Less than two weeks into 2025, I’ve already felt some highs and lows.

I’ll start with the latter, since there’s really only one: Coconut’s health is so variable. This past week, he started violently sneezing throughout the day, which prompted a vet visit. While they didn’t detect signs of a fever, he was incredibly weak the following days. He had almost no appetite, didn’t get excited for walks (in fact, when we went outside he wouldn’t go further than the fence), and was sleeping even more than usual. I was genuinely scared this was gonna be our last weekend together, and I spent a lot of yesterday night trying (and failing) to hold myself together while watching him sleep.

And then this morning, he perked up. He finally had some deli meat, which he’d refused the night before. In the early evening, he did a full walk around the block (!!) and ate even more turkey and treats afterwards. It was a huge relief to see him recover, and even though I won’t ignore the facts — that he is very old and has several medical conditions — I’m so grateful to have more time to cherish with him.

Onto some positives: I’ve done a lot of skating lately (currently working on lunges) and will be joining a more advanced group lesson starting Sunday! Skating’s been such a happiness booster, and seeing my practice pay off has been really satisfying. I’m not naturally gifted in balance, rhythm, or flexibility — all of which are pretty important for skating lol — but putting in the hours at the rink has helped me make progress despite that. Sometimes I wish I recorded videos so I could see how I’ve improved over time, but for now I’m satisfied with just feeling it. (One downside is not being able to show family and friends what skills I’m working on! Guess we’ve just gotta skate in person. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Another thing bringing me joy right now is reading. I’m constantly trying to lower my screen time, and finding engaging books is one of the most satisfying ways to do that. I recently finished I Have Some Questions For You, a mystery/thriller that was recommended by my local librarian, and it made me eager to read more genres outside of romance and humor. (It also made me a bit paranoid though, which was a similar reaction to when I’ve listened to true-crime podcasts.) Currently I’m reading The Anxious Generation and Good Enough — I can read at most two books at once, and when I do it’s gotta be a mix of fiction and non-fiction.

Two squares on my 2025 bingo card, which I made after seeing a friend’s version, are reading-related! This was a fun way to visually represent some mini-goals / milestones for the year. Anything in these squares are fun ideas for when I’m bored, but not things I’d stress about completing (names redacted for privacy):

Some clarification on a few squares:

• Do a social read. As in, read something that someone I know recommended or liked! Examples would be The Magicians for my sister, The Royal Game for my boyfriend, or Stay True for a college friend.
• Start Free Skate. Ice-skating can be broken down into “moves in the field” and “free skate.” The former are basic skating skills, like crossovers or hockey stops. The latter are more artistic maneuvers, like spins and jumps.
• Finish knitting my sister’s sweater. I’m trying to make a dupe of this Mure Grand cardigan! While caring for Coconut this week, I actually made a decent amount of progress.
• Visit Nubian Square. Just a part of Boston I’ve never been to!
• Make 10 recipes from Genius Recipes. I’ve had this cookbook for years but have only made three or four dishes from it.
• Run a race. Nothing serious! Probably just a themed 5K or so.
• Watch the AFI Top 100. The American Film Institute curates a list of the “top 100 movies.” While obviously subjective, a lot of these are classics that I wanna watch but haven’t yet, like Taxi Driver, Titanic (I know, I know), and Dr. Strangelove.
• Do a no-buy. I’ll likely expand on this in another post, but essentially I’ve got too many things! Clothes, gadgets, notebooks, chapstick… I want to be intentional about using what I have before purchasing more. While many people do “no-buy” challenges for financial health, this is personally more about reducing/preventing clutter.
• Measure the apartment. This is sheerly out of curiosity. My current apartment is teeny, and the listing didn’t have the square footage or floor plan. Eyeballing it, I think it’s around 450 square feet or less, but I’d love to confirm this.
• Digital cleanup. I’ve got so many screenshots, duplicate photos, and files that could simply be deleted. And I’d love to put a majority of my old photos on a hard drive so I’m not paying monthly for extra storage in iCloud!

While making the bingo card was a fun activity, it definitely isn’t a to-do list by any means. When it came to planning for the new year, I wanted to be intentional about where my effort should go. Last January I did an exercise where I wrote a paragraph of what a “successful” 2024 would look like, but in the past tense as if everything had already happened. The exercise is meant to help people be concrete about their goals, but it doesn’t encourage prioritization. There was so much (read: too much!) in my paragraph: finishing my master’s, advancing at work, working on my body image, traveling, reading, making friends, exercising, curating my apartment.. In reality, I was only laser-focused on the first three in that list.

So instead of a lengthy paragraph with a ton of nice-to-haves that range in importance — that’s what the bingo card’s for! — I’ve only got three goals for 2025. Last year was mainly about professional development, but this year I just want to:

• Become a better skater. In figure-skating, you can’t compete at a certain level unless you pass the tests for that level. While I don’t know if I’d ever wanna compete, I love how tests provide an explicit benchmark of skills to aim towards. I’d love to be able to pass the pre-bronze tests.
• Learn German. My boyfriend’s first language is German, so this’ll be fun! I signed up for an online (but Boston-based) group class that starts this Wednesday after work. It’s only once a week, but I’m excited to finally have homework that’s actually fun! I’m aiming to reach B1 by the end of the year.
• Cultivate healthy social relationships (applies to both family and friends). This goal is harder to measure, but in general I’m aiming for drama-free, positive, and fun interactions with whoever I spend time with.

That’s all for now! Some pics since my last post: what I took home from a book swap (I actually traded a few times for this one!); very flushed cheeks after a brisk bike ride (thank god for the ear warmers); and an afternoon of reading while Coconut napped under the blanket.

❤️ ✌️