2025 in review

For the first couple years of my website, I shied away from yearly reviews. Too much navel-gazing, too mainstream. Now I realize that yearly reviews are good entry points for a personal website.

Maybe my other post titles seemed boring, or maybe there were too many posts to choose from. But "my year" is always worth a click.

COMPUTERING a

(this is a calendar of my git commits)

       January               February                 March       
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    █ ▄█               ▄     ▄  ▄  ▄  ▄                           
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▄     ▄  ▄  ▄  ▄       ▄█ ▄█ ▄█ ▄     ▄█      ▄  ▄  ▄  ▄  ▄      █
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        April                   May                   June        
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        July                  August                September     
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       October               November               December      
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PROSE

Small days on the calendar represent commits to my website. Most of those were nuggets on my microblog. That page is a commonplace book + spark file + linkblog + zettelsumthin + unsocial media, and I love it very much.

I wrote 360 nuggets this year. They're often tech-related, but anything goes: TILs, WIPs, quotes, poems, pictures, music. I try to create the kind of indie web rabbit hole that I would enjoy finding on someone else's site. There's plenty of breadcrumbs to follow and threads to unravel. I recommend viewing my nuggets on the biggest screen possible and glancing around the page, like a newspaper (#71), until something catches your eye.

I hope all the nugget-posting makes up for inactivity on the main site. Posts are long and slow here. There were only four this year:

I have a few drafts lined up for next year. I've been digging into software history, and that's fueled ideas like "a family tree for all software ever" and "we need more software historians". I should also have some separate coding projects worth writing about.

CODE

Tall days on the calendar represent commits outside of my website. You can see that development has been sporadic.

My portfolio was the biggest thing I shipped. I tried revisiting a SaaS report maker for home inspectors (#166), but it didn't work out. Too ambitious, too tired. I procrasti-polished vic a little. The year ended with a flurry of activity from my December Adventure (#281), and I hope that momentum carries into next year.

Of course, this glosses over small and uncommitted work. I'm always tinkering, experimenting, making one-off contributions, writing investigative scripts, making the occasional toy, adding tools to my toolbox. I got more comfortable with Astro this year (#173, #38) and now it's my go-to frontend framework. I got better at building C projects and writing Rust (#355, #114) which opens up a ton of possibilities. I'm glad that I logged these quiet endeavors.

IRL SETUP

I almost forgot to mention that I upgraded my computer. Up through last year, I was using a 2017 laptop, working in vim in tmux with fish 2.7 in Ubuntu 18.04 in WSL in Alacritty on Windows 10. I had slow, spotty wifi. I had slow everything. I'm not complaining! I'm just happy with the upgrade.

Now I run nvim with bash in Ghostty in niri in Arch Linux on a 2022 mini pc. Much better specs, much less bloat. I have a high-res monitor, a decent webcam and mic, and powerline ethernet. I'm not boasting! I'm just happy with the upgrade (#121).

I like that a $100 adapter lets me plug ethernet into an electrical socket. I like having access to the latest software packages on Arch without many installation issues. I like how niri's desktop viewport overflows, opening new windows without obscuring existing ones. I like having a taller text editor. I like how Linux lets me configure key repeat timings so I can hold backspace and delete a zillion characters. I like having an OS that gives me control instead of taking it away.

This has massively improved everything I do with computers. I move faster, troubleshoot better, and take on more ambitious projects.

MUSIC a

(you can of these songs in youtube)

From The Pyre by The Last Dinner Party was my album of the year. I discovered this band through their powerful cover of Call Me.

Another important song to start my year was this Indian metal crossover. So much rhythm and energy. It led me to more Indian songs (Paal Nilavu, Vanithaamani, Thaniavardhanam) and symphonic breakcore like Szerencsétlen and metal like Bat Country.

I liked other foreign-language music: Hasr Masr, Cumbia de Sal, Zajedno, ХАЩІ, Zamrud Khatulistiwa, An tÚll, Brasil Pandeiro, Samba de Janeiro, Goca Dünya, Ninja Partisi, and Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser.

I was moved by some orchestral music: Polovtsian Dances, The Thieving Magpie, Warsaw Concerto, and Marion's Theme.

A few movie soundtracks stood out. Crepuscolo sul mare and 7-29-04 The Day Of and L'Appuntamento from Ocean's 12 made me want to burgle. 掙脫 and Things In Life and California Dreamin' from Chungking Express made me lonesome. Pet Sounds and You Still Believe In Me from Love & Mercy were tinged with tragedy. The Sound of Music was beautiful as always with Edelweiss and Professional And Maria and, well, The Sound of Music.

All the other bops: Grooveless Commander, Random Firl, Daisy Lady, Only a Wheel’s Worth, Good Morning, Captain, this live performance of I Don't Want to Talk About It, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Arrival, Love and Happiness, This is Me Missing You, Julie and Eighth Avenue and Friends of Friends by Hospitality, Orinoco Flow and Cursum Pacifio by Enya, This Love of Mine and California Blues by Alex Amen, Everyone's A V.I.P. To Someone, This Is My Beloved, The Poison Tree, Angel, The Burial, Paradise, Na Na and Stupid Cupid by Disasterpeace, Two Horses, Say I Haven't Lost It All, this cover of Snowqueen Of Texas, Damsel In Distress, This Is The World (I Made It For You), this cover of Disappointment, Love Is Everywhere, and Any Time Of Day.

I still listened to a lot of my favorite artists from previous years — mostly Weyes Blood, Dr. Dog, Cake, and The Lemon Twigs.

EVERYTHING ELSE a

(this was going to be the personal part of my time capsule)

I got to this section and realized... I think this post is done! I write this at 2:30 AM into the new year. I was going to mention things I did irl this year, mostly around the topic of wellbeing: strength training, sleep hygiene, addiction and therapy, reclaiming my attention, debugging ADHD and other dysfunctions, trying to unphone my brain, reading a few books, little interior design improvements, upgrading my struggle meals, getting an electric kettle, playing sports. I was going to make a gratitude list and make some goals. These will have to wait. I am grateful this post turned out alright, just like this year turned out alright, and my goal is to make better goals tomorrow.