Reflections on 2020, Welcoming 2021 with the Girls und Panzer 2021 Calendar

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” –Winston Churchill

That 2020 was a bit of a rougher one is probably an understatement. In a year where the world was ravaged by pestilence, unrest, uncertainty and misinformation, it seemed a challenge to find any positivity to define the first year of a new decade. Amidst provisions to keep distant from unknown contacts to slow the ongoing pandemic, the closure of businesses and services, and a segment of the population’s adamant refusal to adhere to these provisions, 2020 saw the world tried by challenging times, and while adversity has often brought out the worst in people, 2020 demonstrated that it could also bring out the best. For every individual who claimed the provisions were an infringement of their rights, two more individuals did their part in keeping society safe, understanding that rights only exist because of the attendant responsibility. Doctors, nurses, front-line responders and healthcare staff worked tirelessly to look after those who contracted the virus, while countless more individuals in science, engineering, technology, services and trades continued doing their utmost to keep society going. 2020 thus demonstrated that, while the selfish are vocal, the selfless remain the majority; humanity is still resilient, and still optimistic that hard work will allow us to overcome the challenges that we face. It is with this hope that we thus enter 2021: 2020 has affected all individuals on the planet, and for me, exiting 2020, the biggest take-away I got was to count my blessings. 2020 illustrated how the things we often take for granted, but cherish, can be taken away in an instant, and for me, I exit 2020 relatively intact. In terms of personal growth and career, I continued to operate as normally as I could. Working remotely for much of the year, I strove to deliver functional, clean software, and in the process, contributed to my workplace’s ability to weather out these tough times. Keeping distant from friends and society alike has meant that one of my own aspirations, to reach a point where a kokuhaku was possible, ended in inevitable failure. 2020 was about resilience and survival: I count myself lucky that my career outlived 2020, and on matters of the heart, I’ll pursue that path once the time is appropriate. However, even in a year like 2020, some things also thrived, with this blog among them. 2020 was a record-breaking year for Infinite Mirai: I ended 2020 with a total of 263 868 page views and 184 099 unique visitors. 739 likes and 428 comments were accumulated over 144 posts, which averaged around 4269 words each. Over the course of 2020, I ended up writing 614 790 words, became more engaged with the anime blogging community and hosted three separate collaborative events. 2020 wasn’t all bad, and now, here on the first day of 2021, the hope is for the new year to be successful, as people find their stride and put in their best effort to bring the globe back on its feet.

Every year, I make a variety of resolutions for the New Year that are big-picture oriented. 2021 is no different: from a professional standpoint, my goal for 2021 is to keep an eye open for opportunity and discovery. Having personally overseen no fewer than iOS five apps completely through from design to release on the App Store over the past four years, I finally feel comfortable implementing any iOS app from scratch myself, from the UI to the business logic, from wireframe and unit testing, to preparing certificates, provisioning and navigating the App Store submission process. Of course, there is much to learn, and 2020 demonstrated that when it comes to Core Animation and method swizzling, I remain a greenhorn. As such, my goal this year will be to continue my journey with Swift and CocoaTouch, all the while being open to whatever opportunities arise that require my skills. From a personal perspective, I strive to maintain strong relationships with those who matter to me, such as keeping in touch with old friends. In addition, I will aim to do what I can to improve my fitness: I haven’t done a proper bench press or squat for over nine months, and I’m sure I’ll be as weak as Kirito by the time fitness centres open up. Discipline and effort will be needed so I can build myself back up to where I had been entering 2020. I have no specific fitness goal in mind, but I will count it a win if I can return to a regimented, regular lifting schedule. For games, I’ve already alluded to this in an earlier post: instead of expending money on studios and publishers who waste their resources on battle royale, I resolve to make a dent in my backlog and appreciate the games I still have yet to properly give attention to. Finally, for this blog, I aim to continue providing useful and relevant articles for readers. With this, I leave with all readers, and the folks part of the anime blogging community, a Happy New Year 2021!