Boom. 28.

(Sorry eveyone! An iComics release post is on the way as well. Lemme just put this one out first. XD)

Blimey! There we go. Another year has gone by and I’ve ‘levelled up’ once more. So long 27… hello, 28. That felt way, WAY too fast.

Thanks an absolute tonne to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. You have no idea how much I appreciate that. 🙂

In the past couple of years, it’s become a bit of a personal tradition of mine to write a quick list of the things I accomplished in the year. Not only does it serve as a permanent record that I won’t forget, but I like to think it lets me reflect on all the things I did in that year of my life I’ll never see again. Also, it lets me set the benchmark I need to beat next year. XD

While I was 27, I was lucky enough to:

• Both volunteer, as well as host a panel on the Japanese language and culture at WAI-CON 2014.
• Become elected as the committee representative of kaiWA for the JET Alumni Association of Western Australia.
• With the help of all the committee members, bolster the number of attendees at kaiWA to record levels.
• After 3 and a half amazing years, leave my position as Web Developer at ECU and begin full-time smartphone software development at Lateral Pty Ltd.
• Thanks to the guidance and mentor-ship of the other staff at Lateral, ship 5 high-quality apps to the App Store on behalf of our clients.
• At long last, move out from living with my parents to my very own ridiculously amazing apartment in the middle of the city (complete with NBN! XD).
• While working on iComics, publish several open-source libraries for iOS on GitHub, one gaining over 500 stars.
• Present at the annual Japanese careers seminar once more on working in IT in Japan.
• Win the state, and then (somehow. XD) win the national Australian Web Award for this blog!
• Present at AUC /dev/world on  some of the graphical and animation optimisations I had learnt for iOS while working on iComics.
• Attend both GCAP and PAX, making a lot of new friends in the process!
• After 521 days, FINALLY ship an update to iComics, which (so far) seems to be getting quite well received.
• Today, present at the Perth iOS Developers Meetup on Realm, an amazing upcoming database system.

Without a doubt, especially after moving house and changing my profession, I think that was one of, if not the most profound year of my life so far. I’m really happy with what I was able to accomplish at 27, and on reflection, I don’t think it could have gone any better.

28’s going to be a whole different ballpark. Now that the sawdust of all the changes this year have cleared, I want to see what I’m capable of accomplishing next year. Either way, 27 set the bar pretty damn high, but I think I can push it a a fair bit higher at 28.

Bring it. 😀