Bahahahahahahaha!!!! Ha ha ha!!!! OMG. So… The year 2025 ends in 3 hours. And holy shit, good riddance. It would be difficult to overstate just how fucked up and shitty this year has been. It started off so quiet and optimistic. I came up with an ambitious 10 point list of resolutions, excited to face the challenges of self-improvement! And then… shit hit the fan. This year was gut punch after gut punch after gut punch. We began with a completely unexpected sudden death of a dear friend. Trump took office with his brigade of evil incel goons, trying to break every record for how badly we can hurt and offend the largest amount of people in the shortest period of time. We in the DC area were particularly heavily impacted, with friends and coworkers losing their jobs and grants left and right. I personally suffered under a rigid fulltime return to office policy that, while nowhere near as bad as the devastating consequences faced by many other people, DID have a very direct and negative impact on my ability to care for myself or feel good or get anything done. This year we faced the loss of my grandfather in law, which means tons of stress and heartbreak in our household as we navigated elder care, loss of a loved one, and now the handling of an estate. And just as our heads were coming up above water there, my own father’s poor health took a sudden turn, and I spent November watching him die, and December mourning his loss and helping my mom navigate all of the absolute unnecessary and heartless bureaucratic bullshit that comes with becoming a widow. Along the way several people very close to me, including myself, have had to deal with devastating and/or infuriating situations relating to our jobs. And the menacing cruelty of our government shows no bounds as our neighbors are being chased down in the streets and sent to Gulags. Holy. Fucking. Shit. This has been ONE FUCKED UP YEAR!!!!!
So all that being said… Hey! How did my happy-go-lucky new year’s resolutions go?!?!?!?!
Answer: NOT GOOD! Which is FINE. I would be 100% fine with having failed completely on every single one of these, because we have to show ourselves grace. And if ever there was a year for grace, this was it. But being said, it wasn’t terrible, either! In the darkest of times there is always something to smile about (just like, at the best of times, there is always something to disappoint.) So this year was uneven as heck. So what? Let’s see how uneven….
- Publish my 3rd book: A+
YES!!!!! This was my #1 goal going into this year (largely because I’d meant to do it in 2024), and I DID IT! Huge huge thanks to my sister who edited the crap out of it in 2024 (only for me to sit on it for a few more months.) In addition to publishing Hope the Daring Fox in June, I also put out audiobook versions of both Hope the Little Fox AND Hope the Daring Fox! Unfortunately the narrator is AI, but I still put in tons of hours to listening and editing to make it as close to qualitative as possible (and honestly, it came out pretty well!) I finished off the year with my very first booth sale and signing event! Sure, that booth was for just the local Latvian community, but it was still nice. Sales are very low, but reviews are stellar (biased, but stellar.) I’m also very proud of this book. I think it’s legitimately good. - Complete a rough first draft of my 4th book: C+
Given that book 3 came out halfway through the year, and that the next few months were spent focusing first one selling that book, and then on prepping the two audiobooks, and then on releasing “second editions” of both Hope books (meaning I did a big clean-up of typos and errors people pointed out to me), and given that I spent September and October focusing my creative energy on my annual Halloween party, I did not get to start writing my draft until November (though I did a little bit of brainstorming and outlining earlier.) I decided to return to NaNoWriMo, which I haven’t done in years but used to do religiously. This was when I discovered that NaNoWriMo doesn’t even exist anymore because of some sort of weird drama. I looked into alternatives, but decided to just do my own tracking. Things started out with a lot of promise, largely thanks to this stupid government shutdown that gave me several (unpaid!) days off in which I could wander to coffee shops in the middle of the workday. It was awesome! Alas, November is also when my dad’s health declined, and finished out the month sitting in a hospital. I did actually have my laptop with me, and managed a few pages while sitting at my dad’s sickbed. But this month’s been pretty draining between mourning, holidays, and work stuff, so I haven’t gotten back into it. Still, I made it to 42,597 words drafted so far. Not too shabby! - Visit Museums: D
This was a big success from 2024 that I hoped to repeat, since there were a ton of museums I’d wanted to hit but didn’t get to. Alas, this is the main resolution that I felt fine just forgetting about. I was aiming for 15 museums with a minimum of 10. I didn’t hit 10, but I also had more than zero, which I’m counting as a win! First of all, I took a MUCH NEEDED vacation in May to a glorious place called the Iron Valley of Invention in the UK. As far as I could tell, we were the only non-British tourists anywhere we went, so internationally-speaking this was a hidden gem. But oh man did husband and I nerd out. The valley is one of the birthplaces of the industrial revolution, and in just a couple days we visited a whopping 7 museums, including:
a. Blists Hill Victoria Town
b. Shrewsbury Castle: local military museum
c. Colebrookdale Museum of Iron
d. Jackson Tile Museum
e. Museum of the Gorge
f. Enginuity
g. Ironbridge and Tollhouse
So quite the binge! But back home I never made the time for this challenge. The only other museum I hit was FINALLY stopping into the Smithsonian’s African American History Museum. And I only had 2 hours! (Early dismissal from work.) 2 hours is NOT anywhere near enough time to fully experience this expansive museum. Also, it was VERY VERY VERY crowded. Probably the most crowded museum I’ve ever visited. This is awesome news for the museum, and I hope attendance remains this high for many more years to come! But it meant my own experience could certainly be approved upon, and I look forward to returning and do this one justice.
So, bottom line, 8 museums hit (50% the amount from 2024), which is way better than nothing. What I did NOT do (I meant to, but just didn’t have the steam for it) was write up museum reviews, which is a part of this challenge that I had really enjoyed in 2024. Oh well. - Prepare estate documents (etcetera): D
This was my most important resolution, sharing the #1 priority spot with publishing my book. I did nothing. But I had PLENTY of reminders of exactly how imperative it is that I get this one handled ASAP. I won’t repeat all of the death that my family experienced this year, but needless to say, having these experiences is a solid reminder of why these preparations are important. The only thing I DID do, was I reviewed my parents’ documents at the end of the year so that I can be as helpful as possible to my mother. And I bought a book (that I’m only 1/3 of the way through) about how to handle finances after the death of a spouse. So I am definitely thinking about this one, and hope to jump into this full-force early in the year (at some point after my dad’s memorial.) - Focus on health: B+
Rollercoaster time! This resolution was largely about making sure I actually go to my doctors, which I did! I got my first pair of reading glasses (UGH!), did my regular physical, my annual pap, and I even put in the research to switch to (and visit) a new dermatologist! The really big stuff, though, was finally going to see a GI specialist about a longtime medical issue I’ve been too embarrassed and/or lazy to investigate. I got myself tested for a few things, including getting my first-ever colonoscopy! Halfway through the year, I finally had a diagnosis for my problem: IBS!!! Huzzah! The second half of the year has been about figuring out what to do about it. The biggest thing has been working with a nutritionist. And by “nutritionist” I mean my chiropractor, who does functional medicine. We did a couple tests (which involved pooping in a box, AND fingersticking myself, not at the same time) to determine some of my likely food sensitivities, and then we worked out a plan for which foods to minimize or eliminate from my diet (EGGS?!?! I never realized just how much I loved eggs until this year, ugh), plus I started taking a bunch of vitamins. I’ve also been carefully tracking several health-related factors like headaches, poops (poop diary get get pretty gross!), amount of stretching/exercise, etc. Physically I felt like shit for most of this year, but I’m pleased to announce that I started to feel WAY better in the fall as I made all of these dietary and lifestyle changes. The last few weeks took a dive, but also my dad died and I’m eating my feelings so I’m cool with that.
Another major development health-wise was a bad bodyboarding accident at the tail end of the summer that resulted in whiplash and a sprained back. I’ve increased my chiropractor visits to help it heal, got some X-rays, and have been focusing really hard on my rehab stretches. That’s all being going great. Now I’ve just got to keep it up! - Return to food tracking: B
I already explained this one up above. I intended to get back into food tracking at the start of the year, but just… didn’t. But then I started up again in the early fall and I’ve been really good! I’m not as precise as I used to be when I was tracking for the weightloss challenge, but it’s still been super helpful to keep me mindful and responsible. And, most importantly, it’s helping me track digestive symptoms. All that being said… weekends get away from me, man. I’ve been heavily binging sweets over the past couple months, and I’ve been eating other people’s food, and there are weekends where I just say “fuck it I’ve got no clue” and I don’t even try tracking. On my spreadsheet those are entered as red questions marks. Total failure there. Still, I’m back on track for the most part and plan to continue (knock on wood.) - Focus on budget: C
I started optimistic on this one and then immediately hit a snag: My plan was to get back onto Mint to track all of my spending like I used to, and then to set up and abide by a budget. In January I sat down one night to get started and… discovered that Mint doesn’t exist anymore!!!! Thus commended a ton of research into several alternatives (including reading tons of posts from other disappointed customers who were in the same boat as me and found that NONE of the other tools on the market were as good.) I finally settled on Monarch, which has been pretty good. As good as Mint? Naw. But close enough. It took quite a bit of time at first to get everything categorized and set up. So things were looking good at first! But then, I dropped off. I only logged in every now and then to update and check transactions. I never bothered to set up and follow a budget. If anything, my budget got even messier this year because of book sales, Etsy sales, and more cash transactions than usual. Doh! - Read 30 books: A+
This was an easy-A throwaway resolution that I threw into my list to get to 10 resolutions. I did it! I read 30! My resolution did not include a requirement to write reviews (as I believe it did in 2024), but I still managed to review most of them. Gold star. - House Stuff: C
I didn’t do any of the big stuff from my list (call arborist, do an energy efficiency check, etc.) But I did a little bit of smaller stuff. I got an extension cord and sidetable for my husband so he can work from the couch without wires everywhere. My father in law rebuilt our rotten gate, which had been on my to-do list but hey, free gate! I started trying to get our address sign up (I gifted it to my spouse last Christmas), and I have put a lot of time into researching and planning, but am not quite finished. We failed at trying to connect it to the wall, so I attached it to a wooden sign that we can hang up as a proof of concept. Next step is to take that rough draft version and clean it up, then stake it into the ground. But I can’t do any of that until I get my wood-staining supplies back from my brother. Other little stuff: we put up a new TV, we started getting regular pest control services and improved our anti-mouse measures on our crawlspace after a gross mega-mouse infestation early in the year, and we planted some plants. We were gifted several plants this year for some reason, and my husband has taken on the responsibility of caring for them indoors. Oh, we re-planted our old Benjamin ficus and brough it back from the brink of death when we realized it had root rot, so that was cool. We were certain we had killed it, but on the morning after my dad passed away, we finally saw the first signs of new growth. Very Lightning Crashes and moving. - Focus on fitness: C
This was easily the biggest rollercoaster. I had really big ambitions for this year, because my fitness has been improving a lot over the past few years. But then RTO happened. Which meant SIGNIFICANTLY less time to exercise and care for myself, or even to get enough sleep. For the first several months of RTO, I got virtually no exercise. I just did not have the time or energy. And any classes or activities I’d hoped to schedule (namely, weight training and yoga) became impossible due to how late I got back from work. I am also really fucking hungry when I get home and just have zero motivation to move, because all I want to do is eat, then sleep. It SUCKED. I felt like total ass. But… with time, I’ve managed to readjust to the schedule some. Is it frustrating knowing that my body would be doing way better if I worked from home, and knowing that there is absolutely zero fucking reason why I should be forced to sit in a windowless office all day and commute 2.5 hours a day to do so? Yes, very much so. But at least I’ve managed to reestablish some patterns. I’m back in the gym on average 2x per week: I bring my gym back so I can go straight after work on Wednesdays, and then I go 1 morning on the weekend (when possible. Depending on the time of year and what’s going on sometimes that just couldn’t happen.) I run 2-3 times per week. And volleyball is every Monday. Alas, going to yoga is just out the window, even though it’s the thing I most wanted to increase. BUT, for the past few months (see above) I’ve gotten really good about doing my stretches on my own. At the moment I’m working on getting those stretch sessions up to 20 minutes at least 4x a week. We’ll see how that goes. As for sporting achievements, I’ve continued trail running! I made my premiere at Ragnar Appalachians, and had a great time! I was not fast at all, but it was the least-bad I’ve felt while participating! I think the IBS control has helped. That being said, my spouse and I decided to skip the Rocky Gap Relay because our bodies were just not in shape enough for that madness. Fingers crossed for next year! And finally… WE GOT A ROWER!!!! I am very excited for this!
Final report:
- A+
- C+
- D
- D
- B+
- B
- C
- A+
- C
- C
FINAL GPA: 2.55 C+
For this fucking year? Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all! I’ll take it.
Helga without the H 