(Click to enlarge)

Just a random photo of shattered ice that I thought looked pretty interesting.

Earlier today, Keumgang Martial Arts Academy, which is where I train taekwondo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, received the 2015 Diversity Award from the Village of Mundelein.

I went with the owners today to the reception and ceremony and shot video of the owner’s speech. That video is available on their YouTube channel:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YlJIGL9iKo

I also have a few photos from the event as well. The one I decided to post is of the owners holding the award with village staff, along with parents and students.

The framing of the photo looks a little strange and tight because I cropped out the young students who were sitting on the ground in front of the adults. (I removed them from the photo because there are some liabilities that go along with publishing photos of children that I prefer not to deal with.)

If you’d like to congratulate them, feel free to do so in the comments section of that video.

Ed and I have been playing a browser game called Town of Salem lately.

Every time I get arsonist, I always win. As for the other roles, I’m still in the process of figuring out how to play the game.

Possibly as a side effect of that, Ed believes that arsonists are a little bit OP. Usually, when I’m an arsonist, I’m either solo or with one partner.

This particular game, there were four arsonists. And they lost.

Apparently this was a very historic event, so Ed told me to take a screenshot of the game.

… So here it is.

I live in the Chicagoland area, and as you may suspect, it gets pretty cold around here during this time of year.

I had my car parked at our family business’ outdoor parking lot, and when I went back out, I noticed that snowflake-shaped ice crystals had formed on my window.

You can sort of see them in the photo above, but I recommend clicking on it to view it in its full 2048 by 1152 pixel high-definition glory (you might have to click to enlarge it once again after you open the larger file, because some browsers resize images too big to fit on your screen).

It’s actually pretty interesting, and I’ve never seen something with such detail form on a car window before.

I’ve never really liked new year’s resolutions.

I personally think it’s silly that you should set goals based off events, rather than off your own schedule.

I make goals for myself on a regular basis, as the opportunities arise, as I see fit. I think it’s suboptimal for the concept of new year’s resolutions to even exist in the first place.

What’s so special about a new year? Why not make new month’s resolutions? Are there such things as new decade’s resolutions, that hold more gravity and magnitude than new year’s resolutions?

If I realize half-way through November that I need to change something in my life, I’m going to set my goal on the day I make the realization; I’m not going to wait until January 1 of the following year so I set my “upcoming change” as my new year’s resolution.

…

In a way, I guess I do make new year’s resolutions.

But I also make a lot of new day’s resolutions, and my new year’s resolutions don’t necessarily correspond with the start of a new year.

They’re just resolutions.

It must just be the way it’s worded – a new year’s resolution implies that it’s something one will work on this year. It slightly irritates me that this person will work on this resolution this year, but not for the rest of his or her life. Maybe if they were called “life’s resolutions,” I would like them better?

Or just … resolutions.

…

As I click the “Preview” button on this blog post to look at what I’ve written so far, I see an advertisement for weight loss below this text – a before and after picture, where the woman in the “after” picture is quite obviously not the same woman from the “before” picture.

A countless number of people set weight loss as their new year’s resolution; maybe the hype behind new year’s resolutions is just a marketing strategy?

Unfortunately, not everyone is as critical as I am, and not many people share my opinion about new year’s resolutions.

I’m sure that, sooner or later, someone is going to ask me what my new year’s resolution is. If someone asks me online, the solution is simple – I can just link them to this blog post. But, in person, it becomes a bit more tricky.

In order to prepare for that, I decided to come up with a new year’s resolution to use for these particular conversations.

My new year’s resolution is to act more spontaneously.

I have a habit of planning things out in excess, preparing for a plethora of possible outcomes rather than just a few realistic ones. This sounds funny after what you’ve just read above, (the fact that I’m preparing for an in-person conversation that might not even happen,) but as much as it is ironic, it proves that this is in fact a legitimate resolution.

I like to wait for the perfect moment to do something, when I’m done thinking about everything that could go wrong, and preparing my mind and body for what will happen. Some might say that this is merely a sophisticated form of procrastination.

There are some things to which I already act spontaneously. When I’m speaking publicly to a non-pro­fessional crowd with an intent to entertain, I tend to do much better when I don’t plan anything at all, and just start talking. My resolution is to force myself to do this for other things as well. I think it’s best de­scribed with an example.

Before I write a paper, I like to make sure that I won’t be distracted for the next few hours. I make sure that I’ve gone to the bathroom recently enough that it won’t bother me during my paper writing. I make sure I’ve eaten enough so I won’t get hungry while writing, but if I’ve eaten too much lately, I wait before starting so I won’t feel bloated. I make sure that any possible relevant resources I need are readily avail­able, even if the chance of actually needing these resources are near-zero. I make sure that there are no other urgent matters to which I need to tend before starting. I make sure that my thoughts are organized in my mind, so ideas from unrelated topics don’t cloud up my mental outline. If any of these conditions aren’t met, I reschedule my paper writing time.

In 2015, I want to just go for it.

Rather than waiting for this idealistic atmosphere to begin my work, I want to just start.

If you think about it, all the things that could possibly go wrong don’t actually have truly negative con­se­quences. If I need to grab a snack, I can grab a snack, then continue writing. If I’m not feeling well, I can write a bit, then take a break and continue writing later. If I don’t have particular reference materials I need, I can pause writing, search for the resources, then resume after finding them.

Is this a resolution that I’ll actually end up working on? I’m not sure yet. Do I even want to try and give up some of my meticulousness, which is a trait to which I attribute a lot of my success, and exchange it for spontaneity? That, I’m even less sure about.

At the very least, it’s something that I can respond with when asked about my new year’s resolution.

I saw this decorated garage door today while I was riding the bus on my university campus.

The inconsistency in the pattern made me feel very uncomfortable.