2/3rds of the way through 2025, we hired a personal trainer to come whip us into some level of activity a couple times a week. I’m doing two sessions/wk. Coupled with winging and swimming, it was making a pretty significant difference. Coupled with minimal biking for errands and garbage weather, it’s keeping me from the yearly winter decline I’ve experienced. So that’s been great.
Sean and I swam the swim leg of the Hawaiian Ironman on the big island over the winter break, which was pretty excellent.
Probably the most scenic swim I’ve ever done. Beautiful, warm water. 2.4 miles, and I faded pretty hard at the end, but did the thing. I dunno about a 110+ mile bike and marathon afterwards, but hey, one leg at a time.
I also took a bladesmithing class. Happy with the work I did, but didn’t particularly gel with the instructor’s approach. Paying a bunch to take a class to have someone who gets off on making disparaging remarks to the students after not giving sufficient instruction wasn’t really my jam. Still, I think I’m pretty good at this, and want to do more of it. Will need to … forge my own path forward, I guess.
Overall, 2025 was a mixed bag. Nationally speaking, it was worse than the trash fire I’d assumed Trump 2 would be. Incredible when an entire party suddenly forgets they’re a democracy, and goes full authoritarian dictator capitulation. Still, for us, it was mostly alright. My dad’s still kicking, my mom had a great trip to Japan. We had some lovely trips this year, spent a ton of meaningful time with the kids, made a bunch of great memories, and at a bunch of good food. Maybe not as much time with friends as I’d like, but scheduling stuff w/ adults is hard.
My goals for this year are to actually continue to make progress toward getting in shape, figure out a sustainable sleep solution (I sleep very badly), get my blood pressure under control, and … yeah – keep learning stuff. Blacksmithing might be the big one this year. Guitar’s still making progress. Ableton’s making progress. Maybe make a game with the kids this year? J’s expressed interest in learning Unreal, and is a genuinely excellent animator. K’s art is still bananas.
Happy 2026. May it be better in every possible way for you and everyone you love.