The end of every year marks a time for reflection of the time spent in the past 365 [in this case, 366] days. Allow me to jump onto this bandwagon once again.

2008 was a good year. I can’t say it was a fantastic year, but it wasn’t a bad year either. On a scale between “horribly disappointing” to “mind-blowingly awesome”, I would say 2008 ranks somewhere along the lines of “I had fun like always.”

Every year comes with the good and the bad. I made the impossible possible, and if you don’t already know what I am referring to with that, it means that I enrolled in an astonishing number of units in one semester, finishing off what should be done in two semesters, so that I could clear the way to my current trip to Japan. By enduring this self-torture between January and May, I learned to truly appreciate the art of “Leslie-time” and relaxation between May and September. This is something that I had never understood until 2008. September to December was the time even further self-realization and growth. I learned that my first-impressions of people are usually wrong, and through that I learned to find the beauty within everyone. I learned that despite very different cultural upbringings and influences, some people are not so different after all.

With this, I will not make New Year’s resolutions. It seems to be a universal trend that New Year’s resolutions are never kept past 2-3 months. I realized that it is probably due to the fact that we title it “New Year’s resolutions,” as if you can automatically clean your slate and start completely anew. Noone can fully shake off their blunders of the past. What you can do however, is title your “New Year’s resolutions” as your “On-going Goals,” because that is really what these resolutions are about. You are always learning from your mistakes, thus making new goals that continually stem from your past.

My on-going goals are to continue to spend wisely, to continue learning more about the world, to continue admiring wonderful people, and to continue striving for my beliefs.

Happy New Year from Japan!