With 2017 almost over, I tried to think about what I actually spent the year doing. Studying? Having fun? Probably having fun a little more than I should have. Still, when I look back carefully, this year does feel fuller than I expected.
Books I finished
At the beginning of the year, I finally finished Keigo Higashino’s Miracles of the Namiya General Store. What stayed with me most was the way he handled the connections between different people’s lives. After that, I read Graduation, the first Kaga detective novel. Kaga was still a university student then, not yet graduated, and unusually good at kendo, which somehow reminded me of Shirou Emiya.
Around the middle of the year, I finished Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. It’s an older novel, but after reading it I got completely drawn into Murakami’s work. I bought several more of his books afterward, though I still haven’t gotten around to reading them.
I also finally made it through all eight volumes of Ghost Blows Out the Light, which I had originally bought back in high school. To be honest, I didn’t read every page in print—part of it I got through slowly by listening to the audiobook version.
There were manga too: Nisekoi, Tibetan Sea Flower, One-Punch Man, and probably a few others I’m forgetting now. Compared with all that, my progress in actual studying felt painfully slow.
Quite a few movies
I watched a good number of films this year:
- Duckweed
- A Dog's Purpose
- Battle of Memories
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
- Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV
- Dunkirk
- Twenty Two
- Never Say Die
- Chasing the Dragon
- A Silent Voice
- Sword Art Online: The Movie – Ordinal Scale
- Fireworks
- Youth
- Legend of the Demon Cat
One film I really wanted to see was The Guardian, but none of the nearby theaters were showing it. Even now, I still haven’t seen it.
I caught up on some anime too
This is roughly the list. Maybe I should have made a spreadsheet or something, but most of what I watched were older series anyway.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure season 4
- Rage of Bahamut seasons 1 and 2
- Girls' Last Tour
- March Comes in Like a Lion
- Gugure! Kokkuri-san
- Occultic;Nine (I think I watched that at the beginning of the year)
- Your Lie in April (third time)
- And some others I’ve already forgotten
My first real trip
During the National Day holiday, I went to Wuhan for the first time, using money I had earned from my summer job.
I went to a convention, visited a museum and an art gallery, and walked all the way around Wuhan University’s enormous campus. Because the rain was so heavy, I never made it to the concession area I had planned to see. But honestly, none of that was the most important part. The truly important thing was that, during those few days in Wuhan, I still managed to watch two more movies.
The first blog I ever built
This one.
A rough ending note
This year felt more substantial somehow. I didn’t just stay in the dorm playing games all day anymore, and getting out more really did make a difference.
If there’s one goal I want to carry into next year, it’s simple enough: pass CET-4.