New Year Reflections

Friday, January 16 2026

Happy New Year! It’s actually January 16th, way past the appropriate period to sing Auld Lang Syne, but with recent discussion in my social circle about blog posts and starting to blog, I’ve been itching to get back to writing and this felt like an appropriate way to return, The New Years theme allowing me to reflect on my goals and discuss renewal. Afterall, my last installment was back in August, and a lot has changed since then.

Last January and February, I ambitiously pursued multiple New Year Resolutions; I wanted to read more novels, poems, write more, blog, use RSS feeds… I never dedicated myself to keeping resolutions before 2025, but last year I got really excited. I had some successes and some failures in my various pursuits of 2025 – but none of that discourages me now as I move forward into 2026. Around that time last year was also when a lot of my friends got into “Web 1.5” and started to post on SpaceHey, a site recreating old MySpace, and generally blogging and being more thoughtful in online communities. Most of us have dropped that mentality since then, but I continued thinking about it all throughout the year. I’m not committed to it all the time, but I’ve definitely been actively updating my website and trying to divorce myself from shortform content, habit-forming design, algorithms, etc. I never let go of the desire to thoughtfully create (zines, videos, blog posts, websites, shimeji), but the return of January has refreshed the desire in me. In deciding my resolutions for this year, I’ve decided to use them to directly address issues.

Mainly, I want to discuss my approach at blogging. One thing that’s irked me with my blog posts in the past is that… I’m just not happy with them. I’m embarrassed by my writing. I’ve noticed this in my school work and fanfiction too, where I have a lot of issues with my authorial voice. It's hard to actively blog when I step back from my catalogue and feel discontented. My wording is awkward and the ideas I present don’t smoothly connect. For the most part, it just comes off stilted and weird and I hate the vibe it gives. So, to remedy this, a resolution I’m pursuing will be to practice writing more and reform my voice, which I feel doesn’t currently represent me. This post is my first approach at changing my writing process.

For this blog post, I’m dictating my draft by recording a video of myself talking – the way I would for a youtube video – and then transcribing it onto Google Docs. It’s scatterbrained and messy, but from there I can edit and build upon it, moving points around to create a more succinct, focused piece. My goal in incorporating this into my process is to be more naturalistic and flowy, a voice more akin to my actual speech. Generally when I’m writing, I’m looking up all these big synonyms… which is cool, because I want to have a big vocabulary, but I also want my work to be honest and natural. The way I write is distinct from the way I talk and I hope to bridge the gap more–at least while I’m still developing my skill.

I do have some solid topics I’m excited to write about soon (ex. my move from music streaming to MP3, Tom and Greg, movies) but I thought it’d be cool to start by writing a New Year retrospective… a “what-does-the-future-hold-for-me?” type post. So, Happy New Year! Hopefully you have something you want to work on this year, as I think January’s a good time to be excited. I’m hoping to record more videos and write more for my Neocities.

Thanks for reading!

If you'd like to respond, email me at loldogworld@gmail.com