My 2025 Wrapped
Another end of year vlog!! A week or two ago, Spotify Wrapped dropped, and as always, I’m reflecting on not just my music, but also the memories it encompassed. In any case, I feel that my Spotify Wrapped hasn’t satisfied me, because it’s missing much of the full story of my year. So I decided to try and make a 2025 Wrapped- encompassing 25 categories from TV to esoteric lessons I’ve learned. Here we go!
โ Favorite Media
1. Top New Artist (to me!)
James Ivy. Runner up would be The Band Camino.
2. Top 3 Albums
Everyone’s Talking by All Time Low, NeverAlways by The Band Camino, and Good Greif! EP by James Ivy.
Honorary mentions to dyed (2008 - 2023) by The Maine, Everything Perfect by James Ivy, Sidequest by Michael Clifford, Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing by The Wonder Years, and every Owl City album pre-2013. I love albums!
3. Top 5 K-Pop Songs
In no particular order: CRAZY by LE SSERAFIM, Rich Man by aespa, LIKE YOU BETTER by fromis_9, blessing in disguise by HUH YUNJIN, and probably any ILLIT single but especially Bilyeoon Goyangi (Do the Dance) or Midnight Fiction.
4. Top K-Drama
Hard tie between Mr. Plankton and Our Unwritten Seoul. If I had to, I’d pick the latter because the former left me in shambles.
5. Top Sitcom
Arrested Development and Community have both gotten rewatches, but I’d have to say St. Denis Medical for the fact that it’s new to me this year :-)
6. Top Reality Show
Final Draft was surprisingly addicting! However this would ultimately have to go to Nathan for You, with The Rehearsal being a very close second. My obsession with Nathan Fielder this year was unmatched.
7. Top Drama
The Last Of Us Season 1, probably the only drama I watched but it was soooo good.
8. Top Book
Tie between Fahrenheit-182 by Mark Hoppus for non-fiction and The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren for fiction. The latter is the first fiction book I had read in who knows how long!
9. Top Manga
My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Nagata Kabi. The Green Yuri gotta be a runner up though!
10. Top Game
Hard tie between Infinity Nikki and The Last of Us. They’re so similar, I know.
โ The Tangible Things
11. Top New Purchases
In no particular order; my Huanhuan (one of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Mascots) plush from the Olympics Museum in Colorado Springs, Loreal’s Pure Clean shampoo ($5 at CVS and life changing! My hair gets way less greasy now!), my Tony Moly Perfect Shocking Lip Tints in Rosette Shocking and Tomato Shocking from Seoul, and my concert tickets to the Everyone’s Talking Tour to see All Time Low, Mayday Parade, and The Cab in Los Angeles back in October. Honorary mention to any of the cosmetic products I got in Korea.
12. Top Gift Received
The Hello Kitty bean bag my friends so graciously got me for my birthday :-)
13. Top Old Item, Repurposed
Not necessarily repurposed, but when the fires in LA hit in January and I was nervous about losing everything in my apartment, the thing that I wanted to grab the most was my childhood stuff animal, Teddy. He’s a purple teddy bear I got as a baby. I love him! On a different note, I’ve started using my old nail polish more too.
14. Top Outfit
My long white skirt I got from Korea with any one of my Forever 21 (rip) Sanrio sweaters I got as a gift from my kind friend Cate. Or maybe my Halloween costume: the Barney balloon from the 1997 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade which got impaled and deflated.
โ What I’ve Done
15. Top New Hobby
C’mon… you knew I was gonna say coding the website… but a special mention to my job at the pottery studio (which is so fun to me it sometimes feels like a hobby).
16. Top New Habit
There are three: waking up at 7 am, journaling in my hobonichi, and wearing makeup more often. All done to varying levels of consistency, but when I can get all three, magic happens.
17. Top Trip
Obviously was going to be South Korea! How could it not! But Katsucon and my big family vacation to Colorado Springs were amazing times as well. I could write essays about any of these.
18. Top Museum
The Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs, CO. I wish I could go back. I loved it there. I miss it!
19. Top Dinner
There were so many great ones. But what comes to mind is when my friend Ruth got my roommate Nico and I a seafood boil, and we all struggled to open the crawfish together. Treasured memory.
20. Top 3 Creative Projects
So many, too many to count! The website has gotten be one. But among the others, I love the teapot I made my mom for Mother’s Day and the 3D portrait I did of an old piece of art. The latter I don’t really love, but I loved the process and I love the days I spent making it.
21. Top View
The drive down the valley running errands at my first PA job, or the snow capped mountain of Pike’s Peak in CO.
โ Thoughts I’ve Had
22. Top Small Memories
Waiting at the box office for Pierce the Veil tickets, trying to pass Aju Nice on difficult at the Pump It Up machine in Colorado Springs, kayaking in Catalina Island, that pool party in June, a phone call on the couch making up with my best friend, when my sister told me “Thanks for organizing this, Gaby” at our viewing of Inkigayo, the Trader Joe’s bag Ruth got me for my two year anniversary in LA, someone bringing Garfield into work, that oxtail in Anaheim, watching Meteor Garden in Marina’s room. I’m sure there are many, many more.
23. Top 3 Lessons Learned
There is no glory in suffering, your feelings are not problems to be solved, it feels very nice to stay off of social media for the duration of your vacation.
24. Top Thing I’m Grateful For
I finally have stopped wanting to be anyone else, at least for now. I just want to be myself. :-) Thank you to this website for helping me get there! And therapy.
โ And Finally…
25. Top 5 Songs
In no particular order; Last Star by James Ivy, Infinity by The Band Camino, Cigarettes and Sabotage by All Time Low, why i hate it here (dyed red 2011) by The Maine, and Blessing In Disguise by HUH YUJIN. Depends on the day, but these five were pretty great to me this year.
Well, there you have it. Maybe not quite a wrapped, but I think it gives a good picture of my year. I encourage you to try out some of these questions on your blog if you are so inclined! And if you’re reading this and don’t have a blog, I highly recommend making one. This website easily has gotta be one of my favorite things to come of this year. :-)
Much love,