Post-Christmas Entry:

Well, I feel better. After all of the craziness brought on by Christmas-on-the-fly and the post-holiday funeral of my grandfather, I was just glad to have a day or two to seriously geek out / O.D. on Japanese and Korean media goodness.

Japano-narcotics of choice: Shonen Jump Super Stars!, Hellsing OVAs I and II, Orange Range, Katamari Damacy, Battle Royale, Super Mario Bros., Brain Age, Naruto, and Bleach.

Surprising Korean dark-horse candidates: Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Even I'm surprised at how much nothing I have crammed into the last 36 hours!

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Year in Summary:

1. Freaked out and totally lost my shit over school stuff in January-May.

2. Became rather depressed, and incredibly angry at self and rest of the world.

3. Attended summer classes at MU, and soon after made plans to change my major and get the hell out of Rolla.

4. Went to Lollapalooza with Gabe and Mandy. Much ass was kicked.

5. Attended my first day of Chemical Engineering classes for the semester, immediately realized that I couldn't do that shit anymore, and rearranged my schedule in preparation for my eventual transfer.

6. Started dieting (mildly) and excercising for 15 minutes every morning.

7. Won first place in the UMR Elevator Pitch Competition, winning $125 for 90 seconds of speaking.

8. Attended the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Conference in Chicago, competing in their national elevator pitch competition. I made it into the final round, where I got to speak in front of 1500 people and a judges panel of wealthy, nationally reknowned entrepreneurs. I got 6th place, earning $500 for under 270 seconds of speaking.

9. 3 hours later, found out that my grandmother was dying of cancer. She died 5 days later and I took a few days off from school to attend the funeral.

10. Finished my semester, cancelled my housing contract, and moved out of Rolla for the last time.

11. Came home from Rolla, left for Indiana to help Jeff move out, came home, and woke up the next morning to hear that my grandfather was dying from pneumonia.

He died 4 days later on December 23rd. Christmas traditions and festivities followed two days later. The funeral was held on Friday.

12. Came to better know my cousins after going drinking with them at Springfield bars several times this year. I hope to do this more in the future, only under better circumstances.

Final Analysis:

Theme of the year: Change

Album of the year: Thunder, Lightning, Strike!, by The Go! Team.

Worst moment: Seeing Mom cry.

Best moment: Being on stage at the CEO conference.

Major Regret: Not getting my self together sooner (if that makes any sense).

Income (all in the form of prize money): $745 ($625 from EPCs, $120 from misc.)

Weight change: negative 32 lbs

What I'm looking forward to in 2007: MU / Columbia

Resolution: To kick more ass.