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2025 Annual Report: <em>Hyper</em>-routine

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Back in 2014 and 2015, the theme of my annual reports were “Focus” and “Hyper-focus” respectively. Ten years on, it feels like a similar progression happened between 2024 and 2025. Where 2024 was about “routine” for the first time in a decade, 2025 was a double-down on that routine.

I’m now two years into my current role & company; Lindsay is at the tail end of her PhD. We had no grand adventures like trips to India, no COVID-like illness nor shattered ankles. No two-week working vacation by the ocean. We settled in and put our heads down. In the end, it might have backfired, but it was the very end of the year before we figured that out.

Even flying to Moncton became a near-routine commute. I flew there nine times over the year, sometimes tacking on weekends to visit family, like for my mom’s 75th birthday, my dad’s 82nd, or Thanksgiving. It really has been a nice bonus in this role that I can spend more time with family. Brother #2 and Sister-In-Law #1 even drove over for dinner one night. And, as with last year, work brought me to two more Canadian cities, one of which — Edmonton — I’d not visited before. Because these trips are always planned for the middle of winter, I’m not sure cities like Edmonton and Saskatoon are making the best first impressions though. Anyway, work also had me back in PEI for a couple days, and any time I can be by the ocean, I’m pretty happy.

As far as non-work trips, there was a big one and three small ones, with all three small ones being in in Ontario. In the summer, to celebrate my 50th birthday, we spent a couple of days in Elora and a couple in Niagara-On-The-Lake. In the fall, Lindsay and I drove up to Ottawa to see Patrick and attend a concert of Stardew Valley music performed by an orchestra. We even managed to squeeze in brunch with CBGB whilst there, which I loved. Then, a few weekends later, we spent a weekend at Langdon Hall, just outside of Toronto, enjoying the food & fireplace & changing colours.

The big trip was something I never thought I’d do: a cruise. A river cruise, that is, down the Rhine river. My mom had always wanted to do something like that, so brother #1 and I took her. She saw Amsterdam for the first time. I suspect it was her first time in both Switzerland and Germany too, other than transferring through Frankfurt airport. It was also my first time in Switzerland, since we’re not counting airport transfers. So, technically, Switzerland is the lone pin I added to my ‘countries I’ve visited’ map this year, even if we were only there long enough to walk into Basel for a cup of coffee.

Back in Toronto, insufferable as it’s becoming, we did manage to find a few moments of joy with friends: being hosted by Upasana, hosting Ricky + Olivia, drinks at East End Vine with K-L, a visit by brother #2 and fam, a Wet Leg concert, drinks w/ Mike & Heather, a visit from Patrick & Maeve, and a day trip out to Guelph to drop off my mom and see my aunt + uncle + cousin. No plays or other big events, though — gone are the days when I was traipsing from one film festival to another.

We tried a bunch of new restaurants in Toronto (The York Club with Brian & Brock; Nobu w/ T-Bone; Alobar Yorkville; Bar ARDO; Chula Taberna with Kirsten; Hastings Snack Bar; Amber Kitchen; Bar Pompette and Martine’s with Ricky + Olivia; and Wood Owl with Patrick & Maeve) and elsewhere (Les Brumes Du Coude in Moncton with brother #2 and sister-in-law #1; Dalvay By The Sea in PEI with colleagues; Raphael, TOWN, and Arlo in Ottawa; Langdon Hall in Cambridge; Bar Edicola in Montreal; and Mystic in Halifax). Lots of old favourites too: Carisma on our own and again a few weeks later with Kirsten; Ricky + Olivia for work, with M+LK, and just us; Cluny; Jacobs & Co. w/ Dan & Abtin; Volo; d|bar with Matt; La Paella with brother #2 & fam; Elora Mill Inn; and The Manx, an old Ottawa favourite.

Less an event than continued progress: Bianca continued on her cute, cuddly journey with us. We love her and she loves us. Sigh. Swoon.

One other continuation from something I started last year: making up a numeric theme to get myself to accomplish some stuff this year. Whereas last year I went with a 3-6-9-12 theme, this year I just went with a straight 1 though 7.

  1. Try to have lazy lie-in mornings on Sundays (aka the first day of the week)
    • This one was subjective so it’s hard to say I did it, or didn’t, but I tried. And succeeded a few times.
  2. Of the 11 Michelin starred/recognized restaurants east of Yonge, hit the two I haven’t tried
    • Done! I hit both Puerto Bravo and Wood Owl this year, the latter just before Michelin announced a new grouping that will go on my plan for next year.
  3. Get a trì tattoo (that’s the number three in Gaelic; both the number and the language are meaningful for me)
    • Done! First tattoo, in the books.
  4. Make at least one improvement in each of the four remaining main zones of the house that we didn’t get to last year
    • Not done. I only did one of three. I’m not doing this one next year as I can’t execute this one on my own.
  5. Go to my fifth Habs game in Montreal
    • Done! They lost again though. 😦
  6. Plan a trip to my sixth continent
    • Not done, but started — we have the outline of a plan to South America in the works.
  7. Read seven books
    • Done! Wrapped up the last one in the final days of the year.

This hyper-routine brings with it a slight sense of foreboding — a decade ago, after two years of feeling focused and then hyper-focused, 2016 brought about complete upheaval. As much as I like and welcome change, I don’t know if I need a repeat of that chaos in 2026.

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Annual reports from past years:

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Cover photo by Planeta

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