Reflection time again 2017
Looking back in time, you can see a person that is both familiar and strangely distant. It’s you, but a different one, a person with other expectations, fears and hopes. How do you create these moments of reflection? I write letters, letters to myself. In particularly hard or exciting moments, I write a letter to myself and set a reminder to read it in 6 months. Or in a year. These annual ‘reflections’ are a also kind of such a letter, but with only difference that they are public, so anyone can read it and hopefully get inspired to reflect on their own lives.
It was an uneven year, a year of ups and downs, of darkness and light. A year like a chessboard.
We made music with my daughter Lia. I saw her on different stages this year too — singing in a choir, playing guitar in an ensemble, acting in a school musical. She’s more and more confident in her creativity.
Lia started learning French at the gymnasium, 9 hours a week. The first few weeks I could still help her, but 4 months later I can barely follow her. She will be quadrilingual soon.
Mila is 4-years old this year. She talks to Alexa and the bot even responds to her sometimes. And I think Mila is singing in English, at least it sounds like that.
A website for my mom, finally! And an Instagram featuring her beautiful ceramic work.
I took care of my plants and they seem to have taken care of me. There’s so much pleasure in seeing things you planted growing happily.
I had some of the hardest days in my recent years, and no matter what they say, what doesn’t kill you, doesn’t make necessarily make you stronger.
We walked a snow-covered park in Krakow in late winter. In the summer we played hide-and-seek in the fields of Dzukija and discovered forest running in Palanga. And in the autumn I climbed a mountain in Tuscany with Dalia in dawn, watching the sun rays through the autumn leaves.
My step father passed away and I got to organize a funeral for a first time in my life. An experience that forced me to see quite a few things in a different way.
I got an Apple Watch finally and I’m completely in love with it. It’s almost perfect electronic companion, it is more a ‘future’ than any gadget I have. It changes my behaviour, and tech that can achieve something like that is remarkable.
We did a lot with Vai Kai this year, learning in 6 months more about our customers than in 3 years before. Still, I think we could have achieved so much more than we did. I want the 2018 be a more productive year. We know what we have to do and it gives me confidence.
I did freelance work, helping other companies to connect things and networks. Discovering reactive programming from scratch with Rx/RxSwift, it’s kind of as beautiful as a code can be.
We had a few really nice parties at our home. I realized how important for me is to host people at our home, knowing that they are happy. One time in November we sang karaoke like crazy until 4am. I normally never sing, but I did that evening — no regrets!
I did some music again, I have more new unfinished tracks that I’m looking forward to play publicly. I thought about my techno roots a lot, listened to the darker beats on my headphones and in the Berlin clubs. I’m rediscovering the night of Berlin and what an incredible source of inspiration it can be.
We’ve watched a few beautiful films — more Hitchock, more Antonioni and Fellini. Reading books: I’m still angry at Yuval Harari for bringing me down with his epic prophecies, and I’m grateful to Moebius and Jodorowsky. The Metabarons saga and The World of Edena were hugely inspiring. I doscovered Liu Cixin for myself. I’m looking more an more to China, there are interesting things brewing up there.
I’m looking forward to 2018.
