2025 is rapidly coming to a close, and per tradition it is time to do a year end wrap up. Overall, in the grand scheme of things, 2025 was brutal. While things can always be worse, and my sentiment for the future is it will, this year was disheartening. On a more granular, personal level, there was much to be happy with, and I’ll get to this, but when I say grand scheme I’m talking about the state of the U.S. and the world at large.
We’re wrapping up our first year under Trump 2.0 and America is in tatters. We’re essentially aligned with Russia, outwardly hostile to our former allies, and in the process of becoming an authoritarian country. There is so much blatantly wrong right now it's pointless in trying to describe it. Just understand that everyday is a blitz of disappointment meant to overwhelm the American public, and every scandal and corruption is replaced by a new scandal before you can even digest what came before. Oh yeah, and a vast majority of the Trump regime are actively protecting pedos and sex traffickers. The world feels like it is on the verge of another world war, and authoritarianism seems to have taken a strong foothold worldwide. What the future of democracy looks like is anyone's guess.
But let me take a breath here and get into the more granular stuff…
Shapeshifter Sculpting
I took Shapeshifter Sculpting live late last year and continued to pour time, effort, and money into this side venture. Much of my years focus was centered on Shapeshifter, from creating products to attending shows and everything in-between. This was a good outlet to have when considering the state of this country and the world where focusing too much on it was enough to make you have an anxiety attack.
I learned a lot this year and had many milestones. First show, first sales, first latex mask, etc. I wrapped the first full year of the company, and while I have not made a profit, I have reached a point where my overhead are mainly supporting materials for actual products. I’m hopeful this coming year will show my first profit. I have a number of shows lined up and I’m also at the start of the Series 2 products. This will bring greater variety to my offerings and give me a better price spread for shows and the shop.
My business side organization needs a little help. Keeping better books with cash sales for one. That has been a bit messy. I should have Quickbooks or something like it, but I’ve yet to do so due to the cost. Trying to keep costs down, trying to get by with what I have, etc. We’ll see how well it goes over at tax time and then I’ll reevaluate. I’m sure my accountant will let me know if the mess I have is a pain in the ass.
My first show this year was the Boise Comic and Arts Fest, a 2 day affair that was educational but a poor fit for my products. I sold a couple of items but didn’t come close to covering the cost of my table. The optimistic take is it was an investment in understanding what I needed to do better as well an opportunity to see what is needed to vend at an event.
While this was disappointing I did have much better luck at the local Boise Punk Flea Market. I not only covered the cost of my table, but made a decent amount of “profit”. This was a fun event with a cool vibe and cool people. I’m looking forward to going back and I’m shooting for the February market.
I also wrapped the year vending at the Krampus Con event. This was a big event, and a lot of fun with a lot of cool people. Once again I was able to cover the cost of my table and make a small amount on top. I will definitely be going back next year so long as I can get in.
I’ve continued to put effort into the socials, though it has been sporadic, and saw some growth there. This coming year will see me up that engagement as well as the quality of posts. It’s a necessary evil. I’ve met some cool people and have gained insight and tidbits from following those who are doing similar things as myself. Using it as a vehicle to push sales has not amounted to anything but maybe with a more concerted, regular effort, will change this.
I’ll be putting some effort into my table display to make it more eye-catching and attention grabbing. I’ll also be dedicating some time to website maintenance, upkeep, some visual updates, etc.
One thing I did well this year for Shapeshifter Sculpting was to keep at the blog all year long. This impacted the number of posts I was able to do for Uhmm but I expected as much. All said, I wrote 17 posts with a possible final post before the new year. Slim chance of this seeing as the 1st is Thursday. But we’ll see.
Writing
As I said, there was a lot of writing overall at Shapeshifter, and I was even able to get in some writing here. On top of the 17 posts at Shapeshifter I also wrote 6 posts here at Uhmm, with this being number 7. I would have liked to have made at least one a month here at Uhmm but there is only so much time and energy to go around.
In the coming year I’ll try and hit the 12 for Uhmm but already know I’ll be hitting at least 1 or 2 a month over at Shapeshifter. Over here at Uhmm I’d like to get a few more Heavy Rotations out as I went over a year between those. I’d also like to get some writing done on Autism and the death of my father (been trying to write that one off and on for a number of years).
Music
Not a whole lot of live music this year. We caught The Brian Jonestown Massacre last month over at the Shrine. I liked the venue and seeing them was great. I was a little disappointed at first because I picked up a ticket for Juniper and she backed out at the last minute. But we found a nice young woman waiting in line who didn’t have a ticket so we let her have it for free. And that felt good. She was a single mother, and said it was her first time out since her child was born.
We have All Them Witches coming up in February and outside of that who knows. There are a couple of shows coming but they land during the week and it really sucks trying to go into work after a late night concert, but I’m considering it. One of those would be Clutch.
Monsterpalooza
Erin and I went to this year's Monsterpalooza in Pasadena, California. This was our first time attending the event and it was so fun! Our hotel room was at Hotel Dena which connects to the conference center, so it was ultra convenient. Pasadena was nice, and outside of the event we spent time in Old Pasadena window shopping, eating out, and just taking in the atmosphere. We had a wonderful meal at a Himalayan restaurant that I hope we can visit again. Lots of Thai food in Pasadena, and we even found a vegan bakery where we picked up some goodies.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of the Monsterpalooza event in that it was so overwhelming. There was so much visual input it pretty much set my synapses on fire. I saw so many cool works of art, saw some of my hero’s (Steve Wang, Norman Cabrera, Casey Love…all of whom I was too nervous to speak with), and talked to a number of artists whose work I admire. It was an awesome introduction to the event and it left me buzzing for days. And…we’re going back in 2026! I’ve already booked the room and flight and purchased our tickets. I’m going to work up the nerve to talk to some of these guys this year and try to do some actual networking.
Mental Health
My mental health has probably been the best it's ever been. I reduced my visits to my counselor to once a month due to not feeling like I have much to hash out. I also began taking Zoloft along with my Wellbutrin and it seems to have given me the perfect leveling out. I’ve changed my dosage and am still trying to figure this out, but overall I’m in a good place. I feel balanced and the agitation I experience seems under control. I feel calm. And this is good.
Life in General
We didn’t do a vacation this year as we knew 2026 is going to entail more traveling as we start visiting colleges with Juniper. I did go home to Chicago in the spring to visit my mother for a few days.
Chicago south burbs, and Hazel Crest in particular, were what I expected. I wasn’t back in Hazel Crest for more than a day when I heard shots ring out in rapid fire not far from my childhood home. So the neighborhood is still absolute shit. My mother is at a respite in Crown Pointe, Indiana so I spent a good part of my visit driving back and forth to visit her. The drive was actually kind of nice as I avoided the expressway and took a back route that wound me through forest preserves and wooded neighborhoods.
Mom was doing okay. It was hard seeing her in that place though it wasn’t awful and she seemed to like the people. Due to her situation I don’t know that she’ll be going home again. It would be nice to get her closer to Hazel Crest as that would give her more visitors and make it easier to make doctors visits and everything else. At some point this year a decision will have to be made about the house, so that ought to be interesting.
Juniper had a good year. Juniper continues to excel in school and we’re now embarking on the college search and preparing for SAT’s in the spring. It’s hard to believe she’ll be a senior in high school next year. Before we know it she’ll be off to college. She has a boyfriend now, and while he is a “good” kid I just can’t get myself to accept this dweeb. I don’t know that any boy would leave me feeling alright.
In a “never saw that coming” moment I lost a friend to the manosphere bullshit that seems to be plaguing young American men. I’m not going to go into all of the details other than to say Erin and I befriended a younger person and we both welcomed him into our lives. Unfortunately he is a red pill head case and it became intolerable. Sadly I had to tell him he was no longer allowed in our lives unless he got himself some help. Unfortunately I doubt he will as he’s one who doesn’t believe in much of anything, including therapy. It’s a lot of immature bullshit, lack of accountability, and blaming women for his problems, but I’m afraid he’s too young to see this. My hope is one day he realizes how much we cared about him, but I don’t know. I’m not sure that will ever happen. There is no place for that shit. It’s weak, and it’s unacceptable. So that was that. We moved on.
So here’s to the coming year! I have little hope for our government. Trump seems to have been fairly successful in destroying it. I’m not hopeful we will get an honest, free, and fair election for the midterms. I do hope for more personal growth, to grow Shapeshifter, to meet new people and make new connections. I hope to make a profit this coming year to meet my business obligation to the government. I look forward to continuing to grow and evolve with Erin, each year adding a richness to our life together. It’s been an amazing journey with her insofar and my hope is for much more to come.
Thanks for another year, and I hope to see you out there in 2026!
Author: Jason Jacobs
Jason Jacobs is an artist, project manager, and frontend web designer living and working in Boise, Idaho. Beyond work he spends his time with family, as well as reading, writing articles for Uhmm, and working on his art. All words and opinions, etc., are his and do not reflect the positions or beliefs of anyone other than himself.