Happy new year

2023 has been a year of test, healing and some success in my professional life.  Here's some of my memories of 2023 - 

PhD: I applied for PhD.s in Jan 2023 and got admitted to Canadian University under a highly regarded professor in the field of my interest. At the same time, my dad suffered from a heart attack, and my sister demanded that I let go of the PhD and said that I am self centered and my dad would get another heart attack if I choose to go for the PhD. Doing a PhD is my dream, and I regret this decision. I am hopeful that there would be someway that I could achieve this.

- Inverness Visit: This has been the only time since I have been in Edinburgh that I travelled outside Edinburgh and with my bike. I had a great time cycling around Inverness and also visiting (and puking at) the Isle of Skye.

- Data Science and Engineering conference(s) at bank: The may conference was the first time I was presenting my project ever at a conference and needless to say I was incredibly nervous. I had people visiting and asking all sorts of questions. Some I felt were ignoring, and some were asking nonsensical questions. At the second conference in November, I was a lot more confidence but bogged down by the number of people showing positive interest but it was still a great experience for the hackathon that followed. In the May conference,  I got the innovative project award and a finalist spot at the hackathon and in the Nov conference, I made 2 friends (that's a big thing for me).

- Job change: One of the major reasons for the job change was to get the visa sponsorship. I didn't feel like this was a wrong decision, particularly as I saw no future in the last company, and I thought I was done with them banking on me. One sad part about was leaving the team who were my clients at the bank. I have such good memeories with all members of the team and so very grateful to each of them for being a solid support. Transition into the new permanent role at the bank was not difficult but I didn't like it initially and thought it was the worst decision (probably in the face of PhD) because of the lack of any social interaction between colleagues. I am happy I now think about it more positively, though this is not something I could do forever.

- Bollywood dancing: I have felt so much pleasure and happiness in doing this. I don't think I am a great dancer. I have difficulty in doing hand and leg movements together, so for me, it was having a good time. With whatever mood I go into the class, I come out happy forgetting about the thing that was bothering me. I sometimes dance while walking, this is how much this class has affected me. I also made one friend, Kat, who has been very kind to me during my testing period.

- Board games: In Feb, when I moved out of my old landlady's house, I felt lonely and depressed, and I thought I have to get out. I convinced myself to go to a boardgames meet up. On my second visit, I met Tom (who is now my friend, though we have occasional arguments) and his gang of fab board gamers.

- Avoiding family: This year, I have avoided talking to my family. This started in March when I started to get calls from sister about domestic violence at hands of my father. It bothered me and depressed me beyond words, and it was at that time I decided to not call again. This was a selfish decision, but the only I could protect my sanity. I don't want to live in the fear of a 3pm call anymore.

-Growth: My last manager (Jonny at consuslting company), Ross (manager at the bank) and Jeremy (current manager at the bank) all agree that I have grown a lot in the last year. A lot of the thank you should be going to Jonny and Ross for showing faith in me. They have both been unarguably the best mentors. I miss my productive 1-2-1's with Jonny. Jeremy mentioned the same thing about the growth even though I have been in the new team for a short time.

- Max: I met Max at the most uncoventional place of meeting - a.k.a the horrendous spinning class at the Edinburgh Leisure Centre. Max is my fun friend, and I like hanging out with him. His partner Maya is also quite nice (and we share the same birthday and Virgo-ness). Towards the end of the year, I made it a point to see him atleast once a week, it just made happy.

- Blip: Recording my memories on this app have been incredible. I am very lazy, but now have a mental alert to take one photo a day. There have been so many positive people who have left comments like beinghere, digitaldave, rolf, bulliblip, rat who, despite not knowing me completely, have been very supportive of me. Thank you for all the positivity - my year would be incomplete without mentioning of you all.

I am two days in 2024 now - I tried recording some resolutions which I would like to keep for this year. (edited on 2/1/24)