Contents
Introduction
It has been an ambiguous year, although it seems to have been quite successful. I will go straight to the goals I set for the year and how well I managed to achieve them.
There were 5 main goals:
✅ Goal 1 - achieved 100%
✅ Goal 2 - achieved 100%
✅❌ Goal 3 - achieved 50%
✅❌ Goal 4 - achieved 25%
✅ Goal 5 - achieved 100%
The fourth goal was poorly defined and formulated from the start, which made it difficult to track its progress and work on it in general. Where there is no visible success, there is no motivation.
Since 2015, I have named each year the year of something important to me (essentially the main goal of the year). This year was no exception; I called it "the year of purchasing the 2nd and 3rd apartments."
If we look back at my "years," here is the list starting from 2015:
- 2015 - Year of Web Programming Theory
- 2016 - Year of Advanced Web Programming Theory
- 2017 - Year of Web Programming Practice
- 2018 - Year of Socialization
- 2019 - Year of Travel
- 2020 - Year of Reading IT Books
- 2021 - Year of Buying the First Apartment
- 2022 - Year of Buying a Car from the Dealership
- 2023 - Year of Purchasing the 2nd and 3rd Apartments
I must admit that I successfully achieved my goal of buying two more apartments with my spouse, and now we have three :)
This year has been quite successful in terms of publishing blog posts on a variety of topics. I’m not sure if I will manage to publish all the written and prepared blog entries, but this year’s year-end post is the 20th one, which is an absolute record.
In addition to all this, I have improved and slightly changed my goal-setting system for the year, and I did this twice. Through setting tasks and personal trial and error, I have come to what I currently practice, and I find it convenient and effective. For some reason, I am convinced that the latest iteration is indeed the most effective. However, I will write about this in a year in the results of next year.
Phrase of the Year
If I were asked to compile a list of the top phrases of the year that I heard most often, they would be as follows:
- Wait here, I’ll check over there
- I can carry the apples in my hands
- Fill the bladder
- When will you arrive?
- I think I overate
Sports
This year, I ran a total of 38 times with a cumulative distance of 423 km. This is despite the fact that in mid-May I was out of my usual routine for almost a month due to a kidney stone, but more on that below. It’s worth noting that the total mileage over the past 5.5 years already amounts to 1733 km. You can read more about all my runs this year in a separate article, which also includes detailed graphs.
Work
In addition to steady growth since the company's inception, this year we experienced a slight crisis; however, we emerged from it with dignity and became more experienced and stronger. We also have promising projects that I am working on as well. Furthermore, we completed an internal programming course in the spring, where I taught programming, and one student later transitioned to the development department, becoming a programmer, albeit a junior one for now. I also prepared a presentation on "Agile: Flexible Development Methodologies," which I delivered to the company. This was my fifth presentation during my time at the company for my colleagues.
Food, Health
Here, it’s probably worth going into more detail. Yes, I still don’t buy soda. I never eat chips, avoid instant noodles and other junk food, preferring only fresh and preferably healthy products. Moreover, I don’t remember being sick with a cold this year. However, there was a period in my life this year when I thought I would need a pill organizer for the prescribed medications. At the end of spring, I had a kidney stone passing. It was one of the most intense pains I have ever experienced, and those few weeks felt like true hell. However, you can read all the details about those couple of weeks in a separate article of mine. Everything ended well; the stone left my body without causing any long-term harm. It has been over six months since then, and after the stone passed, I have seen a doctor at least three times (the last time was a couple of weeks ago).
Continuing with the theme of doctor visits and health issues, it so happened that I underwent a full body check-up this year. Some organs were examined as many as 4-5 times, but that was mostly due to the kidney stone. Overall, I had almost all of my organs checked — from ultrasound scans of my heart, kidneys, thyroid gland, and abdominal organs to visits to a surgeon, ENT specialist, and even a dermatologist. I had blood tests done several times, including extended tests for certain vitamins and hormones. Most of this was done as preventive measures, although some tests were necessary during the stone passing. Nevertheless, I am now completely satisfied with my health, test results, and my body as a whole. In a few years, I plan to repeat the full body check-up and intend to do it every 3-4 years going forward.
Just like in the past two years, I started keeping track of my alcohol days. These are not the days when I got heavily drunk (there haven’t been any such days in the year). This includes the days when I had at least one cocktail or one glass of wine. So, here are those days this year:
January: 1, 7, 14
February: 11, 24
March: 15, 21
April: 1, 14, 25
May: 13, 27
June:
July: 1, 5
August: 18
September: 2, 23
October: 6, 12
November: 1, 4, 11
December: 29, 31
Games
This year, at the end of autumn, I installed "Swamp Attack" on my phone and completed it in a short time, so I can close the gaming section and move on. It's nice to realize that I'm not spending hours on useless activities.
Education
Everything is so stable in this area that I will just copy the text from last year and slightly modify it. Education in 2023 was stable: podcasts, articles, books. I published a separate, more detailed article about the books earlier. I also created an Instagram account for books, where I briefly review the books I’ve read and give recommendations.
Movies and Series
I didn't watch a single series this year, which I am very proud of. On the other hand, I could have improved my understanding of the English language, as I used to watch at least a couple of series each year. As for movies, just like last year, I rewatched several dozen cult films from IMDb. However, I went to the cinema a total of 20 times and watched the following films:
- Avatar 2
- Marlowe
- The Hacker
- The Professor and the Madman
- The Bureau of Magical Services
- Misanthrope
- The Paris Gang
- Being Salvador Dalí
- The Translator
- Hypnotic
- The Flash
- Jeanne du Barry
- Oppenheimer
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
- A Haunting in Venice
- Elementary
- Napoleon
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Boy and the Bird
I missed the premieres of "Crash" and "Knives Out 2" in theaters but watched them online.
The Bureau of Magical Services, Misanthrope, Being Salvador Dalí, The Translator, Jeanne du Barry, of course, Oppenheimer, Elementary, Napoleon, Killers of the Flower Moon, and The Boy and the Bird were the ones I enjoyed the most.
Travel
As tradition dictates, let's count the taxi rides at the end. Miraculously, the number of rides this year decreased by 100, totaling only 15 compared to 116 last year. Even in 2021, I had 25 rides, which is still more than this year.
