---
title: 2025 Review
date: "2026-01-01"
description: "My reflections on 2025: Self-hosting, grief, game dev, and the end of a bucket list."
---

# Introduction

So, 2025 has come to an end. During this year, so many things happened in both my personal life and my career. Usually, each year is better than the previous one, but 2025 was, unfortunately, an awful year for me.

The biggest disruptor was my fiancée leaving me right after Valentine's Day. That was terrible, and I still feel the emotional impact of it. It sucks; I don't recommend it. Later in the year, in October, I tried to get back out there. I went on two dates, but unfortunately, was ghosted after the second. I also don't recommend that feeling.

It felt like a bulldozer came through just as everything was coming together—me graduating, her graduating, me getting back to doing what I love most. I was ready for that next chapter, and then everything broke.

## Homelab Distraction

Coincidentally, a few days before the breakup, I bought a second-hand PC to start self-hosting. I was tired of paying for the VPS I'd had since 2021.

I started with a "beast"—an Intel i5 from 2011/2012 with 12 GiB of RAM and a 4 TiB HDD. I threw Debian on it for about 200 PLN and was pretty satisfied. But in March, I bought a **4K projector**, which was arguably the best purchase of the year. It transformed my bedroom into a cinema. However, the old PC couldn't handle the media, so I had to upgrade.

In July, I bought a MiniPC (Intel N100, 16 GiB RAM). The N100 handles video acceleration perfectly. I installed Proxmox, created LXC containers for Docker, Jellyfin, and Minecraft, and called it a day. **If you are reading this, this blog is hosted on that MiniPC.**

I also bought a second-hand Synology NAS with 16 TiB of storage. This allowed me to cut off unnecessary subscriptions. Now, I consume the media I want, whenever I want.

### My Self-Hosting Stack

My stack has grown quite a bit. I use **Traefik** as my reverse proxy (switched from Nginx, much easier to use with Docker).

- **Media & Arr Suite:** Jellyfin, Bazarr, Prowlarr, Radarr, Sonarr, Metube, Navidrome, Beets.io.
- **Productivity & Tools:** Paperless (a godsend for my company invoices), Penpot, Gitea, Docmost, Webtrees, Vaultwarden (finally using a password manager).
- **Social & Web:** WordPress (freelance), Rick and Morty Tournament, Shareyourass.com (funny project coming soon), Thoughts.
- **Infrastructure:** Docker Registry, NATS, ntfy, Deluge, Portainer.
- **K-Suite:** K-Notes, K-QR, K-Tuner.
- **Photos:** Immich (planning to replace with my own K-Photos soon).

## Career & Rust Rebellion

In July, I finally got my Bachelor of Science degree in Bioinformatics. Finally, after four years, I was done. Unfortunately, I didn't get into the Master's program in Computer Science at my alma mater, but I hope to get in during 2026. My goal is a PhD, so I will keep trying.

In June, I also started my own company (_JDG_).

Career-wise, I moved back to backend development. No more Angular, no more padding/margin struggles. I did have to change teams in March, which sucked because it was another big change right after the breakup.

I’m currently doing web services in Python. I’m not satisfied with the stack because I want to use Rust. I actually tried to start an "anarchy movement." I wrote a microservice that converts images entirely in Rust. My thought process was: _if I write it and deploy it, the architects will just let it go._

It was a long shot. Just as I was ready for deployment, I got invited to a call and was told we couldn't ship it because nobody else knew Rust. So, I rewrote it in Python. But give me a few years—I'll become an architect and I will rewrite stuff in Rust! :D

## Game Dev: Brick Framework

In my 2025 roadmap, I wrote that I wanted to release my first game, _Mr. Brick Adventures_. I worked on it in May and August, but with the breakup and the long winter nights, motivation died. The code is done, but it lacks levels and polish.

However, I did accomplish a lot technically. I created **Brick Framework** in C#. It contains the entire game logic, entities, AI, and interactions, but has _no_ implementation of physics, audio, or rendering.

The idea is to have complete data-driven code that doesn't care about the specifics. I just write small glue code in the desired engine (Unity or Godot), plug in the engine's physics, and it works. It doesn't matter if it's VR, PC, Console, or Mobile.

I also participated in three Game Jams (Unity 2D, Unity 3D, and Godot) with friends. The goal wasn't perfection, but just delivering _something_.

## K-Suite & The Builder Mindset

I built a lot of small tools this year under the umbrella of [K-Suite](https://gabrielkaszewski.dev/k-suite)—a personal universe of open-source apps.

- **K-Notes:** A Google Keep replica.
- **K-Tuner:** I wrote this because I wanted to play guitar at 2 AM, my physical tuner batteries died, and no stores were open. So I wrote a web app to tune my ukulele and guitar.
- **Thoughts:** I challenged myself to recreate a social platform idea in one weekend. I deployed it, though it still needs ActivityPub integration.
- **Open Source:** I published my first crate `loco-keycloak-auth` and a CLI tool `codebase-to-prompt`.

## Reflections on Life, Grief, and the End of the List

The darkness of the year's end brought heavy thoughts. Not only was I alone, but for the first time since my dad died 13 years ago, I started to really miss him.

He died of cancer when I was 10. We were best friends. I just wish that if one day I become a dad, I will be at worst just like him, and at best, even better.

I got over the fact pretty quickly as a kid; life moved on. But this year, I realized a grim milestone: **I have now lived longer without him than with him** (10 years with him, 13 without).

Sitting in my apartment alone, in front of my two monitors, I found myself thinking about my childhood. We could travel now. We could do things we couldn't afford back then. I wondered: _Would he be proud of me? Of what I have achieved?_

I have reached a point in my life where I am no longer excited. I feel like I have realized most things I ever wanted. I got the dream job, I am financially stable, I got the degree. Next year I plan to buy my own apartment (aiming for Dec 2026).

And then what? Nothing. Life will look mostly the same. My bucket list has come to an end.

To process these feelings, I started writing a personal book in November. It’s been therapeutic. I got so hooked that I've written 130k words (380 pages) in a month, and the story isn't over yet.

I also went to Stockholm after Christmas, saw the Mojang offices (from the outside), bought a keyboard to learn piano, and got back to the gym—putting my training plan into K-Notes felt strangely satisfying.

Life sometimes sucks, but I will see what the incoming years will bring.
