2022 is almost over an wow. It’s been a ride. Some highlights:

  • Celebrated my first anniversary with my wife in NYC at a michelin star restaurant.
  • Wife is pregnant with our first child
  • Moved cities
  • Traveled to Amsterdam and attended my first ever Blender conference
  • Got caught in a lightening storm while camping at 12,000ft in Colorado. Also stared a black bear in the face from ~30yds away at night (neither of which I’d recommend)

An a bunch more.

I don’t mean to curate this list to gloat, rather just jot down a list of cool things I did as a reminder that life is actually awesome. I struggle with depression, and general… aloofness? It’s part of who I am, and it is what it is. So I’m writing to preserve memories, and remind myself that life is actually really amazing, and worth living.

Things I’ve learned in 2022

  1. Reading is good. Everyone should read more. I try to read a lot, and I need to read even more. I find that reading engages the brain, and puts me into a pensive sort of mood. Kinda like a flow state.

  2. Always be willing to help and teach someone! I think this is one of the best symbiotic relationships there is. The ability to help someone out not only increases their understanding, but also re-enforces the concept. It’s a win-win. Oh, and it also helps forge relationships. Seriously, especially in the business world. People will remember who helped them out, and not only return, but also send other people to you for help. This is a really great way to increase your value prop in an org

  3. I really hate conflict. I’m a 9 on the Myers-Briggs scale. I’m known as “the Peacemaker”. I cherish peace with all my heart. I don’t care how many men, women, and children I need to kill to get it… er wait, not that kind of Peacemaker.

  4. I have way to many irons on the back burner. I recently learned there is a Turkish idiom “monkey appetite”, which describes someone who gets excited by everything, and kinda just bounces around from cool thing to cool things. This is me to some extend. Tho, instead of bouncing around… I just keep it as anm open browser tab. Several people have told me the amount of tabs I have open scares them.

  5. The C language isn’t that bad. I mean, it is, but also it isn’t. Learning more about how things were done 20ish years ago is cool, and it makes me appreciate how evolved our tools are now.

  6. Audio books are great for Walking / Running.

  7. The aisle seat is way better than the window seat on an airplane. I’m tallish, and being able to stick one leg out, and get a little more legroom makes a big difference.

Things I hope for in 2023

  1. To write more. Writing helps with thinking, and vice versa. I should do more of it… I guess publish my writing too. Kinda like this post

  2. Get even more involved in the Blender community. So far it’s been amazing, and I hope to be a ble to do even more

  3. Run more. I used to run a lot, and it was great. I want to get back to that

  4. Get super freaking good at data structures and algorithms. Like, just the best.

  5. Publish a childrens book.

  6. Build my own ray tracing engine.

  7. Drink more water, and either more or less Coffee…

and… so much more :D

I’ll get there… someday