Billy's Thoughts

2022: Year In Review

Posted on Dec 31, 2022 — 4 mins read

One of the things I’m starting to realize as I get older is that I have an absolutely abysmal memory.

Like, my brain is terrible at storing thoughts and experiences into long-term memory. (My working theory is that this is an adaptation to my overactive brain incessantly running and making connections. So lots of signals come in and then must immediately get chucked once they’re done with in order to save on RAM, and only certain things make it to deep storage. Or something like that.)

So I usually don’t remember what happened in the last month, let alone in the last year, without (1) writing it down somewhere, and (2) reviewing it at some point. The first I have, in the form of a twitter thread of monthly reviews. And this post is meant as a form of the second: a review of the past year, and an attempt at grouping things sensibly.

Work

So much work. Probably too much, if I’m being honest.

I built a team, lost that team, and then had to rebuild a new one.

I also switched from management back to engineering, because I desperately wanted to. And I’m still leading my team, now as a tech lead instead of as an EM.

Meanwhile, my entire mindset around my career has shifted to a “pre-sabbatical” phase, and I’ve been laying the groundwork to take a long break in 2023!

Drawing

I’m still at it, slowly and steadily. And it’s still challenging and rewarding.

I drew 47 portrait studies (#308-354) over 122/365 days (~= 61h) in 2022, with some of them being my favourite works to date.

I’m also starting to sit down and do more drawing from imagination and drawing shapes in perspective. This has been on my mind all year, but now I feel like I’ve advanced from “I have no idea wtf I’m doing” to “wtf is this… though maybe I can try X,Y,Z”. (Thanks, in no small part, to the countless artists’ and instructional insta posts and reels I’ve watched this year.)

Volleyball

It’s been one heck of a year for me and volleyball.

I think a part of me always knew I would like the game, but I didn’t realize how much I would like it. Via a combination of factors, I’m hooked:

We’ve joined rec leagues (currently playing at the Intermediate level where we placed 4th out of 6 teams). We’ve rented a car and drove 30 mins to Ocean Beach multiple Sundays in Nov/Dec. I’m practicing jumping at the gym, and working with my personal trainer on moving better for volleyball, doing exercises in movement, mobility, plyometrics, and conditioning (vs previously focusing solely on strength training).

I’ve also gotten a few injuries from playing… I’ve sprained my fingers, scraped my foot pretty badly to where it got infected… and something in my right-side hamstring or calf is currently really tight, I think from jumping so much.

But I’m itching to play more in 2023.

Travel

I jumped at the opportunities this year to travel outside of the continental US/Canada that I’ve had in a while.

Travels include:

Writing

Looking back now, I actually managed to publish 6 posts here (7 now including this one), which is better than I thought!

This year is the year I’ve felt the strongest yearning to write and publish. And subsequently, I’ve been the most frustrated at how much I struggle with writing, and how little time and energy I have for it in my life right now.

Having made it to the end of this year, I think I’ve grown a bit more gracious and accepting with myself about this, and I plan to keep chipping away at writing and working with what I have. I’m trying not to just wait for my sabbatical, but I’m also so, so excited for it and ready to write at like a 5x rate.

Notable things I’ve watched

Movies

Musicals

Anime/TV

Events