{"id":1964,"date":"2025-12-31T19:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2025-12-31T19:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:34:25","slug":"2025-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encyclopaedia-fortuita.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/31\/2025-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/i> year, because it feels like it had to have been more in the past. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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<\/i> 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).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Books Read in 2025<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Your Utopia<\/i> by Bora Chung (2024) - Finished January 4<\/li>\n
  2. Venus on the Half-Shell<\/i> by Kilgore Trout [Philip Jos\u00e9 Farmer] (1974) - Finished January 5<\/li>\n
  3. Redshirts<\/i> by John Scalzi (2012) - Finished January 15<\/li>\n
  4. The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) - Adventures in Math and Science<\/i> by Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry (2021) - Finished February 1<\/li>\n
  5. Change is the Only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World<\/i> by Ben Orlin (2019) - Finished February 21<\/li>\n
  6. Impossible Creatures<\/i> by Katherine Rundell (2023) - Finished March 2<\/li>\n
  7. Around the World in 80 Games - A Mathematician Unlocks the Secrets of the Greatest Games<\/i> by Marcus du Sautoy (2023) - Finished March 18<\/li>\n
  8. The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels<\/i> by Beth Lincoln (2023) - Finished March 20<\/li>\n
  9. Assistant to The Villain<\/i> by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2023) - Finished March 25<\/li>\n
  10. \u3042\u305b\u3068\u305b\u3063\u3051\u3093 Volume 1 (Manga) by \u5c71\u7530\u91d1\u9244 (2018) - Finished April 5<\/li>\n
  11. Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer<\/i> by Dylan Mulvaney (2025) - Finished April 13<\/li>\n
  12. Qualityland<\/i> (dunkle Edition) by Marc-Uwe Kling (2017) - Finished April 19<\/li>\n
  13. When the Moon Hits Your Eye<\/i> by John Scalzi (2025) - Finished April 23<\/li>\n
  14. This Is How You Lose the Time War<\/i> by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019) - Finished April 29<\/li>\n
  15. Apprentice to The Villain<\/i> by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2024) - Finished May 15<\/li>\n
  16. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat<\/i> by Oliver Sacks (1986, 2015) - Finished May 31<\/li>\n
  17. Slaughterhouse-Five<\/i> by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1969) - Finished June 10<\/li>\n
  18. Tender Is the Flesh<\/i> by Agustina Bazterrica (2020) - Finished June 15<\/li>\n
  19. In the Jaws of an Oak<\/i> by Emryn Bird (2024) - Finished June 20<\/li>\n
  20. Bored Gay Werewolf<\/i> by Tony Santorella (2023) - Finished June 29<\/li>\n
  21. The Secret Lives of Color<\/i> by Kassia St. Clair (2016) - Finished July 6<\/li>\n
  22. The Unsinkable Ship of Fools<\/i> by Jonas Goonface (2025) - Finished July 13<\/li>\n
  23. Transfixed: A Trans & Genderqueer Erotic Fairy Tales Anthology<\/i> (2025) - Finished July 20<\/li>\n
  24. Dreadnought (Nemesis Book One)<\/i> by April Daniels (2017) - Finished August 4<\/li>\n
  25. Stag Dance<\/i> by Torrey Peters (2025) - Finished August 16<\/li>\n
  26. Accomplice to the Villain<\/i> by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (2025) - Finished August 28<\/li>\n
  27. Lucky Day<\/i> by Chuck Tingle (2025) - Finished August 31<\/li>\n
  28. \u307f\u306b\u304f\u3044\u904a\u90ed\u306e\u5b50 Volume 1 (Manga) by \u72e9\u8c37\u6210 (2021) - Finished September 7<\/li>\n
  29. Lessons in Chemistry<\/i> by Bonnie Garmus (2022) - Finished September 13<\/li>\n
  30. Temporary<\/i> by Hilary Leichter (2020) - Finished September 22<\/li>\n
  31. Uncanny<\/i> Issue Sixty-Five (July\/August 2025) - Finished September 23<\/li>\n
  32. I Want That Twink Obliterated!<\/i> edited by Trip Galey, Robert Berg, and C.L. McCartney (2024) - Finished September 25<\/li>\n
  33. Die Spurenfinder und das Drachenzepter<\/i> by Marc-Uwe Kling (and Johanna, Luise, and Elisabeth) (2025) - Finished October 4<\/li>\n
  34. This Princess Kills Monsters: The Misadventures of a Fairy-Tale Princess<\/i> by Ry Herman (2025) - Finished October 6<\/li>\n
  35. Rigsby WI, Volume 1: Foothold<\/i> by S.E. Case (2025) - Finished October 7<\/li>\n
  36. Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert<\/i> by Bob the Drag Queen (2025) - Finished October 9<\/li>\n
  37. Puca<\/i> by Travis Chen (2025 - ShortBox Comics Fair) - Finished October 13<\/li>\n
  38. 100 of the Worst Ideas in History: Humanity's Thundering Brainstorms Turned Blundering Brain Farts<\/i> by Michael N. Smith and Eric Kasum (2014) - Finished October 13<\/li>\n
  39. The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968 (Volume Nine)<\/i> by Charles M. Schulz (2008) - Finished October 18<\/li>\n
  40. I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons<\/i> by Peter S. Beagle (2024) - Finished October 18<\/li>\n
  41. The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements<\/i> by Sam Kean (2010) - Finished November 1<\/li>\n
  42. Vagabond - A Memoir<\/i> by Tim Curry (2025) - Finished November 7<\/li>\n
  43. Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World<\/i> by Mark Waddell (2025) - Finished November 28<\/li>\n
  44. The Magician of Tiger Castle<\/i> by Louis Sachar (2025) - Finished December 5<\/li>\n
  45. American Cornball - A Laffopedic Guide to the Formerly Funny<\/i> by Christopher Miller (2014) - Finished December 26<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Movies Watched in Theater<\/h3>\n