So, it's the dawn of 2021 and as usual I want to do a review of the past year. To put it simply, the year obviously turned out like no one really predicted or imagined (I was just reading a hacker news thread in 2019 and no one even thought of mentioning the word "virus"). I think the pandemic will be one of the defining moments of my lifestyle maybe even equivalent to how others view World War I/II or the Great Depression?
That being said, I think it's not entirely a bad thing. There's some silver linings in that this could be a chance for the world to "reset" and advance in new ways such as remote work or VR technology. It could open up new opportunities for startups and growth. I know the pandemic has hurt a lot of people and it's quite tragic but "we" (society) would be remiss if we didn't also try to harness the benefits. But maybe I'm just all talk since I'm still kind of too scared to actually do a startup but I'll discuss that later.
Anyway, before starting this post, I began by reading my post at the beginning of 2020 to see if I actually accomplished my goals/thoughts. In retrospect, I'm actually surprised by how many things I did accomplish especially given the extenuating circumstances of the past year - so in that sense, I did better than expected. Let's start with a quick recap/summary of the year and then go into an actual review.
So, the year started off with COVID just being something far off the RADAR but still in the background. I began with writing the Egghead paper (which was grueling but also a new experience) and some big events like Genesis 7. I started to get back into a workout routine and, in general, things were going fine.
In March, COVID hit North America in full force and I remember feeling quite scared because no one knew what to expect. I went home and kind of watched everything happen with this general sense of despair. I had left in a hurry to go home, so I was worried about going back eventually. Being at home during this time felt difficult, I wasn't used to it and it was hard to be productive or get work done. That being said, somehow I got promoted to L6 and got the Egghead paper accepted (probably my biggest accomplishment this year) though these were mostly just reflections of prior work I had done. During the actual time I was "WFH" I didn't feel that productive which was quite depressing in some ways.
In August, I went back to the bay area and was scared at first but somehow when it came down to it I felt very clear minded and not anxious at all (at least at the airport). I didn't mind being back in SF, it felt nice to have some space and be able to hangout with friends. I think I mentioned it before but since I knew I wasn't there for too long, I was actually very social and it felt kind of nice. The big challenge was, of course, the wildfires which tested my mental fortitude since there was the day the sky turned orange and other days when we were shut in for days at a time. That being said, I'm proud of myself for being mentally strong during this time and I think it shows how far I had come from 2019 when my mental health felt a lot more precarious.
In October, I came back home for the holidays and honestly feel like I didn't do that much work except get Knucklehead experiment setup. The other big event was the IPO which threw a wrench in my plans about when I was planning to leave - but I'll discuss that more in the "looking forward" section. Now, it's the new year and I'm faced with new decisions about how long to stay at home vs. going back and what to do moving forward.
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