One more 2010 please!

I thought 2010 would be another copy of 2009 which was a copy of 2008. But for me this was a year like 1998, my benchmark for great years. I’ll remember this year for a while, for a long time in fact. For starters, I turned 30. Just a number but kinda set me apart from other friends and cousins by going into another phase of life. Didn’t feel the same when I got to 20, but those days there was less time for such thoughts when busy having some serious fun.

This year also had me get out of my usual comfy routine and attempt something out of the way and actually succeed. Have always believed that the most difficult thing about any difficult thing is the effort, and once you manage to conquer that the rest falls into place. I started the year in testing, applying for jobs in MS for development only to never hear back from anyone. Made me resolve to leave the company by the end of the year and also to return to India. The return to India part was kinda in my radar before the start of the year, more like a secret plan that I worked towards.

Working towards the plan also meant I wanted to do as much of the USA as possible. That gave me the todo list for the year, more like a bucket list if you will. The Macbook pro was bought, a kindle was gifted (thanks Shankar and Neelu!), a cirque de soleil show done. Places on the list visited – Crater Lake, Grand Canyon, Mt Rainier at Sunrise and Sunset, New York City, Seattle skyline from Alki and Gasworks. I missed out on Vegas although the Raj kept putting it out there for me to grab, and Alaska was something I had planned for myself in case I was in the US in summer ’11.

Also managed a broadway musical and a Cirque De Soleil show. The cricket was great and was part of the team that managed 7 wins in a row and made it to the semis. Was a brilliant year on the field as I got back to doing what I loved doing most on the cricket field – bowling.

End of the year, a trip to Australia got planned and I found myself sitting in front of the Barmy Army in the MCG watching Australia collapse for 98 followed by a hectic trip to Adelaide. And now comes my first post from Australia in a long time.

And yes, the part about the job. The year also saw me make the transition from testing back to development. The job was landed after 4 interviews on C, a language I hadn’t used for 3 years and in MPLS a technology I had been out of touch with for 5 years. All this was possible due to 3 months of relentless late evening studying after work, brushing up on C and MPLS. Considering that I think in C when it comes to programming the C part wasn’t so difficult. But remembering the nitty-gritties of MPLS to be in a position where I can stand up to design questions from people who still work on it was the most difficult part. I should thank the interviewers for the faith they showed and letting me take my time to jog my memory and dig in during the interview. But more than anything I was happy to note that I still had the fire in me to do something if I set my mind to it.

So what’s for 2011? For starters it’s back to Bangalore and development and C and MPLS. Pretty much resetting state back to 2005. How I’ll figure is something I’ll need to see, but considering I had no clue what was happening when I got to MS, and how I ended my time there, am pretty confident about things. With a huge reset and change from most things from 2010 this is going to be an interesting year.

I wonder if I can maintain the same health and fitness routine from 2010. I believe how I’ll live the next decade of my life will dictate how the rest of my life will be spent. So fitness is going to be a huge priority. I don’t want to end up the way I did by the end of 2005 after 3 years of my work life – with a back needing therapy and a shoulder that had been rendered almost useless. Hope to breathe some life into my music interests and get back to flute lessons. This will of course be subject to finding a good teacher. The last one was great. Need to see if he’s still around, but I wonder if starting from scratch might be a better idea.

I do plan to take the bus to work everyday, so it is going to be a test of my patience. 3 hours to do anything you want can be a boon, but can turn into a curse pretty quickly if you get too stressed about getting to work or get too impatient. Need to plan my time out so that I can spend it well. Might be a good time to catch up on all the reading I’ve put away and also use that time to do all the browsing and staying in touch with friends. Will be a nice challenge to face, those 3 hours per day.

So that’s about the year that was and the year ahead. 2010 was a wonderful year for me. Did a lot, saw a lot and achieved a lot. Also, most importantly gave me an idea of what kind of person I am. To expect 2011 to be as good might be asking a lot, but then I also don’t want such great years to be a routine :-). But 2011 will be different, from 2010 and also 2012 considering that I will be going through the pangs of acclimatising to a new place work-wise and life-wise too.

So here’s hoping I have a good year and wishing the same for all who stumble by and get to this point.

And P.S: I managed 42 posts the last year, below the average of 45+ I had set the past few years. Hope I can beat it. Considering where I will be, expect more!