It’s certainly been a year. I can say that for certain. We made it though. We’re here to celebrate the site’s 16th anniversary. There were some ups and downs this past tear and hopefully it’s smooth sailing into the future.
As the site entered the year, it was time for another round of DragonCon. It was a bit of a modified year due to me still recovring from the effects of the broken hip I had last year, but I still managed to have a good time. There were still plenty of photos and vlogs to do. I’m currently finalizing plans for the show this year and hopefully I will have some interview opportunities this year. I’ve already turned in my requests. Let’s see how things turn out.
The rest of 2025 was a bit of a sliw one. I gained some momentum on YouTube, picking up more subscribers and having a banner year as far as views were concerned. I turned 40 in November and the next week I was in the hospital again with an infection in my foot from diabetic complications. It was a quiet holiday season while I recovered. Luckily to this point in 2026 I have maintained good health and have stayed as far away from hospitals as possible. Quiet seems to be the description of a lot of things this past year. I did not attend as many events as I wanted to last year. As I went to DragonCon last year, I had just been laid off from my job of 13 years. I bounced back pretty quickly and found a new job a month later. That lasted for all of seven months. Ultimately, that was not a good fit and now I am at a new job. I’m ready to get back to events more frequently.
Things were not all doom and gloom and waiting around though. While I had to slow down in certain ways, I was able to go full bore on others. YouTube was an area that had substantial growth. I finally hit 500 subscribers. I also hit on a good rhythm with shorts and had my most viewed year to date. I set out to apply what I did throughout the whole year and set out to double the amount of views I had. We’re just getting to the back half of the year and that goal isn’t too far off from being met. At this rate, I’ll likely double the number of views I had over the lifetime of the channel going into 2026. Hitting both of those goals would be pretty awesome and both could likely be accomplished well before the end of the year.
Last year, I started out to write a novel and publish it. I had hoped to publish it on my birthday but a number of factors delayed that goal. I ended up publishing “Flight of the Ironclaw” on February 1. It’s a date that holds significant meaning as it’s the anniversary of my father’s death. I was able to turn a day that was marked by a tragic event have a new meaning and something I can look back on that day with pride. I know my father would be proud of me. I was able to go to an event to promote the book and hopefully after the brief summer diversion to change my job situation, I can find some more author events to help promote the book. I’m also working on my second book. I’m a few chapters in but I’m not rushing it. It will happen when the time is right.
After such an up and down year as the past one has been, the question becomes, where do we go from here? Other than my goal of staying out of hospitals for a while, I mainly want to get back into the groove of events and conventions again. It’s getting easier each event I go to as I build back up my strength. Conventions are where I feel at home and being away from them has felt like being away from family. I want to branch out as well. I want to go to author events and build my audience that way and write more books. I want to create new content. I’m already working on some ideas for other types of videos. I’m working on ways to get better use out of the main website as well as the YouTube and the social channels. The way we absorb content, news and information changes and evolves. It will create new opportunities. I just need to figure out what will work best for me. I always want my piece of the internet to reflect me and my personality. I feel like I said last year that I had gone through one of the slowest years of the site and the brand. This past year may be right up there in a lot of regards and slightly better in a few aspects as well. The start and stop nature between my health issues and my personal life has certainly affected the health of the site. There was also time to reflect and observe. Hopefully, I have learned during the downtime and can come into this next year with a renewed passion and new ideas as to how to bring out myself and the passion I have for things that are geeky.
This past year was not entirely what I wanted it to be. There were bright spots for sure but I know there could have been more. That’s okay though. I know everything is going to be okay. I’ve been knocked down before and I keep getting up. The site will evolve and so will I. I look forward to year 17. Even typing this blog out has really allowed me to focus on what this week means to me. I appreciate the chance I get to reflect and refocus. This site has gotten me through a lot of rough times before and I know the work will get me through even more to come. I thank you all that have been around since the beginning. Your support has meant the world to me. To those that have found me recently, welcome aboard. You are now part of a site and a community with history and longevity. We all have our parts of the story and it all comes together wonderfully.
There’s a line in Sci-Fried’s 2011 song “Geek Rock” that says “It’s a Geek World Order taken at no one’s expense”. That line always sits with me. It reminds me to be bold and fearless when it comes to being a geek. The rally has always been the same. The mission of Geek World Order has been to be the place where geeks unite. Sixteen years in, that goal has not changed. It continues to be reaffirmed. So let’s make this next year epic.
Geeks Unite!
Randy Pence
About the Author
