A Year of Opportunities

We've already covered our official resolutions for 2012, but I'd like to lay out some fandom-centric...aspirations, if you will. I hesitate to say "resolutions," because the year ahead is more or less a blank slate at the moment--I'm looking to make the most of the opportunities I have while I've got the time available. Here's what I've got in mind:

- Write more about tabletop roleplaying games. I admit the vast majority of my experience is with Dungeons & Dragons, but there are still plenty of stories to be told and advice to be given.

- Finish my quest to watch through every official Star Trek that exists. I've completed The Original and Animated Series, Next Generation, and all the accompanying movies. My wife and I are now at the end of Deep Space Nine's fifth season, and we're two seasons into Voyager. We'll cap things off with Enterprise, after which I'll begin to brace myself for J.J. Abrams' next Star Trek film in 2013.

- Follow up on my User's Guide to Star Trek: The Original and Animated Series monster mega-post with a guide to TNG and DS9, most likely saving VOY and ENT for the following year.

- Trim down the ratio of unfinished games to beaten and completed games on my Backloggery. I collect games faster than I finish them, and I'd like that to change one way or another.
- Find a suitable permanent recording solution. I've been fighting with a problem-laden makeshift solution since early 2009, and the technical issues keep getting more outrageous with every video series.

One of my friends set the ball in motion by getting me a professional-quality microphone to replace the discount headset I've been using--the one that's barely compatible with my sound card and makes a clunking sound any time I shake my head too much while talking (I get very animated while doing my commentary). Now I just need video recording software that'll last longer than 10 minutes at a clip, and video editing software that works as well as Windows Movie Maker for slapping together multiple video clips and overlapping audio clips, but can also output videos of sufficient quality and size for YouTube without getting any other programs involved. I've had a few suggestions, but more are always welcome.

- Respond to blog comments in a more timely fashion. Seriously, this should not be so difficult for me.

- Follow through on review requests. We've had at least two people offer us review copies for this blog, and we have failed to post so much as a bullet point referencing the material in question. To the people who have offered us things to review, I am sincerely sorry.

- Get caught up on some of the key anime series I've missed. There was a discussion recently on my YouTube channel about Fullmetal Alchemist, which I'd heard plenty about but had never found the opportunity to watch; it's tough to keep track of your comments section when you have no idea what's going on. My parents got me a subscription to Netflix for Christmas, and it turns out there's a wealth of anime available, including FMA. You can imagine how my wife and I spent the last three hours of our day after setting up our account this past Sunday. It's like my college's anime club all over again, and I'm excited about what else is available to watch.

- Avoid staying up past midnight to finish blog posts. On a completely unrelated note, this seems like a good place to stop.