak the damned language of the country I live in.
I've spent the last half year saving a little too aggressively for my own good. I finally got it through my thick thick skull that busting my ass at saving and wearing my clothes until I'm embarrassed by them is not the most effective way to ensure my future. No amount of investing in a stock market I still don't understand too well is going to make me filthy unbearably rich.
"Investing in myself" as trite as it sounds, has an enormous upside. If I can boost my Japanese language ability another couple of notches, a lot of things change. My job gets easier, and I can begin making myself much more useful. Life outside work, including the social aspect gets that much easier too. And most importantly, it puts me in much better stead for whatever's coming down the pipe over the next 40+ years in this country.
I'm setting aside a whole mess of money to study this year.

2. be a man. on my terms.
I may have made a blog entry to this effect, but I really resent that women are allowed to blithely announce what becomes and doesn't become a man. However, I do have my own ideas about what a "man" is, does, can do.
I'm pretty good about most of the things on my list. There is however on big nasty omission from that list. I'm horrible at even the most mundane encounters with people, personally or professionally. Being conscious of the fact doesn't help. I'm not sure how to explain it so that my solution makes the least bit of sense, but:
I'm gonna go into the lion's den, and learn to go toe to toe with people in the literal and figurative sense at a boxing gym.

3. be a rat (or a pig, or a dog). on my terms.
Everyone hates a nice guy. EVERYONE.
So rather than failing at being nice all the time, I'm going to succeed at being nice sometimes, and a right selfish prick at other times. I'm gonna presume that other people know what they're getting into, and look out for number one. I'm gonna be 50% more of an asshole, and forgive myself 90% more.
However, I'm not so callous as to have a concrete plan for becoming an asshole. (Step 1: push over an old lady)

4. stick to the program.
Last year, I made a list of several goals, and managed to accomplish just about all of them. There were many more that weren't on the public list. Some of those got accomplished, some not. Enough were accomplsished, and the benefit of those goals was good enough that I'm gonna make another list. In the next entry.

5. Almost never write in my blog.
Just like anyone else who has something worth doing with their time, I don't plan on writing here very often.