Two-thousand twenty-four Anno Domini was not a great year, putting it mildly. I ended up putting a halt to any and all activity for a while due to personal circumstances, and I was far from active to start with. The last post on this site was something of a warmed-over check-in post in which I basically said that I meant to do more in future. Having largely addressed the most immediate issues facing me in real life, I've found myself with the most free time I've had in a while, and life events have put me in something resembling a thoughtful, if mostly pensive, mood. That means that I've found at least some will to work on this site again. There are a couple of partially-written posts in the pipeline, though I can't make guarantees as to how much interest they may or may not hold. However, before any of those, I'd like to start off the first post of the year with something forward-looking. Apologies if I also look backwards a bit at the same time, though.
In no particular order of significance, my first hope for the coming year is that I can do something more than just post scribblings on this site. I've had general intentions to 'do something' with the site for a while now, but I've not been able to decide on much. Part of me wants to add CSS and make the site a little more visually appealing. Another part of me wants to pick up PHP and make my own slightly more robust solution to using Markup and Cobalt (a static site generator) to generate the HTML for these pages. Neither are incredibly easy tasks, and I can't say how I'd approach them yet, but it would be nice if I could at least get started this year.
Next up, my second hope is that I can contribute more to THP in the year. Last year involved some activity on my part on the site, sure, but I can't say much of it was either sustained or particularly valuable. More and more, as the year went on, I was largely withdrawn from the site at large and the community, and I don't think it's a good trend to follow. Indeed, I agree with some out-of-band discussions I've had that what community exists existing in sort of 'separate whirlpools' isn't good for the site as a whole. I'm not sure on how to encourage others to be more 'in the community', but I suppose I can work on finding a way to do it myself. For the moment, I'm being as active as I can in the Character Discussion Thread, a topic I intend to make a retrospective post on at some point. I think there might also be some utility in either revamping my past how-tos or maybe writing new ones as well.
Third among my hopes, and nothing I can directly influence, is Moral finishing at least one of his stories this year. The silly ass has claimed one or other of his stories is 'close to finished' not that long ago, and progress on some of his stories-in-progress has been hamstrung because of, well, having too many stories in progress. ZUN forbid I ask too much, but perhaps we could see some kind of conclusion for An Excuse for Awoo at last? Maybe Hakurou can clean up its messes and we can get a little clarity about things for once? I think Songs of a Serpent Flying Eastbound would be a prime candidate to wrap up, seeing as the story is largely told at this point. I might be among a minority, but I'd like to finally see some updates for things like The Yamabiko Speaks for the Silent. Hell, it's probably a long-shot, but more Of Ezo would be fine to me. Really, any amount of movement that isn't a singular post per year would be good, but some of the prior-named would be prime candidates for an ending, if only to say that they're done.
My fourth hope is for more of interest to read in 2025. For the most part, I've had no interest in what's most active on THP right now. Meanwhile, the majority of what I've found interesting has been generally dormant. Sure, Moral's made his token updates, and I appreciate that, but those aren't sustained. What I'd really like to see is for folks with writing chops on par with Summerfield or Teruyo to come forward. Of course, I'd also like to see more from the aforementioned. Every story isn't necessarily a hit, and he struggles with long-form stories, but I've appreciated such things from Summerfield as Sand and Pebbles or Tengu Hold 'em. Naturally, I'd love more Heart of the Fool or Pantomime of Youth from Teruyo, though I also know that circumstances for him are difficult, besides needing to tend to many other things on the site. Really, it'd be nice if others could step up, too.
Somewhat related to the last, my fifth hope is to write more things that aren't contest/exhibition pieces. Don't get me wrong: site events are important. I think they're a great opportunity for people to throw things out there without too much investment, and sometimes some pretty decent things come out of them. However, events are one-time affairs at sporadic points in the year. Meanwhile, during the rest of the year, there are many days that can be filled. I'd like to post more on the site during that remaining stretch of the year, whether it be long-form stuff or short-form projects. I could stand to come to some kind of conclusion on Draft Records of a Troubled Shrine, but I'm nowhere close as of right now. Even more distant is the thought of reviving A (Lion-)Dog Among Gods; indeed, there may be no reviving it, and the true answer could be that I should cut my losses and call it abandoned. Either way, it would be nice if I could work out some of these outstanding issues and maybe do something new for once.
There are certainly more ambitious dreams as far as THP and other matters go, but I don't see them as relevant for the purposes of this post. And, honestly, after the past rather hellish year, I feel that being fairly modest in expectations is warranted. Should even a fraction of these hopes be fulfilled, I think I'll call it an okay year. At the end of the day, even an 'okay' year is better than an awful one.