Well, maybe not completely different. Life doesn’t take big swings as a rule which is something I think we should be thankful for, although the past few years have put that theory to the test. We can only work with what we’re given, so this post will dredge the bottom of 2025 to see what I’ve got to work with as I start down the path of 2026.

With Blender

I have to say, among all of my interests, 3D modeling wins the award for Most Improved Effort. It helps that it’s not my job, so I am never under any constraints nor deadlines to reach a certain level of skill or complete a project within a certain amount of time. I watch a lot of videos on YT regarding Blender or regarding tools and techniques that I can use in Blender or Blender-adjacent, and when lessons I watch begin to make more sense than not, I know I’ve been on the right path.

Unfortunately, 3D modeling is not immune from the AI steamroller. I’ve seen many videos and posts asking if being a 3D artist is a “doomed” profession, or on how to turn images into 3D models using AI. Like anything else that AI is supposedly coming for, there’s a backlash in this domain, and there will always be a call for authentic output from authentic artists, so I’m not going to let it get me down.

My Goal

My goal here is to complete at least one composition per quarter. That’s three months to work on a single, non-video scene like my previous works.

Some of the work above has taken several weeks, and some of it was done in mere days or even hours. I’m not relying on past experience to say that I’m going to work on something that takes up the entire quarter, but I’m giving myself three months to produce one work I am happy with. Should I be able to accomplish that in fewer than three months, then I’ll simply use the remaining time to work on smaller, one-off things, continue my studies, and plan for the next quarter.

With App Development

This is the one that I think will give me the most trouble. Since app development is my job, my love of coding has basically been beaten out of me as I associate it with corporate culture, deadlines, and clueless customer requirements. At my recent company holiday party, other developers were giddy about using AI to make their work easier, and while I won’t lie and say that I’ve not turned to AI rather than to Google to answer coding questions, the incessant beating of the AI drum and the downgrading of “bedroom coding” into buzzword-heavy and LinkedIn-ready vignettes has really soured me on even picking up an IDE as of late.

On top of that, this is one time my love of learning has come back around to bite me in the ass. I’ve been working mainly with React, but have spent time investigating what other options are out there that are also using JS or TS, and there are a lot of them. So many, in fact, that I can’t keep any of them straight anymore. Every framework would work for my projects. Every back end. Every hosting solution. But I have to pick one of each and learn the ins and outs of those choices, which stuffs me into a cul-de-sac; if I find myself stuck and unable or unwilling to kick and claw my way out, then I have to start over.

I’m paralyzed by no bad options so to that end I’ve decided that in 2026, I will do no personal app development. I am kind of shocked by having written that, as I had planned on working on one project this year with weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports on progress, but after writing out my own 10,000 foot assessment above, I realized that I don’t care.

My Goal

Uninstall my IDEs. Burn my codebases. Escape into the wilderness. Do not look back. Live free.

With TTRPGs

Yes, this is still very much on the table. I haven’t worked on my The Secret World (SWADE) module in quite some time in part because I got myself into a plot tangle that I used as an excuse to allow me to put it aside for a while, but in 2026 I want to get back to it. I also want to expand into Delta Green, and maybe also more traditional (not D&D) TTRPG settings. In fact, I want to get back to TTRPGs in general, more so than just buying the books/PDFs and reading them before putting them away to give the dust something to settle on.

My Goal

I want to finish this TSW module in the first quarter of 2026. Then I’m going to look for some guinea pigs to help test it out in the second quarter. I can’t say how in-depth this module will be right now as it needs a major overhaul so I might as well be starting from scratch (and I probably will). It could be three months of work for a one-shot, but if that’s the case, then that’s the case. This will also play into my “learn to accept feedback” directive I mentioned in my previous post, as I’ll be soliciting ideas on how to improve the specifics and overall product.

I would also like to have the goal of being a player in a TTRPG, which I have not done in over 30 years. That means I need to find folks who are LFG. That means I need to get a grip on my fear of strangers. I also need to make sure I find a group that fits my play style as well (story heavy, medium-to-lite rules lawyering, RP not required) which I think is going to be kind of difficult if I don’t already know the people involved. I’m going to put a pin in this goal, though, as I think I’ll leave it as a “goal of opportunity”, should the perfect opportunity arrive.

With Blogging

I’ve already laid out my goals for blogging: spend more time editing for coherence if nothing else, additional focus on facts and experience with less in-line editorializing where appropriate (I suspect it won’t always be appropriate, of course)…basically say more with less, if that’s even possible for me.

As an addendum, I’d like to re-theme this site. I had looked into it briefly, but I think during the second quarter (only because I’ve crammed a lot already into the first quarter) I’ll sit down and find a nice, workable theme that doesn’t require me to regress back to fiddling with PHP (i.e. find an off-the-shelf theme and be done with it).

My Goal

I would like to commit to at least two posts per week this year. I’ve been slacking over the past few (looks at calendar) years and have gotten down to maybe two posts per month if that. What I should have done and hopefully will do is add “things to blog about” to my daily log entries, and then spend whatever time I can to build a post over a few days. It might not be great. It might not be long (rejoice!), but it will at least be.

I also need to read and, where applicable, comment on more blogs if I feel what I have to comment is meaningful. As I said before, comments aren’t just conversation, they’re a way to let bloggers know that their works are being read (I know we have stat tracking for that but that’s less personal than a comment).

With Video

You know, this is kind of my own Wild West interest. My main source of video content is what I might record when playing a game and while I wouldn’t assume that I’ve reached the pinnacle of what can be done with gaming footage in the Let’s Play domain, relying on it as my only source of experimentation is not going to get me anywhere. The problem is, then, where to get other video? And in the end, why?

My Goal

There’s two lanes here. The first is figuring out how to “make videos”. That generic statement covers not only editing, but also coloring and audio. Is it important to color manage video game footage recorded with OBS? I have no idea, but I could try! I’ve already started down the road of audio production and things have been going well enough for Let’s Play videos.

The other lane is visual effects and motion graphics. While this is the area of my primary interest, I know that neither works without a video purpose to apply them to.

So my thought was to get some test video from places like Unsplashed or Pexels and just…mess around with them. Replace the sky. Add in 3D elements. Colorize them. Adjust the audio. I suspect that this might be a hard road, though, because videos from those sources are probably already made for production and might not need a lot of post-processing work, but who knows?

Another option — and let me finish before you roll your eyes — is to maybe do something completely off-the-wall. One thing I’ve been kicking around is to create a kind of dumbass Ken Burns-style documentary about something absolutely ridiculous, almost Airplane! level stupid. I could get friends and family to sit and act as the talking heads, interspersing their anecdotes with still images in soft zoom. I’d need to find a suitable topic, though. I think I might convince friends to read from a title card or something for a few beats.

None of this sounds like a “goal”, I know, but I’m still trying to figure this one out. I will check back in sometime around June/July to report if I’ve figured out a more solid approach for this.

With Music

I started talking about music here on occasion, and the truth is that while I have the best intentions of listening to more music, when the time comes, I don’t. I’m writing this post in silence, even, when I could be listening to something other than the droning of the HVAC system behind me and the 3D printer in the other room. Thing is, I keep buying new music and seeking out new bands on the regular, throwing them into my wish list and then buying albums en masse when the spirit moves me and the wallet allows. I have zero regrets regarding my purchases, but what am I doing? Just archiving this stuff?

My Goal

I want to make time for music when at home. Up until last year I’d often put in the ear buds and lay on the couch in my office at night before bed and listen, but then I stopped for some reason. I stopped using streaming services which isn’t a flex, it’s just what happened and as a result I lost access to a lot of what I was listening to. Instead, I went on an indie binge and haven’t yet found a critical mass of albums that really draw me in. So I need to spend less time “evaluating” music and more time “immersing” myself in it.

I would like to acquire a turntable. I don’t know why. I haven’t listened to records since I was a kid and had the “Star Wars Audio Recording” on vinyl. I don’t really know if this will have any bearing on rediscovering an enjoyment of music or if it’ll just be a financial burden that sits in the living room console until I get around to passing it off to a consignment shop in a few years. Plot twist: I have zero records. Plot twist twist: the resurgence of vinyl means that there are a lot of places to go to get second hand albums. Plot twist twist twist: I’m sure that because of the resurgence of vinyl, even second hand albums are expensive.

The Rest

This is where I’m going to leave things for now. As I mentioned in my original post, my plan is to do what is possible and I think that among my major interests, this list comprises what I would consider to be possible. I could narrow things down even more — look! No mention of Star Citizen anywh…DOH! — but by keeping things at this level I feel that I’ve given myself enough homework that I can safely manage and complete the assignments in the time-frames provided.

Expect that there will be updates. I will be aiming for a weekly round-up of What Got Done as means of public accounting for those who like to follow along and live vicariously through someone else’s resolutions.