Crawling into the New Year

The end of 2010 is nigh (what an interesting word).

Christmas is over. The wrapping paper has been discarded. Toys have already been broken, or played to death. Nerf darts have been permanently stuck to high-level windows, never to be seen again amongst all the dust up there.

It's the week between Christmas and New Year's, where the anticipation of what presents you'll be getting has been replaced with the wonder of what the next year will have in store for you, for me, for us, and for everybody (I think that might about cover all the bases).

I've got plans for the new year, though whether or not they will come through, I can't tell you. I hope they do. I am determined to make them happen. But we'll see. So these aren't predictions. Instead, more like "determinations."

1) This blog

I plan on keeping this blog going strong during 2011. I may not post as much as I had originally planned (I wanted to average one a day during any given month). That has fallen by the wayside, but I find I am more comfortable with it, knowing I'm not putting any pressure on myself to do a post on any given day. I think it has made the blog better, as there's less filler (raise your hands, those who remember my "Mystery Science Theater Video of the Day" feature when I didn't have anything to talk about...yeah, you in the back...raise your hand).

I do plan on keeping the one-hit wonders coming, which does give this blog a bit of regularity (and you can thank me now for not going to the joke I've used countless time regarding that word). And I enjoy the feedback I get from some of the "Society" posts (especially from a friend of mine who I can always count on to leave an interesting comment...though on Facebook, so none of you will ever see them :P)

To my regular readers, thank you so much. I treasure you all (and if you're a regular reader who never comments, would it hurt to let me know that you're here once in a while? You never call, you never write...)

Incidentally, if you're interested in video games, I'm also a fairly regular (at least weekly) blogger over at the Game Informer magazine site. I do sometimes post the same blog here and there, but often they are exclusives. You can find my blog list here if you're interested in checking them out.

If you like video games, or just *have* to read every word I write, of course.

2) Work stuff

I do plan on keeping our office podcast going. I'm having a lot of fun with it, though I'm a bit nervous of finding stuff to talk about on a bi-weekly basis. Still, I am determined to make it work.

I will always do a post here when an episode is posted, mainly because I'm trying to reach as many people as possible. The Episode 2 post is here.

Also, I'd like to start doing some other multimedia stuff for work, like videos and interviews, some fun and goofy stuff (though we have to establish the serious stuff first, or the goofy stuff will not work). I'm thinking of suggesting starting off with a video about applying to the MET program, with a demonstration. Mainly because we do get a fair number of people who have trouble with the application process.

I figure that, the more I do stuff like this, maybe the nervousness with public speaking will fade away as well. The more you do it, the more you get used to it. I'm hoping that's the case.

Of course, I have to make sure that the people on the production side can do it too, or it's all moot anyway.

3) Personal Stuff

I'd also like to stretch myself personally a little bit, though I'm not quite sure how I want to do that yet. I'd like to move a bit outside my comfort zone (the work stuff I talked about may help with that too).

I'll have to think on stuff like this, though. Maybe go to something that I've never gone to before? Maybe go back to the Vancouver SF convention that I went to a few years ago but haven't gone back to? I had big plans for that weekend, where I would be interacting with fellow SF fans (that's "Sci-fi," or "Speculative Fiction," for those of you who don't know what that is).

It never happened. I went. I enjoyed the panels I went to. But I didn't really interact with anybody. That was disappointing.

Or maybe I'll go to some other kind of convention? I don't know.

But I do want to grow this year. I'll just have to figure out a way to do it.

So, how about you? Any thoughts on your new year?

And since it's very possible I won't be doing another post until the weekend, I wanted to wish you all the best (and safest) New Year's Eve possible! And all the best in the new year as well.

See you in 2011!!! (unless I decide to post again before that)