This has been a really strange year. It has felt unusually long; when looking back at the list of books I read, movies I watched, or news events that occurred in the year, I can't believe that some of the things actually happened this year, because it feels like it had to have been more in the past.

Maybe part of this temporal weirdness lies with the fact that this was a hard year. My father passed away, a fact I honestly still haven't processed. My grandmother-in-law passed away. I have had to worry about the rushed acceptance at work and beyond of a technology that was built on stolen work and which confidently gives incorrect information half the time. I have had to worry about friends of mine here on visas; I have had to put any future international travel plans of my own on hold.

I also did a lot. I am just a few months away from finishing a bachelors degree in mathematics. I read a lot more than I did last year - thank you to my local public library and Libby. I traveled to Nashville and took the easiest level of the Kanken kanji exam. I got to watch a number of shows: Murder for Two; Iraq, but Funny; Evita; La Cage aux Folles; Jersey Boys; Six; and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live. I got to see Gianmarco Soresi (with opener Liam Nelson) and Dropout Live. I got to listen to Weird Al and Puddles Pity Party. I went to the St Louis Symphony Orchestra and performances by Early Music Missouri to hear Blackstar Symphony: The Music of David Bowie, the annual Forest Park Concert, Vivaldi's Four Seasons on Period Instruments, early guitar and recorder music, and organ music. I got to listen to and meet John Scalzi during his "When the Moon Hits Your Eye" tour, and, while in Chicago, I got to enjoy ukiyo-e woodcuts from Hokusai and Kuniyoshi and others at the "Hokusai & Ukiyo-e: The Floating World" exhibit. I saw beautiful automobiles from the 1920s juxtaposed with art from that era. I also went to the movies slightly over twice a month (and got an Alamo Season Pass).

I hope to read more this next year than I did this year and, once my degree is finished, maybe even spend some time writing. I also want to continue working on Japanese and scrape some of the rust off of my German. I hope to post more on here as well - time to bring back some fun dives into old reference works.

Books Read in 2025

1. Your Utopia by Bora Chung (2024) - Finished January 4
2. Venus on the Half-Shell by Kilgore Trout [Philip José Farmer] (1974) - Finished January 5
3. Redshirts by John Scalzi (2012) - Finished January 15
4. The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) - Adventures in Math and Science by Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry (2021) - Finished February 1
5. Change is the Only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World by Ben Orlin (2019) - Finished February 21
6. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (2023) - Finished March 2
7. Around the World in 80 Games - A Mathematician Unlocks the Secrets of the Greatest Games by Marcus du Sautoy (2023) - Finished March 18
8. The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln (2023) - Finished March 20
9. Assistant to The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2023) - Finished March 25
10. あせとせっけん Volume 1 (Manga) by 山田金鉄 (2018) - Finished April 5
11. Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer by Dylan Mulvaney (2025) - Finished April 13
12. Qualityland (dunkle Edition) by Marc-Uwe Kling (2017) - Finished April 19
13. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (2025) - Finished April 23
14. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019) - Finished April 29
15. Apprentice to The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2024) - Finished May 15
16. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (1986, 2015) - Finished May 31
17. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1969) - Finished June 10
18. Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (2020) - Finished June 15
19. In the Jaws of an Oak by Emryn Bird (2024) - Finished June 20
20. Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella (2023) - Finished June 29
21. The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair (2016) - Finished July 6
22. The Unsinkable Ship of Fools by Jonas Goonface (2025) - Finished July 13
23. Transfixed: A Trans & Genderqueer Erotic Fairy Tales Anthology (2025) - Finished July 20
24. Dreadnought (Nemesis Book One) by April Daniels (2017) - Finished August 4
25. Stag Dance by Torrey Peters (2025) - Finished August 16
26. Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2025) - Finished August 28
27. Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle (2025) - Finished August 31
28. みにくい遊郭の子 Volume 1 (Manga) by 狩谷成 (2021) - Finished September 7
29. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (2022) - Finished September 13
30. Temporary by Hilary Leichter (2020) - Finished September 22
31. Uncanny Issue Sixty-Five (July/August 2025) - Finished September 23
32. I Want That Twink Obliterated! edited by Trip Galey, Robert Berg, and C.L. McCartney (2024) - Finished September 25
33. Die Spurenfinder und das Drachenzepter by Marc-Uwe Kling (and Johanna, Luise, and Elisabeth) (2025) - Finished October 4
34. This Princess Kills Monsters: The Misadventures of a Fairy-Tale Princess by Ry Herman (2025) - Finished October 6
35. Rigsby WI, Volume 1: Foothold by S.E. Case (2025) - Finished October 7
36. Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen (2025) - Finished October 9
37. Puca by Travis Chen (2025 - ShortBox Comics Fair) - Finished October 13
38. 100 of the Worst Ideas in History: Humanity's Thundering Brainstorms Turned Blundering Brain Farts by Michael N. Smith and Eric Kasum (2014) - Finished October 13
39. The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968 (Volume Nine) by Charles M. Schulz (2008) - Finished October 18
40. I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle (2024) - Finished October 18
41. The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (2010) - Finished November 1
42. Vagabond - A Memoir by Tim Curry (2025) - Finished November 7
43. Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World by Mark Waddell (2025) - Finished November 28
44. The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar (2025) - Finished December 5
45. American Cornball - A Laffopedic Guide to the Formerly Funny by Christopher Miller (2014) - Finished December 26

Movies Watched in Theater

• Better Man
• Dog Man
• Captain America: Brave New World
• Love Hurts
• Mickey17
• The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
• A Minecraft Movie
• Thunderbolts*
• Karate Kid Legends
• Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye
• The Phoenecian Scheme
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Superman
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps
• The Bad Guys 2
• The Naked Gun
• 13 Assassins (2010)
• Frankenstein
• Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc
• KPOP Demon Hunters
• The Running Man
• Gumby (4K Restoration)
• Glass Onion
• Branded to Kill (4K Restoration)
• Zootopia 2
• Wake Up Dead Man
• The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

Photos From the Year

I wrote a haiku-ish poem for every day of the year (an exercise I don't think I will ever repeat). They can be found here.

I read some books this year. I think my younger self would be horrified to learn that there was a stretch of time after leaving graduate school where I essentially could not read books. Thanks to my wonderful large-font large-size ereader, which now goes with me everywhere, and my new eyeglasses, I have started to get back into the habit. In 2024 I managed to read 8 fiction books (2 in German), the first 16 years of Peanuts, 8 volumes of manga in Japanese, and books on trigonometry, computers, evolution, sketch comedy, transgender history, and hot dogs. The full list:

• Poor Things by Alasdair Gray (1992) - Finished January 14
• Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus (2023) - Finished January 27
• うんこドリル　かん字　小学１年生 (2020) - Finished January 31
• I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (2022) - Finished February 1
• Der Spurenfinder by Marc-Uwe Kling, Johanna & Luise Kling (2023) - Finished February 15
• The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey through the Art and Craft of Humor by Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key (2023) - Finished February 26
• うんこドリル　かん字　小学２年生 (2020) - Finished February 29
• Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon (2023) - Finished March 17
• The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel (1980) - Finished April 7
• The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton (1985) - Finished April 14
• うんこドリル 漢字　小学３年生 (2020) - Finished April 19
• Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano (2007) - Finished April 27
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 1 - 1950-1952 by Charles M. Schulz (2004) - Finished April 28
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 2 - 1953-1954 by Charles M. Schulz (2004) - Finished May 5
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 3 - 1955-1956 by Charles M. Schulz (2005) - Finished May 15
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 4 - 1957-1958 by Charles M. Schulz (2005) - Finished May 24
• Who Ate the First Oyster? The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History by Cody Cassidy (2020) - Finished May 25
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 5 - 1959-1960 by Charles M. Schulz (2006) - Finished June 2
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　１ by 遠山えま (2019) - Finished June 3
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　２ by 遠山えま (2019) - Finished June 7
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 6 - 1961-1962 by Charles M. Schulz (2006) - Finished June 10
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　3 by 遠山えま (2019) - Finished June 12
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　4 by 遠山えま (2020) - Finished June 14
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　5 by 遠山えま (2020) - Finished June 14
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　6 by 遠山えま (2021) - Finished June 17
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　7 by 遠山えま (2021) - Finished June 18
• ヴァンパイア男子寮　8 by 遠山えま (2021) - Finished June 18
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 7 - 1963-1964 by Charles M. Schulz (2007) - Finished June 19
• Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam (2022) - Finished July 10
• Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann (2017) - Finished August 7
• Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle (2024) - Finished August 9
• Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine by Hannah Fry (2018) - Finished August 26
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2020) - Finished October 20
• The Complete Peanuts Volume 8 - 1965-1966 by Charles M. Schulz (2007) - Finished December 2
• The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (2023) - Finished December 25
• Love Triangle: How Trigonometry Shapes the World by Matt Parker (2024) - Finished December 25

I saw 13 movies in theater this year. I particularly enjoyed Godzilla Minus One Minus Color, Hundreds of Beavers, Robot Dreams, and Deadpool and Wolverine. Full list:

• Godzilla Minus One Minus Color
• Argylle
• Spy × Family Code: White
• Flash Gordon
• Robot Dreams
• Deadpool and Wolverine (2x)
• Hundreds of Beavers
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• Megalopolis
• Godzilla (1954)
• The Wild Robot
• Interstella 5555
• Sonic 3

I also saw live performances of She Loves Me, A Christmas Carol, Fiddler on the Roof and the first half of Anything Goes. I watched Good Mythical Morning Live, listed to the St. Louis Symphony and various classical guitar performances, and attended Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. I also went to a performance by Chuck Tingle, saw a total eclipse of the sun at the home of Popeye, a partial lunar eclipse, and viewed James Bond gadgets in Chicago.

I visited Munich for the first time in almost 12 years and was amazed at how much the city has changed post-pandemic. There are many more international restaurants, for instance, and most places take payment by card now. But it is hard to find food for someone with a milk-allergy ("kann Spuren von Milch enthalten" is a nasty phrase), and book culture seems to be disappearing. I took my family to Neuschwanstein Castle, the zoo, the Deutsches Museum, and the Glypothek. It was unusually hot, but I think everyone had a good time.

I got back into Spirograph drawing and, in an effort to placate my starved brain while also working towards something that can serve me practically, I enrolled in a Mathematics bachelors program, with the goal of finishing early 2026. To that end, I completed Discrete Mathematics and Calculus 2. On a related note, as of the last day of this year, I have paid off my remaining student loans.

Finally, some shows I particularly enjoyed on streaming/TV this year:

• Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
• Krapopolis
• The Apothecary Diaries
• Cherry Magic (anime version)
• Yatagarasu
• Dan da dan
• Dropout