Happy New Year! It is now officially 2026, which feels fake to say out loud. Final grades still aren’t in until January 6th, so there’s this constant low-grade anxiety hanging over me about whether I passed DS110 and can move on to DS115. If everything works out, I’ll have just one semester left before graduating with my bachelor’s degree. That’s exciting in theory, but mostly it’s terrifying.
On top of that, I’ve continued my impressive streak of getting automatically rejected from every internship I apply for. At this rate, barista seems like my most realistic post-grad career path. With GenAI swallowing up entry-level roles left and right, my career prospects are feeling… bleak, to say the least.
Meanwhile, geopolitics are already off to a horrific start this year. The U.S. president stealing from Venezuela and kidnapping their leader was not exactly on my 2026 bingo card, but here we are.
Doing Absolutely Nothing
I’ve been thoroughly lollygagging my way through winter break with no real productivity to speak of, and honestly, I think it’s going to stay that way. My brain needed the shutdown. I’ve mostly been resting, getting high, and playing video games, which brings me to the real highlights of the break.
Cyberpunk 2077: Everyone Is Awful
I finally finished Cyberpunk 2077 last night, and wow what a game. I went with the Panam ending, which felt perfect for my Nomad-background V. It had that bittersweet sense of freedom that fits Cyberpunk’s world without being completely soul-crushing.
Afterward, my girlfriend info-dumped the other endings to me (Cyberpunk is her current special interest), and honestly? I think I picked the best possible option anyway. I briefly considered letting Johnny take over my body to go fight alongside the AI girl, but ultimately decided against it because, frankly, fuck Johnny. He is the worst.
One of my favorite things about Cyberpunk is that almost everyone is a terrible person in some way. It’s messy, morally gross, and painfully human and that’s what makes it so good. No one really wins, and V especially never gets a clean or happy ending. According to my gf, the DLC endings are even worse than the base game ones, which feels almost impressive in how cruel they are. Poor V. Cyberpunk truly never ends well.
Back to Tartarus
After finishing Cyberpunk, I jumped into Persona 3 Portable, which Chloe very kindly gifted me on Steam for Christmas (thank you Chloe). This time I’m playing as Kotone. I already played Reload with Makoto as the protagonist, so getting to experience P3 from Kotone’s perspective feels fresh.
I’m only about four hours in so far, but I’m having a lot of fun. Going back to an older Persona game definitely takes some adjustment bc fusion feels more restrictive, and I miss some of the quality-of-life features from the newer entries, but it’s still Persona, and I love Persona~
What I’m most excited about is seeing how the story and social links differ with Kotone, and, most importantly, finally getting to romance a man in a Persona game. Extremely important gameplay feature. I am looking forward to this deeply.
New Years
I had a really nice New Year’s gathering with Lawrence, Chloe, Kia, and June. We started the night playing Jackbox and just chatting, then watched Nimona. Chloe dipped almost immediately at midnight, which is totally fair bc everyone else was either within walking distance or staying the night.
The rest of us, however, were drunk off our asses, giggling uncontrollably, and making questionable decisions with zero self-awareness. It was fun!!!
Over break, we’ve also been doing D&D weekly, which has been something I genuinely look forward to every week. I’m really happy about that though the end of break is looming ominously. Only three weeks left. Blergh X_X
Looking Ahead (Reluctantly)
I think my hardest semester is still waiting for me, which is… not comforting. I also still need to find a job, but that feels like a problem for Future Me. Post-grad Me. In-school Me has decided to ignore it for now.
So for the time being, I will continue fueling my weed addiction and playing video games all day. As a treat. :3