Before I write up my year in 2025 I wanted to rant about our futures. It’s difficult to separate ourselves from our environments and the world we live in. Despite the ranting paragraph that follows, I will aim to keep the rest of the post positive.
In 2025 the world feels like it’s been a skip fire. I’m not sure if this is my bias but I’ve not seen many happy write-ups. I live in the UK where division and hate have taken the lead over empathy and hope. It’s been truly horrid reading the news and seeing some connections on social media spout the horseshit rhetoric that we’ve seen ruin countries countless times in the history books. I’m not a news journalist and I don’t claim to be, unlike the shills and grifters reposting the anti-democracy bots that have seemingly flooded our feeds. That’s how it feels to me.
I feel it is important to note this and add the context because I feel connected with my wider community and the world. I can’t pretend it hasn’t affected me. My hope is with empathy and love we can turn these times around.
That being said, this is my 2025, not my views on the world around us. I will get back on topic.
Personal
For me the first half of the year was calm. I busied myself with work and music while the house saw some improvements. We have a functional and finished bathroom.
In February we stayed in York. It was a lovely trip. I took my camera and shot some photos around the walls in the golden hours. We managed a fair bit of walking and found some great tapas.
In May we headed up to Manchester for a friend’s birthday celebrations. We found a great bar and sang together at what was technically an open mic. Trust me to find one when we’re supposed to be taking a break!
In June we visited friends in Bristol. The weather was kind and I loved the city.
In the second half of the year we painted the bedroom walls. It took a while, was mostly fun, but I’d be hard pressed to make a career out of it. We managed it just in time for our wardrobes to be fitted, which has added a lot of storage. I’m very happy with them.
In September we took a week off from work to relax. What actually happened is we were very fortunate in being able to adopt a failed assistance dog from a local charity. Izzy has been a huge part of our lives since and I couldn’t imagine life without her.
At the same time I proposed to Amy and we are now engaged. I am luckier than words can write. It was lovely to share this news with friends and family. I look forward to spending the rest of our lives together.
The year has been full of friends and family too, with bowling trips, cheese nights, and Friendmas celebrations to name a few.
Work
I am grateful to work for such an effective company at the top of its game. Every minute I’m there I’m learning and growing at a rate I could previously only imagine.
In March I travelled to Bucharest to meet with the team. It was glorious fun and hard graft. It set us up for a year of success and I’m proud to have been involved with some brilliant new products.
Music
Myself and Tasha ran many open mics at the Grand Union and Baton Rouge in Leicester. I have loved my time with the vibrant and diverse community. After running four a month for most of the year, a combination of low footfall and general fatigue on my part meant that they have since come to an end.
I haven’t attended many gigs in 2025 because I overdid it in 2024 and my back aches thinking about it. Friends gasp when I tell them I haven’t bought tickets to the upcoming Biffy Clyro album tour.
I have been involved with two bands in 2025. Everything In-between has been glorious fun to be a part of. We’ve played a few festivals and a golf course hall. I have also picked up the guitar for Amy Dx after seeing her play at Firebug in town. We’ve played a few gigs since and they’ve been very rewarding.
My alt-rock alias Polar Bites continues to progress albeit at a slow pace. Towards the end of the year I have finished 9 out of 11 tracks. I only require two more vocals takes to complete the album. I’ve been promising my second album ‘Connections’ to the masses since 2023. Three years on I think we’re there. I also re-released ‘Grief’ and published it on streaming platforms. It has been fun being able to easily listen to my own music, as narcissistic as that sounds.
Coding
Early in the year I became focused on building an app for bullet journaling and focus planning. Ultimately when it came to using the app it couldn’t compete with the likes of big tech and established apps that I previously used. It turns out Google Calendar is quite an engineering feat. I enjoyed my time building the prototype and had great fun learning different code to the day job.
I picked up the Godot game engine and started prototyping a 2D platform brawler. It’s a steep learning curve but has been thoroughly enjoyable.
And then Doom… I started working on two new levels and fleshed out a few others. That certainly increased my serotonin levels.
Downtime
I struggled to relax as much as I’d like but given my creative projects I’ll let it slide. I have played roughly 30 hours of single player computer games and read almost 3 books. I have enjoyed listening to a biography of Terry Pratchett despite only being a few hours in.
I have sat down and watched a bit of Severance and more of King of the Hill. I’ll continue to press on with my focus in consuming media.
To the future
I wanted 2025 to be calm but the world had other plans. I look forward to wedding planning and continuing with my ever-growing list of projects. We’ve got more ideas for the house and maybe we’ll see them happen soon.
Other than that I would like to apologise to the reader for the grim undertones in this post. I can’t pretend to not be affected by the state of our world.
There has been a shift in the tech world that has left me with a sour taste. I have seen too many good workers lose their jobs to fools gold. I can’t imagine what horrors 2026 will bring with these economic bubbles but I’m sure a lot of tech bros and an orange moron will obtain unimaginable wealth from the carefully crafted downfall of our civilisation.
That said we have to fight this. We have to live our lives and enjoy the present despite the state of things. In 2026 I can only hope that the world recovers.