Oh how time flies… It’s been almost four months since my last update, and now we’re in the final days of 2025; some changes are already visible, some are still only hints, and a few may never see the light of day—oops, I got carried away with too much research. To start, this year has flown like no other; looking back, the only constants I can spot are work, a modest amount of gaming, and—most importantly—a huge chunk of research for a blog post on AI/LLMs that I kicked off last year (holy moly) and that will probably never be finished. Keeping up with comparable AI/LLM content is a nightmare because the models keep evolving: Gemini 3.0 is the latest, Grok’s version is a mystery, ChatGPT is already at 5.2, DeepSeek’s version is unclear, I haven’t checked the newest Mistral release, and I had planned to include Perplexity but ended up canceling it. As I move further into my thirties, every step feels a little more painful, especially at work and with my workflow—ouch, my knees 😅.
Regarding the website, I made a handful of minor visual tweaks to improve WCAG compatibility and readability on various displays; a few things broke during the process, but the new design restored everything, especially on the Contact Me page where I updated my socials (yes, I now have a new Facebook Page URL that will stay). For the last quarter of the year I wrapped up a web‑design project that now appears first on the Projects page, giving me valuable experience in international project management, design, and deployment, and I spent a surprisingly long time drafting a comparison of Android versus the iPhone 13 Pro from the perspective of a triple‑device user—a piece that took far longer to write than expected.
On the social side, after in last quarter I reinstated TikTok because it works for me; my recent TikTok start and posts for Parish organically gathered a solid number of views, likes, and comments within about a month and a half of starting it.
Now for personal updates: turning thirty really does take its toll on the knees, head, and mindset, especially as the year zipped by. Professionally, I’ve completed a full year at Significo, often checking email even while on vacation (😂), and leisure time has shrunk dramatically. My Steam “Year in Review” (friends‑only) shows the lowest gaming activity I’ve ever logged; when I do play, I stick to older titles, buy a few new games, and pre‑ordered Football Manager 26, which I’m playing slowly. Occasionally I fire up my legacy NetTop to run Windows XP‑era games—GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas—on the lowest settings with basic fixes and no‑CD (since my external drive died last year and still hasn’t been replaced, even my main workstation suffers 😅). Hardware costs have surged: RAM and SSD prices have risen after earlier GPU shortages and AI‑related price hikes, and frankly AI fatigue is why I abandoned the research blog post.
Looking ahead to 2026, I expect to publish retrospectives on long‑term devices, more “retro” posts, and occasional commentary on current tech situations, plus a handful of articles about privacy and the steps I’m taking to de‑Google and de‑Microsoft my digital life.
Post proofread and grammar‑checked by Proton Lumo AI. Cover image created by Canva.