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well that was fast

2025 is already done. It's crazy how the years now feel about four weeks long.

Thirty-three good things that happened this year:

1. My Japanese skills really took a big step forward this year. Mari notes I'm "able to speak to doctors".
2. Got through an ordeal at work in almost one piece, and have the contacts throughout the organization to show for it.
3. Got involved in another project that expanded my horizons.
4. Finished a solid draft of my still unpublished novel.
5. Got actually good at building watches, at last.
6. Joined a fishing club started by some friends at work.
7. Saw two new countries, and they weren't two I would have guessed: Romania (June) and Belgium (November).
8. Revisited Romania in November, which was an interesting counter-experience to the near-40-degree summer visit.
9. Had the best satay skewer of my life at a hole-in-the-wall neighborhood spot in The Hague of all places.
10. Had possibly the best steak of my life at a place a stone's-throw from my office.
11. Had possibly the best mussels of my life in a touristy area in Bruges.
12. Learned a thing or two following a collision in October. For instance, I believe I've been walking around with partial "soldier's neck" for fifty-plus years.
13. Got some very pleasing photos out of my latest gear and software investments.
14. Wrote some articles and stories for my websites that I feel did what I wanted.
15. Visited my Mum for the first time in three years.
16. Caught some new species of fish -- mahi-mahi is a favorite "sport fish" and for eating.
17. Learned how to use an AI chat for my writing.
18. While I had two flights cancelled, it all worked out and I somehow managed a second circuit of the globe as a result.
19. Made good steps in ditching American tech giants from my life.
20. In related news, managed to save a phone that I had progressively soft-bricked; in the end it ran faster than before with less invasive bloat-ware.
21. A table full of ladies at a work thing compared me to Jeff Goldblum but said, "I was more handsome". Now, the man is nineteen years older than I am...
22. Learned some interesting things about strategy at a very good presentation.
23. Got some real insights into being effective working in different cultures.
24. Learned that magenta isn't a color on the spectrum.
25. Got the eighteenth volume of our photo-book done.
26. Got The Boy into three university campuses toward his choosing his future.
27. One of my Google Maps reviews changed a man's life; because he's now drawing more English-speaking clients, he's brushing up on his English.
28. Visited the geographic center of Tokyo, and added the geographic center of the world to my to-do list (it's lake Chad).
29. Unexpectedly saw both Prague and the Sinai Peninsula (from the air).
30. Rewrote my website's CMS in Perl in a matter of days with help from an AI.
31. Visited the snow tunnel in Toyama prefecture.
32. Learned about xpan photos.
33. Visited prefectures 25 and 26.

Three reasons to be thankful:

1. We have our health
2. My paycheck is in the mail
3. Our problems will blow over in time

I'll leave the final word to this blues artist.