If you're reading this, it means the site is still standing after five months of neglect. The cobwebs have been swept, the footer has been updated, and I am back. Let me wish you a happy new year; may 2026 bring you warmth and solid ground.

I should address the silence: I haven't posted since August. The short explanation is that I was deep in the job-hunting process for most of the second half of 2025, and I wanted to maintain confidentiality throughout. I didn't want to accidentally say something that could hurt my chances, so I chose silence. Now that everything is behind me (and I'm happy to share that the process was successful), I can resume regular updates. The monthly entries I missed will be posted eventually; I'm hoping to catch up this month, but I can't promise anything.

Seeds Planted in 2025

Last year, I wrote that 2025 would be about finding my place: my place in the world, online, professionally. Looking back, I can say with some disbelief that I did exactly that. I started a new life in a new city, navigated the job market, and somehow everything went according to plan.

I want to be careful here because I know how this can sound. It didn't happen overnight, and it certainly didn't happen alone. This was the culmination of years of effort: my college years to get the degree, hours of research to build a plan, months of preparation for interviews. It felt like a boss fight where you finally have to use all the items and moves you've collected throughout the game.

And even then, none of it would have been possible without the people who helped me along the way: friends, family, and even strangers who offered guidance when I needed it most. Lo poco que soy, lo nada que he logrado, se lo debo a todos los que han contribuido a mi vida. I think it's too soon to fully grasp how significant 2025 was. It truly was one of those years where everything changed.

What I Hope to Grow in 2026

If 2025 was about finding my place, 2026 will be about growing roots.

It's been so long since I've felt like I could actually settle; build something with the confidence that the ground beneath me won't shift. Now that I'm in the city I want, with the job I want, I feel like I can finally start building my own little life with more certainty than before.

This year I want to do more "adult" things: start saving properly, build my credit, move into a bigger place: maybe a whole apartment instead of just a small room. I might even think about getting a car eventually, though for now I'm very happy using public transportation. Small steps, one at a time.

More than anything, though, I want to cultivate presence. Attention. Patience. Time. These feel like the quiet foundations that make everything else possible, the kind of grounding that lets you actually be somewhere instead of just passing through. I wish the same for you, whoever is reading this.

There's an African proverb that says: "When the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear the wind." After years of feeling like a leaf in the wind, I'm ready to see what it feels like to finally have roots.

Here's to 2026. May it be the best year of our lives.