2024 Retrospective
As I get older each year, I feel that time passes more quickly.
I uploaded 9 videos to YouTube just to record memories. It feels like yesterday when I heard the pregnancy news in February and was stunned with surprise and joy, but time passed so quickly until the birth in November.
Like 2024, I think many interesting things will happen in 2025 as well.
This year too, I'll take time to look back at the past year divided into several major themes.
New Family Member
We have a new family member. When I learned about the pregnancy early this year, I thought 'Ah! What was bound to come has finally come', but the 10 months that seemed like they would never approach passed quickly, and after going through the pain of childbirth, we're now living together healthily.
Adding one more family member is also a burden, and initially I personally thought I didn't like babies much, but now that I'm actually raising one, it's cute to death. I worried whether I could be a good father and even watched the famous family film "Like Father, Like Son" by director Hirokazu Kore-eda to prepare mentally, but it was unnecessary worry. The more I look, the cuter it gets.
Gratitude for People Around Me
In my twenties, I was busy looking at human relationships only instrumentally and saving my time and effort. But only after time passed did I realize. Despite my many shortcomings, good people have always been by my side helping and leading me. Looking back, it's truly grateful.
When I went to Korea last year, friends who traveled with me and made memories despite everyone being busy with their own lives, especially Hodu who gave up his girlfriend's 1st anniversary to come... his girlfriend is so wonderful that I hope to hear marriage news soon. And thanks to friends from Seongnam, Gwangju, university friends, and former colleagues I still keep in touch with, I left Korea with so many memories.
The same goes for people in Canada. Kyuhyung-nim and Hyejin-nim, Yukyung-nim's family who are like benefactors of my Canadian life, as well as company colleagues like Stephen, and brothers and company colleagues I contacted after a long time - I felt various emotions while exchanging New Year's greetings. I'm also really grateful to Won who contacted me every time I updated tickets during my Korea trip. I jokingly said he was monitoring like Big Brother, but I really think it's amazing.
October 2024 - Baby Shower and Wife's New York Friend Anna's Visit - Journey Blog
Looking back, I've been really blessed. Everyone around me are honest and sincere people, truly people I can only learn from. I'm always grateful to be with such people, and I only want to learn from them. When I wrote a thank-you letter this year and actually wrote that they were role models, they asked 'What role models, are you being sarcastic?' lol But I'll say it again here - it's sincere.
When else would I say such embarrassing words if not at times like this. As I get older, it seems more so... I welcome the new year feeling much gratitude from the past year.
Blog
Blog writing isn't much different from last year's retrospective. I should reflect on this. I have ideas organized, but since I don't actually write, they quickly become outdated information so I can't use what I researched, or there are many articles I decided not to publish during the editing stage after writing.
Still, I'm satisfied with upgrading my personal website a lot. Software engineers don't have big associations or anything, so it's a profession where self-PR is difficult. That's why I always thought developers should have decent homepages to show themselves, but I was too lazy to make one. This year I took time to create my own space on the web that I could show to others.
Also, I was able to receive e-book support from Hanbit Media's 'I am a Reviewer' program, so I could read one technical book every month this year. I applied two years ago too but couldn't do it properly since they only supported physical books, but in 2024 I received e-book support and consistently wrote reviews despite being busy. I think I reviewed about 10 books, missing the timing for about 2 reviews, and I wrote sincere reviews in return for receiving free books. I was also selected for an excellent review.
YouTube
This year I uploaded a whopping 9 videos. It wasn't easy. Even videos made simply to store memories like an album require this much effort, so YouTubers who directly think of content and create it are really amazing.
This year I plan to diligently upload happier videos with the baby.
AI Technology
I learned a lot while working on AI-related projects since the end of last year. By uploading AI services I worked on to Product Hunt and making side projects with Evan from Vanilla Coding who came from Korea, I realized that AI can not only create new things but also completely improve existing things from a different perspective.
It feels like running against this tremendous speed of technological advancement as headwind. It's not easy to keep moving forward, but everyone probably thinks the same.
2024 was a year with really many technological changes. I'm already excited to see how much faster and more innovative changes will shake us this year.
Health
I participated in a half marathon race for the first time in my life. I felt my health declining significantly after turning thirty, and now that I'm past mid-thirties, my body really isn't like before. If 5 years ago I could run early 40-minute times in 10k marathons with just 2 weeks of practice, now even with 3 months of practice, 50-minute times for 10k are difficult.
Since it will get harder as I age, this year I plan to practice harder and challenge a full marathon.
I originally planned to start again from April, but since Kyuhyung-nim suddenly started running in the middle of winter, I've been running with him 3 times a week since mid-January. At this pace, if I practice consistently, a marathon should be no problem.
Fortune Reading for Fun
I also got my 2025 New Year fortune read. Looking back at last year's fortune now, it seems roughly accurate, so I'm thinking positively. Does the second sentence mean childbirth? Is the third sentence related to what I'm currently discussing with Ken from Vanilla Coding? I end up trying to fit things together like this.
I'm posting this year's fortune reading for fun too. It would be interesting to review whether it matched well in next year's retrospective.
Conclusion
I hope everyone will be happy in 2025.