I'm very clearly a naturally reflective person. So I won't miss the opportunity this year to take stock of what was a very big year personally.

My intent from last year was to chop wood and carry water. Mission accomplished.

Creative Work

A couple of major projects! Bird Box is the biggest one. It was a blast making something that used a wide spectrum of the mediums I work in, all for one project.

Amethyst is still something I'm very proud of. A convergence of love for Drum and Bass, early CG, and the feeling of being drawn into a world, a la Myst.

Only one other non-project album, Goose Creek. Unless you count the whole moving out of state part. That was, indeed, a project!

More of a technical accomplishment, but it feels like home here now that I have music playing on this site.

Music

Proprioception!! I had a great breakthrough with being able to play piano with my eyes on the music and away from my hands this year. A huge accomplishment, and one that will accelerate my piano playing from here on out. It's breathed new life into playing as well. That feeling of soaring is there!

I gave a valiant effort for chord melody early this year, to then switch my focus over to Math Rock and Midwest Emo. Hoping to return to chord melody another time, with more chops and speed across the fretboard. Learning short licks, though, has been an energizing process. The quick loop of practicing and recording has been a great engine this year.

• Never Meant
• Dawn from Pride & Prejudice (2005)
• Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
• North Central Texas Winds
• I'm Old Fashioned

Listen to more music.

Art

In some ways a slower year, but a more interesting one. Gaining some fluency in Blender was a fascinating endeavor.

Much of my work has been beneath the surface here. My sketchbooks are fuller, and I've worked my way through a few more courses and books. This is one of those hard-to-quantify improvements from the year. Ultimately, I'm thrilled with the progress.

Summaries here:

• Blender
• Year of Picture Making
• Sketchbook
• Painting Studies

Favorite pieces:

• Mario Wings to the Sky
• Dallas House
• Corner Office

See more art.

Writing

Feels free and flowing. A big barrier to getting words on the site came from the feeling that I always had to make these thoughtful, polished posts. Not every piece required that, so I've leaned into Clippings and a Links Feed. The site feels more like a notebook in that sense, now, which helps with keeping me engaged openly with it.

Favorites:

• The Sound Design of Pedestrian Call Buttons
• Tending the Garden With Tag Pages
• Software Without Scale
• Two Chords
• Compass
• Three Years of Blogging

Read more notes from the blog.

Software

Wild year for software. I have a few AI agents I've developed out in the wild now. And AI moved from being an occasionally helpful autocomplete to an entirely new way of accomplishing work. I'm still learning how to continue to best integrate AI-assisted coding into my workflow. But it has been quite the game-changer.

• Critical Thinking and Coding Agents
• Extending Functionality Through the JS Proxy Class
• Handling Errors in LangGraph (and Other State Machines)
• Full Page Video Across Devices with React
• Testing Time Interval Code

See more from the tech blog.

Reading

My reading hasn't been as prolific as years past, but what I did pick up, I thoroughly enjoyed. If I had to pick favorites:

• What It Is by Lynda Barry
• So Many Books by Gabriel Zaid
• Art & Fear by David Bayles & Ted Orland
• Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highwa by Steve Purcell

See more on the bookshelf.

Web

A few websites, blogs, and creators I've truly enjoyed this year:

• Robin Sloan's Blog on media & technology
• Austin Kleon
• Matt Webb's Interconnected
• Melon King
• LGR
• Soft Skills Engineering
• Artvee

See more on my links page.

The Hard To Capture Bits

Lots of life happened this year:

• Moving to Boulder 🏔️
• Revisiting a childhood hobby ⚡️
• Fun trip to Miami for work 🦩
• Enjoying being engaged 💍
• Home in Houston for the holidays 🎄
• Several good movies seen. Harry Potter in theaters, It's A Wonderful Life also on The Silver Screen, Good Will Hunting, Hamnet, KPop Demon Hunters, Whiplash 🎥

2026 Intention

New projects and habits take a certain level of rocket fuel to break the atmosphere before coasting, reaching the chop wood, carry water phase. Several atmospheres have been broken for the past several years in my world. I have one more big one on the horizon in the coming years. So my intention for this year, somewhat similar to last year, is to simply keep going. Albeit — with a greater focus on "roots" as I've been putting it to Miranda. More foundational studies, more etude practicing, more learning around what doesn't change in software.

One other added twist: taking time to enjoy what's been accomplished so far. I have a tendency to always be pushing, learning, growing. What I find at year-end, when there's time to slow down and reflect, is that new things are born from a slow pace. This year would be a great one to dial back a few of the extracurricular practices above. Leaving room for what's next.

I doubt I'll be able to fully pull back. There's still more to learn, do, and accomplish this coming year. But, there are also many memories to make IRL, more play to have in the practices, and more daydreaming to do for the next chapter.

Happy New Year!