Posted on 28 December 2025 at 03:34:23PM.
My last post shows my last updates and some goals for this year. Unfortunately, most of them have not materialized. Though I just want to share what I have accomplished and currently my challenges before ending this year:
Being crypto native
I guess this was the main reason that I was not able to accomplish most of my goals this year. When talking crypto, it means the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the others. I managed to get back to being active because I needed a huge amount of money (for emergency reasons) that can't be loaned from any banks here.
As I went back, I noticed that the industry has improved. Crypto can now be used directly for paying IRL stuff like groceries, paying bills, and such. Using crypto as a physical debit card is really a game changer for me.
Since then, I never use any of my IRL debit and credit cards though I still use credit cards for paying my outstanding loans. I also managed to get buy crypto without interacting any middleman nor another human. It makes my onramp process (the process of converting my peso to crypto) much easier.
My goal for this is to repay all my loans in crypto and to start accumulating again. I love coming back here because I have some friends that are exposed to crypto that I can interact with.
Fun story: I have a friend that got convinced him and his girlfiend (now his wife, congrats again!) to buy crypto. They managed to sell it with very positive gains and used it to fund their wedding. This is a really good story for me to share with others who are interested in crypto even the stigma of it is really negative for now.
Back to drawing board
From my Github, you'll noticed that I created new PHP packages because I've been using them from my other projects both public and private. I like this idea that I have my own ecosystem of packages that can be used by anyone and can fork it to adjust them to their requirements.
With that idea, I've been experimenting of creating super simple systems with the concept that they can be integrated seamlessly through code and without any external dependencies, not even using my beloved Slytherin as its framework. This concept is really challenging to grasp and even design and should stood with any versions of PHP from the past and to the future.
Think of it deploying an Inventory System for now. Then if a client wants to manage its sales after finishing their whole inventory, then a Sales System can be integrated afterwards, making it a Sales and Inventory System. It's currently the vision I want to be materialized next year, hopefully.
Graduate studies
Currently I am now 1 year in my graduate studies since I started it from 2024. It's really the big challenge and opportunity for me because I want to pursue a career advancement if I want a higher position in the future. This also allows me to broaden my perspective as I have another school that I can call my alma mater.
Right now, my biggest challenge is to come up with a title for my Capstone project. It is really challenging for me because I can come up with any ideas (both weird and practical) but really not sure if the professors will approve them. It's been bugging me for months as I don't want to create a project for the sake of compliance to the requirements. I really want it to have a beneficiary that can use it in real life, not only in a hard bind cover.
Really hoping I can finalize it next month as the title defense is coming near.
Re-documenting everything
As I have now a knack for creating readable documentation, I sometimes visit my previous PHP packages such as Blueprint or Describe then provided a good documentation that is short and concise. This also kicks my nostalgia from those packages as I remember the things that I achieved in the previous years doing this.
Doing this activity also marks the first usage of AI, particularly in Gemini. It really helps me improve my documentation by ten-fold, leaving me to verify them and provide minor edits. It also managed to create test cases from scratch, but only for simple assertions. I'm currently devising a nice prompt to create more than simple assertions and also for me focus more on the features rather than doing chores.
Focusing health, again
Since the start of this year, I committed to record my weight every day. The results were rather disappointing:
It became a V-shaped instead of a decline. Even disappointed, I was happy that I was able to record them so that I know what to avoid next year. With that chart, it also made me re-focused my motivation to get slim again next year.
Hopefully it will go back to the weight I want to achieve because I do not want to buy new clothes just to fit on my current weight.
Final thoughts
I have still planned to continue my goals stated in my last post related to open-source packages. I also feel that I improved my skillsets, just not sure on how much it was. I still love writing software even there is AI now. I even going to the route of hardware for experimenting with older laptops as inspirted from DIY tech youtubers. The only thing that matters for me now is how to manage my limited time.