Recap of 2023
2023 was a very good year. I had a couple of nice trips (Checkout the Travel bit!), advanced my bouldering and switched focus from frontend developing to more backend and managing devops. I pitched a project from September and won an award! Me and a colleague also participated in a hackathon at Mollie and also won an award there!
Some recommendations I have from this year:
Travel
We had an awesome Interrail trip. You can buy one ticket for X amount of travel days and take pretty much any train you like. It takes some time to plan but it's totally worth it. The only thing you have to keep into account is that you still need to pay for reservations on high speed trains like the Thalys (Called Eurostar now), Frecciarossa (in Italy) and ICE (in Germany).
Our itinerary looked like this:
In Switzerland we took the Bernina Express which leads you from Switzerland through the mountains to northern Italy. Very cool experience but a bit touristy. After that we went to Florence, Pisa, Luca, Torino and finished with Paris. You can see and do more than you think! It's good to take enough time to have plenty of time between trains so you don't have to rush and have no problem if there are delays.
Podcasts
- 13 minutes to the Moon - How the first moon landing was saved. The story of the people who made Apollo 11 happen (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p083t547)
- Darknet diaries - True stories from the dark side of the Internet (https://darknetdiaries.com/)
- Syntax FM - A Tasty Treats Podcast for Web Developers (https://syntax.fm/)
Series
I've watched a lot of series this year and a couple of weird cult documentaries. The Bear and Succession are my top recommendations!
Must watch
- Succession - A story about the ultra-wealthy Roy family who control a lot of media and entertainment companies. As the father of the family wants to step down, the fight for the top dog position is on. Loved every second of it! (https://www.hbo.com/succession)
- The Bear - A young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop. (https://www.disneyplus.com/nl-nl/series/the-bear/52m6nx7HoP5F)
Other enjoyable series
- Twin Flames - A crazy documentary about a cult who believe in soulmates. As the documentary gets on it gets weirder and weirder. (https://www.netflix.com/title/81615919)
- Love has Won: The cult of the Mother God - Weird cult about a woman who calls herself Mother God, a lot of lovers who are Father God, Robin Williams, Donald Trump, conspiracies and a mummy.. (https://www.hbomax.com/nl/nl/series/urn:hbo:series:GZUycwAtKuQ27vwEAAAAC)
- One Piece - Action remake of an anime. I haven't seen the original anime but I found this quite enjoyable! (https://www.netflix.com/title/80217863)
Music
You might know Dope Lemon better as Angus Stone but his solo-project is really nice. I especially like Kimosabé.
Went to a concert of Hania Rani I got really captured by the vibe, calmness and contemporary sound. She also has a full concert on Arte and Cercle on Youtube.
I've been a fan of Boy and Bear for quite some time. Their albums are great to listen to at any given time.
You can't deny Skrillex is a sick producer. I didn't really have any expectations for this album but I really love it. Played it all year long.
Baugruppe90 has this nice rolling techno sound which is like a freight train that keeps on going. Really nice for focus during work.
I loved every second of this Boilerroom set. Note the lad in the corner who knows every lyric.