Yup, I am totally stealing Matt’s format for birthday blogs.

I cannot believe another year has passed by. The past year has had its share of ups and downs, and I am grateful for all the experiences over the months.

I secured my second job with Automattic, in April, and that’s probably the best part from the past year. I always hated co-working spaces. Working from home has changed a lot in my life, and has given me the opportunity to push myself to spend time more productively.

When I first joined Automattic, I had chosen to work from 10.30am IST to 6.30pm IST. And now, I work from 5.30am IST to 1.30pm IST. Yup, we pick our own working hours at Automattic.

Waking up early in the morning isn’t challenging for me, as I used to go to a school that starts at 7am.

I work alongside some of the best talents and everyday is a new learning experience for me - I am thankful for this opportunity. I couldn’t have asked for a better team.

I have made many friends as well, at work, and I cannot wait to see them IRL. Automattic’s Grand Meetup (time when all of the company comes together and meets over a week) is happening the next week in Orlando, Florida, but I will not be traveling as my visa was refused. It is disappointing, yes. But, hopefully my chances are better the next year!

I also cut down my social media usage heavily, and started being more vigilant about online privacy and security. I moved away from Gmail to ProtonMail, and from Twitter to Mastodon. There have been times in the past when I deactivated Facebook but I never was committed to it. This time though, it’s been over 3 months since I deactivated Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram, and I haven’t looked back.

Outside of the work and online life, I also spend more time with my parents as I live with them now.

I don’t remember myself watching TV a lot in my childhood, but things have taken a strange turn this year - I watched Brooklyn Nine Nine, Big Bang Theory, Atypical, Designated Survivor, Riverdale and pretty much other shows in between.

I also started learning new programming languages, learned how to use Git, Github and I am excited about Gutenberg’s launch.