We’re finally at the end of this year, thank goodness. I can’t say I’m in very good shape after all the things I went through, though. What also didn’t help was the weather, it’s officially summer where I’m from, so the temperatures will just keep on rising, much to my dismay. Sleeping at night is about to get at least ten times more annoying, ugh. In any case, let’s talk about how December treated me.

I don’t know what it is about December that never fails to make me feel like garbage all the way through. It might just be the pressure that the holiday season puts on people, y’know, having to get gifts and all that. I don’t like shopping for gifts, not only are the malls packed with people, I often don’t know what to get to the people I usually give presents to. Luckily, this year I didn’t struggle with that, although I did feel like the gift I originally got for her was a bit…. I dunno, lame? Anyway, I ended up getting her something else alongside it. At the very least, everyone liked their gifts, so that’s nice.

Despite my distaste for the holidays, that really wasn’t the reason I felt annoyed all throughout December, no no no. For starters, my sleep has been exceptionally poor this month. My stupid body likes to itch at random times, I struggle to get myself comfortable in my bed, and the heat makes it very difficult to fall asleep because it only contributes towards feeling uncomfortable. That has resulted in me feeling particularily grumpy and short-tempered. And I had lots of thoughts in my head, it was impossible for me to silence my brain, which only made me feel worse. I never liked December, and this year it’s no exception, it sucked too. But at the very least I didn’t cut my hand again, gosh that only made last year a whole lot worse for me.

To further add to my irritation, I ordered two phones from Japan to add to my collection, but I had to use a different proxy service because my usual wasn’t gonna work for me due to new laws. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, the UI is a lot clunkier to use. Then came the matter of getting the phones shipped, which was a whole other matter. The shipment method I used couldn’t ship items with batteries, so I had to switch to DHL, which ended up costing me 45 bucks to get it here. And at first, great, things arrived quickly to my country… and then came the customs nonsense. They sent me an email to inform me that I needed to send additional documentation, which I did. But I never got a response besides the initial automated one. Then one week later, I got another email telling me to send them the information again. Annoyed as I was, I did it anyway and that time it worked out. Despite the fact I had supposedly already paid the taxes, I had to pay them again, which was an additional 10 bucks. Awesome. My package arrived the day after and all was good, thank goodness. But man, what an annoying ass process, overall.

At least the other parts of my life have gone alright for the most part. Work for instance, the first two weeks were a bit slow, but my boss assigned me a few tasks to do with one of my teammates, and that has gone relatively smoothly. I also finally finished my Vue course and got congratulated over it, and I also got a Christmas bonus. Despite my uncertainty at work, I haven’t done that poorly thankfully. I am dreading January because I know things will get harder for me, but I should be able to get through it all like with my previous challenges. Let’s see what happens.

In general, despite the fact that nothing too horrible happened this month, I never really felt alright honestly. My mind was all over the place, the heat was killing me and I simply wasn’t feeling it in most days. The first half of the month especially was annoying as fuck, the second half was less so but still not great. I also really need to be more careful with my money, I spent a bit too much on random things I don’t really need. Oh yeah, and I finally got sick on top of that, I got a cold that thankfully didn’t last more than a week.

Earlier this month, a friend of mine of 3 years and I decided to part ways. They cited communication issues as being the main reason why things had to end, which I don’t necessarily disagree with, as these past few month we had become more and more distant. And thus, it just wasn’t the enjoyable friendship it once was. But I always had the sinking feeling there was another reason behind it, despite insisting that wasn’t the case. I had made a lot of mistakes, I often didn’t know how to voice my concerns and preferred using indirect cues to get my ideas across. I feel like after an incident we had last year, our relationship never really recovered. Not like I’ll ever know anyway, and honestly all I want is to move on. As such, this is the first and only time I’ll touch on this publicly.

At first I was annoyed, but later on I began to realize it was the right thing to do. It was a relationship that wasn’t doing either of us any good. Then I decided to give this whole online friends thing a bit more thought, and I’ll be honest, I am not sure I’m enjoying it anymore. I’m losing that desire to meet people online and having that commitment to keeping my online friends around. It really hurts to say it because they’re not the problem, rather, I am the problem. And I’m also extra picky on top of that, so I’m certainly not helping my case.

And what frustrates me even more is that practically every single one of them has gone through the same goddamn pattern: things start off great, then they get more and more distant until it all ends unceremoniously. I understand that people get busy and all that, but even still. At this point I feel so discouraged that I just want to stoptrying. If you can make those friendships work, then great, good for you. But after nearly 10 years of constantly going at it, I think I might be wasting my time by this point. They’re great if you’re a teen, have a lot of free time or lack the means to talk to people in person. I now realize that online friends are not for me. And I want to meet people in person next year, since this year I wasn’t super successful in that area.

Despite that though, a part of me doesn’t want to give up just yet. I’ll still seek online friendships, but I need to be careful, I would hate to get attatched to someone only for the same problems to crop up later on, at this point it’s a given and if things continue like this, I might have to give up on this altogether. And I also decided to delete my old Discord account due to all the negative nonsense associated with it, by the 31st it’ll be gone for good. My new account has the exact same handle as the last one, @poble. Alright, sorry for going on for so long about this, but I really needed to get this out of my system.

I got so many damn phones this month, sheesh. A whole lot of Sony Ericsson this time, two of which are Japanese exclusive. Let’s begin with those first:

• Sony Ericsson T300 (2002): One of the earliest phones released by Sony Ericsson, it notably had support for polyphonic ringtones and you could add a camera to it as well. This one isn’t in the worst shape, although it is missing a few key caps and the plastic infrared window. And the battery too, so while I can’t test this one at the moment, it might still work. Made in Malaysia.
• Sony Ericsson T226 (2004): This phone is pretty interesting since it’s just like the one my mom had back in the 2000s, it was her first phone. I had to do some repairs to it, namely fixing the keypad and adding the screen cover, though I ended up using one that had a different color. After doing that, it turned out pretty good, I think. Also made in Malaysia.
• Sony Ericsson R306 (2008): I had no idea this phone even existed, it’s a basic clamshell with a built-in FM radio and stereo speakers. It’s in alright shape, though it was a bit dirty when I found it and it needed a battery (which I did surprisingly have). Works fine otherwise, though the speakers do sound a bit distorted. Made in Brazil.
• Sony Ericsson Xmini (2008): A very tiny Walkman phone that only came out in Japan. It’s not in the best shape and it needs a UIM card for the media functions to work, which this didn’t come with. It also didn’t come with a charger, so I have to use one of those “universal” battery chargers to charge it, but it does appear to work just fine. It’s also full of messages and photos from the previous owner, which I obviously can’t understand because I don’t speak Japanese. Made in Japan.
• Sony Ericsson Premier³ (2009): The other Japanese exclusive Walkman phone, and this one is likewise focused on multimedia features. You can use it as a flip phone, but you can also rotate the screen to the side to watch videos or hell, even TV, as it has a built-in 1seg tuner. Unfortunately, like the Xmini, this one also requires that pesky UIM card to use said features. Such a stupid requirement, ironically western Walkman phones did allow you to use these features without a SIM card. It’s in okay shape, with a few dings and scratches here and there. Interestingly, it uses the same battery as the Xmini despite being bigger. Made in Japan.
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 (2010): A basic Android phone from the time. I had to repair this one as it had a faulty display, I ended up getting three of these just to get one that works: I took the digitizer and display from one, then the front and back shell from another, then the motherboard from the third. Curiously, it seems to be running a custom ROM, I rarely see that on Sony phones since the ones sold here are typically impossible to unlock. A fun fact about this phone is that it’s codenamed Shakira. Made in China.

Next, the Nokias…

• Nokia 3520 (2003): I wasn’t able to find a lot of info on this phone. But it’s basically an evolution of the 33xx series of phones, featuring a color screen, polyphonic ringtones and Java support. This one is in really rough shape though, the power button barely works and the keypad keeps falling apart. It does turn on, but man, does it need a bit of a restoration. Made in Brazil.
• Nokia 1600 (2005): A basic phone that was released alongside the 1110, it’s similar, but this one has a color screen. This one was pretty dirty, but it’s in alright shape and it appears to work just fine. Made in Mexico.
• Nokia 5070 (2007): Another basic phone and one I do recall seeing it a lot back in the day. This one is in surprisingly decent shape (the ones I usually see are in horrible shape), but the screen has a bit of damage and it also didn’t come with a battery. But it does turn on and it works. Also made in Mexico.
• Nokia 500 (2011): One of the later Symbian phones from Nokia, this one was considered a mid range device. There’s nothing particularly interesting about it, if I’m being honest. This one is in alright shape and it works fine, though the screen is very scratched up, being that it’s made of plastic. Once again, made in Mexico.

And here’s everything else:

• Siemens A76 (2005): My very first Siemens as it turns out, this one is a rather basic phone and I believe it’s a variant of the A75, I assume it uses different GSM bands. Unfortunately I don’t know if it works, I was unable to charge the battery, it appears to be completely dead. Made in Brazil.
• Samsung Galaxy 3 (2010): A bit of a strange Android phone, it’s in okay shape although the screen has a few lines going over it. What makes this phone a bit unusual is the screen resolution (240×400) and the strange chipset it has. I was able to install Android 2.3 on it and it works alright, aside from the screen issues. I do like these earlier Android phones a lot, and this is a good addition to my collection I’d say. Made in China.
• LG Optimus Me (2011): A tiny Android phone, and the second LG I got for my collection. The screen is very scratched up, but the phone itself appears to work just fine. I did end up replacing the back cover with a pink one that was in much nicer shape. Made in South Korea.
• Motorola i475 (2011): This is a strange one, it’s a feature phone that used the iDEN network back in the day, that being a technology that allowed you to use your phone as a long distance walkie talkie. This is also an American phone locked to Boost Mobile, weirdly enough. It does work, although I had to clean the degrading rubberized coating and I had to remove a white powder from the screen… no idea what that was. Made in China.
• Samsung GT-E1205L (2012): I got this one for free for buying the Sony Ericsson T236 I mentioned above. It’s a pretty uninteresting and rather unremarkable basic phone that honestly I wouldn’t have bothered to add to the collection, I never really cared for these Samsung phones. But it does work, though it didn’t originally come with a battery. Made in China.
• Apple iPhone SE (2016): A personal want of mine for quite a while, and I found this one for very cheap. It was notable for being one of the most powerful compact phones of its day. It’s in great shape with some minor dings here and there, and it does turn on. Sadly, as is usually the case with second hand iPhones, it’s activation locked, meaning it’s still tied to the previous owner’s account. No, it cannot be removed by other means either. So this is really as good as a display piece or for parts, should I find one in worse shape that isn’t locked. Made in China.

I only got these 3 toy cars this month.

This Chimchar plushie that’s seemingly original…

A vintage styled Coke bottle from 2007, in really good shape.

A Japanese copy of The Promised Neverland, volume 1 to be exact. The paper feels so different to the version I have from Argentina.

And finally, here are some things I got for Christmas this year. My friend gifted me a tin of Matcha powder that I’ll have to prepare one of these days, and I also have something else coming in on Monday.

December sucked, go figure. I don’t expect the rest of the summer to be any better honestly, I rarely feel good while my body is exposed to all this stupid heat. I don’t know where or if I’ll go somewhere on vacation like last year, but honestly I’m just not in the mood for it. My goals for next month are basically getting my health together and riding my bike like in the old days. I once again neglected myself a lot this year and I feel ashamed of myself for it. Though I suppose it’s never too late to get my shit together.

This is not my final blog post for 2025, I plan on posting something else on Tuesday, so please stay tuned for that. A friendly reminder that I’m back on SpaceHey if you’re interested in following me there. I don’t know what else to say, so I’m sorry if this blog post seemed a bit rushed or if I sound too grumpy. I’m also taking my cat to the vet once again tomorrow, so I’ll update this post once that happens. Actually, I do plan on updating this post again with some more things I wanted to add.

See you all in the next post.