Another Obligatory New Year's Post

Hey there everyone! It's the end of the year which means it's time to sit back, relax, and reflect. It's a little tradition that is hardly unique to me and the blog, but it's still a nice exercise. Here are the prior two if you'd like to compare (link, other link).

Pictured: Have a good 2025!

1: Lookback

The site launched as just the blog in late 2022 (December 9, to be exact), marking two full years of me screaming into the void for everyone's entertainment. 2024 marked large changes to the site itself, from moving to the (better) domain dewy.nyc, to adding the projects/art/what's the job pages. This is no longer just a home for the blog but a hub and home for most of my creative ventures, from Hazbin on Broadway to Title Goes Here (if you want to check out more about them, go check out the projects page).

I started the site with the goal of doing at least one post per week. It's now been roughly 107 weeks since the site was founded and I'm happy to report that there have been 143 posts for an average of 1.33 posts/week. I've not been great about always posting on a Sunday, but I've been good at getting at least one out per week from the looks of things.

It's also been interesting seeing readership increase on the site. This is the year that things went from "I'm basically the only one who reads my own stuff" to "there's a non-negligible number of people on the site that aren't me". I think a lot of this comes from me posting links but also seems to just be from people checking back in. To all of those reading this that fall into this category, thank you. It warms my heart that my ranting and raving is actually being enjoyed.

For me personally, 2024 was the year of becoming a more daring person. I'm happy to report that I've done that. From claiming my title as The Witch of Times Square, printing and using a press badge for the site, directly addressing and flaunting the LDS church, and officially renaming Columbus Circle to Dewy Circle, I've certainly done a lot this year that would have made prior Dewy quake in her boots. And that's just the stuff I've done that I've publicly written about! I also moved, had a major surgery, and had a child! Big stuff!

Pictured; Home sweet home.

2: Going Forward

2025 is going to mark a continued expansion of the site. Specifically, I want to add in a calendar of events now that I'm going to be doing regular creative or magical events. I also want to add in a magical services section to showcase what I can and have done.

I also have a backlog of articles that I've been cooking up in the background or have otherwise promised but still haven't released. Specifically, I need to make good on my promise to Times Square Church to actually show up. I've been putting that off because of my flavor of religious trauma and I generally would just prefer to go to my church home if I've managed to drag myself out of the apartment on a Sunday morning. But a promise is a promise. So I need to get to that. I also kind of owe a discussion of my history with Freemasonry and how it affected my practice (hinted at here), though that was more just a mention than a promise to write. But I still want to get that out there.

I've also been working on what will be the longest and most in depth review I'll have tackled, which is requiring so much reading it's driving me crazy. But it's going to be worth it. Trust me. I want to get that one out this coming year too.  Lastly, I've picked up another title that I need to solidify and publish. All in due time.

In my wider creative world, some immediate goals are to finally finish publishing my first book, continue with Hazbin on Broadway, and film the pilot for Nonya, Bietz & Waxxe LLP. But I'm hoping to knock these out relatively quickly. My broader creative goals are to finish the next book I'm tackling (The Agnostic Psalms) and pitching NBW.

Pictured: Stay tuned!

3: Predictions

Another piece I've been doing is making and tracking predictions of the world around me. Without further ado, here is the current status of old predictions.

Prior Claim: The world has largely moved on from COVID, though it has forever changed how the world operates with things like sick days and working from home.

Updated Verdict: Yep. Still the case. Going to remove this one for next year since it's pretty settled at this point.

Prior Claim: Viral diseases are understood at a far better level than previously, with even a cure for the common cold as a possibility in the semi-near future (some doubt on the cure of the common cold mentioned in 2023).

Updated Verdict: Still here. Also going to remove due to it being settled.

Prior Claim: Strides in nuclear fusion will eventually "solve" energy, possibly within our lifetimes.

Updated Verdict: Records continue to be set though application still is purely theoretical. I'd say we are a minimum of 10 to 15 years out before this crosses from the lab to any kind of electrical grid. Here's hoping.

Prior Claim: The war in Ukraine is getting messier and a neat resolution is becoming far less likely.

Updated Verdict: Yep. And it just gets messier every day.

Prior Claim: AI is making a bigger splash, which will result in self-interested backlash against the technology, particularly from fields that were previously thought "safe" from being automated.

Updated Verdict: Damn, I got this one spot on. I'm probably going to write an AI blog post eventually; it feels inevitable. But my goodness I hit this one on the head. Specifically, backlash seems to be coming from creative sectors after the development of AI art, song and other creative tools. Good luck outrunning the future guys; it's worked so well for everyone else who has tried it.

Prior Claim: The USA needs to prepare for a Trump presidency.

Updated Verdict: Yep. He won. Going to need to brace. I remain hopeful that the scale of the government will pose a direct opposition to its being dismantled or morphed into a tyranny. Remember, the founders of this country literally designed the systems with wanna-be-tyrants in mind.

To be fair, I did reverse my prediction after Biden dropped out of the race and closer to the election. I thought it would be enough. It wasn't. So my overall point stands.

Prior Claim: It will still be okay. The world will continue to turn.

Updated Verdict: Yep. No matter what it's going to keep on a going.