Time is flying by, and it’s certainly been busy! I recently turned 30, and have now entered my fourth decade of life. I like to reflect a lot, and this post is no different. A lot has happened within this last decade I got to call my “twenties”.
12 years ago, I finished high school, and started down the path of my computer engineering degree. Times were simpler: artificial intelligence wasn’t mainstream, I studied my ass off, and honed in my passion for problem solving in code. I used my university’s anime club as a practical testing ground by developing Discord bot features for them, and I’d like to think that this endeavour helped me land my first ever full time job before I graduated.
As I transitioned into my full time working life, which has been over six years now, I’ve had less time to dig into those things. In fact, I will be handing over the bot to someone else to manage later this year. But hey, I’m getting paid to put those skills to use while also striving to improve the art of systems design. Every day, I’m either putting my head down and getting the things I need to get done done, helping someone out with their projects, or learning something new. There’s a never ending list of things to do, and that’s not bad at all: if there wasn’t anything to do, I would be out of a job!
Artificial intelligence (AI) has also been interesting. Within the last several months (not years), AI has been encouraged. I’ve been experimenting with incorporating AI in my daily work. It’s almost like doing pair programming and having another dev working alongside me, but also doing the heavy lifting for me! This is still a very new experience for me, and I’ll definitely touch upon it at some point later.
I also got into my first serious relationship this decade, and although it didn’t work out, it was an experience to say the least. Thanks to this relationship abruptly ending, it definitely got the ball rolling in what eventually became the first ever home I bought, which I have now lived in for almost three years. I am very fortunate my hard work is paying off, and in a couple more years, I hope to fully pay off my mortgage and forego the looming cloud of debt on top of my head ever since I got this place. I am ever so thankful to have such a supportive family that have been with me every step of the way.
Aside from slowly checking the life goal boxes, it’s important to take breaks. I visited the land of the rising sun, Japan, for the first time in 2019, and have been back another 4 times since then. I will be going again in a few weeks, and I want to explore more of the country and attend more events in the future!
The other crazy thing that’s also on my mind is this blog: I started it 17 years ago when I was only 13 years old. I like to think that putting my thoughts into words and writing them down keeps me grounded. It’s crazy to see this thing of a time capsule I have now, and trust me, I intend to keep blabbering about whatever’s on my mind for more years to come.
Anyways, that’s really I have this time around! Maybe my next update will be more thought-out than whatever the hell I’m writing now. But hey, I should be a bit more carefree, like how Alice from NIKKE looks here:
Until next time!
~Lui
