436 lines
18 KiB
HTML
436 lines
18 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
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<html><!-- InstanceBegin template="/Templates/Page Template.dwt" codeOutsideHTMLIsLocked="false" -->
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
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<meta name="description" content="Vel's personal site!">
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<meta name="keywords" content="PersonalSite,IndieWeb,Blog,Retro,ClassicWeb">
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<meta name="author" content="Velveteen">
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<script src="/scripts/flashcheck.js"></script>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/stylesheets/page.css">
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<!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="morecss" -->
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<!-- InstanceEndEditable -->
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<!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="doctitle" -->
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<title>2025 Round Up (and hopes for 2026)</title>
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<!-- InstanceEndEditable -->
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<!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="head" -->
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<!-- InstanceEndEditable -->
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</head>
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<body>
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<div id="top"></div>
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<script src="/scripts/framecheck.js"></script>
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<!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="Body" -->
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<h1 id="page-title">2025 Round Up (and hopes for 2026)</h1>
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<p>My friend Ocean wrote a 2025 round up on their blog (check it out
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<a href="https://oceanmew.com/blog/the-2025-rewind" target="_blank">here</a>) and I thought that was a
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nice idea to summarise what I achieved or the fun stuff I did in 2025. It was a pretty up-and-down year for
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me, but I did manage to do some interesting stuff. I also want to put down on paper (well, a screen?
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E-paper? Whatever) some stuff that I want to manifest for the coming year. There’s a trend I saw online
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where people write their ins and outs for the coming year, and I think that it’d be an interesting thing to
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canonise my ins and outs so that I can come back to them at the end of the year and see how much I stuck
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to those goals.</p>
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<h2 class="section-heading">January</h2>
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<p>I started off 2025 in the UK. I was visiting my family and friends back home for Christmas and New Year,
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and I stayed there until late January. I went to Wales with my friends and we stayed in an AirB&B that was
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like, a pub and huge bed and breakfast that had been converted entirely into a place to stay. The vibes
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there were really cool, we got our very own private pub to hang out in til late at night, it was a fairly
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short town to the nearby town of Fishguard so we were able to pick up supplies quickly and easily and
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visit the coast, and all in all a really great trip with friends, even if I caught a dreadful flu.</p>
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<p>
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Other stuff I did this month was visit Sutton Park for a walk with my friends and their dogs, did a pub
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quiz with friends and came almost dead last (womp womp), drank an unbelievable amount of cocktails at The
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Victoria during happy hour, and then come home to St Louis where I got to chill for the rest of the month.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified (PS Vita)</li>
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<li>Final Fantasy XI (PC)</li>
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</ul>
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<b>What I watched:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>A Christmas Story and the sequel</li>
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<li>Wonka</li>
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<li>Sonic the Hedgehog 3</li>
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</ul>
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<b>Fish and Chips consumed:</b> At least 2
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/january.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/january.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">February</h2>
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<p>
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February was a quiet month in 2025. I mostly just stayed at home and enjoyed the warm condo with my husband
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and cats. It was very snowy in St Louis so occasionally I went for a traipse through the snow (my favourite
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weather). I spent a little bit of time visiting my friend Britney (who used to be my manager at work) at
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her new house.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Suikoden (PS1)</li>
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</ul>
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<b>What I watched:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Cowboy Bebop</li>
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</ul>
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<b>Snowflakes witnessed:</b> 2,908,461,288
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/february.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/february.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">March</h2>
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<p>
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During March one of my friends on Discord started a daily photography challenge where a bunch of people in
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the friend group all tried to take one interesting photograph a day. A few of those photos made it onto my
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Insta gallery (which you can view <a href="/gallery/insta" target="_blank">here</a>), but there’s still a bunch that haven’t been uploaded anywhere else
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yet so I may create another gallery page for that March photography challenge some time, that would be fun
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to look back on I think.
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</p>
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<p>
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Another cool thing that happened in March was an online friend sent me a complete in box MiniDisc pro deck
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for free. It’s a Sony MDS-E10 and looks great on the shelf in my TV cabinet where it has lived since. This
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thing seems to sell at around $200 on ebay so I was extremely grateful for the gift, it was very generous.
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Otherwise March, like February, was mostly spent financially recovering from the month I spent in the UK,
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so it was a quiet one.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Monster Hunter Rise (PS4)</li>
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</ul>
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<b>What I watched:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Vanderpump Rules</li>
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</ul>
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<b>Photos Taken:</b> 140
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/march.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/march.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">April</h2>
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<p>
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In April I replayed some of my favourite visual novels, the Zero Escape series. I love the writing in these
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games, and so when The Hundred Line came out with writing by the same author I had to play it asap. The
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Hundred Line was pretty cool, but I spent like 40 hours playing it and only got to 12 of the 100(!!!!!!)
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endings, so I put it down in the end because it would have taken up way, way too much of my time. I got a
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new gaming handheld, the Ayaneo Pocket S, which I got because the Steam Deck is just too big and heavy for
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me, and the Pocket S weighs somewhere in between the Switch and Switch Lite, and is powerful enough to
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emulate Switch games within reason. It was a little more expensive than competitor handhelds like the AYN
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Odin but the weight and size were the main factors that pushed me to the Pocket S over the alternatives.
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</p>
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<p>
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The big, big thing that happened in August was that Ru and I finally picked up and moved from St. Louis to
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Chicago. This, of course, meant leaving my comfy job and the comfy people I had met there behind, which was
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a little sad. The move was big and exhausting and frankly we still haven’t entirely unpacked everything
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from it (we moved from 1250sqft to around 850sqft so there just isn’t the room to unpack and store
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everything anyway), but living in Chicago has been a blast. On the second day of living here I walked from
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my apartment into downtown chicago, following the lakefront, which took a couple of hours but was really,
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really nice.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (PS4)</li>
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<li>Hyrule Warriors (Switch)</li>
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<li>The Hundred Line: Last Defence Academy (Switch)</li>
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</ul>
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<b>Cybertrucks Witnessed:</b> 2 :( :(<br />
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<b>Deep Dish Pizzas Consumed:</b> 1
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/april.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/april.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">May</h2>
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<p>
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May was more or less an extension of April for me. We moved (and I started The Hundred Line) right at the
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end of April, so May was a lot of exploration and getting settled and learning about the area around us and
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life in Chicago. I took a lot of walks and L trains and ate a decent amount of good food at restaraunts in
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the area.
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</p>
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<p>
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At the end of May I visited some online friends for the first time, Kathy, Mori and 7666. They have a farm
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in rural Illinois that has a log cabin. It was a really fun time, and definitely the most rural place I’ve
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stayed at since moving to the USA. I got to visit a really cool retro store and a Rural King, which was the
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most american shop I have ever been in by a wide margin.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>The Hundred Line: Last Defence Academy (Switch)</li>
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<li>Balatro (PS4)</li>
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<li>Final Fantasy XI (PC)</li>
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</ul>
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<b>What I watched:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>New Girl</li>
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</ul>
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<b>Animals Witnessed:</b> Many
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/may.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/may.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">June</h2>
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<p>
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The biggest thing that happened for me in June was that I started a new job. I’m still at that job right
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now and it SUCKS. But it was the first job I could get and it’s money in the bank for right now. Otherwise,
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I went for more walks across the lake front and downtown and locally, explored some new stuff, and had fun
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in Chicago. I went to a few local thrift stores to see if they had anything interesting but decided not to
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buy anything until I was back on my feet financially a little more. Also, the US Government decided they
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want me to prove my marriage is real so my immigration status was up in the air for a little bit there.
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/june.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/june.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">July</h2>
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<p>
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July was the month I redesigned and relaunched this website! I wrote exactly ONE blog post last year (read
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it <a href="/blog/posts/20250701-new-site-design.htm" target="_blank">here</a>), and then drafted up a few other blog posts but never published them because I was too busy and
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tired a lot of the time to actually finish them. This post is the first one in months, sorry gang! I’ll
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try to do more soon!!
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</p>
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<p>
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Mostly I spent the month working, but I also visited my friends at the farm again and saw the creatures and
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my friends (who are also creatures) and had a really nice time.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Fire Emblem (GBA)</li>
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</ul>
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/july.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/july.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">August</h2>
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<p>
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In August I started therapy! I’ve been working with the same therapist since then and it’s been really
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helpful for me. I had never done therapy before but now I can’t really imagine life without it. I also
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moved some of my medical appointments to local providers in Chicago, and had a major surgery consult which
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will change my life once I’m all prepped for the surgery and have a date assigned.
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</p>
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<p>
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This month I also bought a Japanese region PS2 and a couple of games. I’ve been studying Japanese language
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for a while so I figured I could get some cheap Japanese language games that are simple and easy to
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understand, like puzzle games and stuff like that. I also installed a software mod on the PS2 that lets me
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load games from a hard drive and play online and such, so that I can play my personal non-Japanese games
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from the hard drive.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Final Fantasy XI (PC)</li>
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</ul>
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/august.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/august.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">September</h2>
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<p>
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Pumpkin Spice season begins!! I love autumn, it’s my favourite season. Realistically the only thing I did
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in September were go and see a Viagra Boys show at The Salt Shed, which was a really great time, so much
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fun, and then stayed at the farm again.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>.hack//fragment (PS2)</li>
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</ul>
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/september.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/september.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">October</h2>
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<p>
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October was a great month. My friend Kathy moved to Chicago from the farm and we hung out a lot, did a bar
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crawl and found our favourite bar, and met a bunch of new people there. I got to explore a lot of the area
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around her apartment because we hung out together a lot and it was cool to see another part of Chicago that
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I otherwise wouldn’t have really gone to or explored otherwise. Also, Ru and I visited a local rotary sushi
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place and it was great! We go there fairly often now and have a loyalty card lol.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I played:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii obviously)</li>
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<li>Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)</li>
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</ul>
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<b>Hangovers Survived:</b> At least 3
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/october.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/october.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">November</h2>
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<p>
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In November autumn hit hard and very suddenly. Up until late October/early November all of the trees and
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stuff had still kept their leaves but suddenly the leaves were falling and it felt very, very seasonal. I
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decorated a Christmas tree way before the season begins officially, but that was a lot of fun, and we went
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to Mitsuwa Marketplace and got some tasty food from the food court and went to Kinokuniya and bought some
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cool Japanese stuff. I got some cute pink laces for my shoes. Kathy hosted a friendsgiving and cooked up a
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whole thanksgiving dinner and I got to meet some people staying with her from out of town. It was a fun
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time.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>Cybertrucks Witnessed:</b> 1 :(<br />
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<b>Turkey Gobbled:</b> Significant quantities
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/november.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/november.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">December</h2>
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<p>
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To be honest, December was a pretty rough month. Ru went into major surgery early in the month and a lot of
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time was spent helping him with his recovery (he’s doing much better now but still recovering, it’ll take a
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long time). I got to do some other fun stuff this month, though, like decorating another Christmas tree.
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Christmas is my favourite time of year each year but I did not feel particularly christmassy this month for
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maybe the first time in my life. Other than that, I got to each some crazy good Thai food, and some tasty
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cheesecake. I also went to a new years eve party which was pretty cool.
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</p>
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<p>
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<b>What I watched:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Zootopia</li>
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<li>Zootopia 2</li>s
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</ul>
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</p>
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<center>
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<table width="200px" class="blog-image-embed">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/december.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="attachments/20260304-2025-round-up/december.jpg" width="500" border="0"></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<h2 class="section-heading">Overall</h2>
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<p>
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A mixed bag of a year. I definitely got to do a lot of stuff this year but a lot of it felt like, maybe, it
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was just kind of liminal, in between doing other things that are more important and pressing. I had to
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spend way more money this year than I wanted to, and I’m still recovering financially a year after moving,
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which really sucks. But on the other hand in 2025 I made a lot of progress as a person. I worked on myself
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a lot where it was possible to. My depression got really bad toward the end of the year and going into the
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next year, but now I’m on the other side of that.and feeling like I’m doing much better in myself, more
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confident and spending time with lots of cool new people.
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</p>
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<h2 class="section-heading">Ins and Outs for 2026</h2><br />
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<p>
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<b>Ins</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Blogging more</li>
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<li>Generally working on my website more</li>
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<li>Getting a new job</li>
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<li>Working on my appearance some more (I’m mostly happy with it rn but there’s stuff I want to
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work on)</li>
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<li>Working on my confidence some more</li>
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<li>Making more friends</li>
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<li>Making time for myself</li>
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<li>Figuring out my style some more</li>
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<li>Physical media and self-hosting</li>
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<li>Complete more video games :))</li>
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<li>Take more photos :)))</li>
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</ul>
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<b>Outs</b>
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<ul>
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<li>Worrying too much</li>
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<li>Being broke</li>
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<li>Putting stuff off all the time</li>
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<li>Doomscrolling</li>
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<li>Eating like a fucking goblin</li>
|
||
<li>Forgetting to take meds</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</p>
|
||
|
||
<p class="small-text" align="right">Written by Vel and published on March 4th 2026 at 3:30pm GMT-6.</p>
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