2024 in Review

My 2024 started with tonsillitis and ended with bronchitis. It was a year of great uncertainty for me and for many of my friends and colleagues. It ended with less uncertainty but still without much clarity.

However, in between it was a great year! I learned a lot, made new friends, visited new places, tried many new things for the first time.

Work

Toolbox App reached its version 2 in 2023 and started a new exciting journey, but now without me. It took me a while to let it go, but I did it for good.

At the same time, I switched to the Compose Multiplatform team, and this has been one of my best decisions recently. The team is great, everyone is so involved and excited about our project. I’m absolutely confident that we will achieve our goals next year, and I’ll do my best to help folks to do it.

Home

I spent some time at the beginning of the year to change a few things at home. I set up a new working table for myself, which I’m now very happy with. I put an amazing carved wooden world map on a wall in the living room. And my LEGO corner has continued growing in the other corner.

There are still places I’m not fully satisfied with yet. But I’m proud to call this place home and always want to get back here as soon as possible.

Fitness and sport

I ran my seventh (?) marathon in October, and though it was far from easy, I’m glad I can do it after a 7-year hiatus.

Overall, I was far more active this year than any of the many previous years. I enjoyed cycling, running, and doing Apple Fitness+ workouts before work to kickstart my day. Or just routinely doing 100 pushups a day It certainly helped me to stay fit and focused.

Travelling

I didn’t expect to travel much in 2024, but ended up with almost a dozen of business trips. Wherever and whenever I went, I took a pair of running shoes and went for a run. Limassol and Copenhagen, Amsterdam and London, it helped a lot to stay fit and focused for hours of discussions with colleagues and partners.

Entertainment

PlayStation

This year I platinumed just two PlayStation games: The Last of Us Part II (which actually was an auto-pop of PS4 save), and Kena: Bridge of Sprits – a cozy slasher in a cartoon world.

Besides those two, I also really liked Astro Bot (my GOTY) and LEGO Horizon Adventures.

I have lots of games in my backlog and wishlist, but absolutely not enough time to play them all.

Movies

The only time I was in a cinema this year, I watched première of Dune Part II. An epic sci-fi blockbuster, easily my favourite movie of the year. Although I haven’t watched many, like in previous year(s).

TV

One of the best releases of this year was the highly acclaimed Shogun. We were mostly catching up with TV series that we had missed before, like Severance and Silo. I can recommend first seasons of both, and I’m looking forward to the second seasons streaming soon.

The best series we’ve watched this year, however, was The Office. I don’t know why we skipped it before, especially when we’ve already enjoyed a very similar Parks and Recreations few years before.

Overall, I feel like the number of new series has increased significantly in the past years, while I cannot say the same about their quality.

Books

Surprisingly, I listed three audiobooks this year, which is three times more than in my whole previous life.

But if I need to pick one book highlight of the year, it is Shift Happens by Marcin Wichary.

I supported it on Kickstarter back in 2023 and have been patiently waiting for it for almost a year, but it has been absolutely worth it. The book is just awesome in so many ways: it tells an exciting story of how keyboards came to be, it has tons of beautiful illustrations, it is meticulously designed and typeset, it is carefully packaged, and it is just awesome and is a piece of art in itself.

I still owe a review of it. All I can say now, I enjoyed every second reading it.

Formula 1

I’m a Formula 1 fanboy since 1997, and this season has delivered! The first Constructors’ Championship for McLaren since 1998 is incredible and, to be honest, unexpected. My LEGO McLaren collection has grown to three models in different scales during the year.

The excitement this year has been so big, that I already have a ticket to a Grand Prix next year too.

Year Compass

I wrapped this year and envisioned my 2025 with Year Compass. I’ll see in 365 days whether that vision came true, but it was an insightful exercise on its own as well.

Dare to dream big!

This is post 27 of #100DaysToOffload

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