In this update:
The year in review / Photos of the year /
Doodles with meaning / Closing psalms
In the post where I announced I was starting to blog again, I promised it’s be chalk-full of minutiae from the loose-end life.
That will begin next month; the first edition of my newfangled blog is a recap of 2025 to fill in the gaps that may not have been conveyed through social media.
So welcome to the show. I’m glad you’re along for the ride. Let’s light this candle.
What I did this year
I applied for permanent residency (PR) in Australia – After quite the kerfuffle, I applied for PR. While getting sponsorship was overtly stressful, waiting to hear back has been a more passive, simmering kind. But good things come to those who wait and I should be within a few months of an answer.
I bought a motorcycle – Around the time I got my motorcycle license in April, I bought a Honda CB300F. For now, I mostly do day-trips around Sydney such as visiting a friend in Coledale (via the the Sea Cliff Bridge) or cheeky afternoon trips to the Warragamba Dam. I also rode to Kangaroo Valley in June, and enjoyed a cold rarely found in Australia.
All told, I like my motorcycle even though I’m aware the coarse embrace of asphalt is never far away. That fear makes sweating profusely while wearing my gear tolerable and makes me shudder when I see other people riding in shorts and sandals.
I adopted Caesar – Once I filed for permanent residency, I decided I was tired of giving back my foster cats and adopted a beautiful tuxedo cat I named Julius Caesar. As soon as he got him home, he settled into a very agreeable old man who spends his days sleeping on any surface he can find and loves ‘hunting’ cat treats I hide around the living room for him.
I call him Sleazer, Caesar-san, and mi gordito bonito (my beautiful chubby) because the vet said he’s overweight.
I went overseas twice – Due to a backlog of leave and a travel stipend for hitting five years at work, I went to Oman in February and the Caucuses in October. My trip to Oman (intentionally) coincided with the bi-annual review cycle at work; my trip to the Caucuses was more impulsive, going from “This would be a cool trip” to buying tickets in about five days. Quick reviews:
- Oman, while very much a petrostate, has an interesting history without the ‘glass and steel skyscrapers’ of its neighbors. Wonderful people too, though some places really take the piss pricing foreigners. Also, it’s very warm.
- I’d recommend Georgia and Armenia to anyone: deep history, beautiful scenery, great wine, wonderful people, and Soviet ruins. Azerbaijan? Less so.
I didn’t go to the US this year, as it seemed like a bad time to drop by, though I’m overdue.
I went back to Melbs – For the first time since I was 21, I visited Melbourne. I stayed in Brunswick, a kind of a hip area in the city’s north nowhere near where I was last. But that’s good because I was at Monash in Clayton and Clayton was dull.
After all these years, I still loved Melbourne. I had work drinks which we dubbed “Design Therapy”, saw a show with friends-of-friends, and went for lunches with people I don’t see often enough. One of the people I saw while there always jokes that I’ll move there some day, and it’s tempting because the vibe, better housing prices, and a more arid climate than Sydney. Though whether this is more than an escapist fantasy, only time will tell.
Photos of the year
First, photos of the things I’ve done because pics or it didn’t happen:
Second, pictures I took that I quite like:
My albums of the year
I make new playlists every three or four months. I started giving them names so they weren’t just ‘Playlist 1’, which soon evolved into proper album titles. Once they had a name, they needed artwork. Throw in some obscure references and/or visual gags referencing what’s going on in my life, and I had a good excuse to use Procreate on my iPad.
My 2025 playlist – Apple Music
The card next to the paintings in the gallery
Top left: Make or break (Jan – Feb) – I was waiting for work to sponsor my PR with no idea what to do if they didn’t. I took the photo at dusk in the Wahiba Sands desert in Oman.
Top right: Terra Firma (March – June) – It felt almost anticlimactic when I finally filed my PR, but it was good to be on solid ground. I traced three different images to make it, so like… it’s art, right?
Bottom left: Down the Brain Drain (July – Sept) – With artwork this psychedelic, you’d think it’d be full of jam-bands, but no: it was one Modest Mouse song and heaps of sad boi music.
Bottom right: don’t let the bastards win (Oct – Dec) – With enough stress, I just kind of pushed past the point of caring only to find the world kept turning. Photo is the creepy pomegranate man in a Baku playground that’s genuinely one of my favorite photos from the trip.
Until next time
So we reach the end my wrap-up. I didn’t discuss much of what happened in December because this was already getting a bit long. Rest assured that I already have notes for next month, including:
- malaphors and why you should use them
- observations after limiting myself to 30 minutes of social media per day
- that brief moment when I thought my car, Julia, died (but then she didn’t)
- the expression ‘rough as chunks’
- rediscovering my undying love for the movie Hot Fuzz
For now, I hope you’ve enjoyed visiting my weird corner of the world. I’ll still post links to my updates on Instagram (despite my old_man_yells_at_clouds.jpg feeling towards the platform), but if you’d like to get this in your inbox, drop your email in the space above.
Otherwise, feel free to chat amongst yourselves, and I’ll see you next time.