2025 in review
Previous years: 2024, 2023, 2022.
This year I became a father of Mia. A curious turn that changed my life in a way that I hadn’t anticipated. I expected to be more anxious but became calmer and happier instead. Certainly more tired and sleepy than before, but that is fine.
A terrible year in terms of work, I hardly remember a day when I wanted to go to work. Days were hard, full of unpleasant events, but eventually all of that taught me several good lessons.
Gadgets
iPhone
After Mia’s birth, it became a crucial device. Compact and requires only one hand to operate. If it were possible to effectively write code with it, it would be priceless.
This year I also changed my relationship with the smartphone. I stopped blaming it and big evil corporations for draining my time. Maybe there’s some truth to that, but only to the slightest extent. Instead of demonising the smartphone, I started looking into my habits a bit more carefully and some things clicked.
On a related note, I played a trick on my brain and now my 4-year-old iPhone feels brand new. I changed the phone case.
Software
A year of LLMs: Perplexity at home, Gemini and Claude at work.
They totally replaced search engines and are slowly replacing books. I studied philosophy, engineering, and banking topics, and it was far more comfortable than scanning through piles of literature and articles.
Video Games
A dark fantasy RPG with a really gripping early game. I got hooked by the story and aesthetics.
Unfortunately, it got boring by the end, either because there was no challenge left or the storyline lost its momentum.
Fallout-like game based in the UK. Pretty plain from a plot perspective, but gives good vibes.
Slow-paced mobile RPG. No fancy graphics, simple click-and-wait mechanics. But the story and world still grip you.
After playing Land of Livia, my brain started remembering other slow-paced RPG games. I remembered Godville, where I registered about 14 years ago, and was pleasantly surprised that it is still up and running.
Roguelikes
It seems that roguelikes became my favourite genre. They continue to be the primary time sink.
I continued to play Brotato (we still argue with my Julia if those are eggs or potatoes).
Played the hyped Megabonk for a while, but soon got bored. Though I like the idea that with a certain build you can break the game.
Board Games
Cascadia is a good addition to our collection, with much shorter games than Terraforming Mars and visually pleasing.
I had high expectations for Castles of Burgundy but for me it was quite dull.
TV shows and films
Enjoyed: 28 Days Later, Anora, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, K-pop Demon Hunters, Last of Us, Love Actually, Marvel Zombies, Mickey 17, Perfect Days, Rings of Power, Soul, Squid Game, Stranger Things, Superman, Transformers One, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Wild Robot.
Also watched: A Quiet Place, A Quiet Place: Day One, Absolutely Anything, Alien Romulus, Dark Shadows, Fantastic Four, Godzilla, Godzilla x Kong, Hector and the Search for Happiness, Heretic, Kong, Kraven, Lightyear, Red One, Sonic 3, Thunderbolts*, Toy Story, Twilight.
Regret watching: 28 Weeks Later, American Pickle, Man vs Baby, Mandalorian (last season), Venom: The Last Dance.
Books
An interesting direction in philosophy, described very accessibly. It gave me a push towards exploring speculative realism.
The book is so good that I reread several parts of it at the end of the year.
A bit harder than Object Oriented Ontology. The author describes the idea with enthusiasm, but it feels like the concept wasn’t fully thought through and was awkwardly put into words. It reads like a stream of consciousness.
The most important book of the year, it reshaped how I see myself and others. It showed me the importance of staying grounded in reality, not judging others for their mistakes, and focusing on my own judgment.
It also helped me structure the way I approach problems at work.
I should have read this earlier, before I went down the rabbit hole of searching for “my calling” and “purpose in life”.
The idea that you should get better at what you already do, and the path will reveal itself, resonated with me. It felt like something I already knew but hadn’t articulated.
Interesting stories about infrastructure and how it affects us, but very tedious and repetitive. The same idea is rehashed from different angles, and it gets tiring. Too many slogans like “we must”. I was skimming by the end because there was nothing new.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The book is about empathy and how not to be a jerk. Some advice feels forced, but overall a book worth reading.
Banking: A Very Short Introduction
I picked this book at a time when I had no idea what to read. I was too tired of philosophy, not that interested in fiction, and my brain craved exploration.
Not what I was looking for, the book is mostly about risk management, but I was looking for core banking mechanics.
Heidegger. An Essential Guide for Beginners
The intro itself is perfect and I should have stopped on it.
Heidegger is hard to read. Once I got used to the terminology, the ideas started feeling nonsensical. After spending about a month with Heidegger (other introductions, and some of his essential works), I came to the conclusion that I don’t want to waste my time.
Interesting concept of Hell on Earth. The book feels a bit weaker than The Ritual.
I decided to read it after watching Marvel Zombies from the What If series.
What a nice comic. It is disgusting! I kid you not, I wanted to close it after the first 3 pages. But then I got hooked.
I decided to revisit my youth and started with the anime. Then I realised I didn’t have the time to watch it and decided to read it instead. It holds up remarkably well.