Today is the first day of my last year in my 20's. The past decade has been some sort of a roller coaster. I still remember when I first landed in Canada. That was a very challenging time for me trying to adapt to a new culture. I was pretty much still a kid who had no idea what his purpose in life was. Making friends was difficult, adding to it the fact that I was a total introvert with lots of complexity. Somehow, I made it through to this point. I consider myself very lucky that I have had numerous people who came across and improved my life in so many different ways. Thanks to them, I'm now a bit wiser, braver, and kinder. Some left and a few stayed. It's the course of life and I have learned to accept that. I'm spending more time looking ahead rather than looking back now, so that's an improvement. Reflecting on the past 3 years, there were some pivotal moments for me in terms of life and career. I made a scary career switch and it's definitely paying off. That came with completing a challenging master's degree which I'm proudly hanging. And most importantly, I met my sweetheart who has been supporting me through a lot of downs. She also threw me an awesome birthday party today.

There are a few things I want to accomplish by the time I write on this topic again next year. This is a wishlist so I'll probably end up not doing some of it but doing any of it will be a win. So here they are:

1. Give back more to society in any ways. I've been quite heads down working on my own things that I honestly haven't contributed much to anything or anybody else outside of my immediate circle. Hopefully, this will change this year.

2. Open the door for more social opportunities. I've been a huge introvert as you probably know by now. I'm content with my introversion but stepping out of my comfort zone sometimes should not be a bad idea.

3. Continue to learn a ton about software engineering. Maybe launch a product idea just for the fun of it?

4. Go for an extended vacation in Vietnam!!