My 2012

It was unmemorable, I think. I mean, it's definitely nothing compared to my previous year. The most significant thing is that this is the first calendar year that I didn't meet my family at all. I haven't been home to Indonesia since summer 2010 and my family was here summer 2011. I really, really miss them!

Entertainment wise, I thought it was a very Whedon year for me. Started with The Cabin in the Woods in April, The Avengers in May, and I also watched the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. It was also Firefly's 20th anniversary, and I attended their special panel/screening at NYCC.

I've started reading books again at the end of last year. I started with Richard Castle's Nikki Heat series, and  ended with Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. I am trying to read more -- I guess I can call it my new year's resolution -- and watch less TV/movies. I've started a movie/book list so I can keep track of how many I've watched and read, and see at the end of the year my watch/read ratio. I also want to write more. Hopefully I can continue posting to my blogs and to add to that, I might start writing book and movie reports for everything that I read and watch. Not sure how well that goes though since I'd probably end up not reading any books because I'd be too lazy to write the report.

In any case, looking forward to (hopefully) an exciting 2013!

A couple more

I need a new book to read

I had just finished reading Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy last night; I'm now at a loss of what to do with my free time.

I made the mistake of watching the 2011 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie prior to reading the books; I was unable to use my own imagination for the characters and settings, and pictured the movie instead. That's the main reason why I prefer reading the books before watching the movies, really. I think it takes away a bit of the reading experience.

Anyways, all three books are great, and I was sad to learn that Larsson planned for the series to go on much longer (reportedly up to 10 books), but he passed away before finishing the fourth book. I would really love to be able to read the unfinished books, even just the outlines, but I doubt that would ever be possible. I'm not ready to let go of Blomkvist and Salander just yet.

For my next book, I don't know if I should stick to mystery/crime or if I should try reading sci-fi/fantasy.

Professor Cube patterns

This is what I've been doing at work, apparently.

And a slight variation:

I've tried and failed to think of creative, interesting patterns.

Love these guys even more

Just listened to the Nerdist Podcast episode "Instagramming Matt" and at the end of the episode, they talked about the incident at their NYCC podcast live taping, which wasn't recorded. And, I learned that they actually found out about this right after the show, before they got the chance to come out and meet us fans. They were pissed, rightfully so, but they still stayed for hours to take pictures, sign autographs, and just say hello to all of us, and not let it show. I really appreciate how gracious they were (or pretended to be)! It really just makes me respect and love them more.