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Happy (early) new year!

Another year has ended, and 2026 is just around the corner, so naturally, I was thinking about resolutions and goals. They're a bit weird aren't they? How does one arrive at deciding that they want something? I feel like everyone has these conceptions, and sets these goals, but ultimately drops them because they misunderstand what it is they set out to do.

I am, of course, no different. I have things I think I want to do, but upon doing it I usually end up dropping it; well, at least I try not to drop it, and sometimes I don't even get to it because life gets in the way.

Either way, let's take a look at what I think I have in mind for myself this year then.

• What one wishes to achieve.

  This one is fairly common isn't it? People have goals that they wish to do, and so they steel their resolve and set their sights at the beginning of the year. For me, this year, I would hope to have something out for vocacolle summer.

  I keep on telling myself I should push myself to do something for vocacolle but one way or another I just can't seem to find the time or energy set aside for it. Vocaloid Collection (vocacolle) is a biannual event that the vocaloid community holds, where producers (old and new!) make songs and MVs, posting them on niconico for a weekend with a hashtag in order to enter themselves into a ranking. This isn't a particularly old event, but there have already been a lot of talent sprung from it that have cemented themselves in the culture of vocaloid (ie. r-906, 原口沙輔) and old names coming back with their works (瀬名航).

  Of course, given the platform, non-jp works tend to not do very well, and aren't typically very talked about. But, going under the radar is also not necessarily a bad thing.

• What one wishes to do.

  Putting a particular emphasis on the do aspect here. Perhaps most relevant to this blog, I have a couple pieces that I wish to write, but I don't think I wish to have a fixed schedule. I'm hopeful then, that I can continue putting out (acceptably interesting) posts maybe once a month; coming up as soon as I finish reading Baudrilliard, and reviewing Heidegger, is a piece on VTubers and a review of one of my favourite albums of 2025.

  For actual resolutions then, perhaps I always struggle to choose things of this nature because it's a bit hard committing one self to new things when one doesn't know if they would like doing it right? If I said I would do [x] but then for whatever reason, I hated [x], and quit, it would be a kind of betrayal of a past self. so, naturally, it would be best to play it safe, and choose something new, but at the same time, very familiar.

  I have long been a girl who likes writing code and doing math, and I haven't let myself have particularly much time for this in the past year, so I put it aside for some time now. This year, I certainly would like to write some WGPU code on Rust and finish some long standing grudges with old graphics things that I didn't quite get to implement to satisfaction.

• What one wishes to continue doing.

  This category is probably the fullest category out of them all. Those who know me probably think that I should take a break, but I take quite a bit of joy in the things that I like y'know! Though, perhaps, they have a point with doing less so that I can focus on what really matters, and this is a perfect opportunity to whittle down my docket and put a bit of emphasis on what I'm really into.

  I have already started another game project, and I have a working list of notes on a new (original!) piece that I will probably post on this blog. So then, my focus this year is going to be on those two things; I will work more on the game, and the novella will at least start to come to fruition within 2026.

  Additionally, of course, for my other goals, I will continue to practice music when I can, putting some more focus on my ear training especially.

So then, I hope that everyone is having a good time as the new year approaches, and I wonder what your goals are? I hope that no matter what they may be, you can reach up and grab hold of them.

Yours,
Cecilia