New Year 2025 → 2026

31st of December, 2025

With another rotation around the Sun, year 2025 comes to an end. And everyone knows what that means… Yay new blog post!

Firstly, I would like to apologize for missing the website anniversary this year. It has been difficult to manage my time with the job and all. And to be fair the site has seen very few updates this year. Which I think is perfectly fine! In my opinion it is in a good state visually. I would like to keep expanding it in little ways, like adding the Music Room and the Photo Book, which I did this year! Now that the foundation is ready I can focus on filling this place in with lots of things, which leads me pretty nicely into something I’d like to talk about next.

I want to develop my projects more next year! I have been trying to get into visual development this year doing character design, studies of buildings and scenery. I really want to learn how to create more fleshed-out worlds that feel alive. What better way to compile all these things than a website that I have conveniently been building for the last two years?

Some of the things I wanted to improve upon at the beginning of the year were composition and concepts. And while I don’t believe I have fully achieved it, I am certainly on the right track. The art section for this year is pretty small, so I’m thinking of expanding it into the next year under the same tab for convenience.

Let’s review last year’s goals and their completion rate:

1. "Experiment more with the composition and concepts of my artwork" – Successful, I’d say!
2. "Continue refining my animation skills" – Sort of?
3. "Read more. Let’s aim for a book a month maybe" – Pretty big failure on this one.
4. "Piano" – …

What can we learn from this 40% success rate? Well, mainly I’d like to focus on the reading part. I did not finish a single book (I’m not counting Omoiyari it’s a re-read) I am ashamed to admit it. However, I feel it is important to look at the year realistically, as I have been reading a lot more. I’ve been reading some classic literature as well as non-fiction, mainly philosophy, art and architecture and psychology (but these are all topics for another day). It’s a good step to read at all if I want to ever start finishing books! In order to help with that I want to aim for 6 books this year. I will pick 3 books right now that I have to finish no matter what and we’ll see what other three I pick up in the coming year. That seems fair and manageable. I implore everyone who, like me, has messed up their resolutions, to cut the scope of them instead of giving up on them outright. We will get there with practice for sure!

Hope everyone is ready for their favorite segment – music talk!! I haven’t missed using streaming services since dropping them. And I have to say that curating my own musical library has been doing wonders, as this year I have discovered many amazing artists that I keep coming back to over and over. Because of this, I feel like going a touch more in-depth on each album I have listened to in 2025.

GUSTO is a debut album by the band Boko Yout that I have come across by accident and loved it immensely. It’s very exciting to be witness of a new artist coming onto the scene. I believe they will achieve great things, as their sound is very unique and gripping. My favorite tracks are Demolition Man and Beast. Absolutely love the performance on these.

Another Secret by Nastyona has been on my radar for many years and this autumn I finally gave it the time it deserves. Wonderful, stunning album. Expect a full review sometime in the future, there are not enough words to describe how great it is.

I hear many people complaining about having no way to discover music without discovery functions of websites like Spotify. But you can really find new music quite easily through other means, like, for example, me finding the band The Novembers through scrolling j-rock forums or the funny story of how I found Stratosphere by Duster. While watching the annual “having fun on the computer” video by Lute, he mentions that a picture on the wall of the shop in the game Nubby’s Number Factory (which we will return to shortly) is actually the cover art for Stratosphere, and that it is his favorite album ever! Trusting his and Nubby’s Dev’s judgment I gave it a few listens and slowly fell in love with the record over the summer. It’s great, music you just want to live in. Definitely a favorite of mine now as well, timeless piece of music. If you like slowcore, give it a shot. It’s so highly regarded for a reason.

Meaningless off-screen death by Ivy Sinthetic was one of the first albums I’ve gotten into in 2025 and it defined the spring for me. It’s a wonderful record that deserves its own full review. It’s highly sound produced and noisy, deliciously distorted at times with very tangible atmosphere baked into each track. If you enjoyed my recommendation of Smiling Broadly from last year, I highly encourage you to give this artist a shot as well. You can find Ivy’s music here.

Mass of the Fermenting Dregs has been a great discovery for me this year. My favorite track of theirs for me has to be Endroll on their self-titled album. Very good shoegaze/noise rock. Chances are you’ve heard their song 青い、濃い、橙色の日 from World is Yours. It’s a banger what can I say.

When I was much younger I used to hate Jazz music, among other good things. Part of it was genuine difficulty getting into music with no repeating patterns, and part of it was certainly performative. This year I decided to start learning about jazz and listening to it more. Obviously, this is a genre with rich history and I am only just tipping my toes in it. To start off I started going through Bill Evans’ records. My favorites so far are Waltz for Debby, Blue in Green, Peace piece.

My good friend Manna (HI!!) has been hooking me up with great albums as always. Celestial realms by Autumn’s Grey Solace is absolutely beautiful I love it very much. It suits a lonely melancholic mood really well. Spectre by BLU-SWING is a great swing album. My favorite song is 光の記憶 and I love the concept and execution on Déjà vu.

The one song I would like you to listen to today is Love Space by Tatsuro Yamashita, which is simply the best song ever written. I won’t even link you to anything, here it is for your listening pleasure:

If I had to highlight a trend in my music taste this year, it would be the high amount of noise. Although this is hardly a discovery, as I have been enjoying some good noise in songs since I was a teen, so maybe that is just another avenue I should look into more.

Bountiful year for gaming, lots of it has been transpiring for me. Many games that I would love to talk about in more detail, but for now a brief overview will have to do.

Blue Prince is a masterpiece. I love everything about this game and I believe it to be a new classic. I love puzzles very much and this feels like someone who truly loves them as well. Northern Journey is a great single-dev game that is extremely fun to play. It really does capture the feeling of hiking. I implore you to watch Mandalore’s review of it and give it a shot if you like what you see! If you liked last year’s very real and just game of the year winner Balatro, you should definitely check out Nubby’s Number Factory (see, I told you we’ll get to it). Crack cocaine for the “number goes up” community and I admire its visual style.

There are two (or rather four) games I played this year that have a comprehensive review: Psychopomp and the Sam & Max trilogy (to be uploaded soon). Fundamentally different experiences but both are now some of my favorite games of all time.

There were some games that I didn’t get to finish, but would like to mention anyway, maybe I will come back to them in the coming year. 1000xResist is wonderfully written and gripping, soul-crushing and so involved. Infinite praise for the team behind it, great piece of interactive fiction. I have played a little bit of White Knuckle, however my tiny old laptop couldn’t handle it very well, but I am determined to master it now that I have access to my main PC. It’s a very fun game. Another one on my ‘to play’ list is the OFF remake! It has been at least ten years since I first watched a playthrough of the original, so now it feels like a brand new experience. I’m glad it lives on like this now, even if I do miss the old music that has become so iconic since initial release.

I have gotten pretty deep into Umamusume: Pretty Derby this year. I was vaguely aware of the franchise but the global release allowed me to properly sink my teeth into it. I love horses!! The gameplay is genuinely engaging, it has been ages since I’ve had fun doing my dailies in any game. I’m in love with character designs they are very much up my alley and I find the writing very compelling. My favorites are, unsurprisingly, Manhattan Café and Agnes Tachyon. The horse obsession has gone so bad in fact, that I now own several figurines of Café and Tachyon, as well as badges and keychains. And I don’t regret any of it!

Surprisingly, by the end of this year I have gotten back into Minecraft. In a major way too, as I have already long passed the “2 week binge” threshold and am still going strong. I’ve been playing a singleplayer world, living on an incredibly inconvenient mountain that needs so much work it’s downright sickening. At first I was mad that my spawn was a seemingly never-ending taiga and snow, but I have come around to loving it very much. I welcome a challenge. And I have also been playing multiplayer with my friend Yvette (hi btw :)). A long-time server is its own experience, there’s something special about contributing to a cause, building infrastructure for yourself and others, and making something pretty that everyone can enjoy.

And an honorary mention to a little game/productivity program that my friend Piggirl (hi :3) has gifted me – Gogh! I have it running as I type out this blog, I find it quite useful. I’ve been using pomodoro timers for years now and I like having one here as well. I also love the soundscaping options and how highly customizable they are. Right now I’m rocking the sounds of the ocean, bird song and the occasional crow over a lovely ambient album provided by the game. And of course, making avatars and rooms is very fun, basically playing dolls, which is awesome.

I’d also like to quickly mention the two movies I saw this year. I’m not much of a cinema person, so my interactions with this medium are limited and can be easily highlighted. Perfect Days (2023) is a wonderful film. My friend has shown it to me and it was a great time, both of us are big fans of the “nothing happens” genre. I really respect and resonate with the message of the film, it was nice to see an older character living an enjoyable fulfilling life, we don’t get that too often if at all. Cinematography is beautiful and the soundtrack is awesome. I like the final word the film leaves you with – Komorebi – the light shining through the leaves, the pattern of light and shadow, a fleeting moment that is beautiful in its impermanence.

This summer my friends and I also saw the movie Akira (1988) in theatre. I could not stop smiling as we exited the building after watching it from how much I loved every second of it. It’s a cult classic for a reason. Beautifully made, stunning piece of sci-fi. I appreciate how despite what might seem like a fantastical appearance, how grounded it is in our current understanding of biology and physics. Great movie indeed.

Alright, now the plan for 2026 is going to look like this:

1. Continue improving in Art and Animation
2. Read 6 books
3. Piano.
4. Make a video game

That last part is pretty interesting, as I do have a little game in the works! It’s nothing to write home about and I’m trying to keep the ambitions low, so that the chances of me finishing it increase. That’s it I would like to make a game next year! Speaking of games, I might or might not have had part in something like that this year, thanks to my wonderful friend Sam (also hiii ;)), but that is a story for the future. Hehehe.

I would like to take a moment to say thank you to all of my friends that have been checking in on me and sending time with me. It appears I have entered a strange and lonely period of my life this year and you all have made the transition significantly less daunting, which I am very grateful for. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, I really do appreciate it and can only hope to one day repay you for your kindness and patience.

The future, as always, looks both infinitely grim and eye-searingly bright. Cheers to the New Year and cheers to you, dear reader!

Happy New Year! See you on the other side.

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