23 for '23

Hi y'all! I know I have not been so active on this blog recently but I had an idea to try New Year's Resolutions for once. Since the upcoming year in the Gregorian Calendar is 2023 I decided to write down 23 different resolutions to try to work on in the upcoming year. In the interest of brevity I won't be sharing all 23 resolutions but some that I think are easily worth sharing. 

1. Be able to play the bugle calls that are contained inside the Bugling merit badge pamphlet.

    There are fifteen different bugle calls in the Bugling merit badge pamphlet that I can work on and I've been trying for years on and off to be able to play at least a few bugle calls. If I can successfully fulfil this resolution my plan is to buy either a metal trumpet or a plastic cornet since I have a pBugle from from the creators of pBone trombones that plays pretty well in tune and in the key of B flat. I say plastic cornet because with brass instruments I currently don't have ambitions beyond the bugle calls and even though cornet is a serious instrument like the trumpet I'm not sure I can shell out more money for a "for-fun" instrument. The metal trumpet should I go for it will be a symbol of my seriousness and a definite goal beyond bugle calls in the brass realm.

3. Complete a Sprint Triathlon

    I enjoy running. I enjoy cycling. I enjoy swimming. So with those three disciplines in mind why not try to do an event that combines all three? It will be my first triathlon since the first time got disrupted by world events in 2020. Since it will be my first I'll be starting from a sprint distance event which if I do a specific tri in April it'll be 800 meters of swimming, a nine mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. I'll have to quickly get started on training my swimming chops and regaining my cycling chops to have a good time at the triathlon.

11. Read at least 12 books.

    I've been trying for a few years to complete this goal and I have a list of books to read but I just need to put my nose to the figurative grindstone and read the dang books! The list of must reads for me are these but not necessarily in order: I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki, Sanshiro by Natsume Soseki, The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, The Spy in Moscow Station by Eric Haseltine, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, And Then by Natsume Soseki, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Origin of Species by Darwin, The Mathematics of Secrets by Joshua Holden, and Christianity... It's Like This by David R. Smith. Whoops! That was in order of month.

14. Memorize minor scales for clarinet and bass clarinet, two octaves.

    I should in good conscience already have memorized these scales as a musician but it doesn't hurt to try again and actually memorize the minor scales. Luckily for me the clarinet and bass clarinet have generally the same fingerings.

16. Monthly Rewards

    This is an unconventional resolution because most New Year's Resolutions require sacrifice to achieve but I have this unusual idea of rewarding myself with some item every end of the month. A few ideas include the Pusheen knitting kit (then I can learn how to knit), a Pusheen crochet kit (then I can learn how to crochet), and Pokémon Legends Arceus among other things.

22. Talk to friends and family more

    I'm sorry to my friends and family that I haven't been as chatty as I used to be but one of my resolutions is to try to be a bit more active in keeping in touch. Of course it's possible that I may overdo it but that's not for me to decide, my only thing to do when it's decided that I'm talking too much is to hush up.

Mr. Sean's Ten Favorite Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise Clients

Famous Designer Mr. Sean? Who's Mr. Sean? Is he actually a Famous Designer?

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another attempt of mine at re-awakening my blog. I've had ideas rattle around in my head the past many months but not enough motivation to act upon them. I'm currently feeling very motivated to add to my blog and I have been playing the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Downloadable Content called Happy Home Paradise. Happy Home Paradise is a spiritual sequel to the Nintendo 3DS game Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. In the main Animal Crossing games one of the possible things you as the player can do is decorate your house with different furniture, wallpaper, flooring, and other knick-knacks. Happy Home Designer takes the house decorating game to the next level where you get to decorate houses for the various Non-Playable Character (NPC) animal neighbors that inhabit Animal Crossing. Happy Home Paradise for the Nintendo Switch is similar to Happy Home Designer but in my opinion feels meatier in content. I could be wrong but I only have at the time of writing (August 2022) about seven months left to purchase Happy Home Designer for the Nintendo 3DS and see for myself which game has more content. 

Enough about my worries about time and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), it's time to get to the meat of today's blog post. I've been playing Happy Home Paradise recently and having fun decorating houses for different animal NPCs and have worked on enough houses that I can discuss my ten favorite and my five least favorite NPC clients I've worked for. Today I'll focus on my personal best of the best and who knows, maybe my ten best list will be different in 2023 if I keep at it. This list is not in order of whose houses I enjoyed designing the most but is just a list of whose houses I greatly enjoyed designing.

1: Tipper

Tipper is a cow character of the personality type called snooty. Snooty villagers tend to be very fashion forward and quite judgmental of their neighbors' fashion choices. Tipper wanted her own ranch so I gave her a desert wheat ranch because it looks cool and also I had the idea that Tipper wanted some challenge to accomplish.

2: Nan

Nan is a "normal" goat NPC. Normal is a misnomer and it would be more fair to call Nan a "sweet" villager as normal villagers tend to be the kindest neighbors in Animal Crossing. Nan tasked me with the making of a luxury hotel room. I tried to make the hotel room in the spirit of an actual hotel room, but really spruced up. There usually are not pianos in many hotel rooms.

3: Claude

Claude was my first lazy villager and my first rabbit villager in Animal Crossing: New Horizons back in April 2020. In New Horizons, lazy villagers love food and their bug friends. Claude also happened to be one of my first Happy Home Paradise clients and he wanted a fun arcade. He has great taste in vacation homes and I had to include some gamer fuel provided by the vending machine on the right side of the image. 

4: Audie

Audie is a peppy wolf villager and in New Horizons peppy villagers are obsessed with becoming pop stars. Audie is making a name for herself in the electronic music scene instead of mainstream Top 40 music with her club. Her club is complete with club snacks because those who dance to Audie's beats will work up quite an appetite.

5: Ken

Ken is a smug ninja chicken. Smug villagers are fashion conscious like snooty villagers but are more inwardly focused on themselves to the point of vanity. Ken wanted a dojo for martial arts so I obliged him with one where Armor-sensei (the Samurai Armor item in the background) watches over martial arts practitioners and four zabuton (seat cushions) for guests to observe the action.

6: Agnes

Agnes is a sisterly (or uchi as some Animal Crossing fans prefer) pig villager. She may be a little rough around the edges but she genuinely cares for her friends. As much as uchi villagers seem to get a bad rap for not being cultured, Agnes bucks the trend with her request for a museum full of cultural treasures and knowledge to be shared.

7: Miranda

Miranda is a snooty duck villager. Snooty villagers tend to not be fans of physical fitness but Miranda wants a gym that can kick her butt with a nice workout. I added some variety for potential workouts so her muscles don't get complacent. The Ring Fit Adventure station in the back is worthy of being included in the great gym as it will give you a real workout but with RPG (Role-playing game) elements thrown in such as battling enemies by doing squats or planks.

8: Shino

Shino is a peppy deer whose design inspiration comes from traditional Japanese Noh theater. Naturally her Happy Home Paradise request had to be Japanese themed and with her personality in mind she can be quite the J-Pop star mixing modern day Japan with the old traditional Japan and creating new fusions that are the future of J-Pop.

9: Eugene

Eugene is a smug koala villager whose wearing of sunglasses reminds me a bit of Elvis Presley. His request for a vacation house was a talk show set so with my limited knowledge of late shows from TV I tried to include multiple cameras for multiple angles, a couch for show guests, a live audience section, and a piano represents the musicians that tend to accompany the late night talk show hosts. 

10: Petri

Petri is a snooty mouse villager. In Animal Crossing promotional images she usually is wearing a pair of glasses that conceal her eyes and is dressed in a lab coat because she is a scientist mouse. Petri's idea for a vacation house is a message to her fellow scientists that it is okay to take breaks sometimes and that you don't need to be nose to the grindstone 24/7. Petri's ideal relaxation includes tea and snacks.

Next time on Mr. Sean vs Motivation: My five least favorite Happy Home Paradise clients and their visions.