Plans for the Year

So, 2006, it’s here, and I’m already feeling good about it. For me, it’s going to be a mean, lean, productive year, hopefully full of interesting projects into exciting new avenues. Yesterday (the 1st), I finally got to playing around with 37signals’ Backpack, something I’d been wanting to check out for a while, and I’m in love with it. I’ve already set up plenty of project pages, and it feels good to have things all in one place and well organized (and it helps that the site is a joy to use).

Here are some of the things that I already have lined up for the start of the year:

• I already mentioned the “Canadian Style” event at Cafe Pause, and things are advancing just fine with that. Of course, there’s a lot to do, but that’s part of the fun.
• That Japanese music podcast I keep threatening to launch is finally coming together. I’m really hoping we (I’m doing this with Trevor, of Music Related) can launch the first episode before the end of the week, but we still have to work out a few kinks. As of now, we’re looking at 30-minute episodes, with a possibility of recording the thing live, with me here in Tokyo, and Trevor in New York. As for Radio OK Fred, fingers are crossed that we can start cranking out new episodes sometime this month.
• I’ve got some other things in the wings with Cafe Pause. As a hint: the cafe is going to be opening a gallery space…
• Also, it’s no stranger that I love t-shirts, and so going from wearing them all the time to participating in the creation of a line is not such a big stretch, is it? More on that later.
• Next Century Modern has been working hard on the creation of a spiffy online store, and I’ll be helping out with that by providing goods/magazines from Japan. The store should launch sometime this month.
• On the writing side of things, all my regular contributions (THE JAPAN TIMES, Gridskipper, MoCo Tokyo) will of course continue, and there are already some other pieces, and possibly regular columns, lined up.

So that’s some of the stuff I have on my mind as we start the new year. There’s more, but that’s enough for now. Here’s looking forward to a great 2006!