Introduction
We're at the end of the year! Happy New Year 2025!
This year has been huge for me; it's my first year of working full-time. I had a lot of new experiences. Here's how it went!
Bought a MacBook with my own money
Believe it or not, this is my first MacBook bought with my own money. I got my last one for free from Apple Academy 🤣.
Though I can't say it isn't expensive, I feel this purchase is well justified since it has brought me thousands of percent in returns as it supports my work.
This one is a 14" MacBook Pro M3 Pro, with 36GB RAM and 1TB storage. You can never go wrong with more RAM; I don't regret spending extra hundreds for just the extra RAM. I don't want to see the 'out of application memory' popup 💀
I remember I was considering whether to get this or a Mac Studio. I already have all of the peripherals set up at home—monitor, mouse, keyboard, speaker. Getting a Mac Studio is much cheaper than a MacBook. I could even save more if I got a Mac Mini.
But I think getting a MacBook is the correct decision for me. It turns out I love traveling. Having a portable and strong machine is what I need.
Business Trip to Dubai
This year was also my first time having a business trip. We had an off-site in Dubai! This marked my first time leaving the Asian continent 🔥
Hands down, the cityscape of Dubai is one of the most beautiful I've seen so far! I also visited the Burj; it was really beautiful seeing all of the buildings at night.
This trip was in March, so it was my first time meeting my colleagues after working with them for around 6 months.
It was a really fun experience meeting people from different cultures.
Oh, we also played at Aquaventure Waterpark—the world's largest waterpark! Waterparks are one of my favorite activities to do, and I'm very glad that I could visit the largest one. Some of us did the "Leap of Faith" ride there.
“Aquaventure waterpark, please do this. I love waterparks. I'll volunteer to ride the scariest ride for you guys if we do this”, Clarence said bravely on the #offsite-dubai channel
Thoughts about Dubai
Dubai is beautiful, but it doesn't feel like home to me. I don't really like the food, and everything is far from one another. Usually, moving from one place to another spans around 20-30 km, even though the taxis there drive like Fast & Furious—minimum 120 kph.
Aside from the 0% income tax, I don't think it's the right place for me.
Skydiving
One of my bucket list items is to jump from an airplane with a parachute, and I did it.
I'm really glad that I did it. It was one of the most memorable experiences this year.
As for the experience, everything felt secure, and I didn't really feel scared. It was really cold up there though, and the falling blew my whole face - it was really fast. After the parachute opened, it was a calming experience with a beautiful view.
Would I do it again? Yes, but probably not in Dubai. It was very expensive; it cost me around USD 800 for a jump with documentation. But it was all worth it for the first experience and the beautiful view of the palm.
Bought a Watch
This year I bought my first luxury watch. It is a Junghans Max Bill 34mm.
When I was in school, I always wanted to have a watch. I saw my friends wearing G-Shock when it was trending back then. But I couldn't really afford it at the time; spending USD 100 for a watch didn't make sense.
This year, with the paycheck I accumulated, I bought my dream watch. Although this is not my first watch, as I have a Seiko Presage that also looks beautiful! I like watches that are minimalistic, and this Junghans Max Bill was made with Bauhaus design, which focuses on functionality and simplicity.
I think this watch aligns deeply with my minimalist lifestyle.
Also, after I acquired this watch, to my surprise, I was told that my late grandfather was actually a Junghans standing clock repairman. What a cool coincidence.
Traveling
In 2024, I traveled to many cities: Bali, Nusa Penida, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Seoul, Gyeongju, Busan, Ipoh, and Penang.
If I have to pick one city, the best one for me this year was Gyeongju. It's a very beautiful city.
Remote working allows me to travel without taking much leave! Also, traveling often wouldn't be possible if I were not fairly compensated by my company. I'm very grateful for my current situation.
This year I also experienced different types of travel: with friends, with family, and alone! These three are really different experiences from one another. I'll tell more about my solo travel experience in the next section.
Solo Traveling
This also came from my bucket list: traveling alone in another country. As a bonus challenge, I specifically picked a non-English speaking country, which was South Korea. I solo-traveled for two weeks.
Planning
I've always been an avid planner when I travel; I used to plan right down to the day of where I wanted to go. I think this was due to a tight schedule when we traveled. But this case was different; I had plenty of time. So on this trip, I decided to split it in half. I planned for one week—booked trains, Airbnb, found itineraries—and didn't plan anything for the second week.
While solo-traveling, I learned that I needed to plan at least up until the Airbnb. I get anxious when I don't have any place to sleep 🤣.
Daily Itinerary
Turns out, I don't mind having no itinerary at all! Since I'm also working, half of the day is basically in a cafe anyway.
My daily itinerary usually is:
- have breakfast
- visit a museum/sightseeing in the morning (optional)
- have lunch
- work in a cafe
- have dinner
I would go to a museum depending on how much work I have, or if I feel like it. If I don't feel like going out, I would just wake up late—something that never happened before with tight-schedule traveling.
I really enjoy working in a cafe! It's really peaceful. One problem is I don't like sweet food/drinks, but I can't just order a bottle of water and stay there for 4 hours 💀
Dining Experience
In South Korea, they usually have a rule requiring at least 2 main menu items per table. This is really hard for a solo traveler. But this brought a unique experience for me: dining with strangers.
On the left, I invited my Airbnb host to have Korean barbecue together. On the right, since I was dining alone, the restaurant owner seated me with another solo diner. So we chatted and exchanged contacts!
Connecting with Remote Workers
This year has unexpectedly been a very social year for me.
I thought remote work was going to be hard for me to make friends since I practically had no colleagues in the same country (now I do 👀). Turns out I met some other great remote workers and engineers. I think deep down we all felt lonely with remote work, so we found connection by working at a cafe together 🤣.
Revamped Website
If you haven't noticed, my website is newly revamped! It's now filled with some cool animations.
This website was very enjoyable to build. Also, it produced content for my social media for about 3 months. So it was totally worth doing. I worked on this website on weekends since I now have a full-time job. Unexpectedly, working on this project didn't make me bored even though I had been working 8 hours for the whole week. It was a really fun project.
From this revamp, I learned and solidified my knowledge on several things:
- animation using Motion for React (Framer Motion)
- caching my Cloudinary images through Cloudflare Worker
- creating a rounded gradient border with CSS, which was unexpectedly super hard
- keep pushing on the weekends even though I'm dead from work
Gadget Haul
I like to think of myself as someone who owns cool and thoughtful gadgets 🤣. Throughout this year, I acquired several gadgets that are worth sharing:
AirFly Pro
Whenever I do a long-haul flight, I want to watch the in-flight entertainment but still keep wearing my AirPods for the noise cancellation. This gadget allows me to connect my AirPods to the IFE.
Anker GaNPrime 100W
I would like to start by saying that this thing is too expensive for a wall charger 😭. But I like it so much. It has 3 plugs: 2 USB-C and 1 USB-A. I can bring this one small brick to the café or when I travel, and it will be enough for me since it can charge all of my devices at the same time.
Also, a nice bonus is that the plug is collapsible.
Ultrahuman Ring Air
It's a movement and sleep tracker. I use it mainly for sleep tracking. I own an Apple Watch, but I can't bear to wear it when sleeping; it's too uncomfortable. This one is comfortable enough so I can track how much sleep I am getting and the quality of my sleep.
I wouldn't say it's a game-changer or anything, but it's comfortable and the tracking is nice enough that I don't have any complaints. If Apple ended up releasing a ring product, I would definitely switch for a better ecosystem.
P.S.: I bought it from Amazon.
What’s next for 2025
Last year I had a resolution to build a product, which hasn't happened yet this year. But I've already made progress towards it.
I will be creating a premium paid article that covers more about portfolio building. I feel like for the past 3 years, I've put in a lot of effort into building my portfolio and online presence, and it's starting to pay off. I want you all to be able to do so. I decided to make this article paid because investing money in learning something feels different. You take it more seriously. I'll let you know when the article is ready via my mailing list, make sure to subscribe!
Another resolution is to travel more. I love solo traveling, and I intend to keep doing it; at least until I'm bored of it.
As a closing word, I would like to express my gratitude for the current state I'm in. This year has been one of the best years I've ever experienced.
