2025 Wrapped!
A whole bunch of stats and a little bit of commentary
Travels
Flights: 27
Amtrak rides: 5 (thought it was more than that)
Amtrak miles: 1,800
Amtrak hours: 38
Trips: 11
Solo trips: 2 (an evening in Seattle and Brian’s bachelor party)
States: 19
New states: 12
Countries: only 1 and it’s the one I live in :’(
Weddings attended: 5
Fitness
Miles run: 118
Hours run: 26
Miles biked: 523
Hours biked: 52
Motorcycle collisions: 1
Hobbies
Photos taken: over 1,000
(Actual number is way higher. I have 871 photos since August, after culling the bad ones; that doesn’t touch the number of phone photos, deleted photos, or photos from the first 7 months of the year!)
Books read: 19
Movies watched: 50
Restaurants logged: 145
Blog posts: 14
Piano hours: 95
Meditation: 31 hours
Books (top 5 recommendations italicized!)
The Algebra of Happiness, Scott Galloway
Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas
Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
Be Water, My Friend, Shannon Lee
Into the Silent Land, Martin Laird
Monastic Wisdom, St. Joseph the Hesychast
Ultra-Processed People, Chris van Tulleken
Deep Work, Cal Newport
The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Confessions, St. Augustine of Hippo
White Tears, Brown Scars, Ruby Hamad
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami
Stamped From The Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi
Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
Crying in H-Mart, Michelle Zauner
The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy
* and a Tolstoy short story, How Much Land Does A Man Need
After Dark, Haruki Murakami
Why Civil Resistance Works, Erica Chenoweth
Music
Songs streamed: 3,200
Unique artists: 991
Most musical month: August
Days with music: 105
(for context, I started streaming with Tidal over the summer, so this is a partial year)
#1 Artist: Death Cab For Cutie (runner-up: Japanese Breakfast)
#1 Album: The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift
#1 Song: Birds of a Feather, Billie Eilish
Total minutes of music: 11,600
Favorite Movies
I’d recommend every one of these! Also, follow me on letterboxd (https://letterboxd.com/ajmdm/) for realtime film updates.
The Mauritanian (2021 and I won’t shut up about this movie)
It’s What’s Inside (2024, shout out to Brittany, this is one of the most engaging movies I’ve seen in a while)
Friendship (2024)
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
A State of Passion (2024, everyone should watch this to humanize the people suffering from Israel’s unrelenting war on the Gazan people)
Doctor Sleep (2019, really fills out some details from The Shining)
Elemental (2023)
Prisoners (2013)
What’s in store for 2026?
Will we visit our last 5 states? Will we make any international trips?
Will I run a marathon in Hawaii (or at least make it through the year with consistent running and no injuries)?
Will I bike without any motor-vehicles hitting me?
Will I read all the books we’ve been collecting and piling in our sun room?
I wouldn’t say I have any “resolutions,” just kinda living life. Those questions are probably the closest thing I have to “goals” for the year, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if they don’t happen. (Well, I’d like to not be hit by another motorcycle. That’s a big one.)
There are a few plans already in the works, but nothing that crazy:
finish Anna Karenina
read Dr. Zhivago over the summer
trip to Nashville
trip to WY and SD
What else should I do?
I’ll throw it back on you! Any goals I should pursue, challenges I should take on, places to visit, hobbies to take up? Anything you think I should do, try, experience, etc., write back and I’ll see what I can do to make it happen!








2026 is the year we travel the world more than we already do!!