Ake Ome! Happy New Year! (Patreon)

Ake Ome! As the cool kids say. 

But since Julyan has very recently informed me I’m not quite a cool as I’d like to think I am, I’ll go with the more proper, Akemashite Omedetou! Happy New Year!あけましておめでとうございます！

I was writing a post for here and it got too long, meandering and way too long, so I stopped and decided to divide it into two posts. Voila! One about this brand spankin’ new year, the other about the house and the craziness, fun, and excitement happening here. 

First off, let me wish every single one of you (be you furry, slimy, crimson-skinned or long-nosed) a very Happy New Year! I said it elsewhere, but I’ll say it again: here’s to a year of taking chances that lead to wondrous adventures, and when not adventuring, to creating things that only you can create. Also, health, big hunkin’ robust health. 

The past four years or so have been pretty non stop for me. It feels like I’m getting whacked all over by big life events with very little downtime to catch my breath. I finally get the guts to break away from a longtime toxic (abusive?) relationship; start a podcast; start Patreon; move from my house to small apartment; get a full time job so I can support myself; then ‘Oh, look! Mr. Nice-Guy Boss at new job is the worst kind of vile human there is.”; two years of all the ups and downs of trying to help, get help, being gaslit, trying to remain sane; finally get away from heinous job (end of Feb. 2020), find and move into awesome old house; and coming up this April, start own English school. 

Terrified is a word. But there is also super-excited and hopeful and waku-waku doki-doki, as they say in Japan. Oh, and another great word, musha burui*. I like that this new venture comes at the two year anniversary of me starting the podcast and that first podcast was about musha burui. I’m feeling it all over again!

So with all that to consider here are some of my goals for the new year: 

1) Get my butt organized, like super organized. This can only reverberate positively in all areas of my life.  

2) Work more on the podcast. I really want to do two a month, no lapses. I also want to do more local research and record shows on that. 

3) Get better at Patreon. More Behind the Curtain and recipes and benefits only patrons get. 

4) Write more. That is the biggest thing that fell by the wayside with all the recent drama. I have novels to write, more short stories to get out there, there’s an idea I have for audio serializing a story, a graphic novel idea that’s been brewing, and so much more. 

5)Get healthy again. The stress from work-related issues brought on late night eating and that never ends well. The new neighborhood seems quiet and airy, lots of sky and rice fields and green houses growing who-knows-what. I want to get out and explore. Walk. Walk. Walk. 

There are more, but those are the biggies for now. 

Oh, before I forget! Those who get postcards will be getting two in January. One I’m working on now (a tsukumogami) and then the next one I’ll get cracking on will be for the New Year. I'm so sorry for being late. I thought I could slide by and get them done before the end of December, but then I packed my cards and pens and brushes and boy did they get lost. 

* Speaking of musha burui, Rich and I have been talking and I think we want to re-record that episode. Looking at stats, it seems like the majority of people start by listening to that first episode and boy is the quality crap on those first ones. What do you think? My idea is to put the original up on the website, then rerecording the first one explaining why, also talking about my new phase of musha burui. 

Finally, for those who are recent patrons, or haven’t heard it yet, here’s a link to the story about the order of the eto/zodiac animals. This year is the Year of the Rat and this tale let’s you know how that sneaky little guy beat everyone else. 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/16077493

XOXO, 今年もよろしくお願いします！

terrie