Blog Archive: December 2025
Gateway of India, Mumbai
| Travel guides | 16 seen
I first visited the Gateway of India at the end of December 2025, during our three-week trip to India. We spent only a few short days in Mumbai, and this stop was not planned in any deep or academic way. We arrived from The Lalit Hotel by Uber — roughly a 28 km drive, costing under 700 Indian rupees. At that point, I had only a vague idea of what the place was, and almost no sense of its symbolic weight.
At first glance, it felt like another grand colonial monument by the sea. Busy, touristy, loud. But things changed quickly.
After taking a private boat trip from the harbor — the kind that locals casually offer — and seeing Mumbai’s waterfront from the water, the perspective shifted. Approaching the city from the Arabian Sea makes the Gateway feel less like a monument and more like a threshold. Reading the inscription on the arch, standing beneath the basalt structure, there was a strangely strong energy to the place — layered, unresolved.
Only later did I fully connect the historical dots. That made the feeling stronger, not weaker.
The Gateway of India…
Road to a $25,000 Stock Portfolio with Options Trading
| Options trading | 35 seen
With the new year of 2026 fast approaching, I’ve decided to start another challenge.
This one is deliberately smaller than my previous ambitions of building a $100K or even a $1M portfolio. Not because those goals are impossible, but because this time I want something more contained, measurable, and—hopefully—easier to execute with discipline.
By the way, I should clarify one thing. I first reached a $25,000 net worth back in 2019.
Nevertheless, my current net worth is well above $25,000. The challenge here is not about net worth in general, but specifically about building a $25,000 stock portfolio. At the moment, my stock portfolio is still below that level, which is why this goal remains relevant and worth pursuing.
The target: a $25,000 stock portfolio built primarily through options trading.
I’m starting this challenge at the end of 2025 with a stock portfolio valued at $10,450. That already represents 41.86% of the $25K goal, so the gap is meaningful but not extreme.
The timeline I’m aiming for is 2–3 years.
Could this be achieved in a single year? Technically, yes. Practically, doubling the portfolio in 2026…
Week 37 / NVDA & BMY: Portfolio Up +1.11% as We Head from Tbilisi to India
| | 39 seen
As of December 19, 2025, our covered-call stock portfolio has grown by an additional 1.11% and reached $10,465. It’s genuinely exciting to be above $10K for the fourth week in a row. I was expecting to fall under $10K this week as volatility kicked in, but the result is better than expected.
Year-to-date, we’re up 33.73%, outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin (+16.26%). With just one calendar week left in the year, it looks like this is shaping up to be one of the best-performing years for the stock market in recent memory.
Besides activities in financial markets, 0ur kiddo wrapped up Term 1 today, and we enjoyed a lovely Christmas concert at her school in Tbilisi - just before we head to Mumbai and Goa, India, for the next three weeks.
During the week, as volatility picked up, I rolled the NVDA credit spread out and down. While today, I opened a new BMY credit spread and used part of the credit received to buy one additional share for our dividend stock portfolio—a small but meaningful contribution.
Current positions
…Week 36 / Defensive Roll on SHELL, New NVDA Weekly Spread
| | 76 seen
As of December 12, 2025, our covered-call stock portfolio has grown by an additional 1.12% and reached $10,350. It’s genuinely exciting to be above $10K for the third week in a row.
Still, I’ve been in the stock market too long to rule out a possible pullback in the upcoming weeks.
Year-to-date, we’re up 27.64%, outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin (+17.18%).
As usual, we made no major moves throughout the week. Except I decided to roll our position in European SHELL stock down and out, buying back the 31 puts expiring on December 19, 2025 and selling new puts expiring on February 17, 2026. This adjustment brought in a small additional credit of EUR 7, while improving our downside protection by roughly EUR 200. As long as SHELL trades above 29, we should be fine.
Looking at the 50- and 200-day moving averages, the EUR 29 level appears to be a solid support area. Let’s see how well it holds over a longer time frame, though.
As our previous NVDA credit spread expired worthless, and today we opened a new weekly NVDA credit spread. I also used a small portion of the options premium to buy an additional 0.1…
Week 35 / NVDA Spreads + McDonald’s Buys: Covered-Call Portfolio Hits $10,235
| | 120 seen
As of December 5, 2025, our covered-call stock portfolio has grown by an additional 1.65% and reached $10,235. It’s genuinely exciting to be above $10K for the second week in a row.
Still, I’ve been in the stock market too long to rule out a possible pullback in the upcoming weeks.
Year-to-date, we’re up 31.87%, outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin (+17.41%).
As usual, we made no major moves throughout the week. At the start of the week, we bought 0.1 share of MCD - we have a tradition of buying 0.1 McDonald’s whenever the kiddo talks us into junk food. I’ll admit we ordered McD more than once this week, but 0.1 share is still a decent addition, and we now hold 3.9 MCD shares in our dividend stock portfolio.
During the week, I also tried to figure out whether a McDonald’s stock split could be on the table. From what I can tell, it’s unlikely in the near future. And while the stock should remain a solid, steady name, it’s probably not where we should expect dramatic price growth - so I’m treating this mostly as a side investment.
Our previous NVDA credit spread expired worthless, and today we opened a new…
Mziuri Tennis Club in Tbilisi
| Living in Georgia | 22 seen
Our family has been attending Mziuri Tennis Club in Tbilisi since September 2025, after several recommendations from our BIST community. We signed up our 7-year-old for the junior program, which costs 300 GEL per month. After a few months of regular training, here’s an honest, practical review.
Mizuri Tennis Club is located in Vake, on Nino Ramishvili Street, right next to Mziuri Park and directly opposite the police station.
The most important part: our daughter genuinely likes it. She looks forward to every session, which, for any parent, is the biggest indicator that the environment is good. The coaches work well with kids, balancing discipline with fun. There are several trainers available, and from what we’ve seen, they keep the groups active and engaged.
During the warmer months, classes take place on the outdoor courts. In winter, the club sets up a large inflated dome so training continues indoors without interruption. The setup is simple but effective — warm enough, dry, and perfectly…