Answering the 40 Questions for 2025

All over the little indie web, people are asking themselves the 40 Questions, a ritual originating with Steph Ango.

Seems like fun! I'll give it a crack.

1. What did you do this year that you’d never done before?

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions?

I don't do New Years resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

As of this writing, no. However, my cousin might be giving birth today actually.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What cities/states/countries did you visit?

Uh, only Orlando, FL. Ugh.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year?

I'm hoping next year will be a year of more intentionality, less saying yes to things out of momentum or obligation, and less spending money on shit.

7. What date(s) from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

9. What was your biggest failure?

I had hoped to stick to an exercise plan this year, but when summer rolled around, our schedule shifted, it got hot outside, and the plan fell apart.

10. What other hardships did you face?

Nothing worth writing about. There's not enough money or enough time, but when is there ever.

11. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing major.

12. What was the best thing you bought?

Two pairs of these pants from Uniqlo. They are comfortable and stretchy enough to sleep in, but they totally just look like a normal pair of pants, so you can wear them out and about. I basically never want to wear anything else.

13. Whose behavior merited celebration?

A lot of normal every day people. Anyone who took time out of their life to defend and help their neighbor. The people in LA, Chicago, etc blowing whistles and following ICE around are the heroes of the year to me.

14. Whose behavior made you appalled?

Basically every single American politician (I can think of maybe half a dozen exceptions in total), and every single billionaire. Every little jack-booted federal thug and a lot of cops.

15. Where did most of your money go?

  1. Tuition. My kid is still in private school in the next town over, because we're not super sold on the public school in our small Louisiana town. We're planning on switching her eventually, because the higher grades are better and have more programs and resources.
  2. Homeowner's and flood insurance. I live in South Louisiana near water, so our insurance costs more than our actual mortgage-- by a wide margin.
  3. Health insurance. I'm an owner of a small company in the USA, so that means I pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for health insurance for my family of three. It covers nothing. It's an utterly broken system.

16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

17. What song will always remind you of this year?

Last Shot ft. Templuv & 347aidan.

18. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? Richer or poorer? Healthier or unhealthier?

Generally happier. Neither richer or poorer. Healthier.

19. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Just chilling and being mindful. More rest, more reflection.

20. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Less doing stuff just to do stuff. Less spending money on shit.

21. How are you spending the holidays?

The holidays are packed. The following things occurred on consecutive days without any break in-between:

22. Did you fall in love this year?

Always.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I did learn about some new people to hate this year, yes.

24. What was your favorite show?

Andor. Watch Andor.

Honorable mention to Arcane.

25. What was the best book you read?

How Jesus Became God. It's a book examining how Jesus came to be worshipped as a divine figure, when there is no historical evidence that he claimed to be divine during his life, or that his first followers treated him as such. It's a fascinating story. I'm not sure I 100% buy every bit of Ehrman's argument, but I think it is well-argued and very interesting. He provides a lot of historical context that I found interesting on its own. It also serves as an accessible introduction to how historians study the evolution of the bible and Christian belief over time.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery of the year?

bbno$. I'm not cool.

27. What was your favorite film?

It came out in 2022, but I didn't get around to watching it until this year: Amsterdam. It's a quirky comedy based on the Business Plot starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington. Robert De Niro plays the Smedley Butler analogue. Also featuring (deep breath) Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldaña, and Rami Malek. Go watch it.

28. What was your favorite meal?

Surprisingly, there's a little sushi place in a shopping center in the next town that is some of the best sushi I've ever had. I've eaten at several sushi places that are ranked as the best in North America. Places in LA, NY, DC, etc with Michelin stars and other serious bling. Places where I have spent multiple hundreds of dollars. I'm not saying that this random strip mall sushi is better than those places. But I am saying that this place cannot be beaten for some good downhome casual sushi. It's also a fuckton cheaper than the fancy pants places, which is nice.

29. What did you want and get?

I wanted to stay independent, and I stayed independent.

30. What did you want and not get?

Some piece and fucking quiet.

31. What did you do on your birthday?

On my birthday, I worked. But we did have a big crawfish boil to celebrate my birthday. The stipulation was that I was going to do zero of the preparation or cooking, because usually when we host a crawfish boil, I bust my ass for three days to make it happen and spend the whole event cooking and lugging 50 pound pots of steaming crawfish. I just wanted to be able to attend my own birthday party this year, and I succeeded.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Either ten million dollars, or [REDACTED FOR FIFTH AMENDMENT REASONS].

33. How would you describe your personal fashion this year?

I continue to be very gorp-core and dad-core. I was into work wear before it was cool (because I used to work in the trades and never stopped wearing Carhartt), and I was into that new fancy-country-boy-work-wear shit that David Beckham is into now far before DB ever stepped off the pitch and changed out of his kit.

Also, have I mentioned the Uniqlo pants?

34. What kept you sane?

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you admire the most?

Hmm. I think this is very much a year about not admiring public figures. Like even beyond the people who obviously need to be sent to the Hague, I feel like the zeitgeist right now is one of admiring normal, unfamous people. I know I'm feeling that at least.

Uh, that said, Oscar Piastri's mental game is crazy. I'm not able to handle nearly the pressure that guy is able to handle, and I'm 40 years old. He's 24 years old and competing in an absurdly high-stakes competition to maybe achieve his life's dream. And I don't think I've ever heard him so much as raise his voice. Incredible.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

It's immigration, refugees, and the genocide of the Palestinian people. To me, these are all violations of the same basic human right to dignity and freedom of movement. I hope the world does better next year.

37. Who did you miss?

There are so many people that I didn't get to spend enough time with this year. I missed basically all of my friends this year, not because they were inaccessible, but because we got busy and just sort of dropped the ball all around.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

I'm... actually not sure that I met anyone new this year? At least if we're talking about people I met in person. Something to work on next year, I guess.

39. What valuable life lesson did you learn this year?

The best way to get things is to ask for them directly.

40. What is a quote that sums up your year?

"This world is sad and broken, gotta fix a crack or two" from Clean Slate by The Mountain Goats.