2025 Wrapped

Written By Kwan Ng

This is the second year I’m posting my “full” wrapped, year in review. Here’s the same quick background intro from 2024:

As you can tell, I’m a bit of a spreadsheet nerd. I build annual budgets, objectives, and a plan. It started with finances, but spread to many more facets of my life beyond that. I monitor my progress (near) daily, and try to see how I do. I don’t mind failing, but I try to fail upwards and improve. Here, I will post a ridiculous amount of personal information about myself. I often based the targets on the 13 month International Fixed Calendar. Goals are often set at 6, 13, 26, 52, and 104.

Some might suggest using more wearable technology (smartwatches / etc.), but I actually find the near daily reviews to be a form of planning and journaling. I believe it helps me reflect on my day, plan my week, think of what I truly want to do and how to get there.

Let’s see how I did.

Entertainment

I have two playlists for you two listen to, one is just the standard Your Top Songs 2025, the other is one song from every live artist I saw this year. Give either a listen while you read along. Here’s the custom one.

Though I’ll add some caveats to the live artist playlist:

  1. It was really hard to pick just one Sawyer Hill song, he was electric live.

  2. Rearview by Brenn! is definitely plagiarism of Olivia Rodrigo, that said, I really enjoy it.

  3. We went to Gimme Gimme Disco, and they played Bohemian Rhapsody and it was a blast on the Pier 17 Rooftop, not technically live, but close enough.

  4. Gun Song is just my favorite song by the Lumineers, and I’m so glad they played it live.

  5. I saw barrett twice this year, so I guess he gets to be in the playlist twice.

Here’s Spotify’s Top Songs for 2025:

Music (Spotify)

It makes sense to start off here, since I’ve co-opted their name for this post (plus I technically work for the Spotify founder now). But overall, I was disappointed in their Wrapped metrics for a second year running, it wasn’t very fun. My favorite was two years ago they gave you a city (Bozeman, MT). They did do this listening age thing, but I think my result is just due to me trying to listen to new artists so I can attend cheaper concerts.

Taylor Swift drops out of the top 5 list after 5 years running. Sons of the East makes it on for 4 years running, and takes the top spot. I very amusingly listen to Hans Zimmer a ton. And I finally started getting into audiobooks. Mostly nonfiction, though I did do Foundation as well.

Music (Concerts)

Alright the goal was 13, and I hit 15! I also finally made it to Forest Hills Stadium for the first time. AI image generation sucks… Not sure why Webster Hall is mapped twice and incorrectly…

The Vaccines, Hans Zimmer, barrett / Max McNown, FINNEAS, Sawyer Hill, Brenn!, Young The Giant & Lumineers, Gimme Gimme Disco, Caamp, Chappell Roan, Sons of the East, The Wombats, Josh Ritter, barrett, and harf. It was funny, we went to the merch table at barrett when he headlined and asked for the family honey (which we had received the first concert when he was the opener), and they were so surprised we knew about it they just gave us one for free! Also, it should be noted that I really like the website setlist.fm. Sort of the Wikipedia of concerts. Super helpful to understand when a concert really starts and the order of the songs. I contributed for barrett and a couple of others too to do my part. Chappell Roan in the rain in Forest Hills was really fun. We always recommend Pier 17, though ticket prices have started increasing a bit high (writing this in 2026, it looks like we won’t go to a concert there this year).

Last year I spent $1,051… This year I spent $1,528. That’s on 31 tickets, about $51 per. The cheapest was a day of ticket to Gimme Gimme Disco, which I was convinced wouldn’t sell out. Got it for $13. Most expensive was Hans Zimmer at the Barclays Center for $169. I had a good time there, but I will admit, it’s a bit unsettling that the vibe is kind of Hans and his old friends and a bunch of young female musicians… his music is great, but it’s a little suspicious.

Film

I’ll go into this category more in the film and tv section of the website. I was trying to watch fewer than 104, and ended with 89. Trying to watch better movies, not more (in 2023 it was 90…). This also only counts new films, not anything I’ve seen before. Read about the Top 10 here.

Television

Over on the silver screen, I was trying to watch fewer than 52, and ended with 59. This also only counts new television shows, not any rewatches. Read about the Top 5 here.

Sporting Events

I just surpassed the goal of 13, going to 13 games (counting double headers as only one (4 double headers)). Almost entirely Basketball and Soccer. Mainly centered around MetLife Stadium (5) and Madison Square Garden (3). The Club World Cup (3) and NCAA Basketball (4) were the main events.

The best one was probably UConn v. Florida. Great top 10 matchup that had an electric crowd (albeit hearing Gen Z college kids’ banter was a bit disheartening). Second best was probably seeing my first SEC / real college football game, with a night game in Columbia, for the Gamecocks v. the Wildcats. Great atmosphere, I wish private equity and capitalism hadn’t come for college sports. Not so quick tangent:

Stadiums need large low amenity areas with guaranteed cheap seats for the energy. College sports are great at this. Huge swathes of stadiums are designated for students at discounted prices. William-Brice stadium where South Carolina plays football has a capacity of ~77,500, with about 15,000 seats dedicated to students. These tickets are free or for a nominal fee, and there’s even a scheme for the more sports events on campus you attend the higher likelihood you get the football tickets. If I owned a club, I would do a similar scheme.

There are two main issues here over the past few years, that are really both part of the same issue:

  1. The escalating unaffordability of the fan experience

  2. The strategic pivot towards high-income households

It’s not lost on me that the costs of running a sports franchise has increased, and that most are private businesses with the sole purpose of making a profit. Because of that, basically no sports team I’m a fan of gets my unwavering loyalty. Why should they? Regardless, I understand that to compete, they need to increase revenues. And I’m okay with that logic. My issue is with the strategy. Why do high-income people spend exponentially more than the average fan to attend in person? It’s not for some free food or drinks or cushier seat. They can spend far less and get all of that elsewhere for better. Of course, they like the private entrances, better seats, lack of friction, and feeling of superiority, but those features are only valuable if there are longer lines, worse seats, lots of friction, and plenty of other people also attending. If the supply is plentiful, then what’s the point? I’ve sat in luxury suites and great seats plenty of times (I have a job that has some perks), but when the stadium is nowhere near capacity (looking at you NY MLS teams, or a NY Jets or Rangers game with the team playing poorly and already knocked out of meaningful contention for anything) then it doesn’t feel particularly worth it. Especially if I had spent my own money to be there, but in some of these situations, even when it’s free.

It’s a fine balance, and stadiums are a wonderful constant and live market for economics. Prices constantly moving up and down for all sorts of varying reasons. I’m sure the costs to operate a stadium are vast, but you get a captive audience for a pretty long amount of time. Yes, when it comes to construction, the nosebleeds are more expensive per seat to build, since structurally it is more complicated, so I can sort of agree that for new stadiums building as big as possible is a hard sell. But the downsizing of stadiums to have a larger ratio of expensive luxury seats is frustrating. Okay, so again, I totally understand that profit wise it is better to do luxury than the cheap seats. It’s just not the direction I would take it in. There are fundamentally two problems with this strategy.

  1. The assumption is that people will always pay to go to events there (and pay a lot for those luxury seats)

  2. The stadium experience will be better than the broadcast experience.

I would venture to say they would often lose to the comparable food, beverage, and comfort of a home, bar, or restaurant with the broadcast on. So what do they have? The views, sure, but with new schemes like Cosm and Vision Pro, those are becoming more accessible elsewhere. What cannot be replaced? (other than being a celebrity and literally high fiving a player) Unless it’s a fan festival, even a giant bar concept will have significantly fewer fans and thereby, far less noise and atmosphere than the in person experience. Don’t get me wrong, a good bar or viewing party can be fun, but a few hundred people doesn’t compete with thousands. The roar, echo, jeers, and cheers of a stadium give me goosebumps. Collective Effervescence, a theme for me this year (that I write about at the end). It’s all about this. It’s why I allocated more money into this budget line this year. It’s fun, it’s infectious, and it’s the best sales tool for stadiums and they should refocus on it.

Will people always pay to go to your sports events? Maybe, but I’d argue no. My family has season tickets to the NY Jets, and that experience has been getting worse and worse. I could see it getting cut sometime. I went to a NY Rangers game in the second row last month. They had already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Atmosphere was lacking and the stadium wasn’t vibrant. The players could tell, they got bored and started a goalie fight just to keep things interesting.

So here’s the pitch. Build an atmosphere, and you’ll be able to sell corporate / luxury suites. Build an in-person camaraderie. It’s not about making it more expensive, more exclusive, more high end, it’s about giving fans a community. And for people to keep coming back, it needs to be affordable. Basically unless you can have an attendance of 90%+ of your capacity consistently (not tickets sold, I recognize that season tickets and other methods make it seem like ticket sales are solid, and I’m sure doing the group sales like that are far more efficient, though I would hesitate the amount of money you spend on trying to sell tickets at a higher price point, could probably be offset with less marketing and just cheaper prices…) then you’re pricing it too high.

Be grassroots. In economics there’s a term called Crowding Out. It’s when a government starts getting more involved within the market and it affects the businesses / consumers in the market, typically negatively, since it is skewing the supply / demand relationship unnaturally. Stadiums and teams need to stop Crowding Out, step back, and assist their fan bases to create the energy and local tradition that will last. That in turn will build a loyalty you cannot purchase or fabricate, and that comes with long term revenue with time. How do you make those people keep paying higher prices to come back on a week night for a pretty meaningless regular season game? Make sure the energy is there. Without it, luxury sales don’t exactly come easy or pay top dollar. Anyway, I digress.

I spent $1,157 on tickets. 5 were also free (family related events, what can I say, I have a life of privilege). The Club World Cup turned out to be incredibly cheap. I couldn’t convince anyone to go to the first semi-final for $25… but the one I went to was $165 and the final was $300. A wee bit cheaper than the World Cup this year. College basketball is definitely more affordable than professional sports as well.

Shows

I well surpassed the goal of 13, going to 20! Definitely a big year for theater. Boosted by our subscription to the Atlantic Theater Company, which basically is always a hit. Very well produced and well written shows where there are no bad seats.

Kyoto at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse theater was a thoroughly engaging show that was very enjoyable, but way too short of a run. The other great show I must bring up was Oh, Mary. I saw it twice, because it’s a great one to see different leads take on the role. Cole Escola was great, but I think I liked Betty Gilpin’s take even more.

I spent $2,359 on tickets, though there were 6 additional tickets (3 shows) that I purchased for other people. Pretty large increase to $767 form the previous year, but half as many shows that year to be fair.

Separately, I went to the movie theater (AMC Loyalist) 16 times (again)! 8 were originals, so slightly better than previous years. All but two were on Discount Tuesdays. Another year always pushing for the Lincoln Square IMAX theater. I went there 5 times, and the absolute best was F1. Worth it on the big screen with that excellent cinematography and score.

Reading

I only “read” 7 books, my goal was 6. But let’s be clear, most of them were audiobooks. I think that counts? I tried my darndest to retain all the information, but I do think I forget more of it, versus reading. His Very Best (Jimmy Carter), The LSAT Trainer (hey this counts), Everything is Tuberculosis (John Green), Killers of the Flower Moon, All Systems Red, Foundation, Noted on Being a Man, and Say Nothing.

Video Games

My goal was to stay under 182 hours, and I’ve ended at 28 hours. This has something to do with my closest friends moving farther away, no longer having a gaming console, and getting into sports gambling. It would be nice to have them back, but probably for the best not to. I get to write more!

Board Games

I fell short of my goal of 26 games, ending with only 11. Like the above, it’s harder to schedule time to play. I’ll reduce this goal given that it isn’t happening as often anymore. Too bad, it was a fun era of life. Cottage court, maybe we’ll come for you next year!

Educational / Cultural Events / Museums

I only went to 2, my target was 13… I only count local ones too. Unfair when it’s on vacation. So not great. I need to work on this… but this is the second year running where it’s just a few attempts. I simply don’t go to enough.

Health

Unfortunately, I’ve definitely done worse in this section. I stopped tracking sleep and vegetable intake. But who needs that now that I have Neko Health?

Exercise

I fell short of my goal of 364, with only 212. This is a vague catchall bucket of just do some form of exercise. So a particular day may be very light to another. I did play soccer 54 times (13 fewer than 2024). I need to find more games to play in, that’s not enough.

Miles

I ran an estimated 86 miles, 10 miles fewer than the previous year... not good. This is probably still a gross underrepresentation as I only count 1 mile per soccer game I play, but alas, I don’t wear any trackable technology when I exercise, and I’d like to keep it that way.

Raw Fish

Instead of sleeping I started tracking when I eat my favorite food, raw fish. I ate it 96 times. 39 of which was poke, the rest of the time as sushi. I basically always get tuna and salmon. So… probably means I have mercury poison. Still, it’s my favorite food (albeit pasta and sandwiches are up there, but I can’t eat it like I used to with the deteriorating metabolism) and we all die someday.

Alcohol

There is no goal for this one, just a counter. 988 alcoholic beverages. Down 7% from the prior year. Still working on getting this below 2 drinks a day (2.7, so getting closer than previous years). Remember kids, alcohol is a leading cause of cancer.

Sugary Drinks

My goal was to only have 39 this year, but I had 54. That’s an increase from the previous year. Not good, need to be more responsible, but I fear it’s going to get worse because of the need for caffeine this year.

Relationships

Family

Saw them 63 times, more than the goal of 52, but a drop from the previous year.

Hosting

We only hosted 2 parties, our goal was 6. But it was another busy and crazy year. I’ll hold 3 for next year, realistically we’re not going to be able to host as much as we would like.

Consulting

4 engagements, with a goal of 6. I don’t really promote this, so I’ll take it.

Networking

Networked 5 times, with a goal of 13. But let’s be honest, I really hate doing this, and I don’t get much from it currently. I need to be better at connecting with people. I did get a new job last year, and it was through a referral, so I guess it technically worked.

Miscellaneous

Writing (Kwan’s Qualms)

I wanted to write 13 articles this year, and I got to 32! Writing much more than I thought I would, which is great. I need to be more efficient about it (I shouldn’t use AI, but perhaps it can help move some things along). But it’s good regardless. I had a net spent $90.46 on the website, through SquareSpace, but it was offset by referrals to FutureCard, which has been my only revenue from the website thus far. $225.46 cost and $135 in revenue from FutureCard referrals. Too bad that card is dead as of last month. Good bye all revenue!

Year in Pixels (Mood Chart)

It’s hard to summarize your mood in a single color for the day, but I’ve been doing this since 2018, so I figure I’ll keep it rolling.

Year in Pixels (Simplified Chart)

I started this version at the same time. It also helped to get a pretty clean score, by giving 1 point for a good day, 0 points for a neutral day, and a negative 1 point for a bad day. 2025 scored 85, that’s up from previous years of 77, 77, and 79. June, Sol, and November were my happiest months. Saturdays and Sundays are my favorite days, and absolutely stereotypically I hate Mondays apparently. This has stayed generally true most years actually.

My red days were really physiological based. Sickness and injury were basically the cause of 6 of 7 of them. With one being EV charging purgatory hell.

Social Activity Chart

I took these mood charts a step further and just categorized my socializing into types, to see, not only how busy I am, but which people / groups / types of social interactions I prioritize. 55 or 15% of my days I spent alone (or these days, with my partner), which is a decrease from 2024 (20%). I was least busy on Thursdays (71%) and most busy on Saturdays (96%)

Gratitude Journal

Every day I write down five things I’m grateful for. Thankful for. Appreciative of. Here’s the Word Cloud. (this is lightly edited for privacy reasons)

I’ll elaborate on Privilege since it is something I often write; it’s really is a catchall term for how lucky I am to be born into my situation. There are so many factors that I had no control over and that I benefit from still today. Busy Bee is just a term I’ve used for having a full calendar and just doing a lot in life. I suppose the reverse end is Free Time. So clearly both are important to me. I have appreciated spending more time writing for this blog. I wish I could write a longer form thing like a screenplay (I’ve got a couple of ideas), but it feels very daunting, I wouldn’t know how to start.

Qualms

Reverse of gratitude, things that annoy, irk, frustrate, or bother me. I only write 3 down a day. Focus on positivity! Here’s the Word Cloud. (again, this is lightly edited for personal reasons) There’s little surprise that there’s a classic feeling of not having enough money and spending too much. I’ve always had a difficulty managing my cravings and portion control, and I really hate being injured or ill. Work was bothering me a lot, so I’m glad I finally left. Clearly though, I need to get more sleep. Part of it is to not doom scroll on my phone before bed… I also think Overspending might be a bit misleading. It’s probably a combination of Inflation / Capitalism and just buying unnecessary things. I do think I’m pretty responsible with money, and yet I find that a lot of my concern and issues stem from it. And of course, there’s President Trump, who is simply a selfish person who is personally benefitting from the presidency and is normalizing and popularizing the worst parts of America.

This word cloud was generated by Gemini, which I find to be getting too comfortable with hallucinations. Like what is Dialsbaling or Capinoucism?

Restaurants

I’ve gotten worse about tracking this information. But I’ll just skip to the ones I want to recommend the most (anything with an asterisk is pictured below):

  • Abuqir

    • We beat the New York Times here, and thank goodness. It has limited seating and was already packed. Best calamari I’ve ever had, delicious fish, top shelf rice.

  • Astoria Seafood

    • One of our three go to restaurants we take people when they visit Astoria. Just a great time and vibe.

  • Lilia’s

    • The Italian Broccoli and some fish starter that isn’t listed on the menu currently, were just spectacular.

  • Thursday Kitchen

    • We really enjoyed everything we ordered, a fun small plate medley.

  • Sappe

    • Went twice. Lines brutal and the place is a bit too crowded and loud, but the food is good. We always get the crying tiger, but there’s so much to choose from.

  • Levant*

    • Delicious, but it’s a low atmosphere take out spot. Many leftovers to take home as well.

As for restaurants during our travels that were memorable:

  • New Orleans

    • Bug Out Boils* during crawfish season are delicious. Highly recommend the viet-cajun sauce.

  • Colombia

    • Ceviche everywhere really. We really like the aguachile ceviche at La Deriva Rooftop Bar, our hotel’s rooftop / poolside restaurant.

    • Do not go to La Chagra*. It’s a white woman tourism trap pitched as an authentic Amazonian indigenous food experience… it kinda is, but it’s not exactly delicious. Larva and ants are not exactly what I want in fine dining.

  • Texas

    • Bordo’s in Marfa is a great spot, we went a few times we liked it that much.

    • Viva Cow Dog* in Alpine was pretty darn tasty too.

    • We really liked Canje in Austin as well.

  • Poland

    • Zapiekanka* (open faced sandwiches) are just a weirdly tasty delight.

    • Pyzy Flaki Gorące* was my favorite place during our trip in Warsaw. It was amazing and very friendly.

  • Chicago

    • Armitage Alehouse is a great find if you’re ever in the neighborhood.

  • Bahamas

    • A few years now, and we always go to the Cricket Club. Great spot.

2026’s restaurant list will likely just be World Cup related.

Trips

Went on 13 trips with a goal of 13.

Spent $24,000 on trips with about $3,000 of that coming through points and miles. Remember if you’re not getting at least 2 cents back in some way per dollar spent you should get a better card / scheme. And because I like some financial transparency. Here’s the length of each trip and the cost of it. Keep in mind, anything with an asterisk, I didn’t have to pay for accommodations. Prices below are for one person unless otherwise stated.

  • Bahamas*

    • $612 for 3 nights

  • New Orleans (Mardi Gras)*

    • $977 for 8 nights

  • Colombia (wedding)

    • $3,839 for 8 nights ($628 via jetBlue miles)

  • Texas (wedding)

    • $2,979 for 9 nights

  • Chicago

    • $1,634 for 3 nights (for two people)

  • New Orleans*

    • $866 for 9 nights

  • Netherlands / Poland (wedding)

    • $3,905 for 12 nights

  • Greenville*

    • $417 for 7 nights

  • Las Vegas

    • $1,532 for 4 nights

  • Columbia*

    • $509 for 2 nights

  • New Orleans*

    • $453 for 6 nights

Top ten highlights from the trips last year, in no particular order:

  1. Seeing City by Michael Heizer in Nevada was an incredibly cool experience.

  2. Marfa’s Chinati Foundation was worth the effort to get out there. It houses some really great art.

  3. We had a brutal heat wave while we were in Texas, but had some great swimming holes to cool off. The pool at the Hotel Saint George was great, Barton Springs in Austin was a top tier municipal amenity, the apartment building pool at our Sonder Austin stay (RIP), and the Langford Hot Springs of the Rio Grande in Big Bend Texas (picture on the left) were very relaxing.

  4. Becky and Matthew’s Wedding in Amsterdam was beautiful and a wonderful night out on the town (video below)

  5. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is insane and chaotic and just a wild period of time for that town. I don’t know how an out of towner can even pull it off. Thank goodness we have a hook up and they just curate our whole schedule. I particularly like all the themes of the parades. Wear yellow, be a monster, incorporate beans, all sorts of nonsense. It’s a good time for a good city. It was too bad I was slightly under the weather the whole time with not enough rest to ever actually recover… (picture second from the left)

  6. Zuiderkrib at Pier + Horizon was one of the most peaceful and unique stays we’ve done in awhile. A small tiny house trailer on the polder’s water edge. It was just beautiful and enjoyable. (pictured second from the right, you can see it in the distance)

  7. Auschwitz-Birkenau was a powerful experience, and I encourage anyone to go visit.

  8. Attending a friend’s Prom themed birthday (because they never went) and capping it off with a Pope Leo named Chicago hot dog while in a tuxedo was kind of amazing.

  9. Our White Lotus entrance to the Sofitel Baru Calablanca (we had paid for them to organize our transportation from the airport to the hotel and what was supposed to be a shuttle ferry turned out to essentially be a private boat, with a very uneven ratio of employees to passengers, picture is on the right). Followed by three relaxing days on a beach, where I basically read an entire LSAT study book.

  10. Laughing with my friends on a Bahamanian island beach where we didn’t pay to interact with the pigs, so we were forced to huddle together under some trees while it suddenly rained on us.

Finances

Performance

I missed my target financial plan by 5%. Better than last year at 14%. The main drivers:

  • LSAT and Law School Application was a large driver, mainly because it was entirely unbudgeted and not part of the original plan.

  • An Extra Local Weekend Away Upstate was a step beyond our typical plan to try and get away from the city more often. More and more friends have relocated to Connecticut, Berkshires, Hudson Valley, Poconos, and Philadelphia (the sixth borough). So we find ourselves popping over and checking it out. Plus we spend time in these relatively local markets with a vacation spending mentality and attitude.

    Superlatives

  • Most Frequented Vendor

    • Lyft. 36 times for a total of $959

  • Most Revenue Generated

    • Amazon. $1,152 across 23 purchases, despite moral misgivings its convenience and pricing are unparalleled.

  • Worst Business Strategy Move

    • Poke Burrito was my top restaurant last year, but after they removed their 10% discount, my spend there had steeply dropped off… and now I no longer go. Worth it? Maybe, now they’re missing out on $310 of spend annually.

  • Most Frequented Restaurants

    • Piki Poke has a comparable product and price and is significantly closer and easier to get to. 15 times.

  • Most Spending Outside the Tristate Area / Internet

    • Colombia leads the way with $3,718 in spending.

  • Most Expensive Single Purchase

    • Three nights at the Sofitel Baru Calablanca for $998.

  • Most Expensive Non-Travel Purchase

    • Two tickets to see Andrew Scott in a one man version of Vanya $738 at the Lucille Lortel theater (we did see Steven Spielberg and Woody Harrelson there).

  • Most Expensive Meal

    • Le Bernardin for a celebration. It cost $700 for two and drinks. Food was great, but it was overrated and overpriced.

Random Facts

  • I bought 18 jerseys for myself and 6 jerseys as gifts.

  • 52% of my purchases were done on the Bilt credit card. My clear favorite. Cash was only done 10 times (excluding laundry). Venmo transacted a whopping 79 purchases.

    Spending by Category

  • Here is my spending, broken out by category, again Squarespace really limits what you can do visually with charts, so the best I could do labeling wise was to just do them in order of spend. Food on top.

Themes

There are three themes that I felt defined my 2025 that I’d like to dive into more. What defines it, why I chose it, key events, and how I’ll move forward with it into 2026.

Kludgeocracy

  • It refers to a system of government or policymaking characterized by extreme, dysfunctional complexity, where public problems are addressed through an accumulation of clumsy patches, indirect mechanisms, and temporary workarounds rather than coherent, direct solutions.

  • In Trump’s second term we really are seeing how fragile and messy the government and US system is. How it’s less an airtight clearcut system, and that we’ve been operating with a lot more honor, decorum, and respect than actual rules. Trump’s great at a few things, one of which is loopholes (as proven by his many years of effective tax avoidance), and he is proving that perhaps we need to reset some of our systems and modernize the language to be more thoughtful and well designed.

  • The Department of Government Efficiency was created in January and by November it was disbanded. Its stated objective was to modernize information technology and maximize productivity within the federal government. It’s something that I would agree with on paper, but my goodness were they just horrible at it. The US Government Accountability Office published a report in mid 2026 that DOGE’s Wall of Receipts claimed $110 billion in savings, but only had solid support for about 4% of that…

  • In 2026, I hope to participate more in the rebuilding and strengthening of our country. I don’t quite know how, but it’s clear that it isn’t as strong or as infallible as I would like.

Collective Effervescence

  • It is a sociological concept describing the heightened energy, shared excitement, and feeling of unity that arises when a group of people gather simultaneously around a common purpose, action, or ritual.

  • Post pandemic, it’s something I noticed I found myself very drawn to. Not only does it create a sense of community, along with selfishly just feels emotionally very good and is incredibly cathartic. It makes you feel small, but in a healthy way. Like being in the mountains or looking at outer space. It can be good to recognize your insignificance and provide perspective to your own issues and problems. Makes them easier to overcome.

  • I went to nearly 50 concerts, sporting events, and live shows. Let’s expand collective effervescence to just watching sports as a group in bars or weddings or other group celebrations, and I’m sure it’s many more. It’s probably one of the best reasons to live in New York City. The access, the availability, the plethora of events on any given night. For a city not known for its community, it actually allows you to connect with people a lot more than you think. The reverse angle of this is that it can be incredibly expensive, but I’d say that just means you have to focus on alternatives.

  • In 2026, I hope to go to many events, but try and be more cost conscious about them. Just because it’s a top billed event doesn’t mean it actually will translate into a top billed experience. It’s more important that it’s enjoyable for myself.

Townie

  • It is a permanent resident or native of a specific municipality, most commonly a college or university town, who is not affiliated with the academic institution.

  • Now replace that definition’s university portion with New York’s transplant / immigrant energy, and you get the vibe I’m sort of feeling. And I’ve extended that to more of a feeling and personality type. I was born in New York, raised in Connecticut, and have been back in the city for 10 years now. But I’ve never been far from suburban home. I’ve now been coopting the term townie to better describe my personality. I’m not nearly as Type A, risk taking, bold, or “main character” energy that many transplants generally come with.

  • The most specific example in 2025 that comes to mind is finally leaving CityMD (Summit Health / VillageMD). I had been at the company for almost 13 years. It was my first job out of college and defined my adulthood. For all of its benefits and positives it has given me, it still felt like the “townie” move. It wasn’t bold of me to take it or stay. I was more reactive than proactive. As I interviewed and neared and eventually took my exit, I found myself deeply contemplating my personality type and what my natural (and healthier) state would be.

  • In 2026, I hope to be bolder. I want to work harder, take more risks, and network / meet more people. I too often take the easy way out. I should try and challenge myself, put myself in uncomfortable situations, and try and take more space.

Kwan Ng
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