My 2025
2025 is coming to an end and we've had a busy year. It's really nice to be able to sit here with our dogs asleep and really take in how far we've come.
This was our first full year living together and we have made so much progress in improving our house. We've harnessed the power of the sun and fixed problem areas like our front door and shed. We had lost the shed door in a storm so that was a particularly nice improvement.
Ruby had a serious surgery this year to remove a tumour from her eye. She lost the eye in the process but she seems to be doing really well now. She still bullies us incessantly but hopefully now it's just because she finds me annoying rather than because of the headaches she was suffering from before the surgery. It's definitely an adjustment and she walks into things occasionally but it hasn't stopped her from stomping around or stealing my chocolate wrappers. It's hard work having two beagles but thankfully those old ladies sleep for about 18 hours a day. We got Ruby a new jumper for Christmas which I'm excited to see her run around in.
I ran some races this year - The Dublin Pride 5km, the A&LG 5km and The Calcutta Run 10km. I had never ran 10km before so that was a new challenge. Both of us caught Covid earlier this year which has put a damper on further racing - I actually missed the Athy 10km with Covid - but we'll see what next year holds.
I taught myself how to modify Game Boys this year which involved some tinkering and soldering but the results were quite good. My original Game Boy colour now has a backlit screen, new buttons and a customized shell. I learnt some coding and a bit of video editing. All very basic but things to build on.
I got on a plane 3 times this year. I haven't flown since 2019 so this was a big milestone for me. Did I pop a xanax for a 50 minute flight to London? Yes. Would I do it again? Absolutely. I don't like flying but it was worth the anxiety to be able to travel with my partner. We got to see Hercules and A Comedy About Spies on the West End (I should probably review shows we see now that I think about it). Later in our London adventure we tried food at Fowl (meh), played Time Crisis at NQ64 (AMAZING), played mini-golf at Swingers (always good) and saw Big Shark with a special Q&A with the director Tommy Wiseau. It was a fantastic trip and it was great to be joined by some friends as well - we normally fly through the mini-golf a bit too quick.
My final plane trip of the year was back to London for MCM Comic Con. The excel centre feels like an old friend these days and it was a great show. Sarah even travelled with and got tattooed by an amazing Korean artist who was doing a 1 month residency near King's Cross.
We did have 1 final big moment to round out 2025. I spent a few weeks (months?) reaching out to Sarah's family and friends to get clips with different stories or nice things to say about her. I spliced these all together and hid them within some cartoons that we were watching that evening, cooked a nice dinner, set up a little blanket fort and popped the question. Thankfully she said yes! We don't have a date to announce just yet but we're both very excited. Thank you to everyone who helped us get to this point.
And now onto 2026 - I'm sure we'll be on a few more flights and a few more adventures. Perhaps Euro Disney and Edinburgh are on the horizon. I'm sure the house will continue to be improved - something that makes my father jealous and quick to copy. I'm sure we'll watch a lot of Real Housewives. I'm sure the dogs will sleep and fart their way through another year. I'm sure they won't let me sit on the couch we spent so much money on.
I'm sure we'll be happy
