a dog of a year.

2006, huh?

Not really a killer. I'm sure lots of interesting and exciting things happened, but looking back now, it was a slow year.

On the good side, I got my results on the JLPT (pass), bought my lovely little macbook, and got myself started in Tokyo. The last of those big things was my only important goal for the year.

On the bad side, I didn't get the monbushou scholarship, I lost a good part of what I put into the stock market, and consequently, have come to tokyo under the shadow of a couple thousand dollars of new debt. I also let all of my minor goals slip. While I may be a slightly better cook, a slightly better japanese speaker and reader, a slightly more tidy guy, lots of aspects of my life are stalled.

I would call "getting accustomed to reality" the theme of my 2006. The missteps I made this year left me with a more realistic impression of what I need to do to get where I want to be (even if "where I want to be" has gotten a lot less clear). For more on where I want to be, stay tuned. A year of the boar post is coming soon.