• 25 Dec, 2025 *

I found these questions off of Ava’s recent post, and thought they’d be fun to answer! I omitted a few I didn’t feel like answering.

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

Lots of things! I flew without my family for the first time (although with my best friend, who most certainly is family to me), I started my first per-zine thanks to inspiration from Veronique, as well as the many treasures in the Toronto Zine Library.

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

Funnily enough, I actually did! I did keep the 2025 resolutions pretty simple, to be fair.

• I created one thing every day, big or small. A zine, an email, a journal entry, even a grocery list (scrapbooking material!)
• I walked 10,000 steps a day, for the most part. I gave myself grace during the rainy summer days, as well as the peak of the exam season.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope! I feel I’m a bit young for that era of my generation’s lives still..

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, and I’m very grateful for that.

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

I visited a few places! I made two little trips to Montreal to visit my friend this year, in the summer and then for Halloween. I also got to visit Hungary (Budapest, and two local areas where my friend is from), as well as Amsterdam. I was very lucky this year!

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

I would say I’d like to involve my friends and family in my adventures more. A lot of my creative pursuits are singular ventures, like my zine-making and city-exploring. I suppose, although I’m already rich in my friendships, I’d like to invite people into the more vulnerable parts of my life more (even more than I already do online and in my zines, if you can believe that’s possible..)

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

In my artistic side of life, I would say starting my own little artist circuit, both through mailing art to each other, and trading in real life. That is both because of the per-zine and otherwise. I also like to believe that I’ve trusted myself with my own gut instincts more than ever this year, and that’s something worth honouring.

8. What was your biggest failure?

Not picking and choosing my battles with enough accuracy.

9. What other hardships did you face?

Heartbreak, heartbreak again, and the pull between my two alter-egos, the career and the life.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No, lucky again!

11. What was the best thing you bought?

I replaced my crusty old Macbook Pro this year, after a good 8 year run. Funny thing is that it still ran fairly well for it’s long lifespan, just not well enough to handle the heavy architecture softwares. Who knew how great it would be to use a laptop and not have it burn you up in your lap if you have more than 3 Chrome tabs open at once?

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

My brother, who this year started publishing his nature photography. Watching him find his own artistic outlet and follow it through in so many ways has been one of my biggest inspirations.

13. Where did most of your money go?

Printing zines, mailing zines. An expensive hobby, but such a worthwhile one. Travelling on my own dime. Expensive, but so rewarding.

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

Working my architecture internship this summer was one of the most exciting periods of my life so far, and I was excited to go to work every single day, even if it meant waking up at 7am. How thrilling to have one of my first steps into the world of my field?

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

Busy Doin’ Nothing by The Beach Boys in the first half, Montreal by Of Montreal in the second half.

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

Hard to say. Happier in that I’ve found so many new avenues in my life to pursue, saddened by the fleeting moments I’ve had to let go. Richer in experiences and financially thanks to summer work, poorer in spending money on said new avenues. As Seinfeld was in that one episode of the show, life has been turning out pretty even, and that’s all one can hope for.

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

I tend not to wish for things I can’t change. If I really had to say something, I think I would’ve attended more events and such, especially in my uni town. I like to push myself, but sometimes it really is scary to introduce yourself into foreign scenes alone, and not always so easy to bring friends with you!

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

I wish that I stressed myself less on things I can’t change. Regardless of what I just said re. not wishing for things I can’t change, I definitely have a tendency to linger on the past. One saving grace in that vein has been the friends and family that I’ve been so grateful to lean on when I get down.

19. How are you spending the holidays?

With family and my best friend having an intimate little lunch! The rest of the holiday time will be spent catching up with my hometown friends, some of which I haven’t seen in months to years.

20. Did you fall in love this year?

I think so. Hard to tell from a far away lens. Leaning towards yes.

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

Surprisingly, no. One of my greatest shoulders to lean on is excellent at being somewhat of a devil’s advocate. She’s helped me many times to not let my issues with others turn into hate, helped me to see the other perspective. It’s hard to hate someone when you understand where the other person is coming from.

22. What was your favourite show?

Twin Peaks was a huge part of this year’s TV escapades for me. In a less serious vein, I became briefly hooked on The Summer I Turned Pretty in the fall. I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for a romance.

23. What was the best book you read?

What a tough question. Probably Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali. I also returned to Mary Gaitskill’s Somebody with a Little Hammer, which I had previously read in high school. Coming back with a new lens was life-changing.

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

Even though he was technically discovered by me in 2024, I became majorly hooked on Chris Rainbow’s discography this year. 80s synth legend. My all time favourite was Be Like a Woman, although some others like Fly Away and Don’t Take the Night Away also stuck with me.

25. What was your favourite film?

Although they weren’t released this year, I finally got around to watching the Before Sunrise trilogy, and theyt spoke to me deeply. Not only did I have similar experiences in my personal life (to some extent, although doesn’t everyone project themselves onto the media they consume?), but they were simply beautiful portrayals of human connection over long and short periods of time that I hadn’t seen before.

26. What was your favourite meal?

Now that I finally have my own kitchen at school, I’ve been making my own Greek favourites. Some easy meals in regular rotation have been spanakorizo (spinach and rice), avgolemono (chicken soup with egg-lemon sauce), and youvarlakia (relatively the same as avgolemono, but with meatballs rather than chicken. Can you tell I love soup?)

27. What did you want and get?

A wonderful summer job!

28. What did you want and not get?

Some opportunities at school, but it’ll all even out in time!

29. What did you do on your birthday?

I wandered through the streets of Budapest, visited a few churches, and then had a lovely dinner with my best friend where I finally tried Hungarian goulash. It was super delicious!

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

Perhaps some resolution to a few connections that went a bit faulty. Acceptance is a virtue.

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

Kookier than ever. I’ve taken to wearing funky colours more, lots of different textures, and generally a more hectic vibe. I’ve also been more into subtle altering of some of my favourite already owned pieces. My vintage Levi’s messenger bag has been seeing more and more pins fastened, more patches sewn, more memories all around!

32. What kept you sane?

Without a doubt the piano in the Architecture Building of my school. Learning new classical pieces every night is one of the only reprieves I have from my visual pursuits, both in architecture and my personal art. What’s not to love about some piano doodling, anyway? It’s been a really nice feeling as well to be somewhat of a ghost in the building, especially for the masters students as they work away into the night.

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

I’ve been enraptured by Rayne Fisher-Quann’s writing for a few years now, but her essays were definitely a guiding light for me more than ever this year. I just have such an adoration for those who aren’t scared to be vulnerable to the internet void, who aren’t scared to be honest with themselves in this short period of time we have on earth.

34. Who did you miss?

My grandmother, lots of days. Many friends while away at school.

35. Who was the best new person you met?

Someone I only knew for a very short period of time, but reoriented the way that I thought about my life in many ways. I lived something of a fever dream for a short little while, but man, was the chaos worth it.

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

Follow the gut, over and over. Send the regrettable letter, because some will not be regrettable at all.

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

In honour of all of the chaotic ventures I went through this year, here’s a quote I found somewhere online and jotted in my summer journal.

I never regretted acting wild or forward or honest in a situation because the truth surfaces eventually, so you might as well get over it in a state of awareness and love for the craft.

That’s it, really, all I can hope to carry into the new year. Love for the craft, all of it.

One more, for the hell of it.

Joan Didion, On Keeping a Notebook.

I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.

[#internet journal](https://zoeloukia.bearblog.dev/blog/?q=internet journal)