laraF's nest

Happy New Year, fellas!

The last day of 2019 from my part was spent with an enormous headache and a nervous breakdown. Ugly cryings. This pretty much sums up my year, which was full of amazing experiences too, but generally this is the year I was officially diagnosed with burned out syndrome - basically meaning I have to get my shit together but first and foremost - REST.
I'll try, but at the same time I really want to be active on my fannish sites, writing, translating, getting back to my babies. SO. I'm gonna do just that. Annnnd rest.

This wonderful friending meme is from  tassosss 
Neat way to wrap up my previous year and shape my goals a little for this one.

2019 BE LIKE

FANDOM

Your main fandom of the year? Mo Dao Zu Shi. Undoubtedly. Summer was all about Boku No Hero Academia too, but then The Untamed arrived (Mo Dao Zu Shi drama adaptation) and that was the start of my quick descend into the world of chinese BL novels and dramas. Guardian was the next and I'm so into it, guys. So into it. I read the translated 90-ish chapters twice, TWICE and I can't get enough of it! CAN'T.

Your favorite film you watched this year? Joker (two times) One of the most amazing movies of the decade, for me.

Your favorite book read this year? Ahhahaha, Guardian (Zhen Hun). Not surprising :D

Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
Albums: Mike Shinoda - Post Traumatic, Hollywood Undead - Notes From The Underground, My Chemical Romance - Danger Days, Banks - III, Foo Fighters - Wasting Light, Godsmack - When Legends Rise, Miyavi - No Sleep Till Tokyo, Katatonia - Dead End Kings
Songs: UNIQ - EOEO and Celebrate, Miyavi - Under The Same Sky, Blue - All Rise, Pharrell Williams - Freedom, Oasis - Wonderwall, Ofenbach - Katchi
OST: BNHA & MDZS pretty much everything, WUJI!!!!!!!!!, Chen Xue Ran - We Won't Be Falling (Guardian opening song, it's beyond amazing)

Your favorite tv show of the year? The Untamed, Guardian, SCI in this order XD I started to watch Day Day Up too, which is a chinese tv show - it's absurdly funny and one of the hosts is Wang Yibo (I'm learning chinese now, it seems)

Your best new fandom discovery of the year? C-dramas and chinese BL novels. It's crazy and the most alive fandom I've ever seen besides Harry Potter. 

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year? I mean, I actually gave up on the new Star Wars movies after Force Awakens came out, so that's that. But I still love the universe and I'm suffering T_T

Your fandom boyfriend of the year? Shen Wei. Duh. A little psychopathic and obsessed but goddamn, he's the most loyal, wild, powerful and beautiful partner ever. GIMME A SHEN WEI ANYTIME

Your fandom girlfriend of the year? Jiang Yanli, goodness, I'd marry her in a heartbeat. If life gives me a Jiang Yanli, God give me sight and knowledge so I'll realize it right away and marry her.

Your biggest squee moment of the year? Everything Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo did together. And separately. Maybe Wang Yibo's new single and the New Year concert where it debuted...

The most missed of your old fandoms? Star Wars, haha. I was soooo happy when I got a Star Wars fic for a holiday exchange, I cried! Felt pretty nostalgic and in need of Harry Potter too, so I was just catching up on Tom/Harry fics. Oh, and every year I reread the Bartimaeus novels (cuz I miss them soooo much) and the achingly few Bart/Nat fanfics. On that note, Jonathan Stroud constantly goes to these reader-meets-author events and there was one specifically dedicated to fanfictions. FANFICTIONS! I've never heard of an author before who not just acknowledges but encourages fanfic writers! He wrote on his Goodreads page, that he couldn't wait to talk about the topic and to SEE HOW HE INSPIRED (YOUNG) FANFIC WRITERS!!! Brought tears to my eyes, that man. He's the best!

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to? FMA, oooooh I'd love to write in that!

Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year? MDZS donghua 3rd season, everything Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan do either separately or together, SCI 2nd season, the Black Widow movie, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's new novel - any news about it, seriously (the author of MDZS)


LIFE

1. What did you do in 2019 that you'd never done before? Went to a Mondocon, three times, actually, even did a cosplay! BEST EXPERIENCE OF THE YEAR (my life, really)

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Ehhhh, some of them. I don't mind anything but I'll do better this time around.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Practically everyone, I'm officially terrified. Is the apocalypse coming, or what.

4. Did anyone close to you die?  Unfortunately, yes. A family friend. Shocked me to the core. We promised something to each other, and didn't have the time to do it.

5. Which countries did you visit? Few days ago we impromptu drove up to Vienna. It was fun, but I'm so exhausted, I just wanted to come home all day long to sleep (or at least lie down in my hoodie and warm socks, wrap myself up into the softest blanket-burrito ever and watch SCI T_T)

6. What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019? A proper home.

7. What dates from 2019 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Sept 29: we did a little cosplay photoshoot at an abandoned factory-site and it was so much fun ahhhh
Oct 21: Miyavi concert in Budapest with my friend HYPEHYPEHYPE
July 27-29: my first Mondocon in a cosplay <3 - it was like a dream and when people stopped us to take photos and that huge summer rain and eating pocky and sushi and just generally existing among cosplayers... ahhhhhhh
Nov 2-3: second Mondocon in cosplays(!), also met Komino Masahiko, the animator of JoJo <3 <3 <3 got a selfie to prove, and I don't even mind that The Migraine From Hell shows on my squinting face

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Gaining ridiculous amounts of self-confidence. Really, I did. 2020, beware.

9. What was your biggest failure? I thought I was ready to buy a home for us, but apparently not. Nevermind, this year's gonna be The Year.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Harsh migraine for weeks, hardly left me alone for a day inbetween. Sometimes I still get terrible headaches but not as blindingly horrible, as that Migraine From Hell was.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Hmm, I bought many things XD The best...  Two BJYX (Xiao Zhan & Wang Yibo) doujinshi manga for my birthday. Also a self-help programme which cost a lot (relatively) but is worth a lot more.

12. Where did most of your money go?  Rent, duh. Ugh.

13. What were you really, really, really excited about? The Mondocons and the Miyavi concert.
 
14. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? b) Bigger or smaller? c) Richer or poorer? I think I'm sadder but that's just a phase. Bigger as far as my mind is concerned. Definitely richer. A lot.

15. What do you wish you'd done more of? Writing and translating. I was in a miserable state of mind lots of the time.
 
16. What do you wish you'd done less of? Overthinking. It's a really bad habit, seriously, just drop it.

17. What was your favorite month of 2019? November, first half of it anyway, til my birthday.

18. Did you fall in love in 2019? Yes. It's... painful.

19. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? My biggest goal is to let go of all the residual hate that might linger on me. No new people, and the old ones I aim to let go too, sooner the better.

20. What did you do on your birthday? Went out with my friends to celebrate and I got loads of gifts! Ate delish sushi! And when I got home my Mom surprised me even more with gifts and cakes :) It was truly a wonderful day!

21. What kept you sane? Xiao Zhan & Wang Yibo. I'm not joking.

22. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Wang Yibo & Xiao Zhan. Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu are close seconds.

23. Who was the best new person you met? The person I fall in love with. Also I gained some precious new friends this year and I'm eternally grateful for them!

24. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2019. Keep your mind clear and happy. This is the single most important thing in the world. The person you spend most of your lifetime with is yourself. The lense you're seeing the world through is made up of thoughts and beliefs that you're constantly monologuing in your head. So talk respectfully and kindly in there and feed yourself with positive thoughts all the fucking time. Even if you don't believe them. Repeat them enough times and they become a habit, making your life better without you realizing.


So that's it, guys.
My year in a nutshell.
Let's make 2020 an even better one!