There are a little over 2 days left in 2025 (now, after some delays, 2 days into 2026). The temperature has dropped 50+ degrees (no joke – it was 74 degrees F on Sunday afternoon; it is currently 23 degrees F on Monday night), Christmas gifts have been exchanged and opened, and I have a week-long vacation in one week. Here is a brief recap of this year:
The year started off very promising, with a trip to the WWE Royal Rumble. The 2nd job (Telus International) had a bump in work, then died off during the summer, then increased in November. A vacation from my 1st job saved me from quitting out of sheer burnout. There was some historically-bad weather in Louisville, the first half of the year: tornadoes in March, flooding in April. Money was horrible until a 401K loan and a FEMA loan stabilized things for the last 5 months (until mid-December). My lease was renewed – the rent went up, but not terribly so; January 3rd will be the start of my 8th year there. From early November, I was hit hard by the loss of a good friend’s mom, finding out that a friend/former co-worker had died late last year, and lost an uncle 3 weeks ago; on New Year’s eve, another good friend lost her dad; a 3rd good friend was diagnosed with Stage 2 Multiple Myeloma cancer.
Overall, 2025 has arguably been the most ‘trying’ year I’ve had since 2010 (with the heart surgery). Not all of the year was bad but there have been many exhausting, draining moments.
Endings and Beginnings
Endings: Tinder (an ending AND a beginning) – I restarted my account…. only to put it back on hold, then restart it again; a joke meme that I posted on FB about “making out in a blanket fort” led to an old friend contacting me about it – 5 cancellations in 6 weeks later, and my hopes of any type of intimacy (plus my patience), casual or serious, essentially ended for the year, and possibly for the foreseeable future; I am potentially selling my car back to Carvana in early 2026.
Beginnings: I got accepted into the University of Louisville Graduate School for a non-degree Certificate program in Data Science (it’s a joint program between the Dept. of Mathematics and the Speed School of Engineering); got a new coat and a new phone; a new determination to get the lingering exhaustion and feet troubles under control.
Books
My goal was to read/listen to 35 books in 2025. I am currently listening to book #16. Oops. Here are my Top 5 books of 2025:
5. “Hail Mary” by Andy Weir
4. “The Black Company” by Glen Cook
3. “Galaphile” by Terry Brooks
2. “Gwendy’s Final Task” by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
1. “Black AF History” by Michael Harriot”
(The current book, “The Devils” by Joe Abercrombie, would probably be 4th)
Games/Game Achievements
I didn’t play too many games, outside of Diablo IV and Baldur’s Gate 3, plus a couple of D&D campaigns. These were my favorite or ‘notable’ gaming moments of 2025:
5. “Pit Level 30”, Diablo 4 – early in the year (Season 10), my Druid reached level 30 in the random dungeon generator, The Pit. This put me solidly into the ‘end game’ levels (your character maxes out at level 60; The Pit doesn’t open until you hit level 50).
4. “Surviving a Unicorn” (Eberron) – so, in an Eberron campaign, our party was in the Feywild. We came across a forest with talking animals (with different levels of snarkiness lol). Our resident Warforged Rogue decided to mess with some of the animals; they went back to their leader, a Unicorn. When we met the Unicorn, the Rogue decided to lie and throw me under the bus. The Unicorn had an idea on what was going on but, to appease the rest of the forest, tasked me with taking care of some sky pirates, or I would “be at the mercy of the forest”. Naturally, my character (a Water Genasi Claeric) was miffed by this; I myself wasn’t thrilled, either. Nevertheless, task was taken care of and the Unicorn was grateful.
3. “Snake Eyes”, Baldur’s Gate 3 – a 20-sided die is rolled for everything from attack rolls to decision-making. A ’20’ is considered a Critical Success, a ‘1’ is a Critical Failure. My character was trying to talk his way through a Goblin Camp… I rolled a ‘1’ on a Charisma check. I then tried a Deception check… rolled another ‘1’. I got through the camp – with some embarrassing “face paint” – and met up with a Goblin Priestess. Another dialog check… a 3rd straight ‘1’ rolled. Ridiculous!
2. “Beating Dror Ragzlin w/o The Chasm Technique”, Baldur’s Gate 3 – one of the Goblin Camp bosses is the hobgoblin, Dror Ragzlin. He is a Barbarian/Fighter who, when ‘raging’, hits like a truck. A ‘cheesy’ way to beat him is to take a strong character (Karlach, for example) and shove Ragzlin into a chasm behind where he’s initially standing. I finally beat him in a straight fight – no chasm – back in the fall, when I pinned him against a wall and had 3 of my 5 party members wear him down. I might have celebrated that win!
1. Beating Margit with a ‘Paladin’, Elden Ring – Elden Ring, at best, is an incredibly hard game. One of the first bosses you could face is the guardian of Stormwind Castle’s entrance, Margit. I beat him with a magic caster but had no luck with various melee-based characters, for months. I then created a Holy magic-based character, similar to a Paladin from other games… and finally defeated him!
Top Podcasts
Sports
These were the top sports moments for me:
5. Resurgence of the IHRA: the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) reorganized and restarted, as an option to, but not a competitor of, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). They garnered a LOT of attention from drag racing and motorsports fans. I’m interested to see what 2026 has in store for the IHRA
4. New Volleyball coach for UofL; they made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tourney, but got upset by eventual national champions, Texas A&M
3. Cincinnati Reds Fight for a Playoff Spot. This has been a rare occasion in the last 15 or so years but, with new manager, Terry Francona, the Reds actually looked good, at times.
2. John Force, Brittany Force retire: Brittany Force – the official quickest and fastest driver in the NHRA – retired, as she plans to start a family. Her father, John Force (the winningest driver in history), after suffering some serious injuries a couple of years ago, officially retired (he was not driving in 2025). For the first time in my NHRA fandom – since 1987 – there will not be a Force in the NHRA.
1. MBB coach Pat Kelsey has one of the biggest turnarounds of the year. Kelsey guided the University of Louisville men’s basketball team from 8 wins in 2024 to 27 wins in 2025. They are currently 11-3 in this season, at about the halfway point.
Lowlights
Let’s get the ‘bad’ out of the way, first. These were low points of 2025:
Dishonorable Mention: Start of the Donald Trump presidency; a bad ankle sprain (12/23/24) lingered into January; did not get to go to GenCon (money/work conflicts), NHRA U.S. Nationals (money), or the Dayton Air Show (work/exhaustion); Thunder Over Louisville was cancelled (flooding); Tornadoes hit Kentucky and Southern Indiana; COVID symptoms (anemia, fatigue) continued to linger.
5. Historic Flooding: in April, Louisville received over 7 inches of rain in a little over 48 hours. This led to the Ohio River (and other rivers throughout the region) rising to flood levels not seen since 1996. Downtown Louisville had standing water for days after the rain; there was so much mud, dirt, and debris left over that the annual ‘Thunder Over Louisville’ kickoff to the Kentucky Derby Festival was cancelled for the first time, ever.
4. Ghosted: I mentioned it above, a potential afternoon of intimacy was cancelled (last minute) by the woman who set it up. That happens; what put it on this list was that she asked for it 4 more times, and backed out 4 more times, in a 6-week period. Combine this with a streak of over 13 years without any kind of intimacy (up to, and including, sex) and I no longer believe that it will happen – not even a make out session.
3. Job Hunt Strike Out: Over 15 applications were sent out and multiple profiles were filled out on different company’s job boards. Only 2 places responded (both with “thanks but no thanks”).
1. a) Uncle John and b) Katie’s Mom/Laura’s Dad/Jennifer’s Cancer Diagnosis. Mentioned at the start of the post, all 3 of these deaths, plus Jennifer’s diagnosis, happened since November 1st. Jennifer, Katie, and Laura all went to high school with me (Katie and Laura were classmates; Jennifer was 2 years older) and we all were in band together.
Highlights
Finally, the best parts of 2025. It took a little too long to remember some of these:
Honorable Mentions: Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8; “Spooky Movie Month”; discovery of ‘Boom Bap’ compilations on YouTube; summer loans that stabilized the checking and savings accounts.
5. First Sunday Trivia Win – there is a local bar/brewery called West Sixth Nulu that hosts a Team Trivia game, most Sunday afternoons. My best friend Angela invited me to one about a year ago; we play roughly every 6-8 weeks. In April, me, her, Amanda (her friend/co-worker), and Greg (a friend of Angela and myself), after a couple of 4th and 5th place finishes (generally 10-15 teams are there), we WON! We got ‘House Cash’ to use on anything from food to drinks to gear (I think they used it on one Sunday that I couldn’t go). It was fun!
4. Sparker’s 40th – my friend Sarah had a 40th birthday party, early in the year. While it wasn’t ‘disturb the neighbors’ rowdy, it was still fun! A lot of people showed up, there were some fun party/trivia games, good food and drinks, and ran into an old, good friend (Leah) for the first time in over 7 years. Had a blast!
3. Casey’s Birthday & Meeting Valerie and Crew – at the end of August, a surprise birthday dinner was held for one of my best friends, Casey. I met his girlfriend (Catherine) and some of her best friends (Valerie, Dan, Adrian, and others). That group was incredibly fun – I’m hoping to get to hang out with them some more in 2026.
2. UofL Grad Certificate: also mentioned in an early post, I was accepted into the Data Science Graduate Certificate Program at the University of Louisville. It is a 6-course, 18-hour, all online program that should take 3 semesters. I will take 3 required courses (3 credit hours each) in Data Science subjects (such as Data Mining) and 3 electives in Math and Computer Science (Python programming, Statistics, Probability, etc.). The only issue at the moment is money; I can probably save up enough to take a class (not sure about taking two right out of the gate) but I don’t know if I’m getting any type of financial aid (I had maxed out my availability as an Undergrad). The second job will greatly help with this, as long as work stays available in February, March, and April. I’m excited for it!
1. WWE Royal Rumble – one of WWE’s “Big 4” PLE’s, I’ve written about this more than once. Even though it happened early in 2025, it was still the highlight of the year, possibly the last 2 years!
I had trended away from posting “New Year’s Resolutions” or the “New Year, New Me” statements. However, things need to change for me in 2026. So, instead of resolutions, here are just a handful of goals, including changes:
Getting the money for school. Classes start in May. I have already set a loose schedule for my 2nd job. The rest is on me to save pennies wherever I can.
Adjust to TARC’s new network in August. The local bus system has completely overhauled their system and will start rolling it out in August. From rough drafts of the new routes that were released, my main route (#4 – Fourth Street) doesn’t change much; still have to wait on the times that that bus will run. The bus that I would catch to the Newburg neighborhood to hang out friends and play D&D will be gone. Other buses to the South End and East End of the city (where most of the malls, shopping centers, and a lot of the restaurants are located) will have their routes changed, if not completely eliminated. I have to be ready, because I….
Plan on selling my car back to Carvana. I don’t have a problem admitting mistakes. Even though the car is very nice, I made the biggest mistake (moneywise) in buying it. I have had nothing but problems getting it back running, as well as it draining what extra money I did have. If Carvana buys is back, those monthly payments, as well as payments to Start Farm, will go into the savings account for school.
Get the foot/feet treated. I’m not going to have a doctor look at it, poke around, say “stretch and buy insoles”, and charge over $700 for it again.
Rework my resume; leave TRIMARC by September 1st. I am deep into my 10th year at TRIMARC but it is time to go. I don’t know what’s in my resume or job history that’s turning employers off but I need to fix it and fix it ASAP. And yes, I still hate writing cover letters. The potential Data Science certificate would greatly hep fix things in the medium-to-long term but I have to do something about the short-term, first.
“I’m too old for dating resumes.” Speaking of resumes: I am too old to have to fill out one if I want even the chance to ask someone out for lunch, drinks, or just to hang out at a park! I do not have to justify or explain why I’m not driving, why I don’t own a house yet, or how much I make per year. If it means that sessions, dates, whatever, don’t happen, and the streak hits 14, 15, 20+ years, then so be it.
it is the morning of January 3rd and 2025 is over. I am technically on vacation. Let’s see how 2026 starts out…!
The Nexus 