先週末に　弟と　妻と　大きいデーパトに行きました。　そのデーパトに　銃猟屋が　あります。　妻は　服を買いに　行った　私は　弟と　銃猟屋　行きました。　弓を買いました！　弓を買うのが　長い　時間かかります。。。　まず　弓を　私に　計りました。　その後　弓を　適するべきでした。　その弓は　張りが　とても　強いですよ！　ちょっと　高かったですが　いつも　弓を　持ちたいです。。。

今週末に　外で　弓を　使う予定です。　弓の照準は　大切です。　たくさん　練習と　私の弓の照準は　よくなります。　そのうちに　弟と　銃猟に行きたいです。

New Words —

弓　（ゆみ）　－　Bow and Arrow　（N）

銃猟　（じゅりょう）　－　Hunting, Shooting　（N）

計る　（はかる）　－　To measure （V）

適する　（てきする）　－　To fit, to size　（N―する）

張り　（ばり）　－　To stretch, draw　（N）

照準　（しょうじゅん）　－　Sight, aim (of a gun, bow)　（N）

そのうちに　－　Eventually, someday　（Adverb）

I bought this on a whim. A very expensive whim. I have wanted to get into archery and eventually into bow hunting for a long, long time, but could never get myself motivated enough to do so. I went to the Bass Pro shop with my brother, who is an avid rifle hunter already and got fitted for a bow. Its an entry level compound bow, but it has gotten very high reviews from its owners.

I cannot wait to get it sighted in this weekend!

This year was one where I broke some long standing personal records and achieved some challenging goals. For strength related personal records: I made a PR for Bench Press, an exercise I sucked at pretty bad, pressing 215lbs once (30% over my body weight). I set a PR for deadlifts just last weekend, lifting 265lbs once. I did a hanging clean of 145lbs once yesterday as well, another PR. For calisthenic related goals, I did my first Muscle Up early this year, followed up by reaching a PR 7 consecutive last month. I completed the 100 Days of Burpees Challenge and managed to make 75 Pullups in under 5 minutes. I also did a lot of running to train for the 5KM Run for the Cure, which I did while wearing a 20lbs training vest in just under 25 minutes total time.

This year was also very beer heavy. I believe I made over 20 beers this year, plus a couple ciders and wines. I made the switch from extract brewing to all grain this summer and began to produce vastly better beers. My last 12 or so batches have all been from grain to glass and I have no intention of switching back to extract. Ever. Through time saving brewing techniques such as no-chilling and BIAB I have cut my brew day time down to under 4 hours. I also tried a few money saving techniques such as yeast harvesting, yeast washing and bulk buying grain (which I believe I still have around 100lbs of in my basement…). Don’t even ask me how much of that beer I drank.

As for my Japanese study… Well… I could have done a lot more this year. I studied quite a bit of low level kanji and can recognize around 200+ characters now (well if I reviewed them again over a week). I know my vocabulary has gotten a smidge larger and my ability to write (on a computer… I can barely write in English on paper anymore) has improved. Overall though I don’t think I made very much headway in the area of Japanese in 2011.

I do not know what 2012 will bring, but something tells me its going to be a very amazing year.

The main hike itself is only around 6KM and very pretty, but my friend and I decided to detour and hike up the small mountain called Two Cairns. This added a couple extra hours and a few hundred meters more elevation to the hike, plus give us some incredible views of the valleys from its summits. I highly recommend this hike for both avid hikers, hikers with kids or even the infirm. There is something for everyone on these trails.

Check out the gallery here.