2026

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It do be 2026 this year... hooray

Welp! This post was a couple days late. My apologies. As of writing, it is the 2nd of January 2026, and I gotta say, so far the new year has been... a resounding okay.

Since moving to Angono, Rizal, the new years have progressively been getting quieter and quieter, not only because of the fact we now live significantly further away from the typical New Years mayhem in Quezon City, but also because I have... not been as excited for the new years as I used to be. When I was younger, it felt like a mystical time, where I was given the coveted greenlight to stay up late without getting into trouble, and see the sheer power of fireworks as they loudly shoot up into the midnight sky and explode into a spectacle of visual splendor. Nowadays... getting up past 3am is a common fact of life for me personally, and what used to be absolute endless volleys of fireworks being fired continuously throughout the night as if we were at war, has now turned into just a couple households launching a small battery of roman candles and smaller fireworks for less than half an hour and calling it a night. Some of the fireworks still look awesome, but I came to notice that there have been significantly less of them as the years went on.

Maybe it is because I am getting older, and the stuff that used to amaze me no longer hits the same sense of whimsy as when I was a kid. Maybe it's because local governments have been getting stricter when it comes to regulating the use of fireworks and boga (homemade alcohol-powered cannons that purely exist to make beeg boom noise) for the sake of public safety and environmental protection. Maybe it's because of the fact the  noise in my head reminding me that I am literally months, hell WEEKS away from graduating college, has been growing louder and louder in preparation for existential dread to fill in the vacuum school will leave behind, and that has distracted me from enjoying the fun of celebrating the new years. Maybe... I'm just sad... i dunno.

The new years has progressively grown shorter and quieter each passing year, and rather than the present moment of junkfood, alcohol, and making a fuck ton of noise, the only thing I have been able to focus on was my upcoming graduation, the possibility of finding a job or pursuing further education, and other fun things that the "Adult" world throws at you the moment you hop onto your early 20s (I'm 22 now... FUCK).

Still. The dread aside. I'm still happy that I have somehow gone through another year alive and not in a mental hospital somewhere. Well, I worked in one for my internship, but that doesn't count! And aside from loosing my phone at the day I picked up my certificate of completion from said mental hospital,  no great big and depressing disasters have hit me in my personal life. I came out of 2025.... surprisingly competent at things, with being an idiot and I shall enter 2026 just as competent and ready to just adjust to whatever challenges come my way, because really, no one is ever ready for the bullshit that is coming towards them. We may not be able to turn off the fan on time, but we can a face towel and mop nearby for us to clean up the mess when shit does hit the fan. Both literally and figuratively, you'd be surprised, honestly.

I could replicate my old self from back in 2022, and talk about scary contemporary stuff, but honestly I've grown to sort of give less of a shit about that. Just to get it all out of the way: Duterte's in the Netherlands, cos he's a dickhead; Corruption is still a thing, but it's more blatantly visible for everyone to get pissed off at now without doing anything about it; the government has been mid, maybe Lower C or Middle D tier, not really F-tier yet; and Vince Dizon should get 2025's Person of the Year for his work on restarting buzzing discussions on mass transportation (I LIKE TRAINS!) and being very competent at doing his job. That's all my opinions about PH Society 2025, 5.75/10, will probably do it again if that's my only choice.

I also did a ton of cool stuff throughout 2025 that was fun. I finished my final thesis, and got to go to Eastwood to celebrate with my research group; learned how to use Philippine Public Transportation (i.e. Tricycles, Jeeps, Trains) to both commute to work, and also spend time with friends I have not seen in-person since high school, and upgraded my motherfucking PC so that I can play more games with my friends (and WATCH TV!!!). Towards the tail end of this year, I became a twitch streamer (Fun), a Certified Human Resource Associate (CHRA; Meh), and SUPER close to becoming a Cum Laude graduate (my CGPA missed the threshold by like, half a point. It's alright because I got honorable mention, and neither me nor probably my parents give too much of a shit about it, since I am graduating without delay, and doing so with already high marks overall).

A lot of growing up is learning about which things to give a shit about, and why shit is given to that particular thing in the first place, I have come to realize. Surprisingly, you can just not give a shit about a majority of things in life, because a lot of it is just small transgressions you can quickly settle by communicating as directly as possible, or straight up ignoring them since there wouldn't be much difference or benefit to giving a shit. I still give a shit about some things, like my passwords, and how much money I have in my wallet so I can buy games and shit. idk, random stuff, but not as much stuff as before.

Anyways. uhhh.. obligatory 2026 new years resolutions, cos idk. Shit should be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), so heres they:


1. Do the exercise more, specially 2 things:
A. Walk dog at least for 1 hour and/or more than 4km every morning at least 3 times a week in a given month.

B. Engage in cycling again at least twice a week for at least 1 hour in general in a given month.
SUBGOAL: manage at least 5 consecutive laps from Sub Division Gate to the intersection of that all girls school (theres a beeg uphill, I wanna manage to cycle up dat w/o dying)

C. or any equivalent physical activity.


2. Play more TTRPGs

  • Resume all paused games, and make sure to run at least 2 campaigns consistently on a weekly basis. this means 4 sessions total per month, or 2 sessions per campaign running on alternating weeks.
  • Find time to worldbuild; make a different blogspot thing to serve as a compendium.

3. Manage money better
  • Condense money container things to just: Spend, Save/Emergency, Pocket
  • Avoid exceeding 1000 pesos on food expenses outside house.

4. Going 2 places for sanity
  • Plan at least 1 trip with friends per month.
  • Communicate clearly with parents on where you goin
  • Don't loose your fucking phone this time.

Thats all. Do I expect myself to strictly abide by these... not really. Especially the cycling one, though I'm not setting a hard deadline on that one, just... do the 5 very uphill laps in one ride. I'll get there, and like playing Peak, I can always try again some other time. That's another thing growing up helps you realize isn't it? You can always try again, its just a matter of if you're ready to try again and when.

Happy 2026 peoples! I hope everything goes alright at least and not dogshit at most.



-- YugiBearz

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