December 29th 2025. I don’t like typing that. 2025-12-29. Almost the last day of the year.

At the end of last year, @slims, shared his goals for 2025. I felt inspired and did the same.

Now, let’s see how well I’ve done.

Personal Goals

✅ Move Back to Japan

My goal was to move back to Japan, and we did it! We completed the goal early July, with our original goal being September. Not too bad for someone who forgets his own birthday!

✅ Read More

The idea was to read 12 books. I ended up reading 15 books, and (re-)discovered my love for fiction.

Mocro Mafia, a book covering the rise of Moroccan gangsters in the Netherlands.
The Plague, by Cammus. You can guess what it’s about.
Gokkers & GRaaiers, financial scandals in the Netherlands.
The Wow Diary, covers the development of the World of Warcraft in the early 2000s.
The Song Machine, how Sweden became responsible for production just about any pop-hit you’ve heard since the late 90s.
1984, the classic. My third time reading.
World of Warcraft: Sylvanis, fiction covering the rise and fall and rise of Sylvanas.
World of Warcraft: The Shattering, fiction covering the events leading up to the Cataclysm.
World of Warcraft: Arthras, fiction covering the rise and fall and rise and fall of Arthras.
One Nation Under Blackmail, I wish it was fiction.
Red Rising, class warfare.
Red Rising: Golden Son, class warfare with space wars.
Red Rising: Morning Star, revenge class warfare with space wars.
Succession: Season One, the scripts to Succession season one.
Succession: Season Two, the scripts to Succession season two.

Not too bad, not too bad!

🗑️ Continue my Japanese Studies

I wanted to study 5 hours a week, and I failed miserably. My Japanese has definitely improved, but it’s nowhere near where I want it to be. Surely next year will be the year!

🗑️ Get Back to Working Out

The idea was to work out 4 days health permitting. My health did not permit. I’m trying to run at least twice a week, but that’s not happening either. We’ll get there.

Professional Goals

✅ Get one new customer in Japan

This did not go well. I did get one more customer in Singapore and I have some exciting projects from European clients for next year, so overall I can’t complain! Living in the boonies is definitely detrimental to me getting Japanese customers though.

✅ The Famichiki Mastodon Meetup of 2025

My last act as the grand daddy of Famichiki was to host the first meetup celebrating our 3 year anniversary. We did! Never had Tokyo seen a gathering of middle aged gaijin this big. About 25~ people showed up.

🗑️ Attend more events

I wanted to attend more events, and even speak at one. However, that did not happen. There’s no events here in the boonies, and I’m too lazy at the moment to organize one.

This also did not happen. I’m still eager to share my knowledge, but I am not sure about the format. Or whether I actually want to do anything with this at all.

Extras

Fedletic

I made inroads to an activity-pub native workout tracker. I hope I can get back to developing it more next year, once I have a little bit more time on my hands.

Cooking More

I did not expect to enjoy cooking, yet here I am.