My 2025 Year in Review Report

Here is my personal year in review for 2025. This year, I’ll use a different style and structure. Let’s start with a few notable milestones and observations across the year.

Sat, Jan 25: In late January, I began feeling exhausted from using Slack to monitor the Craft community, so I chose to take a break. I'm very invested in anything related to Craft, but taking a step back can be salutary.

Sun, Mar 9: I officially switched from HEY Mail to Fastmail. I knew it was coming. This project took me about a week to complete which is much faster than expected. It's part of my journey to digital sanity. I wrote “Migrating from HEY Mail to Fastmail: My Guide For a Smooth Transition” blog post.

Fri, Apr 18: Lately, I've been finding it challenging to produce YouTube videos. I'm unsure how to break out of this period of uncertainty. My videos are closely linked to Craft and its development. The absence of significant changes or meaningful updates is having an effect.

Sun, May 4: I'm finally committing to building websites using Realmac software Elements. It's been a while since I learned a new app, the last time being Craft in late 2020. Although I'm not a professional web developer or designer, Elements makes the process approachable. I'm not beginning from zero; instead, I'm using my existing personal landing page as a reference.

Wed, Jul 30: I've finished my new website (https://whois.numericcitizen.me). Moving forward, my focus is on maintaining it and adding new content. Creating YouTube videos is impossibly hard because I'm rarely at home and don't have access to my video production equipment. This partly explains why I don't produce new videos frequently.

Sat, Nov 22: Well, it seems that 2025 was a fairly quiet year! Or was it?

Thu, Dec 4: My YouTube video production flow is back on track. I made several videos in the last few weeks, and I still have many subjects and angles that I want to explore for new videos. The outlook for next year looks favorable.

Sun, Dec 14: Time is running out. Only two weeks left for the end of the year. This review isn't done yet because I fell into the n8n rabbit hole. I'm super excited for this automation platform. I feel it's going to be my new digital playground in 2026.

Wed, Dec 17This is not a significant milestone per se, but it's notable: I got rid of my IFTTT account after more than 5 years of using the automation service. I found a way to replace IFTTT with one of Micro.blog's lesser-known capabilities. Closing my IFTTT means the money saved will help partly pay for the future n8n instance on DigitalOcean.

Last year’s predictions in my 2024 year in review:

For 2025, I want to focus even more. I want to be more intentional. I want to continue developing The Craft Bible with more content. I want to produce more videos for my YouTube channel. I also want to spend more time making the Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter. This means spending more time reading and gathering interesting information tidbits. Lastly, Micro.blog will continue to be my go-to place for the social web and microblogging, but I expect my Bluesky usage to increase and find an even more prominent place in my digital landscape.

How did I do in 2025? Well, I was much more intentional, but I didn’t expand The Craft Bible as much as I wanted or produce as many YouTube videos as I’d hoped. As I follow the development of Craft to contribute to those two areas, there was a relatively quiet period in mid-2025, so I didn’t have enough material to support my ambitions.

The one thing shining for 2025 is the continuation of the Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter, with 25 editions. I’m proud of this accomplishment because I kept doing it at a regular pace. How many more subscribers did I get? Well, a few more, but I lost some, too. I know I shouldn’t care about this.

Another project of mine is creating a mini website about Apple’s Liquid Glass UI visual language. I was very active updating the content during the summer after each beta releases until the official launch in September. For the rest of the year, things slowed down. I plan to keep that project alive for as long as Apple maintain Liquid Glass. Next year could reserve a few surprises since Alan Dye, the leading proponent of Liquid Glass, no longer works at Apple.

I also find satisfaction in having learned how to use Realmac Software Elements to build my new personal landing page from scratch, which is available at whois.numericcitizen.me. It’s uncommon these days to pick up a brand new app and begin learning how to use it for a specific project. I’m far from an expert, but I know enough to create the website that I had in mind. Although the content and design of the landing page will likely change over time, the basic structure is solidly in place. That is my second most satisfying accomplishement for 2025.

Regarding my use of Micro.blog and Bluesky: Micro.blog remained central to my digital social interactions, while Bluesky played a minor role. I continued to use it throughout the year, but not as frequently as I had expected. I kept cross-posting everything from Micro.blog to Bluesky (and Mastodon) and got a few replies from Bluesky users. My enthusiasm for this alternative social platform gradually diminished, no longer matching the peak moments I experienced with Twitter. And it’s probably the best outcome I could imagine, given my goal to focus more.

I briefly revisited Medium and tried to share some articles there, but it didn’t meet my expectations for attracting people interested in work-related and career topics. I stopped using it in August. Although I haven't gone back to Substack, I checked the platform a few times but stayed away, which shows I stayed focused and avoided distractions.

From an applications-and-services usage perspective, I made some important decisions, too. I dropped Readwise and Timings (the Mac app), but doubled down on AnyBox. I left HEY Mail for Fastmail. I published two content creation workflow updates reflecting those changes, one in March and one in November. These publications are less frequent, reflecting a more settled state of my digital toolbox.

A few words about photography: it’s primarily a travel-related activity. The more I travel, the more I dedicate time to it, but it shouldn’t be like that. There should be ways to create shooting opportunities, yet my other digital hobbies tend to take priority. It’s an ongoing challenge. However, I’m optimistic: next year I plan to visit Egypt, France, and Thailand, which should keep me sufficiently occupied.

What’s up for 2026?

I plan to keep prioritizing what is best for me, whether online or in my personal life. I will steer clear of major distractions and focus on enhancing what I already have. One small project I want to do is redesign the content creation workflow diagram that comes with my workflow articles using Apple Freeform. My current use of Keynote constrains the diagramming space, but Freeform’s limitless canvas would be very beneficial. I’ll wait for the next update to start this process. It’s a very small project, but something that I’m looking forward to; Freeform is so nice to use. It’s one of the best Apple software in years.

Craft remains a key part of my digital toolkit and might even become more important. This could lead to more Content related to Craft for The Craft Bible and my YouTube channel. As 2025 ends, I’ve begun testing Claude, MCP, and agents using a beta version of Craft Agents. I’m truly impressed by the capabilities of modern software and AI, with no programming needed. Exploring Craft, AI, and agents could be an exciting area to delve into alongside the n8n automation platform.

That is all, guys. See you in 2026 for the next year in review report.