Gee Whiz! It’s been a while. I guess I have been on a weird sabbatical from this “blog-space”. A lot of plans for many things in and out of this space have been in and out of hold.
I’ve always wanted to come back to this place (perhaps because it’s been one of those projects that lets me present things the way I like, and also one of those places I get to use to record my existence in time). It goes without saying there were “attempts” at coming back. Unfortunately some craziness ensued in this thing called life and things kept evolving. I’d be lying if I said they’re not evolving still.
So… yeah, Happy New Year! 2025 certainly was a rollercoaster. There were a lot of events everywhere that one could keep talking about forever, but for the sake of all our sanity I am just going to stick to me. Personally, there were highs and lows in 2025, and I have come to realize one thing - the title of this post - “Lessons Never Lessen”.
On Growth and Gratitude
Yes, I did want to be all high and mighty with that title. Kinda the reason I came up with it. And it goes without saying that I have been implicitly aware of that “realization”. Lessons definitely never lessen as long as we continue to grow in life.
I would say 2025, like any other year, was a year of growth. And while I would have definitely wanted a lot of things to go differently, it also made me respect the things I have control over and discard the things I have no control over. Pragmatism and prioritization would perhaps be an apt summary for the latter half of the year. I also got insanely better at communication in many different aspects (yep, who could’ve thought I struggled with that? After all I am so amazing - okay fine I’ll retain more humility).
On the topic of growth: I have become an avid reader of self-improvement literature. Well, technically I had always been one, but it’s nice to not care about appearances and just simply state it out here. I don’t think they are some magic cure, but there’s a select few that can outline certain aspects of the world that I wouldn’t know otherwise. Never been a fiction “reader” per se though. Academic texts or other non-fiction for sure - those have always fascinated me more.
Honestly, I would’ve never imagined what 2025 brought to me on a silver platter. There have been significant shifts - some good, some less so - including navigating the long-winded road of graduate school applications and all the craziness that ensued as a result of various external events. That journey still hasn’t properly seen the light of day in the way I had originally envisioned, but perhaps that’s the whole point of lessons, isn’t it? They keep coming, and we keep adapting.
And yes, I definitely hated parts of the year. But I can’t help but also be grateful (well, to a certain extent) for the time and moments it gave me. Perhaps that part of me is never going to change.
The Blog Renaissance
Technically speaking it’s been more than a year since my last post here. And around that time I had been heavily involved with some changes/revamps to the blog along with a set of seriously planned posts. I shall be continuing with that latter plan along with a few more new topics, and this time it’s going to stick regardless of whatever external events modify my headspace and commitments. Things need to be realized, and we gotta do what we gotta do to the best of our abilities.
And about that revamp - sorta nearing the end now. Not that I don’t have more ideas; I just really want to shift to more posts demonstrating the ardor and liking I have for different topics. It’s definitely fun to work on the code and solve certain issues whilst being very stingy with the things - a sort of an optimization problem so to speak - a set of constraints with a heavily desired outcome. Yes, definitely talking about the comment system with that one (although I guess a lot of scenarios can be put into that system).
Technical aside on the commenting system: If you’ve noticed (unless it’s the far future and for some ridiculous reason the thing broke again - why?!), the comments are up and running. I finally devised a solution to the entire Staticman conundrum by just writing my own simplistic version of it - a serverless function hosted through Netlify Functions that receives form data, validates it with Akismet for spam detection, and uses the GitHub API to commit YAML files directly to the blog’s data repository. About ~100 lines of JavaScript, give or take. Perhaps I’ll do a proper technical write-up someday, but for now it works and I’m quite pleased with the elegance of the solution.
And yeah, to the stupid bots that tried to break the system or spam the thing when Staticman was running before - which forced me to moderate the PRs by myself - bbye (hopefully)!
What’s Coming: Quantum, Organization, and Beyond
And what about those “more new things”? Well, I realized given the “quantum aficionado” I call myself, it’s extremely asinine to not have a proper path or set of things discussing the topics in that field that interest me or brought me to the level of knowledge I currently possess. I am no wizard though - take my claims of this “knowledge” with a grain of salt. Yes, that’s my attempt at being humble :P.
Okay I definitely have to be honest that it’s not the knowledge but rather the fascination I want to bring to realization because I’ve definitely got a serious case of sudden onset imposter syndrome and those seemingly-high-and-mighty comments come from a place of satire.
Also damn let’s revive and rejuvenate analog emojis/emoticons a bit more, yeah?
So yeah, there’s going to be a set of posts for that. I won’t lie though - as of writing this I don’t have an immediate plan ready to go, but I am aware of what I want (to a certain extent - can’t ever be sure with Sid, can ya?) and I also love organizing things and scheduling things. And yes, this time around I have gotten better at understanding the extents and when to do what, I promise. Okay, but I did say better and not perfect, so don’t fully quote me on that.
Another thing I understand is that my posts have had this factor that inherently increases the time to get them out - I like them being perfect, self-contained, and structured to build a coherent narrative. Now while all of those traits are going to stay (those attributes are perhaps one of the few qualities that I genuinely praise; it makes things reachable and I like disseminating to the general populace whilst not becoming the “pop-science” guy), I also feel like I restricted myself to these kinds of posts only. Never going a little more out of the way to discuss something interesting in a different format.
So maybe - just maybe - we’ll spice that region up a bit more too. I have been thinking about how productivity systems and organizational tools interest me as well. Not sure if that warrants full posts yet, but who says this blog has to constrain itself to a single type of content? Heck, I’ve even been considering adding some poetry in the mix here and there. Who knows?
On the Modern Internet and AI
I have a few plans for 2026, but I have been an avid supporter of going in blind and clutching it because maybe it’s a little more fun that way. Of course, nobody in the formal-space should take this seriously - I am not oblivious and do get work done, guys. Please spare ye olde me. I only intend to make jokes and be the funny guy on the rapidly evolving crazy Internet whilst retaining some degree of educational rigor.
Oh, speaking of the Internet, and well tech in general - I have no clue where the world is headed and what kind of spaces might evolve in the future. I am definitely aware that blogs are a dying breed in many ways, and I definitely didn’t have to go insane for long hours just to try and have my own functioning system when there isn’t a lot of traffic, but where’s the fun in that? Regardless of the outcome, I believe in having this space. Even if I reach a few, I still see it as a win.
On LLMs and AI: AI this, AI that, WEEEEE WOOOOO. Well, more like Large Language Models these days. Crazy how I haven’t done a single post on them yet. I do believe they’re useful in many ways, but there’s a right way to use them - one that doesn’t completely erode our own abilities of critical thinking among other things. They’re also not a universally true reference. A reference, yes. But the validity and verifiability of things still falls upon our own judgment. Perhaps that’s a topic for another day.
The Path Forward
No promises on a timeline per se, but stay tuned, and this time for sure. I definitely put this place on a podium, and perhaps I will never take it off the podium, but I can definitely decrease the height it racks up solely because of how important and perfect I want it to be. Who got time for that, peeps?
Anyway, I think that’s all I have to say. Yes, this post contains more of that pure-old-let’s-go-Sid energy. And while I can’t comment if that’s the only part of the entire emotional spectrum I possess right now, I’ll say there’s more behind the stories that I’d be keen on sharing through different outlets (still within the blog maybe) here and there. Let’s see how that evolves.
Yep, it do be that serious sometimes, guys! I mean I am definitely fine because I keep learning and fighting, but there do be hard times.
A person once asked me why I say that - the “do be”. I don’t exactly have an answer, but I think it’s inherent to the ability to try and connect, and in the end be approachable. I do be kinda liking that!
Thank you for tuning in! Sid out! See you (soon, pleeeease manifesting no craziness and amazing timelines this time around) in the next one.
Onto more lessons!
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