Things I'm looking forward to in 2026

2nd January 2026

Throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year would see me right

Song of the day: Elbow - One Day Like This

I’ve always liked the idea of doing a “Year in Review” like a few blogs I follow, but I never felt like I had anything particularly interesting to share. I had things to review (games, cycling etc.), but every time I sat down my brain went into a million different directions on what to focus on, what to include, what to cut that made me feel like it wasn’t actually something I wanted to do. I felt more excited about what’s to come in 2026, and so decided to turn it into that.

Anime

Steel Ball Run - Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7

Ain’t many words to describe how long I’ve been waiting for one of the best Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure arcs. Probably watched the above trailer dozens of times if not more. Goes without saying that if there were a time machine to take me to March 19th best believe I’d seriously consider taking it.

I’d also say Frieren Season 2 as well but I’m in the midst of Season 1. So far so excellent so I’ll count it.

Books

I started to read the Japanese version of What You Are Looking For Is in the Library in the summer but I didn’t get much progress beyond the 1st character’s viewpoint. I really want to continue it as it’s so warming. Reminds me a lot of one of my favourite books of last year, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. This year I want to read more Japanese books, and read some stoicism and read some memoirs similar to Down and Out in Paris and London.

Games

Housemarque, the studio who made Returnal and got me in roguelikes (hello close to 100+ hours in Hades and Hades II) are releasing Saros in April.

Resident Evil 9: Requiem (wow, 9?) is releasing in February. Last year I got round to playing Resident Evil 4: Remake + Separate Ways DLC and have complete faith Capcom will nail RE:9.

Travel

I’m taking advantage of an excellent remote work policy at work to head up to Sevilla again, followed by Lisbon and Paris. This Vitamin D deprived soul is very excited especially at the prospect of warm(ish) days and lots of sunlight.

Cycling

Last year I did 3853km on the bike according to Strava. Lime bike says 116km, so that brings me to 3969km. Agonisingly close to a nice, round number of 4000km. I am pleased this was more than my very poor 2024. I had a great first half of the year but ended the year in November/December with a pretty big drop-off.

This year I’m hoping to do at least 5000km. Hopefully with some of this abroad with my bike!

Conferences

I can’t talk about what tech conferences I want to visit without giving a shoutout to FFConf 2025. I haven’t been since 2022, but I have no idea why. This conference brought out so much inspiration and love that I felt I was missing about the web and technology in 2025. I loved all the talks in all their ways, but a special shoutout to Sasha Judd’s How Fandom Can Reclaim the Web for making me feel that warm, fuzzy feeling about the internet and communities I felt when I was browsing Final Fantasy 7 forums and Livejournal in the mid 2000s.

I spoke with lots of lovely folks at the conference who recommended State of the Browser and I’ve already got my ticket. If you’re visiting as well say hi.

Random/Misc stuff

• Revamping this site, giving it a bit of flair and character. Earlier versions of this site were just made as a portfolio to show off to prospective companies, but I’m so inspired by sites like Nic, Sophie, Josh and Henry. I want to make this my own personal, digital garden as Maggie explains.
• Plants - I’ve not done a great job with previous ones but I feel like every plant-filled home feels like a home away from home.
• Reducing AI/LLM usage - aside from the often-discussed ethical and environment concerns, I strongly dislike how LLMs are so sycophantic. Sean Goedecke wrote a post around Sycophancy being the first LLM “dark pattern” and I couldn’t help but nod my head all along. On the other hand, it is a tool, and treating LLMs as a member of the jury in a trial instead of trusting what it tells us feels like the better way to extract value from it. Hope it goes without saying but everything here was written by own hands. Whether or not it’s good, I want to it stand with our own voice, in my own way as a human. This is my own garden after all.

Last but not least, I’m hoping for another great year with great people. Thanks for reading!