I’ve seen posts other places reflecting on 2025 because, after all, it’s December and the year is coming to a close. Things like the Endies from Thomas Manuel of the Indie RPG Newsletter come to mind.The last time I tried doing one of these was for my old blog for 2023 and, given that was the year my mom died, it went in a whole different direction. This year has a pretty different tone, so I thought it might be fun to share some of the photos I took around places this year.Some of the stuff will be photoless, because while my daughter and doing stuff with her is important and took up time, she’ll get to choose who and how pictures of her get shared when she’s old enough.WorkWork has been a busy part of my life. Public Defenders are always busy. I’ve continued a term as the Chair of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Committee and produced some continuing legal education presentations for both the OSBA and the National Association for Public Defense.My work in Warren also gave me some cool photos when I went for walks during work breaks to recharge.Cool old apartment building near work that is maybe being renovated, maybe being prepped for demolition. Who knows?Definitely haunted, right?This one could look really cool with some careOkay, yes, I really like houses with wizard towersWe’ve entered the Arendelle section of townSomething just seemed cool about how the shades of brick metThe geometric entry really called to meThis used to be apartments and storefronts across the river from work, I got this before they got too far with thr demolitionSoftball and BaseballA huge part of the year this year was spent watching softball and baseball. My wife was huge into softball growing up and has passed the love on, becoming a coach to our daughter.During the Spring season from April to June and the Fall season from August to October, we spent so many of our nights out at the fields.My daughter also took part in her first softball tournament where the parents had matching shirts with the kids and everyone had a blast over the weekend, even when the one game ended up going way past bedtime for the 8u girls. (Big shoutout to the 18u team who were playing after us and gave the 6 and 7 year olds the greatest cheer section you could ask for as they came off the field exhausted from a close, but tough, loss.)In addition to the rec league softball, I watched a lot of the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League with my daughter, though our Bandits didn’t win it all this year.Baseball was also a huge thing for me this year. I’ve been a Seattle Mariners fan since my first game at the Kingdome at age 5, and actually met Alex Rodriguez when he was dating my next-door neighbor before getting permanently called up from the Tacoma Rainiers. So this 2025 season that harkened back to the 2001 and 1997 runs at the ALCS was ridiculously exciting for me.I also got to see the local team play twice this year, joining some friends for trips to see the Guardians in Cleveland.View from our seats at the Sept 12, 2025 game between the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White SoxWe first saw the Guardians play the White Sox in September. Then we came back for my first October baseball game in the stands when we saw the Guardians play against the Detroit Tigers in the AL Wild Card.View from our seats at the Oct 1, 2025, Wild Card game between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit TigersThe baseball season may not have ended how either the Mariners nor the Guardians wanted, but there were a lot of good games to watch. And the Mariners still made their best run through the playoffs in their 49 seasons.Maybe this next season, my daughter will be old enough to start thinking about bringing her along to a baseball game or two.VacationFor only the second time since moving away from Michigan in 2015, and for the first time bringing the munchkin, I went back to the Mitten State.Trying to drive past Notre Dame was a mistake…No one who’s lived in Michigan can see this slogan without hearing it in Tim Allen’s voiceMy wife, my daughter, and I spent a long weekend in Douglas, MI, on the Lake Michigan coast. We had a blast visiting the beach and wandering around the town of Saugatuck doing some shopping.It’s almost eerie how you can watch the lakeshore just fade away in the distanceThere was a cool boat on the Lake, I needed a picture no matter how far out it was and how ill equipped for the zoom my phone camera wasSunset on the LakeSwiss Family Robinson style stairs down to Douglas BeachWe all had a lot of fun on the trip, to the point where we’re planning to make this an annual thing going forward, heading up to the Mitten. There’s also talk about getting her to the Big House for a football game at some point.Non-Vacation TripSo, the Michigan trip was just a we need a vacation type thing. 2025 actually started out with me taking a trip out to Seattle for an emergency. My little sister had a stroke, spent a week in the ICU, needed brain surgery. Hell of a way to start the year. I flew out to spend time with family and run around and do things.The mountain will one day be the death of us, but in the meantime, it’s really prettyEverything turned out mostly alright then, but it was definitely a hectic week right after New Year’s.GamingWe finished the first arc of my Eberron game early in the year, and since then we’ve been playing a 5e game with the premise “Oops All Bards,” which has a real title “The Ballad of the B-Team.”Basically, we’re following behind an original party, cleaning up the messes left behind when they “saved the day” then blew out of town. We’ve also been the propaganda arm of the Miners’ Union, spreading the good word of how they’re here to help (no matter how much their A-Team screwed your town up in the process).It’s been good to be a player again, even if the Obsidian vault on my phone is filling up with a new arc to the Eberron campaign and every other idea for a campaign that comes to mind.Some of that campaign writing itch has also been getting scratched by the Ironsworn Starforged kick I’ve been on. I’m running a space archeologist who is looking for an answer to how the ancients dealt with the apocalyptic space storms that plague the sector. I really love Starforged and how well its gameplay loop and oracles work together to keep things moving.ReadingI’ve been reading a ton this year, making some in-roads with a list of suggested reading for people interested in the Traveller RPG.I really enjoyed the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell, about an 18-year-old kid who signs on with a starship and then the series follows him through a career where he eventually owns a starship of his own.I also joined a science fiction and fantasy book club at my library, where I’ve read books like The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett and The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei. The selection has been excellent and actually had a bunch of authors I hadn’t seen before that are on my radar now.In SummaryFlipping through the gallery on my phone and thinking about different things was a great way to remind myself about different things that happened this year. Work’s been especially busy with some cases that have been especially tough so revisiting some of the fun stuff was nice.I hope that 2026 has a lot to look back on and celebrate too.
