Week 01 and 02
Week 01 and 02
I don’t do end-of-year reviews much. The last time I attempted something along those lines was back in 2016, with a mid-year review following in 2019. Hardly worth writing home about. This past year didn’t help much either, as so many things felt in flux — all the time, all at once. While I did both read and write sporadically throughout the year, neither happened consistently or to a level that gave any kind of satisfaction.
For much of 2024, I felt creatively and emotionally unmoored, like I had drifted too far from the steadying rhythm of creating something outside of work — something that wasn’t code or documentation. To attempt to remedy this, I’m trying to focus on a couple of tiny projects, including this weekly compendium of thought-notes. Weekly feels like a manageable cadence at the moment, and I’m drawn to the idea of reflecting regularly. That said, I’m not drawn to the idea of this being a weekly recap — that feels too much like journaling, and I’ve never been much of a journal person. I want to explore some broader themes instead, but let’s see where it ends up.
The idea of a weekly rhythm also resonates with my life in Sweden, where I’ve noticed people often speak in terms of the week of the year. For example, when scheduling an appointment, it’s not uncommon to hear, “How about 10 am on Monday, week 3?” That would mean the Monday of the third week of the year (today, in fact). Why don’t they just start with dates? I don’t know and it doesn’t seem like anyone really knows but you get used to it. I had never experienced this before moving here and I’ve lived and/or worked on three different continents now. So, that’s the inspiration for this post’s title: thought-notes from week 01 and week 02.
My brother, who was visiting for the holidays, left recently and so I’ve had a bit of time now to unwind and ease back into the post-vacation routine of work and life. Some highlights from week 01 and 02 below.
🥘 Food
📚 Reading
- Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a gift to which I keep returning.
- On Not Knowing by Emily Ogden, bought (and stamped 😍) at Shakespeare and Company, Paris, to where I returned after 7 years on my second visit to Paris.
💿 Listening
While I’m not much for end-of-year recaps, I do really like looking forward to the next year with a renewed focus on some broad themes a la new-year’s-resolutions style though not with any sort of hard-set rules. More on that in the coming weeks.