2025 into 2026
Hello people and welcome to my yearly recap. Regrettably (entirely of my own doing), last year's recap never made it out of my drafts. Honestly too much happened and the year was sooo packed that I didn't manage to write something that felt worthy of being posted. Something that managed to capture everything that happened in 2025.
Trying to chase perfectionism made me not post anything at all so this year's one is going to be messy unfiltered thoughts with no proper structure and might make sense only to myself.
Work
I worked and juggled school for the first half of the year and I think I spent a lot more time on work.
Pretty happy with how it went overall, I managed to ship a bunch of stuff that I'm proud of and touched a lot of stuff that I was super unfamiliar with (dbt, Elasticsearch, BQ, BT). Being able to dive into unfamiliar parts of the stack and managing to deliver value gave me a lot of confidence as a junior developer.
2025 is also the year that I started to embrace AI developer tooling a lot more. Things have really really improved and I'm very glad that I started learning to code and develop before these tools. If I started learning today I don't think I'd be convinced of the limitations (architecture, maintainability, large code bases), and might have went down a different path.
Probably the highlight of it was the offsite in NYC. Met everyone again (and a whole lot of new people), and got to see the office and idk it just felt cool to be on a "business trip".
Pickleball
This new hobby Jermaine and I picked up has become a mild obsession. It started with a ClassPass activity — Jermaine and I were looking for things to do and she'd seen clips of it online and was interested. Naturally I kinda scoffed at it at first and the early ClassPass sessions didn't do it for me. ($30+ bucks for a 1 hour session where we learnt the absolute basics and started by using our hands instead of a paddle.)
I got hooked though after the first proper game.
Summary of things I like:
- An activity Jermaine and I get to learn, compete, and play together.
- Social — I'd dare say the pickleball community is the most social, welcoming and big community in Singapore. I've played with 80+ year old men and kids and made a whole bunch of friends. (We even played with some New Zealanders on our most recent trip!)
- Ease to pick up — I've played with my family, friends.
- Not so strenuous — people use this to mock the sport which I high-key get. But playing doubles means you can play for 4 hours a day no problem, and if you're looking for exertion, singles will definitely get your heart pumping.
- Easy to pick up, difficult to master. I think on the surface its a super simple game but there's a lot to it and so many ways to play and things to learn. I find it super rewarding to drill a shot and then eventually being able to use it in play.
School
The first half of 2025 was my last semester with my batch (cause of the overseas program I went for). It was great to see them again after a year abroad and we had so many 2 hour long lunches in the canteen talking about anything and everything. I already miss those days.
The second half (once most of my batch graduated and only people left are STEP people who went on the exchange with me), school feels a lot more empty. I think the saving grace is the STEP room which has slowly become a third space of a kind. I've spent so much time there this past term doing work or studying or just chatting.
School itself felt different though. Like it wasn't really my school anymore. I remember being in year 1 and 2 and walking into the canteen and seeing so many familiar faces and having so many people to talk to. Now I don't even bother looking around the canteen anymore.
Better late than never but now I truly believe that grades don't really matter. Especially not in a school like SUTD. I truly believe that SUTD is not the kind of school you go to chase grades. Time spent pursuing interesting things just seems so much more valuable from every perspective.
Capstone
Another thing I'm thankful for is my capstone group. In Year 3 I felt this compulsion to make a good capstone. Something that I could be proud of and enjoy the process of building. Something that resonated with me. Something that interests me. Something that I might use.
Then my batchmates started doing capstone and the only things I heard were complaints. Too many deliverables. Asinine requirements. Stupid administrative bs. Lack of flexibility.
Hearing these, my interest and passion slowly faded and my expectations dwindled.
Thankfully, I got lucky with a great team + mentor and the product we are building is
- Something I genuinely see the use case for,
- We have enough validation
- Is technically challenging and really fun to build.
Our team dynamics work well and I'd be interested to see how far we can possibly take this. Even 1 real customer would be an absolute smashing success in my eyes.
Personal
Reading
I've really slacked off on reading this past few years. I started so many books and never got around to finishing them. I think it's time I be realistic with myself and stop reading non-fictional/self-improvement-y books that I like the idea of reading and honestly don't mind reading but just have no hook, no bite, that makes me pick it up after putting it down.
Things I know I like:
- biographies
- fiction (fantasy/ sci-fi)
Health
This year (latter part), I've started to pay more attention to my mobility. I've tweaked my back a few times (either in pickleball or everyday life) and it truly worries me. I'm 25 bruh I can't be having back problems (I blame the genes — my dad's side's men all have back issues). I don't have a fixed routine right now but I try to do some stretching/strengthening work every day.
Relationship
2024
The start of 2025 marked the end of our 1 year (2024) of long distance. I feel that no matter how secure and stable a relationship feels, LDRs have a way of testing it so I went overseas with some trepidation. Thankfully, despite the massive time difference and our packed schedules, we always made time for each other and found new ways to spend quality time together online. Really thankful for Jermaine's patience, understanding and effort.
2025
Jermaine and I went on a whole bunch of trips this year so I have so many photos idk how to choose. We also went shopping and got an engagement ring 💍 so now it's on me to find the best time/way to pop the question 🫣
Into 2026
2026 marks a really special year — it'll be my first year as a proper working adult. It marks a shift into the longest chapter of my life. I'd like to be a cool working adult, you know. Someone who keeps up with hobbies, friends, relationships. Someone who works on things they find interesting. Someone whose life doesn't revolve around their work, yet is able to glean joy and fulfillment from it. Am excited to see what's in store for myself 😛
- A job that I enjoy with people I admire + find interesting + pays well + continuous learning and growth
- Keep up with friends
- Read more + spend less time doomscrolling
- Learn and incorporate more AI into my workflows. Things seem to be shifting so quick and it seems like every week theres a new tool or workflow or best practice or incumbent. I'd like to keep a better pulse on things and improve the way I work.
- Healthwise, strengthen my back, work on my mobility issues, and continue doing things that keep me moving