The days are long but the years are short.

One more year over and these are starting to look like a blur, so here’s what changed.

Work

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I gave notice between Christmas and New Year 2020 and spent the first three months of the year in a weird in-between state mostly done with the old job, waiting for the new one to start, in between daycare closures and being sick.

Then the new job started and I fell into a blur of work that has continued for most of the rest of the year. It’s been a nice change but also very intense. Details are on LinkedIn.

Travel

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I haven’t been anywhere in 2021 except to an island in Croatia last September with work which definitely was a highlight.

Will I travel again and why? I have no idea.

Learning

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I finished Turkish. I now prefer it over German again especially for writing.

I gave up on Chinese and couldn’t motivate myself or figure out how to book the HSK2. I did learn a couple hundred characters which seem to mean the same thing as in Japanese.

I started learning Japanese which is a lot more enjoyable and for basic conversation seems a lot easier. There also has been some strengthening on the claim for a relationship between Turkish and Japanese so let’s see how it goes.

I should have started this way earlier and not listened to anybody who ever said something is difficult. What they mean is that something was difficult for them. Depending on their intelligence, many things may in fact be difficult for them. It shouldn’t matter to me or anybody else.

Kids

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The daycare was closed at the start of the year until March or Easter, not sure anymore. Most of the rest of the year things were up and running.

We had a nasty burn wound on one kid that cut the summer break short and gave us several weeks of grief but in the end all turned out well.

Then at the end of the year we gave notice. We are leaving one very esteemed Kindergarten for another which I didn’t think would be possible with two kids in the middle of the year, but it is. We even had several more places willing to take our kids.

The kids are doing really well. After a brief bout of gymnastics which they enjoyed a lot, COVID made us switch to outdoor ice skating for now.

Sports

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I finally killed my old fixie or to be more correct it nearly killed me. With it gone, I could finally shop for a real road bike.

Thanks to a ship blocking the Suez Canal and all the other supply chain difficulties in the world, there was a tremendous bike shortage most of the summer (who knows, maybe it’s still going on?) and I got any random bike I could get my hands on in the €1000 price range.

I also got most of the tools and kit that you would need for cycling. It’s the clichéed guy midlife hobby. The local Rapha store is more convenient and also cheaper than many of the cycling apparel you can buy dropshipped over Instagram.

I seem to have ridden 1231km on it and looking forward to doing many times that in the coming year. The details are on Strava.

I picked up bouldering again which when in a rhythm (every 4-5 days) I’m finding pretty enjoyable.

Health

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I got boosted randomly on November 17th which was a lot earlier than I expected and before almost everybody I know. I am now AZ/Comirnaty/Comirnaty.

We survived another year. That’s it. That’s the year note.

Als ik dan de discussies lees in de Delftse politiek (GL, LD) over dit onderwerp, dan word ik niet bijzonder gelukkig van het niveau.

Er zijn ook ambtenaren die geloven in het weghalen van fout geparkeerde fietsen (symptoombestrijding). Dat is natuurlijk te dom voor woorden en ik heb de petitie tegen al getekend.

Er zijn fietsparkeerplaatsen nodig, maar de VVD is tegen elke parkeerplek die verdwijnt in de stad. 1 auto staat gelijk aan een fiets of 25 dus reken uit hoe slim de VVD is.

In ieder geval is het ontwerp van de publieke ruimte een zooitje in Delft en moet er meer plek herwonnen worden op de auto.

Ik heb nog steeds geen nieuwe tweedehands fiets.

Dan het goede nieuws:

Ik ben het ondertussen wel redelijk gewend om trams, bussen en treinen voor mijn neus te zien wegrijden.

Update: Ik heb net uit Amsterdam een oude fiets geïmporteerd die er redelijk werkbaar uitziet. Alerte opa’s zijn erg handig om te hebben.