And just like that, this is the fifth year-end review. From 2018’s “Settling Into First Principles” to 2019’s “Moving Through, Stopping Often,” then 2020’s “Chasing Sparks,” and last year’s “Finding My Own Way Forward” — this year’s theme, after much deliberation, is Peace and Joy.

Peace and Joy is partly a summary, but more than that, it’s an aspiration.

Work

Work comes first every year, and this year is no exception — it’s where I put the most energy.

The year started well: my promotion review in January went through, making me T10 just two and a half years after graduation. Whether this was unprecedented, I don’t know — but the new company policy limiting promotion frequency means it likely won’t be repeated. I’ll be the last.

In last year’s review, I’d flagged “multitasking” as my biggest weakness. Looking back now, that’s essentially solved. My daily reality is managing multiple parallel streams. When something new comes in, I don’t handle it immediately — I capture it in an inbox first. Then, when I reach a natural stopping point, I go to the inbox and prioritize. I check for anything P0; if so, I switch over immediately. Otherwise I handle the next P1 or continue what I was doing.

Put simply: inbox + priority levels solve the problem.

  • The inbox prevents anything from falling through the cracks, and filing something there is a form of handling it — it doesn’t break my current focus. Frequent context-switching is the single biggest source of inefficiency; staying focused is the goal.
  • Priority levels let high-stakes items get resolved quickly without derailing overall progress.

This year in Q3 I received the company’s Young Talent Award, with performance scores of 4 and 5 (no sixth consecutive five-star, which I suppose counts as a step back — though honestly, this exceeded my own expectations). The real issue is that this year I didn’t own any particularly complex projects, and I wasn’t satisfied with how far I pushed my technical depth. If I tried to go up for T11 right now, I’d have trouble pointing to much. I talked about this with my manager at year-end and also examined it for myself: my view of problems during day-to-day projects has been too limited.

Every project — easy or hard, important or routine — has something to teach. Project A, which I complained was just integration work (the core tech was held by an external company), is a case in point: I never stopped to ask myself what it would take to build the equivalent functionality ourselves, without that dependency.

Open Mind describes something called an “experience-point mindset” — treating work like a co-op game where everything gives XP:

If a task is repetitive and dull: fine — it’s building my proficiency, making me more fluent with this skill.

If something unexpected breaks: great — I’ve triggered a hidden challenge, there’s a new objective to complete.

If a problem was predictable: no problem — this is the main quest I’ve been grinding toward.

If a task is difficult and demanding: excellent — it offers massive XP and fast growth.

If I could think this way consistently — and not just look for completion — growth would stop being constrained by what projects come my way. I could have done better. That’s this year’s main regret.

This year I mentored an intern who reminded me strongly of my own internship in 2018 — the first year I ever wrote a review, titled “Settling Into First Principles.” Looking at them made me ask: how much of that original spirit — the one that made me love building things — is still alive in me? When I feel lost, I remind myself: nothing I’m doing is wasted. It’s all nutrients that will help me clear the next level’s boss when the time comes.

Technical reading this year dug into Chromium and JS engine internals. Articles I wrote:

The enthusiasm for technology hasn’t faded. And I see clearly how much more room there is to grow.

2023 hope: stay steady, stay focused, keep building depth.

Learning

Two changes in how I learn this year.

First: a new input method.

I started listening to podcasts. I only listen to a couple — Business Is Like This and Sound-Alive’s Jump Down the Rabbit Hole — but it’s a useful channel. I also realized my information sources were too slow and too subject to algorithmic filter bubbles. Whole platforms (like Sspai or Juejin) would disappear from my awareness if I forgot to visit them; the tech public accounts I followed kept recycling the same posts. So I built a personal RSS and email digest system (WJ.16: Personal Information Flow). The improvement in how I find and organize information is one of the year’s most satisfying wins.

Second: I started writing a newsletter.

Why? Explained in detail in WJ.1: Why Write a Newsletter. Worth noting: I paused for two months partway through, realizing my non-technical reading wasn’t rich enough to support weekly issues, and the weekend time wasn’t there either. Quality was sliding. So I shifted to monthly in the last two months.

Whether anyone reads it or not, I’ll keep writing — for the future version of myself.

Emotions

Last year’s review flagged “falling into anxiety too easily,” and I set a goal to cultivate emotional steadiness. This year I focused seriously on emotional management. Here’s my mood log for the year — noticeably more green than in previous years.

When something triggers a rush of irritation, anger, or sadness, I feel it immediately. But I also know, in that moment, that the emotion has taken the wheel. Acting from pure emotion rarely resolves anything.

I think of emotions as an alarm system — a kind of guard. When the guard announces “you should be angry right now,” I do feel angry. But I also tell myself: this emotion isn’t controllable, and venting it might not solve anything. So I say to the angry guard: “Noted. Stand down. I’ve registered this feeling. Now let’s calm down and analyze the situation — we can process the anger later.”

And most of the time, by the time I’ve handled the situation — or accepted that I can’t — the negative feeling has dissolved on its own. No need to go back and “process” it.

I’m not suppressing the anger or sadness. I’m accepting it.

Another method I love: “Whenever I face something I can’t bring myself to do, I close my eyes and imagine myself at 80 years old, full of regret for every difficulty I avoided, every time I gave up or ran away. I say to myself: how wonderful it would be to be young again. Then I open my eyes — and I’m young again.”

Before sleep, I also look back at the day’s mood and selectively record the good things — partly to invite good dreams, partly to greet tomorrow more gently. This is another reason the mood log has trended greener this year.

A diary should be honest. But choosing to remember the beautiful moments over the petty annoyances — isn’t that a more beautiful way to live?

Romance

There’s a brief relationship from this past spring I won’t recount. Even now, looking back, the only thing I find there is warmth. Now it really is just 一瞬の夢 — a moment’s dream.

I hope to keep going with the same openness and courage that I carried then.

Life

Moved this year — traded a small flat I’d lived in for three years for a much bigger one.

I love the sunset view from my window.

I love the little canal on my way to work.

Started intentional spending this year. I’d been tracking expenses for six years, but mechanically — recording without thinking. Every month-end summary left me baffled by the total. This year I switched to MoneyThings, set weekly and monthly spending budgets with a visual progress bar, and actually feel in control now.

I also bought a car — a MINI F57. I’d originally put a deposit on a Tesla in April (when I was briefly dating someone and thought a car would be convenient for trips to Guangzhou). But I was following the crowd; I didn’t have a real reason. Then I saw a MINI convertible in a TV show and it was instant, complete infatuation. Went home that night, researched the brand’s history and model lineup, test drove the next day, put a deposit down by afternoon. Impulsive? Maybe. But I have zero regrets. It’s got personality, it’s adorable-tough, and I’ve never once spotted the same car in the wild.

The cats are doing well. Gloves and Puff are fine.

Still haven’t caught COVID as of New Year’s. Hoping that holds a little longer.

Dreams Come True

A lot happened this year. Filtering out the negative news from society, if I had to pick a theme, I’d say “dreams fulfilled.”

First, Messi’s World Cup win — from age 19 to 35, how many 16-year chapters does a career contain?

Then, EDG’s League of Legends world championship — Dasin’s last dance, ten years of chasing a trophy. From fourth-seed underdog to champion, beating the odds in the most dramatic fashion. A perfect final chapter for a competitive career.

And Ash (Satoshi), Pokémon’s protagonist, finally winning the World Coronation Series Masters Tournament. Twenty-five years: from 1999’s Top 16 in the Indigo League to 2002’s Top 8 in the Johto League, 2005 Top 8 in Hoenn, 2010 Top 4 in Sinnoh, 2013 Top 8 in Unova, then heartbreaking runner-up at the Kalos League in 2016, finally taking the Alola Championship in 2019, and now — 2022 World Champion. Twenty-five years. The writers put him through endless torment, but Ash had long since become the definitive Pokémon Master in everyone’s heart. His story is wrapping up now — I hope the finale gives him and Pikachu the send-off they deserve.

PS. I really wanted the finale to feature his original partners — the promise with the “World’s Strongest Charizard,” the prophecy about climbing to the top with Greninja. Fans never saw those resolved. Twenty-five years, and I don’t want a single loose end.

And then: the Slam Dunk national finals arc, finally animated. Watching Shohoku play again fulfilled a dream from childhood.

A year of fulfilled dreams. I hope yours get their moment too.

Books, Films & Music

Best purchase of the year: a projector. Watched a lot on weekends.

TV

Film

Anime

  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: ★★★★★
  • Paprika: ★★★★★ — perfect.
  • Perfect Blue: ★★★★★ — perfect, and terrifying to watch at night.
  • Summer Time Rendering: ★★★★★ — the anime pacing is a bit off and the ending music doesn’t land; the manga is better.
  • Spy × Family: ★★★★★ — consistently delightful.
  • Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc: ★★★★★ — great source material plus outstanding animation = perfection.
  • Pokémon Journeys: ★★★★☆ (starting from the Eight Masters arc onward)

Reading

Games

Skipping ratings for games — the fact that I finished them means they held me.

  • Triangle Strategy: A feast for strategy/tactics fans, and pixel art to boot. Loved it.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Played a few hours, realized it was extremely time-intensive, dropped it.
  • Pokémon Sword/Shield: Completed. Plot is weak, gyms are too easy. Haven’t touched the online content.
  • 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim: Playing through it. Story feels slow to open up; withholding judgment.
  • Persona 5 Royal: Absolutely deserving of its reputation. Playing at roughly one palace every two weeks; currently at the casino.
  • Genshin Impact 3.0: Dendro Archon is great!
  • Honor of Kings: Rarely played before; was usually stuck around Platinum/Diamond. A few months of one daily match and somehow I’ve climbed to the high tiers.

New Year Goals

  • Life: Cultivate gratitude. Connect with people more. Build real relationships actively. (I met almost no new friends this year.)
  • Learning: Maintain curiosity. Keep learning openly, for the sake of learning itself.
  • Work: Maintain humility. Complete projects, but refuse to set internal limits. Think more. Question more. Act more. Reflect more. Find and grow your influence.
  • Mindset: Maintain joy. Notice and record the beauty around you. Live a little poetically.

Ending with a line from Confidence Man JP: “Streams flow ceaselessly, yet every drop is different; foam forms and dissolves on muddy water; nothing lasts forever — so it is with people, creatures, and everything that dwells in this world.”

May your wishes, and mine, and all the ones floating out there in the air — may they all find their way to a gentle shore.