As the new year begins and we all start a new 12 month cycle, I want to try something new....ish. I want to try and complete an actual New Years Resolution!
In the past I've always struggled with this "tradition". Following a list of things to better yourself as a person over the course of a year? Its difficult as hell. Especially as a nuerodivergent person. But I'm at a point in my life where I would really like to look at a list of things to accomplish and feel...proud of completing things through the year. Things that will take time to finish. Things that will be fun but hard. Things that, in the end, will help me be a better version of myself in the future. And that is not something to brush off.
So I'm putting my New Years Resolution here on my blog, a place where I frequent a lot, so I can access my list easily and maybe document my own process of completing my list.
Below is my list for year. I wish y'all a wonderful 2026 and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! TO THE YEAR OF OUR WHIMSY NEVER DYING!!
1. Reach one of the highest levels on WPlace (because I've been having a lotta fun experimenting with Pixel Art)
andro's 2026 New Year Resolutions List:
2. Finish 5 Video Games (any length but Silksong is a higher priority)
3. Finish my Sketchbook and start to fill out a new one (part of one at least)
4. Finish 3 multi-chapter fanfics (any length, no word count limit, any time I want)
5. Complete and Play 4 of my 12 ideas for a DnD campaign (my friends and I play and it'll be my first couple times being the DM)
6. Finish 2 new shows and watch 3 new movies (yes I am that person and I really need to finish several TV shows and movies I've wanted to watch)
7. Complete a months worth of journaling (and if I do, I do more)
8. Finish 2 sewing projects (I have been trying to better my sewing and mending skills)
9. Finish 1 cosplay (I've been wanting to really bad and this fits into bettering my sewing and mending skills)
10. Research 1 of my interest and provide a mock essay from what I found (in an effort to practice my researching skills and combat misinformation)
11. Call/text my friends once a week (to better my communication skills)
12. To direct myself better as I go about my day (bettering my time management skills)
And thats it! I might check in with updates or not but this list is mainly here so I have a place to reference when I feel myself lost and unsure what I even wrote on January 1st, 2026.
I was mentioning to some folks about how a biblically accurate Simon, to me, is a Simon who is just besotted, smitten, “down bad” for Grace. To the point where if he heard Grace call him his boyfriend/lover/partner what have you my GOD his metaphorical dog ears would perk up and that tail would be WAGGING like “that’s ME! I’M his boyfriend! ME!”
Simon, to me, is someone who once he loves (and even more so when he is loved in return), he is locked IN.
So then this mini comic happened, featuring COI Scientist Grace LOL
When you’re too good at your job (because you’re the only one they didn’t send down in the SM-8) you’re deemed too important to risk losing so you can pull your weight and when you’re given a convict for “experimentation” you instead use him as a lab assistant/accidentally fall super hard for him
(Shout out to @stumblecrumbs who has been doing a series of text posts about that concept and it’s SO GOOD!)
Hey. If people aren't aware, Microsoft admitted they know who you and where you are at all times and will give your info to the police.
They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.
Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.
You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.
This article specifically notes:
For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.
GDID is the persistent Windows ID that helped FBI trace a Scattered Spider hacker despite VPNs. Here's how it works and how to limit it.
Other important quotes:
What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.
Two things back that up:
There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.
Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.
Here's the complaint filed to the court, the primary source for the case mentioned in the article. You can find mentions of GDID on page 30 of the document or 34 of the PDF.
You can get and use windows 11 without logging in with a microsoft account, as of five days ago. I am a local user on my computer. Don't ask me how to do it, because my computer repair guy did it when he reinstalled windows, but there are tutorials out there. Refuse to connect to internet until you're set up and can use the computer freely.
Refusing to connect to the internet doesn't help. You have to open a Command Prompt (Shift+F10) and typing start ms-cxh:localonly (and pressing enter) during installation when you get to the sign in/create stupid ms account screen
For comprehensive deets, tomshardware explains
Maintain only a local account on your Windows 11 PC.
Unless there's really really specific reasons to subject yourself to windows, please consider installing linux mint instead.
I have never felt as human as you have made me feel...
I'm gonna write a small thing about how I felt making this.
I grew up very dehumanized by the people around me, whether friends, family or strangers. I don't know if it was because I'm autistic or what, but I was always treated like an animal.
Simon has been an exploration of that feeling, the feeling of being treated like an animal sent to slaughter.
Simon speaks to the dog in me that felt conditional love. There is something so alluring yet terrifying about the feeling of unconditional love. It feels unreal, it feels wrong. But sometimes closing your eyes and putting out a hand is the first step.
Sorry to get so personal but I felt like it was kinda important for the way I write Simon to be.
