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as 2021 draws to a close, i thought i'd list up various things i did this year, so that i can look back on it later & remember.

first, some game dev stuff i did:

• released A YEAR OF SPRINGS for consoles, pc & android! i was working on the bundled version since last year so i'm glad i finaly got to release it.
• put A YEAR OF SPRINGS in tgs online (useless) & indie live expo (useful). i'm hoping my experiences with these will help me figure out how to choose events to do & how to do them in the future.
• started learning unity (but still very confused about it all) - right now my goal is to release a small game using unity some time next year.
• submitted my first pull request on github! this was cool to me since i've never really used github before & i felt like i was contributing in some way.
• also released these games...
  - Virtual Hatsumode
  - DO IT LATER!
  - 湯圓 [tong jyun]
  - A Wheel Without a View
  - tiny wanderer
  - Fantasy Tea Generator
  - WANrobo
  - ghostwriters & co.
  - (one more coming at the end of the year!)
• participated in global game jam for the first time too with mail delivery game MAIL RABBIT
• not a game specifically but i also made a content warning generator for itch.io since the site doesn't have the option built in

& some personal/work stuff i did:

• moved in two guinea pigs! one's a year old now & the other will turn one next month.
• started a thing where i try not to use any electronic devices before i have tea in the morning. i feel like it lets me start the day better & with less stress.
• switched jobs - i hope i can stick with this one for a bit longer than the last one. i left my last job because they wanted me to go back to the office & i left the one before it because they wanted me to keep going to the office... we'll see how this one goes.
• celebrated 3 years of marriage with my partner - this is something i never really envisioned in my life but i'm happy living with somebody who i enjoy spending time with.
• did some more freelance translation work! i'm particularly happy about having had the opportunity to work on hungry hearts diner 2 as well as the yuru camp vr games with gavin greene, a fantastic translator & friend.
• began weight training with dumbbells, but still early days - going to try to keep this up through next year.
• video chat a lot with my family because i haven't seen them in like three years now but i'm really hoping i'll be able to see them in person next year. we will see how the world goes.

looking back there's a lot of stuff i wanted to do but couldn't get around to it, mostly because honestly i just didn't have the energy. i spent a lot of this year feeling really stressed about various things in my personal life & at work. this autumn was the worst time for me because i was just incredibly burnt out & felt like i was always tired no matter how much i slept.

i do have some plans for next year both for game dev & personal stuff already though, so i'm going to try to keep at it while also remembering to take it easy so i don't burn out as much again. i had the opportunity to meet someone earlier this month who probably has no idea that they made as much of an impact on me as they did, but chatting with this person who is over a decade my senior & hearing about how they have no idea how they got where they did in life but are still trying to do new things & just not being very good at them, but that's ok, was a good reminder to me that i should really just go at my own pace & not worry about not doing 'enough' compared to other people around me.

as a general list of new year's resolutions to wrap things off:

• rest more & don't feel guilty about it
• play more piano & learn new songs
• keep exercising with a focus on weights
• stop comparing myself to other people as much

thank you to everyone who's been kind to me this year & wishing you (& me) a better 2022.