2026 Goals

I don't usually do goals, since I think I won't succeed in them anyway. But what the heck, let's list some off this time. And we'll list a bunch of stuff which I know for sure I won't do all of, but maybe I'll complete some of.

(Edit: I'll update this post with parentheticals at the end of each goal, as the 2026 year continues, with a final update sometime in December or in January on 2027.)

Programming related:

* Do the rewrite I've been talking about for years away from PHP in favor of Lisp, for this site and another site I run for nostalgia's sake. I updated my OVH debian server from 12 to 13 today, it wasn't bad but had a couple hiccups. PHP got updated from 8.2 to 8.4, had to manually reinstall php8.4-gd and php8.4-fpm, then copy over a few ini settings, then change my timezone declaration, then wrap my old session handler callbacks into a class implementing an interface. Pretty painless all in all, but still, annoying. As LLMs have gotten better, they could probably help with the rewrite? I still use them through the generic chat interface, not really any of the local tooling options. I don't really trust those tools. (Status: actually in progress, quite a bit done. Could let the LLM go wild and finish it, but I resist...)

* While I'm at it, reduce the small amount of JS on this blog even further. Throw in HTMX, remove the ancient ExtJS. I guess MathJax can stay, and the code syntax highlighter script. (There are probably more popular versions of both these days but I don't care, they work fine.) (Status: Also mostly done, extjs replaced with htmx or plain js.)

* While I'm at it, migrate from MySQL/MariaDB to just use a sqlite DB. Once I thought about migrating to postgres. But all this is on a single machine, the slight increase in operational complexity isn't really worth it. The goal is also to eventually be able to deploy everything in more secure containers. That would also let me move away from Apache. I'll always love the LAMP server approach but I don't really want to deal with it anymore. (Status: not even started. Might do at the end, but querying mysql works fine...)

* Start and finish a few GH projects -- my SolarWolf port, my replacement for my jenkins subdomain (would also let me remove Java from this machine), a GUI test runner... (Status: SolarWolf port continues. Jenkins replacement not started but I think I'll let it be sloppa'd later this year... GUI test runner being worked on with slop help.)

* Finish the tinyrenderer tutorial (Status: nope.)

* Finish the learn opengl tutorial (C++), port some of it to CL at the end (Status: nope.)

* Finish going through my godot book (Status: nope.)

* Finish going through my F# book (Status: nope. Lost some motivation after coalton updated and broke some of its API.)

Non-programming related goals

* Write a poem. There's still technically time to write one this year, but I don't think I'll make it. I wrote 4 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 1 in 2024. (Status: freestyled a rap/poem on the toilet once, but didn't write it down.)

* Finish reading 12+ books. Some time to increase my count by one or two more still, but I didn't reach 12 this year... (Status: not looking good, might be doable if I cheat with audiobooks.)

* Get back to the 240s before the family cruise. I successfully did the stronglifts routine again (last mentioned -- and typoed -- here -- man that post is kind of sad, I'm basically the same after 9 years), finished last month, but I gained weight in the last month of it and basically since Thanksgiving I've been letting myself go with horrible diet and no exercise. I can do only one of those at a time it seems, even if commonly it's 0, though, so focus on diet for the next while... then do some more strength training again. (Status: failed, only got to the 250s.)

* Be more diligent in studying Japanese. I don't know how successful this will be, I haven't really studied at all in months, I have an emotional block now that I haven't resolved. But in theory I'd still like to get better at the language, and possibly visit Japan again during cherry blossom season. Maybe get to have a meal with a certain someone again, but I don't know, I'm split about her. I still really like her and wish I could help her out more and get her more things but I'm also sick of her shit, and my memory has distorted my last interaction with her in person to be something hurtful towards me. My brain doesn't like itself very much so this isn't unusual, I don't like me so I tend to assume others don't either and just tolerate me. (Status: mostly a fail. I slopped up custom local webapp to go through that will be an interesting experiment to try and teach myself better, but I have to go through it now and am just unmotivated. I barely watch anime this year, basically just Frieren. Got an early answer to the japan question this winter, answer is no, so further loss of motivation. I think I'm finally moved on from most of my obsession about her, which is good.)

* Consider moving out of this stupid state again. I'm tired of Washington. But I hate how the prices are for real estate even in fly-over locations. And my housemate friend, though I'm sure unintentionally, has done a lot of stuff with the house this year that would in a sense be wasteful if I up and moved next year since he'd have to move too. I've associated it with a feeling of being kept 'hostage', which is mostly more craziness from my brain, but it's another factor that makes me less motivated to seek change even if change would be good for me. It could also be bad for me -- if I get my idyllic mountain cabin I might become even more secluded and hermit-like. (Status: still considering. Might get friend to visit Casper with me at some point.)

* Continue to live and not go real crazy (Status: ongoing success.)

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Posted on 2025-12-31 by Jach

Tags: fodder, personal

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