cat articles/furikaeri-2023

Looking back on 2023

Several days have already passed since the new year began. I did not write a retrospective at the end of last year because I was traveling in Taiwan, though that is just an excuse.

A New Year-themed illustration in a low-polygon art style, featuring a majestic dragon. The dragon, symbolizing good luck and prosperity, is created with geometric shapes, giving it a modern, digital look. The background includes fireworks and traditional Japanese decorations, all rendered in low-polygon style. The scene is set at night with a polygonal full moon, and the dragon is in vibrant colors like red, gold, and green, capturing the festive spirit of the New Year in a unique, contemporary art form.
A New Year-themed illustration in a low-polygon art style, featuring a majestic dragon. The dragon, symbolizing good luck and prosperity, is created with geometric shapes, giving it a modern, digital look. The background includes fireworks and traditional Japanese decorations, all rendered in low-polygon style. The scene is set at night with a polygonal full moon, and the dragon is in vibrant colors like red, gold, and green, capturing the festive spirit of the New Year in a unique, contemporary art form.

Work

For a short period from May 2023 until my term ended in December, I served for the second time as an executive officer of a listed company. From my own point of view, my output was not very good, roughly at the level of being better there than not there. I thought continuing like that would not be good for either the company or myself, so I decided to stop when the term ended. I am not going to write publicly about why it was like that, but I did not work freely at my own pace as I did from 2020 to 2022, and that is probably why I did not feel like writing this 2023 retrospective either.

Going forward, I want to live at my own pace and without being swayed.

Travel

I went to South America for two months in February and March, and to Taiwan for one week at the end of the year. South America especially felt unknown to me, so I am glad I was able to go while I am alive. I should have more time this year, so I want to travel around Japan and abroad from time to time. Short trips of about a week sound good, and staying for about a month somewhere with a good internet environment also sounds good.

Life

I neglected daily life because of work. Even though I live in the countryside, if I do not leave the house, it is no different from city life. At night there is not much entertainment in the countryside, so if I only work during the day, that is really all the day becomes. I regret that.

Technology

With the appearance of GPT-4, many things started changing dramatically, not only around data science but across many areas. In software development, GPT-4 is now the first move, and I do not really want to develop in an editor without Copilot. My development style changed a lot and became easier.

Social networks

I thought I should do some publicity, so I started using social networks a little again. Basically I do not use them, and only log in when needed for posting. The password is stored somewhere very hard to access, so I only look a little. Even at this distance, social networks still take time away, so I want to keep my distance while using them only slightly.

2024

I want to put an end to the way I worked in 2023 and return to the 2020-2022 style: living while doing work, daily life, and the things I want to do. On the work side, I will be involved in a development project that applies recent AI-related technologies in society and has enough potential to become a product that makes people take notice. Whether it can be built depends to some extent on my own development ability, so I would be happy if, in next year's retrospective, I can say that I built that thing.

On the technology side, machine learning, data science, and surrounding technologies are still too interesting in every area, so I want to keep learning. I also want to win at least one Kaggle gold medal. In 2023 I joined only one competition and got one silver. Travel and daily life are as written above.

This year I want to do things at my own pace, enjoy myself, and stay healthy. Also, as always, I am grateful to my wife for supporting me in many ways.

With that, I look forward to another year with everyone.

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