Well, it’s plainly obvious that 2025 for AVOutput did not go as I had planned. I lost a lot of momentum for several personal reasons, but mostly because it felt like the world was getting colder and more uncertain. That powerless feeling crept its way into my creative drive for a good portion of the year, and then once half the year had gone by, there just didn’t seem to be a good starting point. One of my all time favorite hobbies has slowly become more inaccessible and just less fun; going to the movie theater is just way too expensive for what you get in return. I took both of my parents to see Superman and that alone was 60 bucks. Then we add the food or drinks on top and you have a 100 dollar expense all to enjoy a single film for a couple of hours. Also, the Alamo Drafthouse has since become much more corporate and all of its edges feel to have been purposefully sanded down. It just doesn’t inspire the same devotion I felt years ago, despite still being the only place one can see a movie in peace. 

That’s enough negativity for now. It’s a new year and it’s time for a new start. I am going to sit in this burning building on this burning planet and I am going to use that fire to light my own creative furnace. I am going to start writing again because I love the practice of writing. I also love starting fresh in a new year. It’s easy to feel hopeful when you have an imaginary blank slate, and using my imagination is all part of the fun. 

What am I going to try and accomplish this year? I want to find the courage to write the things I actually want to write. I find myself compromising to some alternate version of myself, like a strange voice that says that one version of me has a better idea of what people might actually like to read instead of just writing what I feel like putting down. I want to write at least 10 articles that I can be proud of. I also want to write a single short story that will both embarrass me and make me feel accomplished. Something that people might enjoy reading but also make them look at me a bit sideways. I want to find the courage to engage in social media and expand more into the general nerdosphere I used to engage in back when the world was simple and websites were just bulletin boards. I started an instagram page and a threads account hoping to reach out to people, but again 2025 through a huge wrench in that plan. But to enjoy the spoils of community, I’ll have to wade through the cesspool of bad actors and bots to hopefully engage in meaningful conversations and experiences. I also want the courage to move forward despite any disappointment in my performance this year. It’s easy to try once, but it’s harder to try again and again. This year, I hope I can live up to all of this.

I look forward to engaging with anyone who finds their way here. I have many other resolutions I hope to keep and maybe I will get to share those all with you. Let’s hit the ground running in 2026.