2022 was the best year of my life so far. I attended my first-ever conference. I especially feel grateful to be able to visit my parents back in India after three long years.

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• Highlights
• Travel
  • Kyoto
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Jaipur, India
  • Fukuoka
  • Osaka
• Hiking
  • Fuji-san
  • Kamikochi Japanese Alps
  • Howth Cliff Walk
• Books
• Writing
• 2023 Goals

Highlights

• Went back to visit India after three years.
• Attended ACL and PyCon JP conferences.
• Climbed Fuji-san.
• Finally got infected with COVID-19. Twice.
• Started learning to drive.
• Read nine books.
• Attended MCR and Pixies concerts.

Travel

I visited four cities I had never been to: Jaipur (India), Dublin (Ireland), Kyoto, and Osaka.

Kyoto

Visited Kyoto for the first time and spent a week living in the downtown area.

Dublin, Ireland

Visited Dublin to attend the ACL 2022 conference. Explored a lot of coffee shops and bars there. Checked out Guinness Storehouse. Attended MCR concert. I was supposed to stay here for a week but tested positive for covid a day before my flight, so I spent two additional weeks here. During that time, explored many parks and went for a small hike in Howth.

Jaipur, India

Went to Jaipur, the pink city, during my India trip along with my parents.

Fukuoka

It was my second time in Fukuoka, and I spent a week here this time. Explored a lot of specialty coffee shops and craft beer bars. My recommendations would be Manu Coffee (Watanabedori), Coffeeman, Stereo Coffee, and Umineko stand.

Osaka

Spent a week in Osaka downtown during the new year holidays. Also, went to Nara and Kobe for day trips.

Hiking

Finally climbed Fuji-san. Other than the hikes listed below, I also hiked Nokogiriyama, Takao-san, Tsukuba-san, Okutama Lake course, and Mitake-Otake-Nokogiri-Okutama course.

Fuji-san

Climbed the highest mountain in Japan, 3776 meters high, Fuji-san.

Kamikochi Japanese Alps

Visited Kamikochi for two days during autumn. The views were amazing. Two days weren’t enough to climb any mountains, so I will come back here for a longer hike next time.

Howth Cliff Walk

While visiting Dublin, I came to Howth for a short hike along the cliffs facing the seas. The views were breathtaking.

Books

Read a total of 9 books. I hope to make it to 12 in 2023.

• The Culture Map ★★★★★
• Algorithms to Live By ★★★★☆
• The 100 Year Life ★★★☆☆
• Designing Machine Learning Systems ★★★★☆
• Set Me On Fire ★★★★★
• Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs ★★★★☆
• The World Atlas of Coffee ★★★★☆
• And Still I rise ★★★☆☆
• Selected Poems Emily Dickinson ★★★★☆

Writing

Wrote a blog post about routing algorithm for customer inquiries on Mercari Engineering Blog.

2023 Goals

• Finish driving lessons and get the driving license
• Give 2 tech talks at Python conferences
• Start learning piano
• Move to a new apartment
• Reach conversational level in Japanese