2024: (Personal) Year in Review
This post is really just to serve as a personal time capsule/list of things I did in 2024 that I will likely come back to read in the distant future. If you're reading this and you're not me, thanks for being here!
Job/Career
- Glean: Solutions Engineering Lead, APAC
I've been lucky enough to be put into a position to lead my own small team across APAC which has seen me go from being the only engineer in APAC, to one of 4 across Australia, India, and Japan.
Places I Travelled
I travelled a ton this year. Even though it was mostly all for work, I loved just about every second of it. I was away (almost) every month at some point. If the trip was for work (all except for Bali and Heathcote), I would try my best to add a day either side to explore and make the most of being abroad.
I also managed to hit OneWorld Emerald and Accor Diamond for the first time.
While I'll likely still travel in 2025, I anticipate this to be far less frequent, and more local to Australia: Bittersweet, as I absolutely adored going to both Japan and Singapore frequently.
| Month | Places Visited |
|---|---|
| January | Singapore 💼 |
| February | USA (SF 💼) |
| March | Japan (Tokyo 💼, Yokohama 🌴) |
| April | Singapore 💼 |
| May | Indonesia (Bali 🌴) |
| June | Japan (Fukuoka 🌴, Miyajima/Hiroshima 🌴, Tokyo 💼, Kawaguchi/Fuji-san 🌴) |
| July | - |
| August | Japan (Yokohama 💼, Tokyo 💼), Australia (Brisbane 💼), USA (Lake Tahoe 💼) |
| September | - |
| October | Australia (Sydney 💼) |
| November | Australia (Sydney 💼) |
| December | Australia (Sydney 💼, Heathcote/Nagambie 🌴) |
Games I Played
- Slay The Spire
- Risk of Rain
- Chrono Ark
- Dome Keeper
- Windblown
- Death Must Die
- Destiny 2: The Final Shape
- Balatro
- Astrobot
Chrono Ark was probably GOTY for me out of all of the above. A hidden gem with a story that kept me hooked, and a great OST.
Most of my gaming this year was done on a ROG Ally (Z1E) rather than a console, and I trended heavily towards indies rather than AAA.
Content I Watched
I've inadvertantly shifted most of my watching to YouTube! Maybe this was due to heavy travel? I never thought I'd be that type of person, but here we are.
TV Shows
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (S1-7)
- Doctor Who (S14/S1)
- Clarkson's Farm (S3)
YouTube
- Abroad in Japan
- Trash Taste Specials
- Noel Phillips
- SkillUp
- CDawgVA
- Penguinz0 / Moist
- Lewis Spears
- PremierTwo
- Gamers Nexus
- LTT / TechLinked
- Retro Game Corp
Podcasts
- WAN Show (weekly)
- Trash Taste (weekly)
- Abroad in Japan Podcast (twice-weekly)
- The Yard (on-demand)
Health
- Continuing to train/gym 3x per week consistently. I still loathe going, but I'm at the point now where I feel even worse if I don't go.
Education
- Put a big effort into learning Japanese due to work (most of my corporate travel was to Japan this year).
- I'm still going through phases of motivation with it. Immersion is definitely key: When I'm over there I'm driven to study, however when I'm back home - not so much.
- I completed 3 terms of online classes, but stopped towards the end of the year, as I was beginning to fall behind (not devoting enough time to doing the homework throughout the week).
- I really want to get to a point where I can hold a conversation with a colleague, but I think I need to change my approach to learning first: Even Duolingo has worn off its appeal.
Lucy
- Continued weekly dog training lessons with Lucy (total ~18 months). She's about to move to Level 3!
- While she still has her usual attitude, I've noticed a massive change in her behaviour since we first started.
- It is a major drive (~1hr each way) every Saturday for a class, but it has been working for her (whereas more local classes didn't), so we'll continue.
2024 Lucy Pics
