1209 - Farewell 2025

2025 will be over in a few hours, at least in our neck of the time zone.

It's been a year of ups and downs, as usual. And try as I might to minimize the amplitudes of the highs and lows, there will always be certain instances when I cannot do that.

It has also been a year of growth for me as a person. I feel like I'm heading towards this type of person that I want to be. A kinder, calmer, more rational human being. Of course it's a challenge getting there since my current/old self is still around and trying to get out of the comfort zone is a giant challenge.

So I guess looking back at 2025 all I can say is thanks for the experiences. Everything I've experienced has helped me get to where I want to be, one way or another.

Moving forward there were a few reels I saw on IG that was speaking about choosing happiness over righteousness. At least for driving. I think I'd like to try to adapt this way of thinking in life. Not totally choosing happiness over righteousness but basically picking my battles.

It's been one heck of a 2025, and hopefully I can continue my positive growth into 2026.

Out.

1208 - Holidays

As each year goes by the Christmas holidays keep losing meaning for me. The only reason for me to get "excited" for these one to two weeks is the fact that there is a great chance I'll be having a one-to-two week vacation since normally game dev studios shut down for about two weeks.

This shutdown gives me a chance to take a deep breath and relax, and hopefully get my mind ready for work for the coming new year. It also will hopefully make me "miss" doing my daily tasks at work so that I can hit the ground running come the new year.

Now some of you may be wondering why I'm so jaded with regards to the holiday, ignoring the birth of Jesus Christ or what not. Well the fact of the matter is I stopped believing years ago. This religion I was born and baptized in isn't something I can understand nor do I want to continue believing.

Basically I'm jaded and things I've seen have really soured me on Catholicism. Sure there are good Catholics out there and if I'm letting a few bad apples spoil the bunch then so be it.

Happy holidays.

Out.

1207 - Car Accessories/Mods

I'll be writing about car accessories I think will be useful for current times. Nothing outrageous like "stage 1 tuning kit" or whatever, just stuff I think would help for daily use. In no particular order.

• Dash cam with rear camera. I've heard great things about the DDPAI brand though I have yet to try it. Fortunately the Wigo had a dash cam installed when we got it, unfortunately it does not have a rear camera.
• Android Auto / Apple Car Play ready head unit. It doesn't even have to be wireless, though that would be useful. I've been convinced about the usefulness of Android Auto the times I've gone out and used Google Maps to help me figure out the best route to go to places. Sure I don't always listen to it, but it helps to get some real time info on traffic conditions. It also helps having Spotify so I can listen to either my choice of music or podcasts.
• Good sound system. I'm just basing this off of experience with the Wigo, but I think better sounds will help improve the quality of the audio I'm listening to. A decent amplifier and a few co-axial speakers should be enough to meet my simple needs.
• A decent horn. I still haven't gotten a set to replace the Wigo's single, weak horn. Does it get the job done? Personally no, I think the Wigo's horn is too weak and sounds like a motorcycle horn that it gives other motorists the wrong idea. Horn upgrades usually come in pairs and that's exactly the right amount of horns I'd need to let other motorists know I'm there. Bonus points for having a deeper sound.

Basically that's it. Some practical accessories or mods that would improve quality of life while driving a car at this very current era.

Out.

1206 - Dream Two-Car Garage

The GR Corolla has finally made it's way to the Philippines. My new dream car garage is now a GR Corolla and a Zenix Hybrid. Both automatic transmissions.

The Zenix would be the daily driver, with the GR Corolla being the number coding car. Yes, technically at the moment hybrids and EVs are number coding exempt, but at least we'll have two cars to use for 6 out of 7 days of the week.

That's it.

Out.

1205 - Fitness

I've blogged about this before, I think, and I will blog about it again.

I feel fitter than I have been my entire life. I can jog straight for at least 2 km, at a decent pace, and I've been doing some kettlebell workouts regularly the past few weeks.

Everything I'm doing, as always, is an effort to extend my healthspan. I want be a functional, independent person as I slowly approach my senior years, and doing my jogs and kettlebell workouts will hopefully help me achieve these targets of mine.

The kettlebell workouts aren't even intense. I've chosen to do functional exercises that I would do as a normal, everyday person. Squats for sitting down and standing up, suitcase deadlifts for bending over and picking stuff up. Bent over rows for the same reason. Kettlebell upright row and two-hand push press for lifting stuff.

I'm happy to write that I recently increased the reps from 6 to 8. I am now feeling more of the strain and effort, specially with the two-hand push presses. In fact, even my core feels it as you need a stable base to be able to successfully push the kettlebell upward.

As for the jog, yes I haven't been able to jog farther than 3 laps, or a little past 3 km, these past months. But I am jogging. I guess I've changed perspective on this and instead of aiming for faster or farther, I just go and jog.

All in all, it's been an interesting 2025 with regards to my fitness level. I started with a bang, and a plan, then when I reached my target of being able to do 5 laps of interval jogging I got "lost." Now I've recalibrated my goals and targets and hopefully I can be consistent with my new routine.

Out.

1204 - Random Thoughts

It's almost the middle of December and I still have only two blog posts. So I guess I should write a train of thought blog and hopefully process what's going on with me.

I'm tired. Q4 of 2025 has been full of ups and downs, and despite me trying to control the feelings of the highs and lows, the curve is still like a pretty pronounced sine wave.

I'm not making excuses though, I still have a lot of growing up to do. Such is life. I guess I just need to be more mindful of myself and catch myself a lot earlier than what I do now.

Hopefully 2026 will be clearer than 2025. Specially Q4 2025. Fuck this.

Out.

1203 Toyota Avanza and Toyota Veloz

Autodeal's already done an excellent comparison between these two vehicles. However there's something else I'm curious between these two vehicles.

The Toyota Veloz is listed under SUVs, while the Avanza is under MPVs. As far as I know they're exactly the same vehicle with one being more premium than the other. Here's an Autodeal comparison between the top-of-the-line Avanza and the entry level Veloz. The price difference is around PhP34,000.00. Top-of-the-line Avanza versus the top-of-the-line Veloz's price difference is PhP166,000.00.

I've always thought a 5-to-7 seater would be an ideal second car. The reason for this was having a bigger car that can carry either more cargo or more people. If you think about it though, maxing out the people in an Avanza or a Veloz would greatly reduce the cargo capacity.

So the solution for this is getting a roof rack and registering the vehicle for top loading. The Veloz already has roof rails, so all you need to do is get whatever cargo solutions you want, be it a roof basket, a cargo box, or both to use as needed. For the Avanza you would definitely need to get a roof rack and the cargo solution you want.

What I'm trying to say is that I'd still get an Avanza and whatever savings I have would be enough padding to get a roof rack system and whatever cargo solutions I'd want. Sure the Veloz might feel more premium and I won't need the roof rack system, but I think I'd rather get the relatively more affordable Avanza so I don't spend as much.

Out.

1202 - December

It's the last month of the year. I'm still somewhat surprised how fast time goes.

Plenty of things have happened this year, and to be honest I will say most of them have been positive moments. Or the good things more than outweigh the bad things.

I guess this is part of my continuing growth as a person, I'm trying to be more of a "glass-half-full" type of person. Still a realist, but trying to see the bright side of life. Like that Monty Python song in Life of Brian.

Out.