Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Looking Back on 2014

Wow.  I find it hard to believe that it’s the end of 2014 already.  It seems like this year was a long one and yet it seems to have gone by quickly.  Still, it’s been a great and interesting year nonetheless.

Anyways, since this a blog about dragon-related things, I’ll talk about some (if not most) of the cool and interesting dragon-related things that happened to me this year.

To start things off, I became a fan of How to Train Your Dragon.  Sometime early in the year, I saw that my father was watching How to Train Your Dragon on TV one day and I thought that I’d watch it with him (though it was at the part where Hiccup introduces Astrid to Toothless, if I remember correctly).  I liked what I had seen of it, so I bought it on DVD and ended up watching the rest of it.  It ended up becoming one of my favorite movies of all time and one of my favorite movies about dragons, especially since I like movies about dragons that don’t picture dragons as bad creatures.

Not too long after that, I discovered the blog of Toothless the Nightfury (also known as usertoothless), which happened only because someone posted a link to one of the entries of that blog on a forum site that I frequent.  I thought that the entries on that blog might be an interesting read, so I started to read them.  Needless to say, I ended up being drawn in (and impressed) by how deep and analytical Toothless the Nightfury’s opinions on How to Train Your Dragon were.  However, that blog ended up being more than an interesting read:  It also got me into the How to Train Your Dragon fandom in a way. I saw that there were links to the How to Train Your Dragon Wiki and Berk’s Grapevine in the “Pages” section of that blog and I ended up joining both of those sites.  If it wasn’t for the person who posted the link to an entry of that blog on a forum site that I frequent – and Toothless the Nightfury, of course – I don’t think that I would have gotten into the How to Train Your Dragon fandom in this way, so I want to say thank you to both of them for that.

Then, I bought Dragons:  Riders of Berk:  Part 1 on DVD and watched a few episodes of Riders of Berk.  I liked the episodes of it that I watched and I also thought that parts of two of the episodes that I watched were funny on a personal level.  Two of Hiccup’s quotes in “How to Start a Dragon Academy” reminded me of a belief that I have, while part of Hiccup’s opening narration in “The Terrible Twos” reminded me of a dragon that has appeared in my dreams.

Then, this summer, How to Train Your Dragon 2 came out in theaters.  Though it was darker than How to Train Your Dragon, I personally liked it better than How to Train Your Dragon.  I liked it so much that I saw it three times while it was in theaters (which is something that I had never done before) – twice in 2D and once in 3D – and each time that I watched it was different than the last time in terms of how I felt.  Each time that I watched it, it left an impact on me that I didn’t feel before in one way or another.  I also bought the soundtrack to How to Train Your Dragon 2 shortly after I saw How to Train Your Dragon 2 for the second time (and for the record, I still have yet to get the soundtrack to How to Train Your Dragon).

This fall (October to be more specific) was the five-year anniversary of me having dreams of a certain dragon.  I’m not referring to a dragon from a work of fiction, but a male green Western dragon that is a creation of my own subconscious mind and appeared in my dreams out of nowhere.  Though it’s been a little more than five years, I still remember how I felt about the first dream that I had about him:  I felt that it was an interesting dream and I felt that he was a good dragon, but I was also confused because he called me by a name that is not my given name (which would end up being the name that he always calls me by in my dreams – and is a name that I refuse to reveal for personal reasons).  Over the years since then, he appeared in my dreams more frequently.  He told me messages that tend to be deep or wise, revealed certain things about himself, and revealed that he knows certain things about me (which are things that have yet to be revealed) – all of which he continues to do to this day.  As a result of him appearing in my dreams, I’ve felt a bit different than before – not just with him appearing in my dreams, but with some of the messages that he’s told me and some of his revelations in my dreams.  It has made me feel a bit wiser than I was in the past and more curious about my own identity.  However, I haven’t really found out about what he supposedly knows about me, seeing as he keeps his cards close to his chest and doesn’t tell me much at once when it comes to what he supposedly knows about me.  Not to mention that what he tells me about myself only leaves me with questions – and his answers to my questions about what he supposedly knows about me only leave me with more questions.  I am thankful for this dragon appearing in my dreams over the past few years, but at the same time, I don’t really understand why he appears in my dreams even though I believe that he’s trying to guide me towards finding myself, finding out more about who I am, and knowing myself as well as I can.

Speaking of which, some of the dreams that I had about this dragon this year left me feeling more bewildered and curious than I was before. I had dreams where he told me that he knows me more than I know myself, he told me that he knows what I have yet to know about myself, and he told me that he knows who I truly am – all of which are things that he had never told me before in my dreams.  Being the skeptic that I am, I took such claims with a substantial grain of salt (especially since he hasn’t revealed his supposed knowledge of such things yet).  I also had dreams where he told me that I am so much more than I think I am and he told me that I am so much more than what I know I am – which I feel are suggestions that I have yet to realize (and possibly fulfill) my true potential.  However, neither of those dreams had as much of an impact on me as the dreams where he told me that it is time to know who I am.  That message was pretty deep to me and a lot for me to take in, especially since I’m not exactly sure about who I am right now – and it led to a bit of serious thinking about how much I know about who I am.  Though these dreams have given me some things to think about, I haven’t thought much about them yet (but that might change in the future).

Then, How to Train Your Dragon 2 came out on DVD and Blu-ray.  I ended up buying the DVD double pack with the short film Dawn of the Dragon Racers (and I bought the short film Gift of the Night Fury on DVD as well).  Though I liked Dawn of the Dragon Racers, I honestly felt that it was a bit bland (and I felt that it was rather bland compared to How to Train Your Dragon 2).  Gift of the Night Fury, on the other hand, was amazing (and a bit funny).

Seeing as I like to collect dragon items on occasion, I ended up getting four dragon items throughout the year.  I got two dragon t-shirts, a bronze Celtic dragon amulet, and the 2015 Dragons by Ciruelo Wall Calendar.

Last but not least, I found out that a third Dragonheart movie – Dragonheart 3:  The Sorcerer’s Curse – is set for direct-to-video release next February.  Having watched both Dragonheart and Dragonheart:  A New Beginning, I wasn’t surprised when I found out that the plot of it was in the same vein.  I don’t know exactly what it will be like (though I have watched the trailer for it on Youtube), but I hope that it will be better than Dragonheart:  A New Beginning (which, in my opinion, was not as good as Dragonheart).

Overall, it’s been a pretty interesting and glorious year for me.  I became a fan of two amazing movies about dragons and ended up joining an incredible fandom.  A certain dragon that appears in my dreams has revealed to me that there might be some things that I have yet to find out about myself and know about myself – and has suggested that I have yet to realize (and possibly fulfill) my true potential.  Both of those things have led me to consider some serious introspection and consider trying to really find myself (though I wouldn’t go too much into it all at once).

I’d like to end this entry by saying a huge thank you to the person who posted the link to an entry in Toothless the Nightfury’s blog on a forum site that I frequent (you know who you are), Toothless the Nightfury, and the friends that I’ve made on Berk’s Grapevine (you all know who you are) for helping make this year an amazing year.  I’d also like to say that I’m thankful that a certain dragon has appeared in my dreams this year, which has helped make this year an amazing year as well.  Here’s hoping that next year will be an amazing year!

Also, though my blog is somewhat fairly new and I’ve posted a few entries in it, I would like to say thank you to anyone who reads my blog!


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