New Years Resolution (vuart)

It’s now 2026… broke any New Year’s Resolutions already? As a general rule, I always want to draw and write more. Maybe read more books this year.

Since cancelling my Game Pass, I probably won’t be checking out that many games this year… at least new games. I do have a back-catalogue of hundred of games, thanks to the weekly free Epic Games giveaway or free Amazon Lunar games… so I do have access to games – just not the latest titles. There will probably be some exceptions, but I won’t know until they come out and my interest level.

On the technology front, everything has gotten more expensive. This is due to one factor: the Trump tariffs. I hate to say it, but most goods are manufactured in China and imported to America. When the entire country is hit with a 100% tax, guess what? We have to pay for that markup. Things that used to cost $100 are now easily $200 or more.

The biggest example of prices going up can be found with all the Xbox consoles. For example, the Xbox Series S, which originally sold for $299 (you can buy it on sale for as low as $199 – which was the price I bought it for) is currently sold for $399 (for exactly the same product). By the way the price change is only for America.

I was saving and planning on buying the ROG Xbox Ally, but when it was announced for $1,000, I had to throw in the towel. I was expecting it to be $700… but when you’re talking $1k territory, you’re in Master-PC land. All the money I would have spent on games on the Xbox was now distributed to other things – such as the AtGames Digital Pinball and have been pretty happy with it.

Since relocating to Jacksonville, things have been slow covering concerts in my area. Part of it is that not a lot of bands comes to this northern city (most bands would just prefer to play Orlando or Miami and skip Jacksonville). The other problem is that everything is so spread out where I live. Unless the concerts take place in the Jacksonville downtown area, it normally takes me about an hour to drive to nearby cities – such as Jacksonville Beach, St Augustine, or Ponte Vedra Beach… I don’t want to spend that much time driving, so I’ve been reluctant on accepting those shows. My goal for 2026 is to try and cover more shows. Looking at my two-page photo passes for 2025, it’s pretty pathetic compared to my time in Minneapolis.

I am hopeful for 2026, as now that I’m full settled in and have gotten very familiar with all the venues in my area. I am currently documenting new venues at weheartmusic.com/venues/jacksonville. My current favorite venue is called FIVE.