It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up...

Informally, I'm attempting to update this at least once a week.  Reminding myself that I need to post a blog reminds me that I need to be doing the things that I would be posting a blog about.  It seems, however, that as soon as you set goals, the universe goes about conspiring to keep you from completing them.  Thus, in my attempts to fight it, I am up now, at 4a.m., studying Japanese and writing a blog.

おはようございます！
わたしはblogをかいています。

I wish someone who can read Japanese was reading my blog so that they could correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, this week has been good for programming, not so good for everything else.  I'm learning a lot about the languages in which I make games but not making games.  I need to get on that if I'm going to get done what I hope to this year.  That being said tomorrow (today) is a hack day at work, so making a game there counts, right?

Hopefully, this is just me being slow to start, and I'll ramp up shortly.  I need to be studying Japanese every single day because every time I have a short break, I feel like I'm losing something.  It makes me think I should do every thing (piano, guitar, Japanese, programming) once a day, but that's not really plausible.  I would spend more time switching activities and setting them up than I would actually doing any learning.

I guess that's the hardest part.  I've committed to doing these things, and I've set aside the time to do them.  Now, I just need to get over the fact that I'm not going to progress at all of them everyday.  I have a year to accomplish these goals.  I just need to pace myself.

Oh, and stop procrasting (Jake and Amir say "Hello").

I know I'm gonna be...

I'm gonna be the man who accomplishes all my goals...

Sorry, I've got the Proclaimers running through my head.

I learned it on the guitar because it's stupid easy, and it's fun attempting to imitate their voices (accents and all).

I've also been trying to learn about writing music and was reminded of one of my favorite videos by this site.  That inspired me to learn the chords from Pachelbell's Canon in D Major, which is awesome because it reminds me of many great songs, and it's helping me with my transitions in and out of barre chords.

I have realized, however, that the guitar has an unfair advantage when it comes to hobbies I'm pursuing.  It is by far the easiest to pick up and practice, requiring almost no preparation, and it's always in my sight because there are two sitting in my room.  Also, music strikes a chord (PUN!) that all my other hobbies don't.  If I'm not careful, I'll spend the entire year playing guitar and think at the end, "now, wasn't there something else I meant to do?"

That's why, as soon as I'm done typing this, I'm going to jump into some programming (after strumming a few notes of course...).

The Best Around

There's a classic song, stop me if you've heard it.  It goes:

I want to be the very best,
like no one ever was....
 To catch them is my real test,
to train them is my cause!

Pokemon!

It was a great song for a great show about a great game.  And it never fails to inspire the kid in me to dream big, and that's what I'm doing now.

My dream is to do four things: play the guitar really well, play the piano really well, speak Japanese really well, and make great games.

And that brings me to this page.  My hope is that maintaining this blog will keep me honest.  It will also be an outlet for me to display my progress, so that I don't get annoyed with toiling away in obscurity (even though I know no one is likely to read this, at least I'll feel like someone could be).

I also plan on posting my various problems (and hopefully solutions), so that those on similar journeys will know that they're not alone.

So let's begin...

Come with me the time is right,
There's no better team.
Arm in arm, we'll win the fight,
It's always been our dream!