Well well! Another year went by and so much has happened. New families were made, some families fell apart; some new friends have earned the title of “friend”, some not; some bonsai were styled for good and some need time to mature.
I did have 4 goasl for 2013 and I achieved at least 3 of them, well it would be all four if I included doing more bonsai in my goals instead of restyling my garden which was a complete failure.
Starting in January with the first session at the Università del bonsai, then finding Nicola online and immediately booking a workshop for the end of March. In May my first article was published on Bonsai Empire and in June I visited the Swiss bonsai show in Lugano. Summer passed up to the first week of September which was the highlight of my year: Bonsai Summer Festival in Fai della Paganella. Only one week, but boy did we ever have fun! Not only did I learn a lot about complementary tags all around bonsai art, like presentation, accent plants, bonsai pots, and much more, but also, and most importantly I made a whole new group of friends that like me appreciate bonsai as they are and not for their monetary value or winning potential. I am so grateful to Paolo who managed to introduce me to this new world of bonsai without prizes, seems weird but in my opinion it’s more peaceful and in tune with the whole idea of bonsai itself.
After this wonderful event the wheel started to turn. Articles were published, trees were styled, new enthusiasts were known, well… I had to work more on PR rather than concentrating on my goals, but I did find the time to achieve some other goals.
Another goal reached is to lose weight, and although I gained some kilos this holiday season I am still very motivated to do more for my figure. And last but absolutely not least: learning Japanese. This is one of the main goals for next year as well. I am going to Japan in May 2014 and it’s very important to be able to understand the basics of conversation, or, if at all possible, to understand what Fujikawa San will say.
Talking about new goals, since not all goals have been achieved in 2013, I will not be setting my goals too high for this coming year, although they are indeed demanding: 1) Learn more Japanese;2) Lose more weight and 3) Write more on my blogs and for other bonsai magazines. The highlight in 2014 would be the trip to Japan. I am so excited about it, as are all my bonsai friends who are already asking me to bring home this and that!! I am hoping for the best and I am absolutely positive that no matter what Fujikawa San and Björn will teach me, it will be an amazing experience.
For the rest, I will follow my new styled tree and care for some new species, visit the Roku Shun-Ten, participate at the Swiss New Talent, and maybe visit more shows in Europe as I did in 2013. Of course, there will be more workshops with Nicola and I hope to be able to visit Paolo in Turin.
Hope to be able to achieve all of my goals and more importantly learn more about bonsai and related arts!
Well done Melanie. This is a very good idea to set some goals for 2014. I must say to learn Japanese is a goal i have been thinking of for some time along with Italian. But one at a time. Anyway I wish you the very best of luck in completing those goals, and i look forward to reading more on your blog.
Happy New Year,
Adam
Thank you Adam. If I can give a sort of advise: Italian is much more easy than Japanese. Ok, My motherlanguages are italian and english, but still. In japanese you need to learn not one, but 3 different sings: hiragana, katakana and kanji. Challanging but if you want you can do it!
Wish you all the best for the new year to.
Melanie