Answering 40 Questions for 2025
1. What did you do this year that you’d never done before?
I rode my bicycle in formal wear.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions?
Nope! It was learn to play chess.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Babies galore. My cycling bro Milton and his wife gave birth to a little girl, my long-time friend Sumin and her husband also with a girl (she bought me a round of beer in Hong Kong this summer while she was in maximum 9-month pregnant-mode, always a real one). And my friends Kanako (fourth longest-time friend in my life) and Francis had their second boy.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What cities/states/countries did you visit?
San Diego 2x, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, San Juan Capistrano, and Mexico City.
6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year?
Learn how to play chess lol.
7. What date(s) from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Joining Bear Blog! Y'all know why.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Breaking out of my comfort zones in new ways.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I don't believe in failures, only lessons.
10. What other hardships did you face?
Bruised or possible cracked my ribs during a violent cycling fall.
11. Did you suffer illness or injury?
See above. Also back pain and a stiff neck from the year before that has started to improve thanks to stretches and posture improvements.
12. What was the best thing you bought?
Flight tickets.
13. Whose behavior merited celebration?
It's a sports moment for me: Hangman Adam Page defeating Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at All In 2025. This was my wrestling fandom Super Bowl win.
14. Whose behavior made you appalled?
Tarantino dissing Paul Dano. Why the random hate, Quentin?
15. Where did most of your money go?
Rent. (T_T)
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to AEW Revolution at the Staples Center and all the traveling I did.
17. What song will always remind you of this year?
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems by Kenny Chesney
18. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? Richer or poorer? Healthier or unhealthier?
Same, richer, healthier.
19. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Dating. (T_T)
20. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Social media and reddit scrolling (T_T).... but it was my best year cutting it down.
21. How are you spending the holidays?
Celebrating.
22. Did you fall in love this year?
No.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.
24. What was your favorite show?
AEW Dynamite.
25. What was the best book you read?
Rereading The Alchemist for the first time in over 10 years.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery of the year?
Jimmy Buffet. He starts making sense once one is inching close to 40.
27. What was your favorite film?
Taxi Driver (first time watching).
28. What was your favorite meal?
The food stall meals in Singapore.
29. What did you want and get?
Chill vacations.
30. What did you want and not get?
A new computer and a girlfriend lol.
31. What did you do on your birthday?
Dinner with my dad.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
My stiff neck issues 100% healing up.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion this year?
My era of wearing short jorts are over. The era of knee-length jorts have begun.
34. What kept you sane?
The gym. I really, really love the gym.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you admire the most?
Swerve Strickland / Adam Page / Toni Storm all pretty equally.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Seeing the left and right's self-destructive and silly echo chambers every time I fall into a scroll trap.
Don’t read/watch the news. Skewed incentives. The news is a war on our attention. We are frightened into coming back to find out what else to be afraid of. This leads to availability bias and pessimism. Some of us are more afraid to fly than drive. Counteract the news with positive propaganda.
— Dru Riley's 100 Rules to Live By blog post
37. Who did you miss?
My brother.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Ray from Trash Panda Cycling.
39. What valuable life lesson did you learn this year?
Where focus goes, energy flows. Also, the concept of Good.
40. What is a quote that sums up your year?
A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.
— Marcus Aurelius