First order of business: establish my goals and hobbies for the next year or so.

• Video game design: I plan to get into video game design on two fronts, indie platformers and first-person shooters. General goals: level design, good gameplay mechanics, designer-player interaction, art+music+writing.
  
  • Indie platformers: learn Game Maker, pixel art, and tracker-based composition. Analyze various indie games.
    
  • First-person shooters: learn Hammer, some of the other Source SDK tools, and 3D modelling. Analyze various first-person shooters.
  
  
• Music
  • Composition: analyze various compositions and pieces.
    
  • Performance: learn guitar and practice piano.
  
  
• Programming: learn C++, dynamic linking, and the Windows SDK. Work on some open source projects. Review Berkeley notes.