the 2025 roundup
I’ve been inconsistently making end-of-the-year roundups, either through Instagram posts or a blog, and for 2025, I had the idea of making it in a magazine-ish format while on one of the many car rides during our vacation in Tasmania. This is why the end of the year reflections are coming in a bit later than expected, as putting this together took more time than expected, but I’d say it’s time well spent, despite how self-indulgent it is. I’m typing out most of the content I’ve placed in the images because I’m not sure how easy it is to read haha.
Accomplishments & Unaccomplishments
Saw many videos about the accomplishments on a cake trend, and I saw one Instagram video about their unaccomplishments for the year (which amused me greatly), so I made my own version of both lol.
Accomplishments
Got back into dancing after a year-long hiatus
Finally started losing weight (though largely thanks to medicines I’m taking)
Spent significantly less time on social media
Reread the Harry Potter series
Hosted a brunch after wanting to do so for more than a year
May intern daw sa work na nagkacrush sakin HSHKDLJFSHS ganda yarn??
My illustration of key objects from the first Harry Potter book
Consistently got 7-9 hours of sleep on a daily basis
Unaccomplishments
Got confined in the hospital for rhabdomyolysis after my first ever spin class
Was peer-pressured into voting for a partylist I wasn’t keen on
Failed to save my goal amount each month
Got diagnosed with severe fatty liver
Stepped on an anthill while wearing sandals so numerous angry ants were all over my feet huhu
Gained a (lowkey?) office bully lol
Broke my work laptop because I forgot to zip up my bag and walked to the office while there was a storm
Got covid after avoiding it the past few years, had 2 coworkers get covid because of me huhu :(
Favorite Items of the Year
Some items I loved and used a lot this year include:
Zebra Sarasa Pens: smooth, colorful, and readable
Ang Manilena 2025 Calendar: pretty art, and I love the convenience of just looking over my shoulder to figure out when a certain date falls
Colorful Hair Clips: instantly makes me feel better even when I’m just in loungewear
Retro CD Player: has reframed my relationship with listening to music
Happy Skin Lip Mousse: smells good, multifunctional, and not too drying despite it being matte
Loire PH Heart Bag: perfect statement piece to level up a simple outfit
Lagrima Fish Tacos: not an item, but I ate this every week for a month so it deserves a spot here
Books of the Year
I am just copy pasting everything I wrote because I yapped too much on this. This year, I did not have any reading goals. I just read what I wanted, whenever I wanted, and this approach did me a lot of good since I read a total of 48 books this year, which is my most so far. I was happy overall with all the books I read, and I ventured out my comfort zone several times by reading genres I normally wouldn’t go for (e.g. classics, horror, sci-fi) and which I ended up loving. I ended up reading more nonfiction than I realized (around 5-6 reads), which was a pleasant surprise. Here are my most memorable reads of the year.
Accidents Happen by F.H. Batacan
Thrilling and immersive collection of crime fiction short stories set in the Philippines. Reflects a lot of the social ills and issues plaguing society. So so good!
The Philippines is Not a Small Country by Gideon Lasco
A collection of short articles written on topics like culture, food, politics, and the Philippines. Took me a while to finish this because I wanted to savor each article!
Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture by Doreen Fernandez
Another collection, this time of essays and works written by the late Doreen Fernandez on food and its place in Philippine society. So informative, inspiring, and mouth-watering at times. I love food and I love how she writes about food. There’s so much respect there for food and how it’s made.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
A semi-lighthearted novel about the awkward Eleanor and how her life changes after she crosses paths with her coworker. Appreciate the non-romantic undertone for the most part and how moving her character development was throughout the book. Thanks Nina for the reco!
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A story about a man who finds himself in space and must figure out why he’s there. Not a fan of scifi but this was written in such an accessible manner, using concepts and words that we’ve all encountered back in high school. Absolutely amazing!
The Names by Florence Knapp
How much power does a name hold? This question runs through one’s mind as the novel shifts among the three different lives of the same character, depending on the name he was given. I loved the entire premise and learning about the different lives he and the other characters led as a result of the name he was given. Just a note that there’s domestic abuse scenes here that can be triggering to some!
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
This was a revisit, and from a DNF in 2024, it turned to one of my top reads in 2025. It’s a collection of essays (starting to see a pattern here) by John Green on a variety of topics, but all reflective of the anthropocene. I appreciated the sheer variety of topics covered and the insights John Green derives from these. Personal favorites are the essay on Jerzy Dudek (and I’m not even a sports fan), monopoly, and the world’s biggest ball of paint. 5 stars out of 5 (iykyk)!
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gamus
Cooking is science, and I absolutely loved reading about the empowered scientist that is Elizabeth Zott and her scientific approach to cooking. Even better is seeing how she empowers women at a time when people thought a woman’s place was only in the kitchen, her role just as someone to prop up her husband.
Music of the Year
I noticed I tended to gravitate towards certain songs while doing certain activities/in a certain mood.
ugh, trabaho nanaman?
Autopilot - Reese Lansangan
Everything You Do - M2M
What Is This Feeling - Reese Lansangan
No Drug Like Me - Carly Rae Jepsen
kinda melancholic
Tell Me I Never Knew That - caroline, Caroline Polachek
I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes) - The 1975
Roses - Carly Rae Jepsen
Bughaw - Maki
good night!
How Bad Do U Want Me - Lady Gaga
So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings - Caroline Polachek
Comeback - Carly Rae Jepsen, The Bleachers
dance dance
This Is For - Twice
Like Jennie - Jennie
Body - Dayoung
Piece of Me - Britney Spears
This year, I made the conscious decision to start collecting CDs, and I love how it’s changed my listening habits. It feels more like a ritual now when I listen to music since I carefully choose which album I feel like listening to in full.
I think that as a perennial song skipper/never-finisher (it’s common for me to press next while I’m in the middle of a song), it’s taught me to sit with songs I’m not as keen on. To be fair, the CD player does come with a remote that allows you to skip to the next track, but I cannot, for the life of me, get it to work so I’ve just taken this as a lesson to heal my attention span and patience.
It’s also such a nostalgic experience, and it brings me back to my childhood days when I’d choose an album to listen to and fully focus on the listening experience, reading along to the lyrics booklet to memorize each word. Music has mostly been a background thing for me lately so I do appreciate how CDs have brought back listening to music as being the main experience as opposed to it being something you do on the side while you’re doing something else.
Here are some albums I have that I think are worth mentioning/sharing!
Emotion Side B - Carly Rae Jepsen
When I made the conscious decision to start collecting CDs, this was the very first album I added to my cart. This album is the first album I considered a no-skip album, and it’s one of the CDs I reach for the most.
High School Musical 3
When I’m tired of being an adult or need a pick-me-upper, I play this CD and am immediately transported to simpler times.
Folie A Deux - Fall Out Boy
Not technically a CD I own since Carlos just lent me this, but this ties with Emotion Side B as my most played album, both on the CD player and on streaming sites. I consider it a no-skip album and one of the most cohesive records ever.
the year in photos
Di naman ganon kaimportante yung text, tignan niyo nalang yung pictures eme HAHA
January: Emon Pulo with Chuas, Last Pop Emergency
February: Day6 concert!
March: Rhabdomyolysis hospitalization, Catching up with Snek Gang!
April: B.R.A. long overdue catchup over hotpot, Baking with Carlos
May: M2M Concert, Arroceros Walk + Painting, First ever drag brunch (feat drag queen crush Arsenix), and getting COVID :(
June: Thaima’s 100th birthday and Come From Away with Mom
July: Guakong’s birthday, Accidents Happen book club, Stay in/artsy/rainy date with Carlos
August: Crafts date with Bea, Merkado Market with Dan & Camille
September: Dear Evan Hansen with Carlos, Trillion Peso March
October: UPD with Dan & Camille, B.R.A. Locavore date, and my Meilin Lee Halloween costume!
November: Back to hip hop dance classes, Dogsitting, My birthday!
December: Birthday brunch, Melbourne & Tasmania vacation with my family
Medical Mishaps
This year was definitely not my best health-wise. Hopefully this is the only year where I’ll have this kind of section in my 2025 roundup lol. Behold, a timeline of my health issues this year!
January: Severe cough & colds, Splinter → Tetanus Shot, UTI
February: Continuous bleeding
March: Rhabdomyolysis and subsequent confinement in Makati Med
May: COVID
August: Severe fatty liver diagnosis
October: Post nasal drip, sore throat, and colds
November: Acid reflux diagnosis
Thank You!! hihi
This was such a nice way to round up the past year, but it was also extremely self-indulgent lol. Kala mo naman sakin umiikot yung mundo haha.
Anyways, thank you for even taking a chance on this and for reading through all my yapping!!!! oh di ko na nalagay sa graphic kasi I rushed that part (I just wanted to be done with it lol) but thank you for being part of my 2025 :”) didn’t include this sa graphic too but honestly, 2025 has been one of my happiest years so far (yes, despite my health ganaps and unaccomplishments), and a large reason behind that is because I have people like you in my life! I hope you all play just as big or an even bigger role in my 2026. Love you all mwa mwa, thank you again for reading hehe <3