After a two-year hiatus from writing recaps (I skipped 2023 as there wasn't much to highlight), I'm finally back to share my journey through 2024.
What a transformative year it has been! My life has undergone significant changes, and I'm excited to share them with you.
Life
This year marked my first serious ventures into international travel. I embarked on two memorable trips: visiting Japan in January, followed by an European adventure through Switzerland, France, and Italy in October. These journeys were particularly significant for me, as someone who had rarely traveled before, even within my own country.
Initially, I was apprehensive about traveling abroad. The prospect of navigating language barriers and relying solely on myself in foreign lands was daunting. However, with my wife's unwavering support, these challenges became opportunities for growth. She masterfully handled all the planning, from bookings to detailed itineraries, while gently encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone. I focused on managing our communications abroad, and together, we made an excellent team. To my pleasant surprise, I discovered that traveling internationally and interacting with people across language barriers wasn't nearly as challenging as I had imagined.
A significant milestone this year was my marriage on May 21st, 2024. Instead of a traditional wedding ceremony, we chose to celebrate our union with our European journey - a decision that created unforgettable memories for both of us.
My wife has been an incredible source of inspiration and support throughout the year. Her encouragement played a crucial role in my professional and personal achievements, including passing the Qualification Certificate of Computer and Software Technology Proficiency in September and gathering the courage to take the JLPT N2 exam.
She consistently pushes me to be better and strive for more, serving as my primary motivation to keep moving forward. I look forward to many more years of mutual growth and support together.
Coding
This year saw a significant focus on Rust-related projects in my development journey.
While I stepped down from my role as a reviewer in the nerdctl community in February due to time constraints, I soon found a new and exciting opportunity. In summer, I joined the opendal community, where I made substantial contributions, including developing a Go-binding for the project. I shared my experience in a technical post about bridging Rust and Go code, which garnered significant attention. My efforts were recognized when I was appointed as a committer and invited to join the Apache organization - undoubtedly my proudest coding achievement of 2024.
I also contributed to avante.nvim, an innovative neovim plugin that emulates the Cursor IDE - a perfect project for this AI-driven era.
On a more personal development front, inspired by my friend ZheaoLi, I embarked on an ambitious project to implement a tiny C compiler in Rust. While still a work in progress, this challenging endeavor has been incredibly rewarding.
Looking back, I'm pleased that my passion for coding and continuous learning remains strong.
Reading
While my reading volume wasn't as high as I'd like, I made a conscious effort to explore financial literature this year. The standout book was Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School, whose principles I successfully applied to my U.S. stock market investments, yielding positive returns.
I also tackled The Common Sense on Mutual Funds, though its complexity suggests I might benefit from revisiting it later with more financial knowledge under my belt.
I'm committed to expanding my reading habits in 2025.
Health
My diet plan began in March, resulting in a 10kg weight loss throughout 2024. While this is an achievement, I've set my sights on further progress in 2025. I'm also considering incorporating regular exercise into my routine to complement my dietary changes.
Future
This year has brought its share of personal challenges, particularly regarding my professional satisfaction and mental well-being. I've experienced periods of work-related disengagement and nighttime anxiety, which I've been openly discussing with my wife.
While we're still working through these challenges together, I've chosen To be tough as my guiding principle for 2025. This has already manifested in practical steps: I've begun actively seeking new career opportunities and have decided to pursuing game development knowledge in my free time.
As I look toward 2025, I'm cautiously optimistic about the changes ahead and the progress I hope to make.