2025 was a bit of a rollercoaster.
I was fired this year. I’m an anxious person, so it was pretty stressful. However, thinking back on it now I feel so relieved. I really did not like my job. And I don’t think I realized how MUCH I didn’t like my job until I left. Or maybe I did realize, but I wouldn’t let myself “realize”… I’m not sure if that makes sense. I think this was kind of a great highlight for the year.
I started a new job this year. It has been pretty great so far. I like my coworkers. I like the project I’m working on. It feels like night and day compared to my previous couple years of work life. It’s only been a few months, but I feel like I’d like to stay here a long time right now.
I feel more like myself than I have in quite a while. I’m trying to figure out more about who I am.
We bought a house this year. That has been pretty cool and exciting and a little terrifying. It’s a lot of responsibility and debt to make this happen. I’m really lucky to be able to be here. I love my neighborhood and town. It feels good to be putting down some roots.
It feels great to have met a bunch of cool new people this year. I got involved with a local computer community and that has been pretty inspiring. It is cool to be able to talk with people who are more interested in software and computing than startups and SaaS products. It’s more than cool - I feel like it is helping me keep a better grip on my sanity in this industry. I love the web and it feels so hard to do that lately.
I’ve lived in Portland nine years now. It feels like home. I have close friends I feel like I’ve known forever here now. We hang out regularly. We have barbecues and board game nights we go bouldering and play pickleball.
I want to keep building more community. I want to help people I like be successful. I want to hear about things that excite them. I like the Friendcatchers concept.
I’ve been dealing with a deviated septum this year. That has been particularly challenging along with the rest of my new health problems from getting older. I need to get dental work done. My neck hurts. It is harder to get good sleep. I should find a therapist.
I feel like I’ve been struggling with digital “addiction” this year. It feels dramatic to label it as such. But I’ve spent a lot of my time compulsively checking my phone, watching YouTube and Twitch.tv, and checking Discord messages. I blocked social media sites on all my devices and that has felt good. I feel weird about these compulsions. I wonder how much they’re an issue vs. my feelings about them is the issue?
A weekend spent scrolling feels like a waste. Is it? I guess as I start to have some health struggles I get to start to reckoning with my mortality.
I read a lot of books this year.
I played a decent number of games this year. I’ve started playing fewer games in recent times than in previous years. I find it harder to find games that hold my interest now. I don’t feel like I had any truly mind blowing experiences this year in games.
I finished a decent number of projects this year. Every year I feel like I leave so many projects unresolved. 2025 is no exception.
In particular, I’ve been struggling to finish anywhere near as many game projects as I used to. I think this is equal parts an increase in my ambition and an inability to focus on games to completion. I think these probably go hand in hand. It is harder to finish larger games (duh?).
I watched a talk on CorgiSpace about making games that work with your specific idiosyncratic grain. I think that could be a salve for me. I experienced this a bit this year with my new words subdomain. I’ve never published as much writing as I want to, but I just started publishing my unfinished writing instead. It feels great so far.
I feel pretty good as I write this reflection. I’m largely happy with my year. My partner and I have gone through a lot of change, but I think it has mostly been good. I’d really like for 2026 to be a year of settling in and finding good rhythms.