On the Fourth Quarter of 2025
Read 25 books (DONE)- I’ve slowed down since hitting this mark, but here are the additions to this year’s “read” list (see previous posts for the rest):
26. A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon [Sarah Hawley; 2023] (9/20/25 - 9/28/25)
27. A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch [Sarah Hawley; 2023] (9/29/25 - 10/20/25)
28. A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire [Sarah Hawley; 2024] (10/21/25 - 11/15/25)
29. The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley [Jenn St-Onge; 2024] (11/16/25 - 11/17/25)
30. A Study in Drowning [Ava Reid; 2023] (11/18/25 - 12/14/25)
31. The Grimmoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association [Caitlin Rozakis; 2025] (12/15/25 - Current)
Visit one new NHP (bonus points if it’s in a new state) - This didn’t happen, mostly because life got busy. We started 2 new D&D campaigns, work picked up, and it was hard to find a long weekend. Maybe we’ll get to it in the new year.
Re-start learning a language, preferably Spanish (DONE) - I’m on level 23 of French on Duolingo and I still try to get at least one in every night.
Finish a Legacy game (DONE) - We’re still working through Betrayal at House on the Hill. This has been a bit of a slog since Chris and Matt and Brian and I only play once every few weeks and only manage a round a night. We definitely won’t finish this one any time soon, not even before the new year like I hoped, since we still have 7 rounds to play. But we bought them a new legacy game for Christmas... It’s tradition!
Get the website to 1000 views (DONE) - No idea how high this got, but we crushed that 1000 view mark. Thank you all for supporting us.
Do something for Dad - This is my big regret of the year. I wanted to do something for Dad but never could find something that felt right. Every idea I had was either not possible or not good enough. Hopefully next year.
Travel to a new state - Didn’t happen, largely because we’ve been so busy. Hopefully in 2026.
Write more (DONE) - Thanks to D&D I’ve been writing a lot. We’ve had 11 sessions, with the 12th coming right after the new year. I don’t have any more written after that. I should really get on that…
Take the ATP exam (DONE) - This is the big update of the quarter! I took the test! And I passed! I’ve officially been certified as an ATP for about two months now, but the ATP website only just got updated in the past few weeks, so you can even look me up now! I’m incredibly proud of myself for getting this certification without taking any additional classes and admittedly not really studying like I should’ve.
This year was big. It was chaotic, confusing, exciting, and more. This felt like another year with a lot of ups and downs. We had such a great (but bittersweet) time at our wedding redo at the end of last year, only to follow it up with losing Clyde a few months later. We had some fun (building a Lego train platform in our living room, playing more board games, playing more D&D, playing more video games) but also had a lot of work (Brian’s job had some insane 80+ hour work weeks and Grace’s job went through no fewer than three solid rounds of crazy). We took time off by going to Atlantic City and Lancaster, visiting Fort Mifflin and the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum’s Rails and Ales event, and taking time to see family. Thanks to our ever-changing schedules, it didn’t feel like enough. There’s friends and family I feel that we didn’t see enough this past year. There’s games I wish I played, books I wish I’d read, and places I wish we’d seen. Alex and I managed no fewer than 4 New York trips (Twenty Sided Tavern… twice!, &Juliet, and the Great Gatsby… am I forgetting one?) but we’re already planning the next trip and we didn’t get to any of our bucket list shows. I’ve been doing more for self care in the form of getting my nails done consistently for a year and getting regular massages for my tension, but I should probably get back to the gym and have a better diet. Brian just set up an incredible new surround system for me to pair with a high-end turntable that my mom bought for me in 2024, so I’d really like to listen to more music. I’ve loved painting more often thanks to D&D and all of the miniatures I’ve managed, but I’d like to catalog my work somehow and maybe go back and touch up some of the things I had painted early on and could improve upon. We’ve taken the last week of the year to clean out the apartment, entirely because several of our Christmas presents involved updating, rearranging, and purging things we don’t need or use. That being said, we’ve long passed the point that we’ve outgrown our first home together, and I’m hoping in the next however many (I won’t put a date here - I know if anyone happens to read this they’ll hold me to it, stress me out, and make me mad) that maybe we can start looking for a house. I’m nervous about the state of the economy, student loans, the stability offer jobs… But I’m learning to be okay with the unknown. How to accept what you can change and let go of the things outside of your circle of control. Maybe 2026 will be about making myself better, my environment better, or even bettering some other things. We’ll just have to wait and see.
-G