seankelly's space

2025 in Review

2025 was quite a memorable year! I'll summarize my top 5 in a few categories to just capture the best of the best.

Memories

  1. We got married!! We got our wedding photos done earlier this year in Korea and got married on our own in front of a Lincoln memorial here in DC. 2025_01_04_153636
  2. I moved from Seoul to DC to work at the Pentagon, and my first day back in America after a few years away felt so good.
  3. When I was freediving with barracudas in Palawan, I never felt so stress-free and alive.
  4. We bought our first home in NoVA IMG_20251127_172532
  5. There are too many great memories to count with my Korean friends as I finished up my graduate school time there, so I picked our final night out at a rooftop bar under Seoul Tower. I miss these friends. 2025_06_23_073152

Books read

Most of these were not published in 2025, but I read them this year and they're worth recommending.

  1. Essence of Decision by Graham Allison - It's a super readable case study of the Cuban Missile Crisis that shows how big foreign-policy outcomes are shaped not just by “rational leaders,” but also by bureaucratic politics and organizational routines. Its main idea is the three-model lens for how decisions actually get made: rational actor, organizational process, and bureaucratic politics. It gets at the core at why decision-making is messy, constrained, and often path-dependent rather than purely strategic.
  2. The Emergency by George Packer - the hardcover version of this book is particularly nice to read (something about this paper?). Anyway, it's a fiction novel from a staff writer at The Atlantic and it really hits a nerve with what's going wrong in America these days.
  3. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - I haven't read much fiction, yet alone fantasy in recent years, but this was a great detour back to the genre I used to love so much. I'm reading book 2 of the series now in short bursts before bed.
  4. Mythos by Stephen Fry - I'm slowly prepping for The Odyssey movie to come out in 2026, so I'm reading Stephen Fry's take on the classic greek myths. I've also tried listening to it, but Fry's voice instantly puts me to sleep (a high compliment!), so I read the beautifully illustrated hardcover instead.
  5. Getting Things Done by David Allen - a classic productivity book, but it honestly made a huge difference to me at work. I was getting overwhelmed by the sheer scale of emails, meetings, and context-switching I had to do all day at work, and this helped me regain control.

Places traveled

  1. Acadia National Park, Maine - Yoomin had never been to Maine, so we went up for a few days of lobster, kayaking, and enjoying the beautiful scenery up there. 2025_07_16_154449
  2. Singapore - I went to Singapore in February purely to eat as much as possible. I watched a bunch of food-focused youtube videos, took two food tours, and went nuts. I must've gained 10 pounds on this trip! 2025_02_10_123904
  3. Palawan, Philippines - I wanted a break from the harsh winter in Seoul, so I hopped on a flight to Palawan where I spent a week snorkeling, spear-fishing, sleeping outdoors, and eating the best fresh food of my life. 2025_01_18_094058 2025_01_14_190620 2025_01_13_163832
  4. Taipei, Taiwan - I took a short trip to Taipei in June and am so glad I went. Who knows how much longer we'll be able to travel freely here... 2025_06_05_172140 2025_06_05_184909
  5. Tokyo, Japan - I've been to Japan many times in recent years, but this time was focused in Tokyo for an Olmsted dinner and a trip with my friend Matt who was visiting me in Korea. 2025_04_12_211526 2025_05_31_185334

Meals consumed

  1. Boat food in Palawan - I'm not usually a big fish eater, but the fresh fish and other dishes our crew put together on the boat galley was pure heaven. I never ate so well as that week on the boat. 2025_01_15_132532
  2. I went to Suwon (south of Seoul) with my visiting friend and we had Suwon style galbi (short ribs)...I left that meal feeling so satisfied and I wish I could go back! 2025_04_04_134837(2)
  3. Tsukemen in Tokyo never fails me. This particular place might be the best tsukemen I've had, and my bar is very high. 2025_06_01_162139
  4. I heard about this pineapple bun in a Taipei night market and had to try it. I can't even describe how incredible this pastry was with some fresh cold ice cream nestled inside. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 2025_06_05_214341
  5. After moving back to America, we did end up finding a Korean BBQ place that might even beat out most places I ate in Korea for this style of meal. It's called Seoul Prime and it happens to be really close to our house. We already know the next time we're going 😋 2025_10_11_174002

Movies & TV

  1. Andor Season 2
  2. One Battle After Another
  3. Sinners
  4. Slow Horses Season 5
  5. F1

Long form articles

Long-form journalism matters more than ever and I highly recommend subscribing to some traditional publications. These articles slow down the news cycle in a world optimized for hype, outrage, and algorithms.

  1. Wikipedia is Resilient Because it is Boring by Josh Dzieza - The world’s largest encyclopedia became the factual foundation of the web, but now it’s under attack.
  2. GDP by Oliver Kim - We really don’t know how good we have it.
  3. The Populist Phantom by Larry M. Bartels - Democracy erodes from the top...
  4. The Future Is Too Easy by David Roth - There is something unstable at the most basic level about any space with too much of (waves broadly around) this happening in it.
  5. How Social Media Shortens Your Life - Social media doesn't literally shorten your life, but it steals your time and messes up our perception of it.

Finally, ChatGPT jumped on the bandwagon and did a "2025 wrapped." It summarized my year of AI use with the following image: “Still Life with NATO Binder and Coffee Ring” – ChatGPT, 2025