Jan 1–4, 2026
It’s 2026. I woke up early on New Year’s Day to go take sunrise photos. I hadn’t planned on taking sunrise photos until the day before, but I thought if I woke up early, I’d go take some. Luckily, I made it out in time for sunrise and captured photos of the sun rising. I didn’t get a shot of the sky turning orange, but I didn’t feel disappointed. I found meaning in just doing something, however imperfect, to pursue my goal. I decided to carry that mindset into 2026. I ate tteokguk and sent New Year’s greetings to friends and acquaintances. It was quite cold, so I also went for my first run of the year during the day. I took sunrise photos and accomplished more than I expected.
I changed the color theme on my personal blog and rebuild it to reflect 2026 in the footer. I also made some progress on new freelance work I’m starting. Since the work is preparing for the next major update version, my current Claude Code Pro plan will hit its limits soon, so I’ll likely need to upgrade to the Max plan.
I started listening to classical music around the end of last year and happened to discover the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert. It’s the world’s most famous classical New Year’s concert, held annually on January 1st in Vienna, Austria. Especially Johann Strauss I’s ‘Radetzky March’ performed at the concert, where the audience claps along to the beat, was lively and delightful to watch. It seems like a great way to start the year cheerfully.
The beginning of the year is always busy for me because it’s my birthday. The Christmas, year-end, and New Year’s atmosphere keeps things busy or cheerful. This year, I celebrated my birthday modestly, but I made it a little special by getting a birthday cake from Daejeon’s Seongsimdang ‘Matcha Cake’. It was delicious to eat a chocolate strawberry matcha cake that wasn’t too sweet after so long.
Starting next week, I need to gradually pick up the pace at work. First, I have to prepare for a major update version, and I also need to prepare the next version of my app. Plus, I have other personal schedules lined up. It looks like January will be busy. Still, I think it’s better than being idle, so I’m looking forward to it.