With 2024 winding down I decided to write down a review of my year. It’s the second time I’m doing this. After reading the previous one from 2022 I thought it’s nice to be able to read it back later.

Public speaking

This year I gave three talks/lectures. Each one was a completely different audience. It made me realize again that talking about inclusive design, accessibility and my own daily lived experience is still as current and needed as ever, even more as of June 2025 when business and government instances in the EU will be required to be digitally accessible.

Steady improvement

Since I picked up photography again I have been steadily at it. This year one of my photos was in an exposition here in The Hague. Considering some of the other photos at the expo were taken by professional photographers, it was pretty cool that one of mine was chosen.

I mentioned it a couple of times before in blogs and Instagram posts. Street photography is like therapy for me. Most of the time when walking around with my camera I’m completely in the zone. Afterwards looking at the photos, pick the ones I like best and editing them is very satisfactory. Especially when I see that my skills improve over time.

Job milestone

This year I reached a job milestone. In Spring I had my 12.5-year anniversary. When you reach this first milestone you get a gift from work and in my case, my co-workers also treated me to a lunch of my choice.

To me, it’s a big deal. Being deaf and chronically ill makes job hopping which is popular in many fields, almost impossible. Before I got my current job I was rejected many times just for being disabled, everyone focussed on the limitation and not on what all I could do.

Hence I’m happy with my job (Front-end dev/Photographer) and appreciate it. I have diverse tasks and I have the choice to learn almost whatever new things I want. I mean, I doubt work will compensate me for going to jam-making class.

The travel itch

I’m a homebody, I don’t dream of long travels to faraway countries, although, after seeing a couple of Japan vlogs — do I have the courage to travel deaf and alone all the way to Japan?

As a homebody, I do crave getting away for at least a couple of days. This year in Spring I went to Paris by train. I love travelling by train, as long as the trains are on schedule. I get enough train headaches every week going to work. But nothing beats an uneventful train trip to another country.

I also went to Aruba and Curacao to visit my family, swim in the sea, be in the nature and eat the food. It had been 2.5 years since I was there, so it was overdue.

Travelling to an unfamiliar place gives me a mental boost. I was told it’s because your brain gets a workout; another language, a new city and no daily routine. My 3 days in Paris were refreshing. I also got to see my friend who lives there and that’s always great.

Awesome meeting

In October I attended in ‘Conversation with Fran Lebowitz’. I also got to “meet” her, get my book signed and a photo with her. I almost never get to do these things due to not having a text transcriber for English available. This time it all worked out.

Newsletter anniversary

In January next year, it will be 10 years of my newsletter. I started it back in 2015 as a more personal outlet for my daily life with chronic illness, my observations about people, and I share what I have been reading and seeing. I have a super tiny subscriber base. I make no money out of it. Yet I have kept at it almost every month for 10 years. It’s a good writing exercise and I now have an archive of ten years to look back on.

2025

I’m not big at all on resolutions, but there are a few things I want to try.

New things:

• Stop giving a fork about the small things and things I have no control over. It only caused stress.
• Learn something new, anything!

Less off:

• No more chit-chatting on WhatsApp/SMS, it drains my energy and annoys me. Most people know I don’t like meaningless chit-chat about anything over text. I use text for short communication, tasks, and to plan meeting up for coffee/food and video calls. Exceptions are deep chats about life, world events, and books. Deep topics that energise me.

More off:

• Taking photos
• Writing blogs
• Speaking at events
• Travel whenever possible

Most of all I’m grateful for my stable health, for a boring steady life. That I get to live life the way I want to. My family and friends.