PRE

Quite clueless on where to start from, even though, "clearly" a whole lot happened this year. a small part of it was my "21 days". Also quite clueless on what to use as the cover (not gonna use AI and also trying to use some thing(s) (read: images) that invoke a meaning to me when I look back and reflect). These things came into consideration and what was used were 1 streak calendar I tried daily to maintain (whilst been thrown into a ~21 day frenzy with barely internet and power - and long days of no connection and zero speaking to my family, got them worried for days, and also some days of struggling either due to burn out or exhaustion or just giving myself a break). The other, contributions of mostly work related projects.

DUMP

Typing this, and thinking of a song to play in the background... Mark Barlow comes to mind, discovered Mark this year, listening to his song "At my end", reflects deeply how much I felt for the most part and went down a rabbit hole of listening to as many songs as I could on Youtube Music including his "Hymns & Soul" released in 2021. This year - in totality, I think I listened to music a lot less. Even shocked at how Alex Jean sank from number one on my Spotify in two years to somewhere around number 3.

Chess, played bullet and blitz mostly, when I could afford time to. Some how, I was able to get a new ATH in both blitz and bullet, with 2284 on August 20 and 2147 on November 27 respectively; though sinking back now to 2205 and 2145. Couldn't really practice new openings or deep-dive old ones, pretty much played based on previous knowledge base. Definitely proud of the ratings (feel like a scam on that, cause in time, the ratings even out and I see myself as a solid 2100 and not a 2200), and definitely not happy about not been able to squeeze time for it. Might look into just focusing on micro learnings coming into the new year.

On books, struggled with finishing quite a number, schedule changed, took up more responsibilities, the time I would typically use for reading became occupied with something else. So it was a time scramble. Quite notable is "Serious Python" by Julien Danjou, I would recommend for any pythonistas to take a look at the book. For the coming year, hopeful I will find a rhythm again.

Did zero conferences this year, no speaking and almost no attendance (with FlaskCon Africa in Nov or Dec being the exception, and it was just for a few minutes, virtually not physically). For the coming year, hoping to change that, might do a shuffle among PyCon NG, PyCon Africa, FlaskCon, DjangoCon, FlutterBytes and some Web3 conferences. But let's just start with a little goal of just 1 conference in 2026 by God's grace.

It, indeed, was a quiet year for me, pretty falling under the radar of "I lost my spark" decade. On coding, I would say I contributed a whole lot at work. Picked up Rust in July based on a personal preference for a work requirement, at first, it was completely crazy, the borrowing and ownership in theory sounded all so good, but in practice, I can't count how many times I was flogged by the compiler, still getting flogged from time to time, but it is a whole lot less - usually just when I trip on borrowing issues with reference counting. Asides, it is a beautiful, well-thought-out and designed language and with so much potential. To practice more, I spent a lot more of my Leetcoding with using Rust and it has indeed in some ways improved my Rust (though I must confess, I don't still feel confident in some part of the language - pointing to the fact, I may need to work on projects outside the domain I used it at work for). Interestingly started the year similarly with cpp but never went too deep, thankfully carried the learnings there into my Rust learning and have one project at work, zero personal "FOR NOW". Spent more time with Python and TypeScript, and Dart. Looking to do more Math and Engineering.

*A song featuring Mark Barlow - Matthew 6 playing in the background.

I went out, quite a number of times: Thank you RiRi for accepting my invitation and Josh for the hosting; as well as my NYSC colleagues for the outings this year. I met several amazing people, one on my list is the Hilarious EMJ. Really grateful for making 2025 special. No lessons to disclose for '25, just take a look at your life and you'd see the lessons. Nah, jk. But, '25 felt personal, really personal. 2026... be kind. Might attempt to put myself out there at some point, if you see Joshua (popularly referred to as Josh) putting himself out there, please know that he is trying to be better, to live and therefore Let live. Happy New Year and welcome to 2026.

Conclusion

This looked shabby, as I said in the beginning, still clueless on what to say. Pretty shocked and speechless (how I've been for the most part of the year). Well, if you're seeing this, I hope 2026 is kind to you, I pray you do find favour, before God and Man, I pray you find the right people and you finally get your heart desires according to God's will. Feel free to hit me up and say Hi, if you ever come across this and we aren't mutuals, always a pleasure meeting new people, beyond the social construct of networking, I do love a good conversation. Thank you and have a blessed '26. With 💖 & 💡 always.