2024 was a relatively eventful year. As usual I had a list of goals I wanted to try and accomplish, but didnāt even come close.
Goals
I made a post about my goals for 2024 here
- Call my loved ones everyday: I didnāt really keep track very well, but it could certainly have been much better.
- Achieve weight of 65kg: Nope, at 74.25 now. Hopefully itās all muscle :o
- Get 5 paying users for some product offering: currently sitting at 0.
- 1000 hours of guitar practice: also didnāt keep track of this, and also, this probably could have been better.
- Achieve 16 kyu rank in the game āGoā: pretty much gave up on the serious studying I was doing for Go, and ended up playing Chess far more.
- 12 books (3 in Japanese): fell quite short of this. I only got through 4 books in English, and maybe half of two books in Japanese. I did however read a lot of Manga in Japanese, but I donāt entirely count it towards the goal.
However, in the honorable mentions I did ok:
- Blog once a month: I did blog a lot more, so I was happy with that.
- Make more friends: I certainly got to meet more people and make more friends, so Iām pretty happy about that too.
- Stay off my phone more: This one might be measurable, but based on feeling alone, I tried my best to stay off the phone by managing my tasks and calendar from my Hobonichi instead.
- Swim once a week: in the summer, I discovered that I can workout well with swimming in the summer without dying from itch, so I went swimming far more often. I didnāt swim every week though, especially once it got cooler.
Given how random and unconcise these goals were, I think I really want to be a bit more focused, and precise for the following yearā¦stay tuned.
Notice for the sections below: I āsquooshedā some images so they arenāt as heavy and it really messed with the colors - just a warning.
January
I started off my year how we all should - by feeding the capitalist machine, and experiencing the Japanese tradition that is New Years sale. The deals are OK. There are certainly good things to be found, and I told myself I certainly should wait to buy any electronic until this time.
My first time in Kusatsu. We stayed two nights, and had a wonderful time. The hot springs/onsens were tremendous, and the surrounding area is very nice too. I hope to go again when theres more snow to be able to hit the ski slopes.
February
Despite it being a poor snow season - I still got a good amount of turns in, and Iām grateful for that. The above is a picture from Eboshi ski resort.
March
In march, friends of mine and I booked a trip to Europe. We stopped in London to watch some football and it was phenomenal. I truly miss being able to watch the sport I love with great friends. Below is Craven Cottage in Fulham, the team that Marcus Aurelius would support.
After that we took a nice flight over to Geneva, transferred over to Chamonix, and skiied one of the most amazing mountains Iāve ever gotten to ski on. I am being quite serious when I think this experience changed my life. Iāve never been the same.
After coming back, I thought I didnāt have enough of traveling and decided I should catch a quick flight to Seoul, since Iāve never been there.
While Seoul just feels like Tokyo to me, the food was phenomenal, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Lastly, to end an eventful month, I wanted to catch some more turns at Geto Kogen ski resort, maybe catch the small glimpses of powder. Unfortunately while there was powder the day before, it rained in the evening giving a really unfortunate skiing environment. Still had fun!
April
In April, for golden week, we got to explore Aomori, a northern prefecture from where I live. Needless to say, I fell in love. I can imagine my next few country side trips will be to Aomori.
The above is a picture from Osorezan, or Mount Osore, more specifically from the temple, which is renowed for the monks being able to talk to the dead and it being an entrance to the Underworld. You can definitely understand why when visiting as the entire place has a very powerful feeling to it. Wholeheartedly recommend.
From the temple, about a 2 hour drive you can reach a beautiful rock formation, Hotokegaura.
May
As temperatures reached perfect, I got to do an amazing hike near Akiu, one of which Iāll never forget!
June
Temperatures starting going up, so I didnāt go out very much, but did get the chance to do some fun stuff, such as plant sweet potatoes.
July
Despite it being quite humid and hot, we did get to see the beautiful Yamadera with some friends.
Got to see Doctor Yellow in Nagoya:
August
Finally, with August being the worst month (I think) in terms of temperature, I tried my best by not going out at all. I was unfortunately forced (not really) into a local countryside event were they walk in traditional footware from the olden times:
September
Got to stay in a very expensive onsen in Yamagata. Thereās a video about it: https://youtu.be/xYmiU5PSyE0
Family got to come over, and we collected Sunny Angels
October
October, perhaps the most uneventful month, still got to see some action. We saw things melt because of the temperature:
And we got to hike the renowed nipple mountain of Sendai
November
Got to partake in an Imonikaiā¦
ā¦and watch my local team win to get into the J1 playoffs!
December
And to end the year as everyone shouldā¦by feeding the capitalist machine! Just kidding, by hitting the slopes:
This was in Yamagata.
Looking forward to an eventful 2025. Thank you for reading!
Idea and motivation from acook and brian