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!

Reflections on 2018, Welcoming 2019 with the Girls und Panzer 2019 Calendar

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” –Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Depending on one’s perspective, the rapid passage of time is either a blessing or a curse – for better or worse, 2018 is in the books now, being a very eventful year that saw the 2018 Winter Games, a partial thawing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and the launch of the Parker Solar Probe, amongst others. Back home, Cannabis became legalised, and the nation remained quite divided over the future of energy. Looking closer still, it was a busy year for me personally, as well, culminating in a job change. Life continues to throw unexpected surprises as it always has, and with the past year’s experiences, I can reaffirm that the only real absolute in life is that there are no absolutes. 2018 was a similarly difficult year as 2017 was, but a persistence and determination to make things happen, in conjunction with friends and family, allowed me to endure and build out a solution. As such, 2018 was a vivid reminder that no man is an island: with support, I knew that with an honest effort and grit, there would be a dawn to look forwards to. Life is full of surprises, and things can change in a heartbeat after long periods of effort and little to show for it. The Calgary Flames have certainly shown this to be true: during a match against the Philadelphia Flyers on December 12, the Flames were down 5-3 in the third period. In the last two minutes, Andersson and Monahan managed to score, bringing the game to a tie and forcing overtime. Gaudreau would score 35 seconds into overtime, giving the Flames another comeback win. The lesson here is that until it is truly over, the worth of each drop of sweat cannot be understated, and that one really must keep the pressure on until the end. The Flames certainly did, and were rewarded with their seventh comeback win of the season. This sort of mindset has been helpful for me in the final months of 2018, and entering 2019, I am considerably more optimistic about where things are headed.

I’m going to keep doing everything I did last year, but better. I will continue to make the most of whatever happens, and further to this, I will take responsibility for what happens.

This was the resolution that I made entering 2018, and in retrospect, I fulfilled this. I needed a change of scenery and then took the initiative to realise this wish. During my business trips with my previous company, I put in my best effort to deliver precisely what was asked of me, and for my troubles, got an opportunity to travel a little, as well. With this in mind, for 2019, I aim to approach everything I do with a full and complete effort, putting my best foot forwards each and every time. Time passes by very quickly, and I firmly believe that life is very short, to the point of where positivism and effort is the most enjoyable (and for me, proper) way to make the most of things. Finally, for The Infinite Mirai, a blog that now has seven years of history, my goal will be to continue running this programme even as things get busier and even if I post with a reduced frequency; being able to write and reach others is something I enjoy doing, as it gives an opportunity for the community to really connect and share. I am very happy to be a part of the positive, insightful and energetic community of WordPress Anime Bloggers. Having said this, whether you, the reader, are a part of that wonderful community, or a passerby, I would like to wish you all the best and a Happy New Year 2019. It’s a blank slate again – let’s go exploring!

Reflections on 2017, Welcoming 2018 with the Girls und Panzer 2018 Calendar

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbours, and let every new year find you a better man.” – Benjamin Franklin

We’re now a short ways into 2018, and before we begin busying ourselves with making the most of another year, I’m going to take a few moments to look back on what 2017 entailed, especially pertaining to some of the learnings that were accrued over the past year. Most of these learnings apply to the workplace and interpersonal skills. It is always bewildering as to just how much one can learn in the space of a year, and during 2017, I came to appreciate the importance of good emotional maturity and problem-solving skills in individuals to be far more important than any technical skills. It was a strong reminder for me that being able to professionally and courteously interact with people is by far one of the most important traits that one can have: regardless of what profession one is in, our occupations ultimately deal with doing something of value for people, and as such, moving into 2018, I’m definitely going to be mindful of this as I work harder for a company whose aim is to generate more revenue and is looking to expand. 2017 was a bit of a difficult year that had also seen its share of enjoyment – from the challenges at work to the days spent in the mountains and my travels to Japan and Hong Kong, I’ve come to really appreciate maintaining a good work-life balance. I continue to lift weights and do martial arts, while at the same time, make time to sit down with a good book or game. Last year, I simply resolved to let things happen as they happened, and in retrospective, that didn’t turn out half bad.

As such, my resolution for 2018 remains quite unchanged: I’m going to keep doing everything I did last year, but better. I will continue to make the most of whatever happens, and further to this, I will take responsibility for what happens. I’ve heard folks remark that resolutions are usually vague and pointless in keeping, but looking back at last year, I did manage to keep all of them (I did end up volunteering for a pair of science fairs, for instance). As such, I contend that resolutions are not entirely unnecessary, and I’ll likely keep up the practise of being a bit more introspective than average in New Years posts graced with anime calendars so as long as this blog continues to be maintained. On the topic of The Infinite Mirai, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the blog has proven to be this resilient, and in the upcoming year, I will continue to write for it. That leads me to wish all of you, my readers, a Happy New Year 2018. While I’m not certain of what exactly this year will entail for my blog, I am immensely thankful for your readership and feedback. Let’s get it!

Reflections on 2016, Welcoming 2017 with the Girls und Panzer 2017 Calendar

“New Beginnings are in order, and you are bound to feel some level of excitement as new chances come your way.” – Auliq Ice

While news outlets, tabloids and popular media has painted 2016 as a particularly poor year for a variety of reasons, 2016 ultimately turned out quite remarkable despite a slow beginning marked with uncertainty was to what I would do during the transition from being a student to full-fledged member of society. On all counts, things went very smoothly: I finished my thesis defense and paper shortly after being offered a software position, and convicted back in November to close off my academic career. En route to the finish line, I travelled on several occasions — once to lend a hand to the Giant Walkthrough Brain in Kelowna, and twice to international conferences. With this in mind, I’ve completed not only my resolutions from last January, but I also managed to fulfil a dream I’ve had since 2014; travelling with a clearly-defined goal proved to be wonderful experiences, and after yesterday, where I had the opportunity to watch the Calgary Flames defeat the Phoenix Coyotes in a 4-2 victory in regulation time, 2016 draws to a solid close. 2017 opened with shrimp cocktail and champagne; following a short sleep, it’s time to read through my post from last year, note that 2016 was pretty damn amazing in spite of popular belief, and consider my resolutions for 2017.

From a life perspective, my main resolution for 2017 is to put forth my fullest efforts for my work as a software developer, learning all of the necessary skills to be effective at what I do. Beyond this, I will take a leaf from Calvin and Hobbes: It’s a Magical World and Pure Pwnage: Teh Movie — I’m just going to let stuff happen, take it in stride and make the most of whatever circumstances and situations I encounter. This will apply to health, career, finances and even relationships. Besides the more serious goals, I will also aim to diversify my activities in 2017: on top of resolutions carrying over from last year (finish reading my unread books and the games I’ve not yet finished), I will also see to volunteering for different events, bring back my old hobby of pencil sketching and, in the spirit of letting stuff happen, maintain an open mind to what I can be doing with my newfound time now that I’m no longer required to write conference papers or plan tutorial sessions. This brings my New Year’s post to its conclusion: I’d like to bid all of my readers a Happy New Year 2017, and thank everyone again for having stuck with this blog for so long. Without your readership, I probably would not be able to summon the motivation to put posts out, so here’s to everyone for making this blog a reality, and I look forwards to seeing what this New Year has in store.

A Hibike! Euphonium 2016 Calendar, Some Reflections on 2015 and Looking Ahead to 2016

“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” —Helen Keller

For the past two years, I’ve been welcoming the New Year with Girls und Panzer Calendars, but this year, I’m going to do something different: I’ll present the Hibike! Euphonium 2016 calendar for its excellent artwork (I’ve become quite a fan of Kumiko), and because there’s a Girls und Panzer post coming up in just a bit. Before I delve into a 2015 reflection and outline some resolutions for 2016, I’d like to take this time to thank all of the readers who’ve motivated me to continue writing: 2015 was a phenomenal year for The Infinite Mirai, featuring some 135 new posts, a fair bit of good discussion with the readers, among them Jusuchin (Military Otaku), cloudst12, Edward and Neomo, and a four blogging awards (two of which are freshly-published: the Creative Blogger Award and the Free Spirit Award: all awards can be viewed by hovering your mouse over “About Infinite Zenith” in the menu up top). The folks coming from Facebook, Twitter and Reddit also earn a heartfelt thank you; my site metrics show that this blog and social media appears to play quite nicely together. Without fellow bloggers and readers to keep things going, I’m not sure if I would have had quite the same level of motivation to keep The Infinite Mirai as active as it presently is. So, looking back on 2015, a hell of a lot of things happened; that much is apparent from the blog posts, which paint 2015 as a year of adventure despite a shakier start, and looking back, I think I’ve fulfilled my resolutions.

Now, for 2016, my resolutions are quite simple: I will strive to finish my graduate studies to the best of my ability, and make a concerted, serious effort to make the transition between academics and industry one that is as smooth as can be reasonably expected. I also resolve to not concern myself with matters of the heart and wield my freedom to continue exploring the world around me; in these crucial times, career, finance and health are my absolute top priorities, and a relationship might not be what I need at this point in time. My simpler resolutions remain unchanged from last year: I aim to read all the unread books on my bookshelf, and finish the games that I’ve still not beaten since last year. These ones seem far easier than the other resolutions, which will be a challenge, as those entail my future, but I live for a good challenge. In closing, Happy New Year 2016, everyone, and thanks for taking the time to read this blog! May your 2016 be productive, meaningful and fulfilling!