2024 Year End Retro

2024 is almost over and wow, what a year. Definitely not what I expected when it started but then again, when does life ever go according to plan?

The hardest thing this year was having to move my kids back to the Philippines. That really sucked. We tried making things work here in Singapore but it just wasn’t happening the way we hoped. Had to make the tough call to send them home. Still feels weird saying that but it was the right choice for everyone. Sometimes being a parent means making decisions that hurt but are necessary.

It taught me I can adapt better than I thought. I mean, I always knew life throws curveballs but actually dealing with them? Different story. I’m getting better at rolling with the punches.

We went to Japan earlier this year and man, that place is something else. Can’t really put my finger on what it was but everything just felt right there. Now I catch myself randomly browsing job sites in Tokyo. Not planning anything serious but the thought keeps popping up. Maybe someday.

Oh yeah, I finally ran a marathon. Been talking about doing that before I hit 40 for years. Funny thing is once I started training, it wasn’t really about hitting that goal anymore.

Had a health scare earlier in the year. Heart wasn’t looking good on some tests and that freaked me out big time. Started running in March just to do something about it. Used some random coaching app, started with short runs. Worked my way up slowly through 10Ks, half marathons, then somehow ended up crossing the finish line of a full marathon.

But it became more than just getting healthier. It was proving to myself I could stick with something difficult. Plus running turned into this weird form of therapy. Helped me deal with all the stress and anxiety from everything else going on.

Tech wise, spent a lot of time with Go this year. Actually shipped some apps with it which felt good. Made me think about moving away from JavaScript for certain projects. Nice to try different approaches to solving problems.

Also dove deeper into Terraform and AWS. Infrastructure stuff used to intimidate the hell out of me but now I actually enjoy it. Weird how that works.

The biggest change has been how much tooling has improved for developers. LLMs and various automation tools are actually useful now, not just hype. Really changing how I work day to day. Want to keep exploring this stuff and see how it can help me and my family long term.

Next year feels different somehow. Can’t explain it but I have this feeling big changes are coming. Not sure what exactly but something good.

Grateful for this year though. My family put up with all my random decisions and stress. My friends listened to me complain and worry about everything. Thank you for that.

2025, let’s see what you’ve got.