Yearly Review 2024

Unlike previous years’ reviews, this year I don’t want to write an essay on things, keeping it short and sweet, point wise:

• Joined KnowBe4 on January 2nd as an SRE in the Platform Team.
• KnowBe4 has a Kochi office, and all the folks are really sweet—awesome colleagues and awesome friends.
• Tried going to the gym, but I don’t think I have enough discipline to keep it up.
• Presented a talk on Nix OS at the KochiFOSS meetup in February.
• Moved to a new flat in Kochi.
• Went for night drives a lot—lost count at some point.
• Hung out with my friends a lot.
• Went to Goa for a weekend, met a few of my colleagues from Frappe.
• Went on an international vacation to Thailand, swam in the sea, and visited Phi Phi Islands.
• Tried meal prepping but failed there too.
• Learned some new tech skills.
• Got a lot lazier.
• Read very few books.
• Watched some good movies.
• Started listening to old Malayalam songs a lot.
• Moved from my OnePlus to a Samsung S23 and got a new (used) ThinkPad.
• Bought 3 new watches—one for my brother, one for my mother, and one for me (a Moonswatch, the costliest item I own after my phone).
• Went on a weekend trip to Kodaikanal and Munnar with my roommates/flatmates.
• Got a new PlayStation 5 and played a lot of games. Finished Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man 2, The Last of Us, God of War, and God of War: Ragnarok.
• Didn’t build any new keyboards or contribute to open-source projects. I still think 20-year-old Athul was better than 24-year-old Athul.
• Went to the TechRoastShow in Bangalore.
• Drove my car to 18,000 km (in a year and 3 months). Longest single stretch drive was 360 km.

Life was mostly chill this year—less stress, a lot less solitude. Got a lot lazier, thought less about what’s to come, and became a lot less philosophical.