Resolutions 2026 & Reflections

• New Job
• Update Wardrobe (for real this time)
• Get on injections + prog

How'd I Do Last Year?

Before getting into my new resolutions, let's take a look at my progress on last years' resolutions:

• 2025-07-22: Do A V7 Boulder

This was an extremely soft V7, so under most circumstances it should not have counted, but I did it anyways!

I haven't updated my resolution for bouldering because V8s are still very far out of my wheelhouse; I'm more comfortable doing V5s than last year, but I'm still having to cut my teeth on real V6s before I can truly say I've done a V7. Climbing is mainly a social activity, so I'll be doing it regularly regardless.

• Update My Wardrobe

Had to carry this one forward 😔

Fortunately, I have more concrete plans to achieve it this time around, with one thrift store tour already scheduled & another in the works. I don't yet feel comfortable going out in public in feminine clothes (which isn't helped by the fact I don't have any lol), let alone shopping for them, so having a group with me will be helpful. Hopefully getting some good outfits & having more occasions to wear them will change that.

• Run a Half-Marathon (again)

Nope 😔

I have dialed in exactly what's been causing my headaches fortunately, but while "don't have allergic reactions" (solved w/ Flonase OTC nasal spray) & "don't become overly stressed" (solved by not doing that lol) are manageable, "don't jostle the head around for long periods" is most exacerbated by running. I've tried light jogs at various points in time, all with the same result. I am fairly sure it's the movement instead of the cardio because intense stationary bike is just fine.

It sucks to give up on this, because I loved running so much, but at least I've found other ways to get exercise.

• blog more
  • more HN frontpages 😎

Somewhat of a success!! I did not blog nearly enough for my own liking, though I did get a Typescript post to HN front page (don't look at the comments, I made that mistake). I don't really use HN tho, preferring to browse & participate in the lobste.rs community instead. HN is only notable for the amount of traffic it drives & re-aggregation that happens as a result.

• go out more
  • take more photos
  • make new friends
  • hang out with current friends more

Triple check!! Again, still have room for improvement here, but I did do all of these things. Not really a resolution w/ a deadline, more of a standing attitude.

• get better at Japanese
  • level up a lot more in WaniKani (Japanese kanji learning app)
  • catch up with Yotsuba&! in Japanese

DNF 😔 and no plans to continue it, because I have other things in mind. Good thing that WaniKani had a lifelong purchase option lol.

Resolutions for This Year

When choosing these, I stuck to the criteria "what would be really frustrating if I hadn't achieved by next year?"

Job

I am not super enthusiastic about my current job. Granted, by almost much any metric, I have it pretty darn good! Coworkers are great, pay/benefits are great, no complaints about how I'm treated. I do feel a little "stuck", tho, like I'm not working on significantly harder problems than when I first joined, despite theoretically having a lot more knowledge about how our systems work. I am the "go-to" when it comes to debugging some of these systems, which feels nice, but at a certain point debugging stops being exciting and is more "oh boy here i go fixing kludges again"¹.

idk maybe it's just an ego thing & i need to check myself. But it really does feel like I'm not able to give a representative amount of effort compared to what I'm capable of, because I'm not excited by anything anymore. The company's direction is not my preferred direction as of late, especially compared to how it was early on. So I think it's time to look for greener pastures—after checking both sides of the fence to make sure the grass is truly greener ofc.

Wardrobe

Yeah!!! hashtag fempilled hashtag girlmaxxing. See previous section.

HRT

Similar to the job, it also feels like growth here has stalled. In some sense, stability here is good, don't want wild mood swings or crazy levels or anything. On the other hand, while smooth skin & small breasts r excellent additions, i would prefer "medium" or even "large" versions of the latter if at all possible. to fill out potential outfits ofc.

Genetics are likely not in my favor but hey we'll see. Everything I've read says injections are better than sublingual pills anyway, and while reviews of prog are mixed it's worth a shot at least I think. Current doctor doesn't want to change anything about my regimen so, uh, should do something about that first.

Rapid Fire Other Goals

Less important than the main goals, but still quite nice to work towards:

• Better At Art
  • I'm trying Drawabox again, seems better than last time I tried 4 years ago, we'll see how long it sticks tho. You'll know when I fall off updating this Bluesky thread of beginner doodles
• Invite Friends To Things
  • I am very good at saying "yes" when invited (mostly because I don't have a whole lot going on anyways), but no so much on the organizing front. This should change, because I always feel great when I get invited so time to pay that forward.
• Blogggggg
  • I have a few projects that are in a perpetual unfinished state so I'd like to get those out and also maybe develop a better cadence than "once every 3 months or more".
  • Still going to keep up the album posts tho, it's a great forcing function to listen to more new albums.

Anyways!! 2025 sure was a year huh. Only caught COVID once (proximate to the three times in 2024), went on trips with friends multiple times, so despite the rockiness in the world at large, it was an alright year all things considered. Reading some end-of-year accounts from others, I'd even go as far as to say I had a great year, and for that I am extremely grateful.

2026 has already started rocky in the large, but I'll do my best to not let that distract me from thriving. Here's hoping that your year will be on the up-&-up too.

And remember: EGGBUG LOVES YOU!!!