Hi, everypeoples! I am happy to be back after a month off and I have a lot of writing plans in store for this year. Let’s see how they turn out.

My first goal is to finish my Bible commentary for the book of Genesis and publish the book version by the end of the year. This will mean that I have to write a chapter’s worth every week for 49 weeks, with a couple weeks to spare for editing, etc. I’m not sure if this goal is ambitious or foolhardy. We shall see. I am still working on my Japanese flash cards a little at a time. The most challenging part is trying to find Japanese subtitles and then trying to find a copy of the Japanese media I need to make video clips. Since I don’t have a deadline for this project, however, there’s no worry. I will still endeavor to write my Games Appreciation articles and try to get up to 1987 by the end of this year. Playing “every” game ever made is a tall order, and to be honest, once this semester of school started I almost entirely stopped playing video games except on Sundays; even the ones on Steam. I’m afraid. Please send help.

I am also still updating my other blog, although I will be taking off this January because tagging posts is exhausting. I really wish that blog services had an auto-tagging feature. Even if I needed to delete some of the generated tags and add new ones, that would be better than nothing. Anyway, I’m still studying Japanese, I’m starting to study Hebrew, and I’m losing more and more of my hair every week.

Me in November 2009 vs. me in November 2016.

It’s amazing what seven years will do to a guy. I look like an old man now. Anyway, in between all this I’m going to school (still!) and now I pretty much only have my upper-level major courses to take. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately it’s a very long tunnel and it costs thousands of dollars in tuition money every year. Oh, I’m also enjoying some light reading. I’m currently reading Augustine of Hippo’s The City of God.

It certainly doesn’t seem right that a 700 page book can be considered “light reading.” But believe me, after slogging through Thomas Aquinas, anything will seem light. Since last year I have added two new pages to my blog: Recommended Reading and the Store. In the first you will see all the media that I recommend, including books, movies, and more. (I will only recommend something if I have actually read or seen it, in case you were wondering why there’s something great missing.) And in the store you’ll see a list of all my books that are for sale on Amazon. You can also see a list of the books on my Amazon author page, but it’s less organized. If you’d like to get me a late Christmas present or an early birthday present, buying and reading one of my books would be the perfect gift. So far I have earned over $3 in royalties from book sales. At this rate, I’ll be a millionaire in just 55,555 years! Oh, and this blog is ad-supported, but I have only made $0.14 from ad revenue so far, so I won’t count that. Anyway, money is nice. It buys food, which is one of the finest things in life. Something to consider.

I don’t know what new page or feature I might add in 2017, but I’m excited about the possibilities. As always, any feedback you may have is much appreciated.

Peace,

John