Looking in the Rearview Mirror of Life
28th birthday blog post
In two hours I will turn 28. Yesterday during my family’s get together to celebrate my birthday my dad said that I’ve always used a rearview mirror in my life. I’m writing this post to make sure that I’m publicly accountable to what I perceive in that mirror.
In June of this year I came back from my IVLP trip and posted a summary of that amazing trip. The post uses a method that a German juggler taught me to summarize complex and intricate experiences. She counts off the fingers and each signifies one point to remember. I’m going to use this method again to talk about my 28th year.
Pinky finger — What was there too little of?
2015 was a year of executing for me. Though I definitely did not make strategic moves or shifts. Almost all of what I did had to do with my immeadiate surroundings and doings. No commitments were made long term, no plans were made thinking about the far future. The post university, post startup, post being an adolescent life had me doing things that were very here and now. This isn’t in the negative column because, well, this isn’t by definition negative. I am fortunate that my here and now work built foundations that allow me to pursue some pretty cool stuff in the coming year. Though I must admit that I avoided longer term commitments such as planning an MBA, settling down into a serious romantic relationship or investing all of my time and money into a single venture.
I wonder if my 29th year will contain some more longer term thinking projects.
Ring finger — What was emotional?
Getting back up after 2014 was emotional. During my 27th year I closed CodeM3lim, ended my longest and strongest romantic relationship and went to war. Every success or just non-failure was emotional this year. Being hired for a job I actually wanted was the first reminder that I have skills that are marketable. Participating in the IVLP program as a fellow for the US state department was testimony to a great network still standing strong. Fasting for Ramadan was a great success in exposing my colleagues to the Muslim world and served a second role in reaffirming that I can still take on adventures. Even just traveling to San Francisco for three weeks of work in October played a role in coming back to a feeling that the world is a playground that I’m worthy of it.
The feeling of coming back was great, now I’m ready for the feeling of grit on the way to bigger things.
Middle finger — What was shitty?
Violence and politics. The news and media portrayal may be biased or misrepresenting. That being said, I was less than 200 yards from two shootings this year. If we count my friends and family being close the number is probably in double digits, not necessarily starting with the number one. I can’t say that I live in constant fear or awareness that this is hapenning.
I can say that it’s horrible.
Index finger — What would people miss unless I talk about it?
Programming. I’ve been “a techie” for a long while amongst my friends. Even though I did my undergrad in computer science, I’ve never really coded. I probably spent on average 30 hours a week writing code this past year. Damn fun, hard work, not everyone is up to it. I now definitely feel comfortable saying I am up to it.
Thumbs up — What was a positive part?
My 28th year was a year that I took a lot of ideas and executed them.
- Started my art collection, including drawn portraits of my friends.
- Fasted for the whole month of Ramadan
- Made over 1000 edits on Wikipedia on my own, by proxy of other people probably coming close to 1500
- Started the Israeli chapter of House of Genius
- Broke my record with six ball juggling
- Hosted people in Tel Aviv non-stop
- Helped a bunch of friends’ initiatives — was a delivery point for vegan chocolate, coded for a anti-human trafficking program, advised multiple startups and some more.
Def can’t wait to see what my 29th will bring. Care to join me?
