Sainthood.xyz

January 2026 Recap

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I've been inspired by a bunch of other bloggers (mostly Leilukin) to start writing these little monthly recap posts. Work and brainfog makes it hard to write long posts or write super often, and to be honest, I don't think I even do enough to warrant a weekly recap, but a monthly one seems pretty manageable. It's a nice compromise between how frequently I'm currently posting and a challenge like 100 Days To Offload. So, you'll be getting at least 12 blog posts a year, plus my usual other blog posts about various topics, hopefully.

Without any further ado, what've I been up to in January?

New Years Resolutions

After I finished writing my last blog post, I started thinking about what I wanted my New Year's resolution for 2026 to be. Last year I really overcomplicated things, so this year I wanted to keep things simple.

Most of my goals this year are health or disability-related. I can't really go into details. As far as the stuff I'm comfortable talking about, I'm trying to be less sedentary (7,000 or more steps per day) and have a better sleep schedule (start going to bed/waking up earlier, taking melatonin). Most of these have been going pretty well so far! I'm not sticking to them perfectly but I definitely feel better most days than I did before.

I've also been trying to be less reliant on caffeine. Since 2020 I've been drinking a mug and a half to two mugs worth nearly every morning[^1]. Lately, I've been trying to limit it to only one, maybe one and a half at maximum and only if I really need it, but that hasn't been going so well.

Misc Goals for This Year

  • Degoogle.
  • Play around with Linux more. Maybe install Mint or Ubuntu on an old laptop I want to refurbish.
  • Get more comfortable using Git.
  • Buy ita bag for displaying pin collection.
  • Make more art.
  • Practice writing.
  • Spend more time outside/with community.

Bullet Journaling

I took a bullet journaling class towards the beginning of the month. I've been writing in it nearly everyday since, and so far I really love it!

I've been journaling on and off for years, but brainfog sometimes makes it hard for me to write in an expository manner. Bullet journaling lets me jump from topic to topic and write in short hand. It's not about writing "properly", it's about jotting down what you need to remember and being able to find and read it later. It's about writing for yourself and only you! Bullet journaling also encourages the use of to-do lists and activity logs which is really helpful for a scatterbrained person like me. It helps me to actually, visually see what I've done so far and what I still need to do.

I remember a long time ago I read a Tumblr post complaining about the "gentrification" of bullet journaling. Not sure if I agree with that wording, but I 100% agree with the sentiment. If you look online there's a lot of focus on color-coding everything, making it look presentable, or having it fit an "aesthetic". I think a lot of that comes at the cost of it actually being functional. Of course, color-coding can actually serve a function in some cases, and there's nothing wrong with customizing or having fun with your journal. I don't even think there's anything wrong with making a purely-artistic "journal" that isn't meant to serve a practical function. I just think that it's important to let people know that you're not doing it "wrong" if your bullet journal doesn't look like that.

The more I think about it, I think I view journaling the same way I view making websites. Is there a word like progressive enhancement but for analog mediums? That's basically my philosophy on it, lol. For me, my bullet journal is a tool. I try to make it aesthetically pleasing when I can, but it is a tool first and foremost. My bullet journal is probably incomprehensible to anyone who isn't me, but so far it's gotten the job done!

CPR Certificate

I renewed my CPR license this month as part of my job. I already had one from my old job, but they only last two years and have to be renewed. Most of the training is online, but after that they make you come in and practice on one of those training dummies, to prove that you actually know how to do it. I think I did pretty well, I passed. I hope I'm never actually in an emergency situation like that, but it's reassuring to know what to do if it does happen.

Redoing My Website

I've been working on redoing my website again!

At first I was just making minor adjustments to my current site as I saw fit, but overtime I realized that there were so many issues, and a lot of them were very interconnected, it made more sense just to start over again from scratch.

I feel conflicted about this. A lot of my current site works, it's accessible, it gets the job done. It's just not up to my personal standards I guess. One half of me is like "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" but the other half is worried about the upkeep and longevity of it. Like, yes, you can watch a crappy TV with a coat hanger and paper clips attached to the antenna, but that's not a long term solution, is it? If you saw the backend of my site you'd probably think it's the equivalent of that. Most of this site is held together by paperclips, duct tape, and a very poor understand of how nunjucks works. I want to fix that!

I'll probably give more updates as I'm closer to finishing it.

Media

Watching

Me and my siblings have been watching the Sam Raimi Spiderman trilogy, which I have a post in the works about. Aside from that, I haven't been watching any movies or shows.

Here's some YouTube videos I watched this month that I enjoyed:

The Fun Stuff

The Serious Stuff

Listening to

I haven't been keeping up with or listening to too much new music either, to be honest, but here's some stuff I've had on repeat lately:

What I'm Looking Forward to in February

Valentine's Day is coming up. I don't have any special plans for that day, I just think the way people decorate and dress up for it is cute. I like pink and hearts and stuff.

The Super Bowl is a week from tomorrow. I'm not really a sports person, but me and my family almost always watch the Super Bowl together. For the halftime show, if nothing else. Funnily enough, I don't think my dad will be able to watch it with us, and he's the only one of us who actually cares about football, lol.

I'm a pretty big Charli xcx fan and she's got her name attached to two movies coming out in February, The Moment and Wuthering Heights. She stars in the former while she's on the soundtrack for the latter. I thought The Moment was releasing in January, because that's what all the marketing said, but apparently it's only getting a limited release until February. At least, it's not playing at my local theater until February. If my schedule and budget allows me I'd love to see it in theaters! Likely won't be seeing Wuthering Heights in theaters, but I've liked every single she's put out for the soundtrack so far. Looking forward to hearing the full thing.

Overall

Pretty productive month I guess. Could've been better but I'm trying not to be too hard on myself. Excited to see what February brings me!

[^1]: I use "mug" instead of "cup" here very intentionally because, believe it or not, multiple people I talked to offline thought I meant "exactly 8 fluid ounces of coffee" when I said "cup of coffee", when I actually mean "one servings worth of coffee".