Ricard Torres 📷 (@ricard.ricard.social.ap.brid.gy)

38 I love blogging these yearly posts as I get ~~older~~ wiser. It’s so nice to go back and see what was going on last year, what I thought of my life, and so on. This 2025 started with a blast 🚀 I went to South Korea in February. Lived through the coldest I’ve ever been in my life. Some days, walking around in -12ºC! This is not something you will ever see in Barcelona. It was a wonderful experience and even though I said I wouldn’t do it again, the longer the time goes on, the more I don’t hate the idea of experiencing it again 🥶 This 2025 was way calmer in terms of travel, although equally busy. I visited Rome for the first time, and I’m flying to Portugal today (yes, we have a Haidong Gumdo seminar there this weekend). This year, I accomplished a huge milestone: after 19 years, I tested and **got promoted to 5th DAN** in Haidong Gumdo. The Korean art of the sword I teach. **It’s an incredible achievement** ; not many practitioners in Europe have reached this grade. It’s still sinking in. ## What’s next? 🥁 I can’t complain. After more than 1 year of drum classes I’ve started to **play as a drummer** with other people. We’re starting a band. It’s challenging and fun. Let’s see where this goes. 🏸 I’m still **playing badminton** each Saturday, with my eyes set on playing in more tournaments next year. It’s a physical challenge, I’m 38! But I’m in better shape than some other younger people 😏 ✈️ History is bound to repeat itself, they say… I had totally forgotten about my birthday last year. In the 37 blog post, I told you I had bought plane tickets to South Korea in 2025… I’m here today to tell you I’ve fallen for it, again 🙊 I’m weak 🫠 I’ve bought plane tickets to **Japan for March 2026** 🙈 ✈️ 🇯🇵 For months, I have been sharing photos from my 2023 and 2024 trips on Mastodon and Instagram (yes, I still have photos that need post-processing, there are just too many!). The memories are so great when I see the photos, I want to live them again. To safely get lost with my camera again, to enjoy amazing food… all without a worry in the world 📸 🤐 I don’t want to spoil it too much, but this upcoming 2026 trip includes all-new areas of Japan I haven’t seen yet. For this **5th Japan trip** , I will attempt to visit some of the “ _12 original Japanese castles_ “. More on that another time 😉 Thank you for reading, and happy birthday to me 🥳 Ricard https://ricard.blog/personal/38/