New Year, New Notebook, New Memories, New Podcasts

It's officially 2016. We have successfully completed yet another orbit of the sun, congratulations everyone. I would do some sort of "2015: A Year In Review" thing but if I'm being honest I can barely remember much of 2015 beyond September. I remember last New Year's Day pretty well but anything between that and early September is just... Not there. I had to scroll through many old Facebook posts to remember even a few things. I'm struggling to place any memories. There are things I now remember happened in 2015 that I had thought happened a year before, and also things I thought had happened in 2015 but actually happened a year before. It's all very confusing, but I really don't want to be in that position this time next year. I'd like to be able to remember 2016 as much as possible. It's for this reason that I have decided to keep a daily journal. I'm hoping I will be able to write in it every day and that writing down the things that happen will help reinforce my memory of them while also providing me with some good material to look back on come 2017. That's one of my New Year's resolutions in fact; to write in that journal every day of 2016 if I can. We'll see how that goes... And who knows, I may even keep it up beyond 2016 if it goes well.
My other resolutions are pretty standard things. I have decided this year I won't be saying I'm going to exercise more, sleep more and eat healthier because let's face it we all say that every year and it never happens. I've decided to make resolutions that are a little more realistic, but if I do happen to exercise more and eat healthier there won't be any complaints from me... No, instead I've opted for three simple goals;

1. Cry less
2. Read more books
3. Write more stories

I believe those to be much more achievable, but let's just hope I don't end up proving myself wrong. Overall I'm aiming for a more exciting, more awesome year than 2015. Secretly I think that one of the reasons I'm struggling to remember much of last year is because there weren't many events that stood out in my mind to help mark different points in the year. I remember New Year's Day, I remember some small things from around the time of my birthday, as well as starting fourth year and also Halloween and Christmas. Q-con is also in there somewhere I think but I can't remember when exactly that was. Most of everything else has all faded away and has left me with a rather empty feeling. It's really annoying me so once I get finished up here I'm taking a deep search through my social media accounts to try and piece together the rest of the year.
One other thing I do remember about late 2015 is discovering a host of podcasts that are now some of my absolute favourites. I won't blather too much about them and make an idiot of myself as I tend to do, but I will give you a list of the ones I subscribed and listened to in 2015 that I highly recommend you listen to in the New Year. They can all be found on iTunes and some possibly on Stitcher, but I'm not entirely sure if all;



The NoSleep Podcast

The Black Tapes Podcast

Lore

Say What » Podcast

We're Alive

Liberty: Critical Research

Solve The World

I was also introduced to a new anime through recommendations from a friend a short while ago and I have already watched all of it bar the final episode. Black Lagoon is by far the most badass, explosive anime I've ever seen. It can get quite dark at times, and a little bloody in some places but ohh my... I do love it. And I'm itching to watch the last episode. If you like explosions, badass leading females, nuns with guns and insane killer maids, then definitely give this one a go.

Rosarita Cisneros (Roberta)

Edith Blackwater (Eda)

And of course this has turned into a list of recommendations as my posts quite often tend to do... But I think this is some good material to start your year with. But I will say the only light-hearted items on this list are the Say What podcast and Solve the World. The Say What podcast is good if you want to laugh and you can start at any point with it, and Solve the World is quite adventurous and intriguing, just start from the beginning with it as each episode is a continuation of the last. It's all one story. The rest of the items on this list... Not so light-hearted or comedic. So just read up on them before you listen/watch to get an idea of what they're about. That all said, I believe New Year's day comes to an end in about 30 minutes and I have run out of things to say...

Except this; Happy New Year, I hope your 2016 is fantastic and that you stick to at least one of you resolutions...