2025 has been a year of incredible change. cheers to the next
- finished one year of volunteering in the us peace corps in thailand. usually it's a two year volunteering program, but some personal circumstances had me leave earlier. regardless, it was a transformational mental reset. i spent most of my time teaching and working with the local government in the rural province of phrae
- joined magicblock to work with andrea and gabriele. i've known them since 2021 where we met at a week-long gaming event hosted by jump trading in singapore. very happy to reconnect and work with friends
- met someone and moved to hong kong with them :)
- did a deep dive into chinese gungfu tea. hosted several tea tasting events for friends. my favorite tea is da hong pao - translated as "big red coat" literally. it has a very minerally taste, and is grown in the mountains of my birth region, fujian
- touched a real (and very fat) raccoon
- dressed up for halloween for the first time since college as flynn rider in bangkok. despite it not being widely celebrated in thailand, it's quite a large affair within the more international crowd
- made a physical tech toy: a crochet flower that acts as a digital polaroid album. this project taught me a lot of real world supply chains. you would be surprised how much value there is in just knowing the correct suppliers and not going through middlemen
- skiied in niseko with pete. unfortunately, got a really nasty gash on my leg the first day, so i had to take it easy and wasn't able to fully enjoy it. i did however ski in four different indoor slopes around the world this year, surprised how popular it's becoming. i wonder how economical it is?
- made my yearly pilgrimage to my parent's home for thanksgiving. i usually try to visit either thanksgiving or christmas every year, no matter where i am in the world. 7 years running, not gonna let it stop now!
inspired by riley walz's year in reviews