The halls were decked, now clear the decks
- I remember when I left college in 2003 and started my career in earnest, the days between Christmas and New Years were more busy.
- What I don’t remember is when those days became less busy and/or a write-off. I think it’s been this way, for me, since 2011 or so. I can’t put a finger on when or what made it so widespread.
- That said, I’m happy (some of) of our years can end with a little space to catch our breath and recharge. I hope it ends up this way for more people and not just knowledge/office workers.
I’ve spent the past several days trying to wrap up 2019. Finished the book I was reading (I’m steady at one Neal Stephenson per year over the past few). More importantly: revisiting tasks, articles, projects, pull requests, TV shows, video games, etc. that have been sitting around for a while. It hurts a little to cross off something I was excited about in May but have since totally whiffed on. On the other hand, it feels even better to have shorter and more achievable lists of things to apply my time and effort to finishing in 2020.
Probably related, I wrote things, lately! On glass vs paper for the purposes of taking notes and thinking with words. On my 2019 routine, which feels finally dialed in and likely to continue into the next decade 😉. I contemplated my tendency to write in the second person as notes to my past or future self. And, I jotted down the most important habits I’ve developed for supporting remote work when you’re local. See there I go, writing in the second person.
The current jam of the house: Jamiroquai. Me from twenty-odd years ago would be very surprised that Brit-funk could age so well.
The eighth and last episode of The Mandalorian. Holy cats, that was great. The very best Star War of the year!
Gird yourself for the next decade! I look forward to writing to you, and perhaps even hearing back or talking to you, in the year ahead.