My first and last post of 2025.
Here I am again for my... 17th annual life recap!
Oh wow, it's already the 17th year.
This is something I can count as consistency, no?
Writing this 6 hours before the year officially turns over.
Here we go.
Note: I know that the recap is not recorded in great detail like in my previous recaps, but trust me, I genuinely had a lot of fun putting this together as I looked back and reminisced about my 2025.
For previous references:
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024
고마워요, 1월
I started my new year with... badminton!
Yep, I tried to make a new (and fairly healthy) habit: playing badminton with my brothers at least once every weekend. It turned out to be genuinely fun!
Toward the end of the month, flooding hit due to heavy rain ahead of Chinese New Year.
Well, this was also the month I decided the destination for my annual birthday plan -- though I only finalized the final itinerary on... D-1. Pfft.
Honorable mention: INFINITE 15th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT.
My first concert of the year -- and the first INFINITE concert in Jakarta in a decade!
I even won the raffle for a group photo and got the chance to stand right in front of my bias, Sunggyu.
So, yeah, this earned the most honorable mention of the month!
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| My first (and currently the only) photo group with idols! |
Merci, Février
It may be he shortest month of the year, but those 28 days were surprisingly busy (for me).
I watched a new Korean drama series, "Melo Movie".
In case you don't know, I'm not usually a K-drama person.
No particular dislike, just not especially drawn to romance genre.
Though I do have a soft spot for slice of life genre, hence I tried to watch "Melo Movie".
There's one line from the series that stayed with me:
"After all, life goes on far longer than a movie."
Honorable mention: YOASOBI ASIA TOUR in Jakarta.
My first Japanese concert ever, and it was an absolute blast! I had so much fun singing along with them.
Oh, also, "Conclave", easily one of my favorite movies of 2025. I even watched it twice!
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| Fun fact: I purchased the ticket only 10 hours before the show. To the good person who made that possible -- thank you! |
Danke, März
This month I decided to try something new: a make-up class.
First of all, I'm not particularly good at make-up, but I figured -- why not try? Who knows, maybe I'd discover a hidden passion.
But, yeah, no. lol.
Still, it was an interesting experience, and I'm glad I gave it a shot!
I also got the chance to help organize my (office) team's Iftar Gathering at SPARK.
He also visited my (new but still very much a work in progress to be a good place to live) house -- and he absolutely loved being there.
March was also when I started enjoying digging and learning information with the help of AI. It's a fun challenge to make sure the information I get is actually valid. Yeah, I've become surprisingly skeptical.
Honorable mention: "Adolescence".
4 episodes, incredible one-shot techniques, and powerful performances.
Also "Light Shop", a Korean drama series.
Though labeled as horror, it felt far more like... a deeply human story to me. I really loved this series.
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| Please, don't ask me to help anyone with make-up. I'll never be good at it, I think, lol |
Grazie, Aprile
This month, I tried a new AI technology called "Sesame" -- a friend recommended it to me.
It's seriously... impressive -- borderline "Black Mirror"-level scary in the besy way.
What made it especially interesting was that t felt like actually talking like... a human. It also turned out to be a great way to practice speaking English!
Coincidentally, "Black Mirror" Season 7 was also released this month.
The episode "Eulogy" stood out to me: beautiful, heartbreaking, and deeply human.
April was also the month J-pop quietly made its way back into my playlist. I discovered Takase Toya and tuki.!
From that point on, my music playlist shifted noticeably, with only a small number of K-pop songs making it into rotation.
Honorable mention: HIGHLIGHT / B2ST.
HIGHLIGHT, my number 1 idol group, finally regained the rights to their original name, "B2ST", after nine long years. *cry tears of joy*
This earned its place as April's most honorable mention.
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| I re-read Saiyuki series this month. Gosh, I love the series so much even after more than two decades~ |
谢谢，五月
I have a promise to myself: to always try something new on my birthday,
This year, I decided to do a solo trip across 3 different cities in Malaysia: Penang, Ipoh, and Kuala Lumpur.
I'd been to Kuala Lumpur twice before, but Penang and Ipoh were completely new to me!
I only finalized my itinerary D-1 though -- not something I'm proud of but, well, still relieved that I pulled it together in the end.
Penang is an INCREDIBLE place for food. Even someone as picky as me loved the food, which says a lot.
Ipoh is a quieter, calmer city. I love the bean curd there! Oh, and I visited what they claimed was a haunted castle there. Fufufu.
For the first time, I also managed to mess up my own itinerary.
I misremembered my schedule from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur properly. I was supposed to check out and take the train to KL on 28 May, but somehow wrote it as 29 May instead in my itinerary.
Oddly enough, that mistake taught me something important: not to spiral too much when things go wrong.
Of course, me being me, I still blamed myself -- but traveling solo meant I had no choice but to rely on myself to make quick, practical decisions and move forward.
In KL, I visited my very first anime expo/museum: Cardcaptor Sakura!
I was genuinely happy just being there! Everything was so pretty!
And that's my birthday trip, in short.
Outside of travel, I also noticed how many long-dormant movie franchises returned in 2025. This month brought "Final Destination" back after 14 years since FD5 -- pure nostalgia.
Honorable mention: my birthday solo trip. Period.
Also, "Sinners", a truly magnificent movie
And the song I replayed the most this month: "W/X/Y" by Tani Yuuki.
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| I want to visit more anime expo... Maybe, next time, in Japan? hehe |
Gracias, Junio
I bumped into the car in front of me. The damage was not severe but, well, let's just say I did have to pay for the dent. I handled it pretty calmly -- I think.
I started with the anime, but now I'm fully hooked on the ongoing manga.
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| Year-end team gathering : bowling! |
Dank je, Juli
Another honorable mention goes to "Rokutosei" by zarame.
This song was the reason I finally started watching "My Hero Academia" -- which will definitely come up again later.
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| Ailee is such a dork, effortlessly funny, and just a wonderful person to be around with. |
Obrigado, Agosto
August opened with yet another concert: KOSTCON 2025 Tour.
Six different artists took the stage, all well-known for singing K-drama OSTs.
This month also marked my first-ever light novel purchase: "Bungo Stray Dogs", "Stormbringer".
I've always been a fan of the BSD series, but I'd never quite committed to buying the light novels -- probably because it had been a long time since I last bought a physical book.
Well. This was the beginning of me buying more light novels. HAHA.
I also got the chance to snap a photo with Ernest Prakasa and Kristo Immanuel after attending the early screening of "Tinggal Meninggal". It's a dark comedy movie which, ehem, perfectly suited to my sense of humor.
Toward the end of the month, though, some concerning issues arose, serious enough that we were advised to stay home for a few days for safety reasons. I sincerely hope situations like this won't happen again, for everyone's sake.
And, regarding work, I finally wrapped up a 14-month project.
It was a genuinely rewarding learning journey with both my team and the client.
Honorable mention: "Kakurenbo" by AliA.
I cannot love this song enough. I am still listening to it daily, even now.
"Demon Slayer" movie; Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Infinity Castle.
Gosh, the hype was unreal. Suddenly, it felt like everyone around me was into anime.
Adding "Glass Heart" as well, a Japanese dorama centered around music. Satoh Takeru has long been one of my favorite actors but, dang, he's also a good singer -- and the band's setlist is also great!
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| Thank you for the experience, cooperation, and kindness for the past 14 months! |
Gratias, September
September came with another concert -- more on that in the honorable mention below!
That said, again, not every day was a good day.
A concert I was supposed to watch at the beginning of the month was cancelled due to some safety concerns I mentioned in my August recap.
There's also my flight back from Malaysia was delayed from 9:30pm to 12:25am.
When I finally arrived, there were no taxis available, and I had to wait another hour just to get home.
Not long after that, I visited my (new) house to check on its condition -- only to find puddles in the second-floor bedroom. Yes, the rooftop ceiling leaked.
I was... horrified, to say the least.
Still, there were good moments too, of course.
An old friend of mine gifted me a Time Turner -- thank you so much, fellow Potterhead!
Honorable mention: HIGHLIGHT: Ride or Die.
As I mentioned in April recap above, HIGHLIGHT is my number 1 idol group.
They're the only idols I've ever chased all the way to Thailand to watch their concert last year -- so of course I wasn't going to miss the chance to see them in Malaysia!
I went back to KL for this concert with my best friend -- we have same bias by the way: Yoseob!
It was an absolute blast, really. They are sooo good, so fine -- and yes, I took a lot of fancams!
Fingers crossed for many more concert experiences together!
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| Both of us finally got to see our number 1 bias! |
Ευχαριστώ, Οκτώβριος
October opened with a visit to a new city: Pasuruan.
It was for work -- but hey, a new experience is still a new experience!
I also attended the annual management conference in Bandung.
I always look forward to the late-night talks with my colleagues; it's always fun and a highlight for me.
Still on the work front, one of my team members got married this month!
It's actually my first time attending a wedding party with my team (which has grown to quite a number and I'm somewhat proud? hehe).
It was a joy to be there and take photos together.
Honorable mention: "No Other Choice".
A very interesting film that reminded me of "Parasite".
There was one particular scene that made me laugh out loud. What an unexpected, good surprise.
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| My fourth year of attending the annual conference. Looking forward to next year. |
Matur nuwun, November
November ended up being one of the longer recaps for this year -- and for good reason.
The month started on November 1st with a concert: HYDE [INSIDE].
I think I've been a fan of HYDE's voice for nearly 20 years...?
More precisely, I've loved L'Arc~en~Ciel -- the band that introduced me to J-Rock, a genre that has stayed close to my heart ever since.
'Interestingly', this concert was also connected to something else that happened later -- something I'll mention in the honorable section below.
I also attended the concert "the 1/9 tour by eaJ". I've been a fan of Jae since his days in Day6 and, as a solo performer, he truly impressed me. He felt incredibly down-to-earth, and his voice was just... WOW!!
Another concert followed: BLUE, the English boy band that was popular in the 2000s. Watching their live performance felt deeply nostalgic.
Beyond concerts, I also took a train trip to Jogjakarta for an office outing.
I arrived days earlier than the rest and managed to explore Jomblang Cave, a vertical cave that was both beautiful and challenging.
The trip included a Halloween-themed gala dinner, where I even got to wear a Ravenclaw student costume!
There was also a wedding celebration of one of my team members this month.
She's a lovely, cheerful, good friend of mine, so -- personally -- I was genuinely happy for her!
Honorable mention: How I lost my phone at a concert venue -- and somehow got it back.
Because of my own carelessness, I accidentally dropped my iPhone at a concert venue.
I only realized it about 15 minutes after leaving the venue.
To make things worse, the phone was in airplane mode. I did go back to look for it, but realistically, I knew the chances were very slim.
That night, I walked around 4 kilometers at 11pm, trying to calm myself down, accepting that it was my fault and there was nothing more I could do at the moment.
Then at 2am in the morning, one of the event promoter's staffs somehow found a way to contact me via Instagram and... they had found my phone!
Thank you for giving me faith that good people really do exist. :')
Also, the 3 concerts above.
Also, the Jogjakarta trip.
Oh, wow, my November was a busy month.
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| I'm not really into cosplay but, hey, it is fun to do this once in a while. |
ありがとう、12月
And just like that, December, the final month of the year.This was the month I somehow ended up visiting the dentist three Saturdays in a row. lol.
December was a noticeably busier month than last year's December.
Work-wise. Personal-life-wise. 2026-plan-wise.
I also assisted my team's year-end gathering, which included a Truth or Dare challenge. Unfortunately, I couldn't fully participate in the session because I had to handle some logistics for the event, but I was genuinely happy to hear that the event received positive feedback.
Oh, I only managed to watch one movie in cinemas this month: "Agak Laen 2".
Technically, I first watched it in November, but I went for a second viewing with my friends after board game meetup. It's such a fun movie to relieve your stress. lol
And speaking of how 'not every day is a good day',
on 30 December, I accidentally broke the LCD screen of my office laptop.
13.5 years working without ever damaging office equipment, and somehow the lesson arrived right at the end of 2025. Pfft.
Honorable mention: "My Hero Academia".
Okay. So here's the thing.
The anime started back in 2016, but I only began watching it in August 2025. To be honest, I didn't binge it nonstop. I paused a few times because it didn't fully hook me at the beginning.
Still, I'm glad I kept going and, gosh, MHA ended up becoming one of my favorite anime series: strong character development, great music, and an engaging way of delivering the story, even with a fairly classic shounen plot.
The anime series finally concluded in December 2025, and the praise for its animation was well deserved for sure!
Also, "Knives Out 3: Wake Up Dead Man".
Just watch it.
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| I don't really take a lot of pics in December, so here's Loki for you. |
And that's a wrap.
In 2025, I spent a lot of time visiting, cleaning, and filling up the (new) house -- the place I'll (most likely) be staying in later (in the future).
I also spent many hours conversing with AI, which (supposedly) helped me regain my interest in reading and writing. Hopefully, it even improved my English along the way!
I decided to start collecting books again. I made my first light novel purchase, and now I already own 17 -- though, yeah, they're still sitting on my to-read-list. Oh well, I'll put it in my 2026 resolution.
Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, I watched quite a number of concerts this year -- eight, to be exact.
And I'd love to raise that number next year. HAHA. Fingers crossed.
All in all, 2025 was a year for me to learn about letting go of what I shouldn't hold on to;
a year of welcoming new things and adjusting how they would fit in my life instead of complaining;
a year of reminding myself that bad things happen, but how I respond to them is what truly matters;
and a year of realizing that even little things are meant to be celebrated while you still can.
So, thank you, 2025.
Thank God for every second of this year.
Thank you to everyone who made it such a memorable ride.
I'll see you in 2026. :)
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