Alright, we’re at the end of another year, again. I called 2023 a “nothing year” in last year’s post and I admitted it was hard and I cried a lot. 2024 was comparatively worse, and I cried even more. I probably burned out a couple of times without even noticing. Or maybe it was just one constant, exhausting burnout. After all that I’d gone through, I’d actually forgotten how bad 2023 had been as well.

As I look back on this year, I don’t want to leave anything “behind”. I realise that I dislike the phrasing that people use when they are looking forward and setting intentions for the new year, and leaving negative stuff at the door. I think it’s difficult to really leave things behind when a lot of those things inherently stay within us. We use those experiences to build our armour. The lessons we learn from hardship become the bandages for our wounds. So I take everything with me, but it doesn’t have the same impact on me because I’m stronger, older, wiser.

In 2024 I had a couple of highlights. I helped organise and did a talk at our company Devcamp, went on a solo trip to the U.S., participated in my second powerlifting competition and placed second, and got my third tattoo. On my trip I met some incredible people and reconnected with some old friends from the XOXO festival. There are probably more small wins here and there throughout the year, but I so clearly left this post to the last minute and I’m feeling so apathetic about rounding up the year… so I’m writing just what I remember. After all, when we think of years, we don’t tend to think of too many tiny details, but just a handful of major things.

My tattoo is two figures walking into the dark; it is an interpretation of the song I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. It holds a special place in my heart.

🩵 Friends and family

This is just going to be a bunch of pictures, ’cos.

🎶 Music

The concerts I went to this year were:

• Anberlin
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra
• Lime Cordiale
• Atreyu
• Taylor Swift
• Sleater-Kinney
• Explosions in the Sky
• Hockey Dad
• Last Dinosaurs
• The Maine
• Lime Cordiale (again)
• Olivia Rodrigo
• Bob Evans
• Hockey Dad (again)

It was actually the first time I saw Atreyu even though I have been a fan of them for a while. They were a tonne of fun. I also thoroughly enjoyed Last Dinosaurs since I adore them so much. On the other hand, I found Anberlin and Sleater-Kinney a little underwhelming—Anberlin’s show was among the last of frontman Stephen Christian’s before his hiatus, and maybe it just felt rushed. Taylor Swift was obviously on another level; I need not comment on that. It was a great experience, even if it was so perfectly rehearsed (I am used to the more casual, adlibbed performances, particularly for the crowd interaction in between songs).

Some albums and EPs that were released this year that I gave a listen:

• The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift
• Hot City, Bonny McKee
• Rebuild Repeat, Hockey Dad
• KYORYU, Last Dinosaurs
• COWBOY CARTER, Beyonce
• OIKS, Jebediah
• Vega, Anberlin
• Haven, Marianas Trench
• Sidelined, Hannah Stow
• Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter
• Devourer, Cursive
• Computer Future, Velociraptor
• I’m Not Afraid Of Music Anymore, COIN
• Sink Your Teeth, Neon Trees
• rosie, ROSÉ

My favourites were undeniably Rosé’s rosie, which was only released a few weeks ago, and Hockey Dad’s Rebuild Repeat. I have listened to Velociraptor, COIN, and Neon Trees’s new albums repeatedly because of how catchy and fun they are. They make for a good gym workout playlist. Bonny McKee’s album Hot City was also incredibly, incredibly catchy, and I have just reminded myself that it needs another listen, too.

People have often asked me how I find new music. Of the list above, many of the artists are artists I already love and whose music is already in my library. I have many of them on my radar by way of Apple Music (yes, I’m one of them), and the app shows me an artist’s new album when it’s released. I don’t even have to do the work of searching or waiting for an album because it comes up as a suggestion and I’m pleasantly surprised. I don’t tend to sign up to bands’ mailing lists because I generally don’t like receiving too many email newsletters, and I don’t invest a lot of energy into the hype of an upcoming single or album. I don’t mind finding out on the day it’s dropped, because frankly, keeping up with new music can be a lot of intentional effort that not everyone has the time for. I do follow some artists on Instagram—I don’t keep tabs on them all the time, but I may find out about new music that way. It is rare that I actually follow through with recommendations from people, because, as I mentioned, it can feel like a lot of effort to listen to new music if it doesn’t happen organically. 😅

Some songs I really liked that weren’t on the albums above:

• One Bad Day, Spacey Jane
• Crush, JEN Z
• give urself 2 me, Cat & Calmell

Some artists I paid more attention to or found out about, that didn’t necessarily release anything in 2024:

• Spacey Jane
• Voodoo Bandits
• Crash Adams (I love the song Caroline)
• Fulton Lee (he has an Instagram account where you can get a feel for his feelgood music and smooth vocals)
• Blur, whom I have followed before, but did listen to their album The Ballad of Darren from 2023

Some artists or albums that I re-discovered my love for:

• Smashing Pumpkins, namely the Adore album
• Atreyu, especially after seeing them live this year
• The Get Up Kids, Something to Write Home About (fucken 25 year anniversary for that album; I’d love it if I could make it to a show! damn it tour Australia please)
• The Maine’s back catalogue and all their covers (they did a great cover of You Get What You Give and Steal My Sunshine)
• Bloods, a small band from Australia whom I used to see at gigs ten years ago, but didn’t listen to their album from a few years ago until this year
• Gang of Youths, who I’ve seen several times live but whose music I never really quite listened to much

📚 Books

I read 44 books this year; this also includes audiobooks. This is more than the 36 I read in 2023. It’s a pretty big achievement considering that I didn’t read a lot in the past few months. After being diagnosed with ADHD I found myself obsessed with reading books about neurodivergence and listening to a tonne of podcasts.

My favourite book I read this year was What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo. It’s a memoir about the author’s healing journey from complex PTSD. I read the physical copy and it almost brought me to tears several times because the traumatic recollections in it mirrored some of my own experiences. I would give a trigger warning for this but I do really recommend the book as it also provides some insight into the complexity of Asian family dynamics.

Some others that were top of the list for me:

• Strong Female Character by comedienne Fern Brady, a memoir that centres around being an autistic woman
• Servo by David Goodwin, a humorous collection of stories about working the graveyard shift at a petrol station in Australia
• Tiny by Louise Southerden, a quaint memoir about a woman’s quest to build a tiny house, amidst a relationship breakdown
• Because We Are Bad: OCD and a Girl Lost in Thought by Lily Bailey, a fascinating account into living with OCD

🫀 Health and fitness

I already mentioned my second powerlifting competition, but I did generally manage to keep going to the gym throughout the year and continue my focus on strength training. I ended up walking a lot more in the latter half of the year as I had a bit more time for long walks, so I got more steps in. I never did end up going back on my skateboard. 😅

I ate more plants and a little less meat this year in an effort to reduce my cholesterol and avoid having to increase my medicine dosage, and after seeing the cardiologist and getting a couple of blood tests, my change in diet has served me well. It is also something that I find sustainable for my lifestyle.

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Well, there goes that. And this post isn’t a second too late for 2024. 😂 It has been a tumultuous year. As I was writing this, I realised how much I missed writing. Blogging was less of a priority in recent months, but as I piece my life back together, I will find the time and energy for it again. Thanks for sticking around. ❤️‍🩹