I ran into my upstairs neighbor in the elevator. The usual small talk unfolded: he asked how I was doing, and I asked how he was doing. Normally you get the standard replies, ‘everything’s fine’ or ‘same old, same old’, the autopilot of everyday politeness.

But this time he said, ‘En la lucha’.
In the fight.

Huh. I looked at him, a bit puzzled. In the fight? I know he does something in the army, but still it sounded strange, and I asked him to explain. He smiled and told me he meant the daily struggle: the endless stream of tasks, obligations, all the things that need to be done. No drama, no great tragedy, just the ongoing battle of everyday life.

Next time someone asks me how I’m doing, I already know what my answer will be.
‘Right in the middle of the fight’. :)

I started the year off being very productive. Together with the AI, I built a new app at lightning speed. I actually enjoyed developing again. The biggest advantage of the AI was that problems were solved quickly and easily. No more spending hours figuring things out, running countless tests to discover where the error is and how the solution should be built, instead, I just point out where the issue is and wait a moment while the AI analyzes and fixes everything. Solving one error no longer leads to the next; the AI simply resolves the whole chain of issues until everything works again.

My app ‘Mushroom Mayhem‘ consists of several components. First, the idea, that was my own bit of creativity. The images (AI, Bing), the music (AI, Suno), the coding (partly AI, Copilot), the small details (AI, guided by me). Lots of AI, and the result is a polished app that really matches the vision I had beforehand, and this time the outcome isn’t limited by my lack of skill.

Grandma Nel also came for a lovely visit. She had escaped the Dutch cold for a few weeks and arrived with a suitcase full of gifts, sausage, cheese, eel, and alcohol. She came to enjoy some time with the grandchildren and the Spanish sun. First, a week with friends in the south, where sunshine is guaranteed, and then a week with us, with pleasant temperatures but also the occasional shower.

The final stretch of 2025, and we celebrated it thoroughly. The highlight was Alan celebrating his 10th birthday! He got a very big stack of gifts. After that, we started the day with a BBQ in Gáldar. We had a reserved spot, so we didn’t have to worry about availability. Together with a bag of charcoal, plenty of meat and drinks, some marshmallows for dessert, and to finish, a beautiful cake. Afterwards, the children spent an hour playing ninja games. A day later, it was party time again, this time with his whole class.

Sinterklaas came by again, and Santa Claus paid us a visit. To top it all off, we even went on a short weekend trip to Tenerife. Just a quick boat ride there and back, through a big storm, to greet Alex’s godfather and Alan’s pan-godfather. He was on the island for a conference, so we couldn’t pass up the chance to drop by.

The last part of the month I’ll be on my own. I don’t have any vacation days left, and Ana is visiting her family with the kids. A nice opportunity for me to really relax and focus on my hobbies.

November, we are almost at the end of the year. We have mentally prepared ourselves for the festive month. The children have mainly been thinking about the presents they want, and Alan has made quite a list, carefully planning which gifts are for his birthday, which ones Santa should bring, and what he wants from the Three Kings next year.

This month, as almost every month, we did another nature route. With a slightly larger group of men, we went once again to enjoy meat in its purest form accompanied by a couple of glasses of nice wine. Also this month I was the only one who enjoyed a day off, because in Telde (where I work) some saint was commemorated. The rest of the month we had creativity, happyness, ninja activities and even some worries, so it was once again a month with lots of emotions.

The soccer season has started again for Alan, so we’re back on the field every weekend. It was also the month when I could finally let go of my battery worries, and of course, the highlight of the month, we’ve been married for 15 years!

The month began with the final stretch of the holiday period. Fun, but also trying to keep increasingly bored children entertained. Godfather and honorary godfather Miguel came for a lovely visit, and we all went to Fuerteventura together. A really fun outing! After our short vacation, normal life resumed for the kids as well. Back to school every day. Extra English lessons, football, beach volleyball and tennis. A relief to have a steady rhythm again.

This month I also made some upgrades. A new backpack, because the old one was suffering from increasingly larger holes, and I pre-ordered new phone, because the old one was struggling with an increasingly poor battery. I switched from budget to expensive, just to see what that’s like. I’m not sure yet if it was the best choice, and it’ll probably be difficult to go back to a budget device in the future, but I’ll find out in the future.

The children started the month together with Ana at their holiday destination. Alex also celebrated his birthday a little early there, he’s turning 14. After the Spanish holiday park, Ana came to the Netherlands with the children for a week. Ana had to return after a week because her vacation days were over. The children stayed happily with me for a few more weeks.

I spent the whole month in the Netherlands. It was a very pleasant month, and despite the unfortunate reason (Grandma’s knee surgery), I still enjoyed it. We did quite a lot. Visit Leiden and the Hortus. Castle De Haar, Volendam and Marken, Gouda and the cheese market, visits to friends in Ermelo and Wassenaar. Beach walks with kroket and frikandel sandwiches. Getting a smoked paling. Eating a herring with onions. A visit to Space-expo / ESTEC, a zoo with fun red-butted monkeys, ice cream at Likkie, and of course, playing football with some kids from the neighborhood. As far as I’m concerned, it was a successful vacation.

It was a strange month. The first two weeks I had time off with the kids, which meant lots of activities. Some of the highlights were Agualand, Elder, Climbing World, Palmitos Park and Sioux City. After that, I went back to work, and the kids went on vacation with Ana to the Spanish mainland, for a month of sun, beach, and the swimming pool. During the weeks I spend working hard I was even able to find some time for enjoyment, like going for some quality meat at Don Chuleton and visiting the Soul Festival.

After a few weeks of work, I traveled to the Netherlands. The plan was to go sometime in early August, but plans changed. Grandmother Nel is getting a new knee, a major operation, so I decided to head to the Netherlands a bit earlier to lend a helping hand.

I used a simple spray of water mixed with garlic and onion to spay over the plant… and just like that, the problem was history. My coffee plant is thriving again and growing like crazy!

As for the beetle (in Dutch, the ‘wants’)? It packed its bags. Apparently, it couldn’t stand the stench anymore and the leaves didn’t taste nearly as good. Mission accomplished!