If you blog, you know the drill — every year when it wraps up, you feel compelled to write something to document what happened. From the first time I started blogging until now, I can finally say I’ve been consistently writing for a stretch. I remember my first club activity in college was a tutorial on how to set up a personal blog. From that first blog setup until now, I’ve always thought about recording my life, but I’d typically lose steam during the post-setup refractory period and call it a day. In 2025, V2EX launched the VXNA section, and I noticed people were actively sharing their blog content. During idle moments at work, I’d click through different blogs and stumbled upon Typecho — a blogging framework I’d never seen before. What drew me to actively start using it was the clean, open feel of their official site. So let me write about what happened this past year.

The happiest thing that happened to me this year was getting our marriage certificate with my girlfriend. We’ve been together since high school, and I’m incredibly grateful she’s been by my side, encouraging and supporting me. After college, she came to Beijing with me to build our careers. Life after work has been a lot harder than college — we went through struggles that only we truly know about. I feel very lucky to have her as a companion, supporting each other through this tough period.

The second thing that brought me joy was starting to cultivate my own taste. I first became aware of this concept after watching an interview with Steve Jobs — if you want to create great things, you need to have experienced great things. Over the past year, I started reading finance and business books more deliberately, building mental models in my subconscious. I also bought a camera to actually use for photography — when something interesting catches my eye while I’m out, I snap a photo to save as a future memory. Red wine became another hobby this year. After trying over 30 bottles from different regions and grape varieties, I found my preferred flavor profile, which also made dining at Western restaurants a lot more enjoyable.

The last thing is that I finally found an apartment I’m satisfied with. Since leaving college, every rental has failed to meet my needs. This year alone, I went through moving apartments, dealing with a heating leak, looking for places again, moving myself, and then dealing with plumbing renovations. I’ve lost a lot of confidence in the rental market. But it also taught me to actively protect my own rights — when problems come up, take the initiative to negotiate and hold your bottom line. That’s how you protect yourself.