the year of completion

preamble

My theme for this year is completion. Every one of my friends and family has misinterpreted this in their own way, with their readings ranging from sexual gratification to death. What it actually means is far simpler: I'm going to finish what I start.

Well that's quite ironic isn't it? In previous years I've published this annual retrospective on the 2nd of January, so why is this one so late? Well, that's because I've been busy completing other things of course.

I've set myself a deadline to finish this before the end of January. It is 23:45 on the 31st of January as I write and I've just started proofreading. Wish me luck!

retrospective

Two thousand and twenty five was an odd year. Everything going on outside my life – politics, enshittification, AI – got worse and worse. On the other hand, everything inside was quite exciting. That's what I'll be focusing on here so I can look back fondly.

music

I joined two (2) orchestras last year: the Constella Philharmonic and Pico Players, each satisfying a different element of orchestral playing that I like. The Constella Phil, if you will, meet two or three times before each concert, jamming all rehearsal into one exhilarating week. The Pico Players is what's known as a social orchestra: the music is second to the meetup. Though we still end up playing great pieces well. We meet weekly so there's far more time to get to know everyone and the rehearsals are relaxed until a week before the performance, when everyone freaks out. In combination, these two strike a nice balance and keep my fingers from rusting over.

I've also embarked on an assortment of other musical adventures, perhaps most notably learning the trumpet. I joined a colleague in playing some parlour chamber music, which has led to me exploring a surprising amount of the Baroque flute repertoire. Right as the year was ending I released opus – an album containing eight years' worth of bedroom noodling. It was this last that inspired the theme for my next year, but we've still got a fair bit of 2025 to discuss before we can get to that!

programming

Last year I

• created a whack-a-mole game on a tiny screen, microprocessor combo at a work morale event.
• completed a first draft of my rolodex site. This may never be publically released because it steals an idea from a friend while I wait for them to finish their rather more polished, commercial implementation.
• continued to refine my miminal notes app for minimal people.
• started sketching my ideal digital calendar.
• upgraded my articulate card generator to allow local saving, no need to worry you'll lose all your progress!
• wrote a how to play cello guidebook. Okay, I started writing it. More to come.
• added a leaderboard and party mode to eurotally.
• rewrote a sketch of life twice. I'm planning to do so a third time this year.
• and moved to self hosting every single one of my projects.

That's quite a varied list (great job on the year of enrichment, me) but it's missing one very key thing: I didn't release anything new. Lots of ideas were started, or re-started, but very few were finished. Can you see where I'm going with this?

person-ing

I've left this section till last to write and there really isn't any time left to dilly dally. You get a list of whatever I can remember right now. Take it or leave it.

• Moved in with my partner! (the actual move in was in 2026 but we started renting the flat at the end of December).
• Got a promotion at work. I tend to refrain from sharing my thoughts on my work here; suffice to say I'm chuffed.
• Met up with friends outside their usual contexts. I'm terrible at this and must admit I initiated exactly none of said meetups. Perhaps a point for development in 2026.
• Lodged for a year, discovering a great deal about what makes a bad housemate in the process.
• Did a great deal of thinking about privacy, security, community, resilience, fascism and technology that I'd like to start distilling into posts here.

prospective

My aim for this year is twofold: finish everything I've started and start only what I'll finish. In a way I wish I could've called it my year of finishing, but that's not actually what that word means. Oh well.

What will this look like? Well, I've been prioritising getting jobs done over … not getting jobs done. This has manifested itself in spending a great deal of time on making my new flat a nice place to be, but also in ticking off various administrative jobs that have been hanging over me.

My hope is that, as I whittle down the list of things to complete, I'll be able to focus on more exciting long-term projects without fear of leaving important things behind.

Unusually, I'm holding myself to some commitments for the year. By 2027 I will have released a sketch of life, cassettes, an anagram helper and completed my rolodex. If you don't know what those are, you will by the end of the year!

finally

It's been a long wait for this post and I thank you for your patience. It is now complete. I hope it was worth it.