I finally had some spare time to sit down and write my year in review. A tad embarrassing as I read numerous similar posts weeks ago, but better late than never...
All things considered 2023 was a pretty significant year for me. It was the first time in my life living abroad for (almost) whole year. My first time going through a visa approval process, and my first time having to communicate day to day in a language other than English (Portuguese).
Work wise 2023 was my first experience working full time as a contractor. Which also meant my first time dealing with adult things like having to file taxes. Certain things I took for granted as a regular salaried employee are no longer available. It's only now, looking back where I fully appreciate how much easier it is to be a regular employee and have all this admin taken care of automatically. But I guess that's the nature of the game. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to live and work completely remotely, so it's absolutely been worthwhile.
At the start of the year I set myself a number of goals. I'm pretty happy with how close I came to achieving each one.
1. Read More Books 📚
Last year I managed to keep up my habit of consistent reading, finishing a total of 29 books (97% of my target). Although I didn't 'technically' reach my goal I'm going to count this one as a success.
In 2023 I got hooked on a Sci-Fi series 'The Horus Heresy', which I'd originally started as a teenager. This non chronological series has a staggering 54 book (at time of writing) so if you want to read about certain plot lines you can (optionally) pick and choose different books from the series.
It's been fun to jump back into a genre I loved when I was growing up, so reading these is quite a nostalgia trip. To supplement my enjoyment there's a pretty vibrant online community discussing or producing content related to the series.
Outside this series I managed to read a number of books on different topics, as I like to to intersperse the Horus Heresy books with reading non-fiction. Heading into 2024 like to keep up my reading habit and aim to read a similar number of books this year.
2. Run another half marathon 🏃
Towards the end of the year I signed up to run in the BSB City Half Marathon. During the lead up to the race I was quite nervous because I hadn't trained as much as I'd like. Thankfully the first 10k was mostly downhill so I managed to start off pretty strong.
Towards the 18k mark that things started to fall apart. The combination of hot weather (40 degree heat), and really steep inclines towards the end really took its toll on me and other runners. None of the pacemakers (experienced runners carrying banners/flags aiming for a specific time), appeared to be anywhere close to their target, and lots of people (me included) were forced to walk.
Consequently I finished in a slightly slower time than I did last year. But all things considered I'm proud of my achievement to make it around the course. I'm undecided whether to attempt the same thing again this year, but I won't pressure myself into having to do another.
3. Improve my Portuguese
I think in 2023 I managed to make some decent progress with my Portuguese speaking and listening. I'm now able to passively learn by consuming conversation or media and looking up any new words/phrases I've unfamiliar with.
Often I find myself in denial about my ability to understand a second language and purposely undersell my abilities. Almost as if by claiming a level of proficiency I'm opening myself up to criticism or setting myself up for failure. Despite this lots of Brazilians I meet are quick to compliment my Portuguese, but I think this is a combination of A) genuine surprise someone is learning their language and B) simply being polite.
In social situations I'm able to follow conversation, but often I find myself unable to contribute. Consequently I spend a lot of time restricted to listening through of a fear of making mistakes or not having sufficient vocabulary to express myself. So one of my big aims for 2024 is to try and practice speaking more in these situations and not be afraid of making mistakes.
4. Consistent Blogging
This again wasn't something I was able to keep consistent, but I'm still happy with the contributions I made to my blog this year. A few articles were cross-posted to a certain orange news aggregator site and generating a significant amount of traffic and discussion. It was such a bizarre feeling to see people reading (or glancing at) content that I've written.
Unfortunately, since I swapped out my blog analytics a couple times this year I only have metrics for one occurrence of this influx of traffic. Can you tell spot my article was posted:
This year I'm planning to focus less on consistency and more on quality, writing about topics that interest me as and when I'm inspired to do so. I don't want to feel obligated to write a weekly/monthly post if I'm not in the appropriate headspace for creative writing.
5. Record a full cover song 🎸
Unfortunately this wasn't something I was able to achieve in 2023. I'll blame this on not having an appropriate recording setup. This year I've brought my audio equipment with me so there's a higher chance I might be able to record some incredibly amateur stuff pretty soon.