Ciao 2023! Salut 2024!

In the latest episode of 'Inner French', Hugo and his guests took a moment to review the past year. Listening to their personal highlights and recommendations on my way back home, it struck me how quickly 2023 has passed. This prompted me to reflect on my own year – the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Now, as 2024 stands on the doorstep, it's time to look forward, pondering over the opportunities and adventures that might lie ahead.

Progress in 2023

VIM

I'm quite happy to report that finally the VIM muscle has grown on me. I started in Dec 2022 to fully embrace VIM in my daily work. Now I can't edit text without it (or at least it feels really awkward having to juggle without VIM bindings). After all the pain and frustrations learning (can't say "mastering" yet) VIM over the initial months, I can now confidently say it is worth the effort. The ease and speed of editing text is unparalleled and can seem like magic for uninitiated eyes.

Although, full disclosure, I still use JetBrains or VSCode as an IDE instead of hardcore NeoVIM. The main reason (apart from NeoVIM is not allowed at work) is the Intellij keymaps for refactoringm, running commands and moving around files have been seared into my brain. However, when editing inside the same file, it's quite hard to compete against VIM key bindings. So IntelliJ keymap + VIM key bindings is the way to go for me.

If there is one single achievement I'm pound of in terms of technology / coding in 2023, it is the fruit of my learning journey of VIM. Painful indeed but highly recommended. In this regard, it's similar to learning Clojure. I bumped my head a lot at the start since 2018 but after a while, the power of the language starts to show itself, and I started to really appreicate the design of the langauge. Well that's a whole other post on Clojure but if you want to have a quick yet authoritative summary, you can check out the classic "Simple Made Easy" talk by Rich Hickey.

But, I digress.

Reading

I set out the year with a goal of reading 30 books in 2023 and I'm thrilled to report that I've read 33! Out of them, there are a few that I can whole heartedly recommend:

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: I thought it was related to the gambling / gaming joints in Japan but boy was I in a ride for Korean / Japanese colonial history.
Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict: I was never into golf but you don't need to play golf to know who Tiger Woods is. This book has a great overview of his personal life and struggles that lie below the glories of one of world's best golfers.
Lost Islamic History by Firas Alkhateeb: My limited knowledge of the glorious Islamic empires and cultures in 13th century was only centered around Ibn Batuta who was the most traveled person. This book gave a much better overview of the full extent of height of Islam.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel: An important topic that wasn't taught in school unfortunately.

Jean-Jacques Goldman

A highlight from my weekly French class was discovering Jean-Jacques Goldman, thanks to my teacher's recommendation. A titan in the French music scene, Goldman's work quickly captivated me. His songs aren't just about love; they delve into ideals, memories, and a critique of materialism. Dominating my Spotify playlists month after month, his music is a must-listen. Start with this album.

ChatGPT & other LLMs

2023 was the year of Generative AI hype, and my job allowed me to dive deep into the latest models and strategies. These tools have significantly expedited my learning process. You don't know what EDS acronym means in software architecture? Ask ChatGPT. You want some recommendations for deploying stateful containers like databases on Kubernetes? Ask ChatGPT. You want to touch up the opening paragraph of your blog post? You guessed it.

ChatGPT has been a game-changer. Copilot's code suggestions have become increasingly accurate, and I anticipate relying even more on these tools in 2024.

Opportunities in 2024

Exercise

One of the things I didn't do well in 2023 was that I stopped weekly exercise. I used to do TRX every week but since I moved house, the training place is too far. I persisted for a few months by taking 1-hour bus ride each way but stopped after a while. If there's something really important that requires my effort, it's maintaining good health. I've started doing weekly Yoga so far and let's see if I can stick to it.

Coding Practice

Another thing I wish I did more was more coding in my spare time, mostly for practice of a language or framework, or technique, otherwise just for the fun of it. This year my spare time was more spent on PS5 gaming, which I really enjoyed (thanks Elden Ring), but not quite balanced with other activities. For 2024, I aim to:

Add a WYSIWYG markdown editor for this site
Write more Clojure
Use an LLM for Pulasan Bot

If you're reading this post, I hope you've found something in it that resonates with you or proves useful. May 2023 have been a year that served you well, leaving you with valuable experiences and memories. As we step into 2024, I wish for it to bring you fulfillment and success, opening new doors and presenting opportunities that enrich your journey.