It’s that time of the year again. 3 more days in we’re diving head-long into 2025. It seems like after 2020, everyone’s perception of time is messed up and everybody feels like we’re moving way too fast. I’m no exception. I thought me being 25 years old is still a long way to go. And here I am going to be 24 next year.
Though not as eventful and heavy as last year. This year was a good ride.
Graduating College
Technically I’ve already graduated in September last year. But the graduation ceremony was postponed until February this year. It’s a marker of the end of one phase of my life, as well as the start of another phase of my life. Gotta be honest it’s a little bit sad, because graduation means everyone’s moving on with their life. Everyone has their whole life in front of them, goals to chase, girls to marry, and parents to be make proud of.
No more carefree laughs during lunch break. No more walking together to the mosque. No more doing assignments together. No more of a student.
Now it’s all adult life. Work, work, work, work, work, taxes, relationships, career, family. That’s pretty much all there is to it.
But that is life I guess. Being a student was good while it lasted. I just hope I can cross paths with my friends again someday.
Twitter, Reading Habits, and 2024 Best Buy
Growing up, I wasn’t much of a reader. I mean I grew up in Indonesia where the reading interest of the people is very minuscule it’s pretty much nonexistent. Nobody likes to read books, including me.
But that changes when I started being chronically online on Twitter. Leftists, hardcore feminists, religious people, government haters, boot lickers, economics professors, tone-deaf diaspora, nice diaspora, tech bros, wota, weebs, journalists, activists. We got everything in here. But the thing is, a lot of folks on Twitter are very smart and knowledgeable.
Twitter people loves to pick fights basically every day. But one thing I love about debates on Twitter is that it’s mostly text-based and it’s two-way discussion. There are trolls, but a lot of people bring data, papers, books, videos, etc. as references when they go on a debate on Twitter. It makes everyone who read their arguments smarter as well as want to be smart like those people (or at least look smart like those people :p).
I was basically one of them. I wanted to be that guy who can defend his stance rigorously because I think such skill is essential for any muslim (especially if they’re a parent) because we need to be able to defend our faith in the face of western hegemony.
So that’s basically what got me into reading.
But this year my reading game leveled up drastically because of one thing: a Kindle.
I always had this problem where I couldn’t read for long on a phone because my eyes can’t stand the LED lights. So I was thinking of buying a Kindle.
I was initially hesitant to do it since the functionality is very limited. I was in a dilemma between an iPad Mini 6 and a Kindle. But in the end I chose Kindle because I just can’t read for long on an LED-backlit device.
Turns out it was the best buy of this year!
I went from being able to complete less than 10 books in a year in 2023, to being able to complete 33 books this year and a bunch of academic papers. I know that’s not a lot for people who likes to read, but that’s a major progress for me :)
Ramping Up the Gym Game
I’ve been going to the gym 3x a week since earlier this year. But somewhere late into the year I moved to a new place which is closer to a gym. This allows me ramp up my gym game to 5x a week. I have seens some results because of this. So, hopefully next year I can compile a transformation video (not that I will post it online :p).
Remote Work
I landed a remote job in my current company somewhere in the middle of the year. I was frustrated at my previous job because of the lack of purpose, thankfully God sent a way to get a remote job out of nowhere.
For an Indonesian, getting a remote job especially for a US company is something worthy of big celebration. Not everyone gets similar chances and the competition is fierce because it’s a global talent market and Indonesia is just 3rd world country that’s not famous for being the supplier of software engineers, unlike India.
I hope this will open doors to bigger opportunities for growth. Growing in terms of technical skills, in terms of soft skills, as well as in terms of financial capability :p
What’s In It For 2025?
Hopefully I will be able to still work remotely throughout the next year. I’m getting more and more disinterested in working for a local company, moreover the startup scene in Indonesia is getting worse by the day.
So hopefully the product I’m currently working on achieves success. I hope I can achieve my dream physique, dream bank account, as well as being more religious. And hopefully the doors to go abroad will open next year.