trasta.dev

🔙 2024 Year in Review

2024/12/30
This article was translated with AI and may contain inaccuracies.

A casual year-end reflection. This year I’ll write in a polite tone.

In my 2023 year-in-review post, I mentioned two goals: increase my output and earn enough credits to graduate. I made a tiny bit of progress on the former, but for the latter, I’m still 2 credits (1 class) short.

University

I successfully advanced from my 3rd to 4th year in the first semester! At Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Tech), you can complete your 4th year (special research) in half a year, so I’m aiming to graduate in my 5th year, meaning by the end of fiscal year 2024.

At this point, I only need 2 more credits and my graduation research to graduate. Honestly, I didn’t think I could get the English credits (the ones you can earn through TOEIC), but I broke through by increasing my number of attempts. Test prep just isn’t for me… (I never even opened the prep book in the end)

Having come this far, I really want to graduate. By the way, my plans after graduation (if I make it) are already set. It’s just staying where I am now though.

Work

I’ve been doing various things and don’t remember everything, but right now I’m building a new app called CoeFont Interpreter. I love building from 0 to 1, so it’s fun to be involved in many aspects. Tasks keep piling up, so I haven’t been able to produce output like I aimed for last year. That’s something I need to improve. We’re currently hiring more engineers, so if you’re interested, let’s grab a meal! We’re seriously struggling (to find people).

Events

  • Web Speed Hackathon
    • I failed. I remember having some commitments and couldn’t participate the whole time, so I was thinking of skipping it, but I ended up working on it quite a bit during my free time. The top contestants also failed across the board, so my score would have been equivalent to 2nd place, which is decent. My junior cp20 won. Impressive.
  • ISUCON 11
    • Participation report
    • I failed (again). Even without the failure, my score would have been around 20th place, so I want a rematch next year. I really felt the power of LLMs, so next year I’ll probably be able to do more with them.

Hobbies

VALORANT

I was one win away from Immortal rank, but I lost and have been stuck since then. I ended up buying way too many mice…

I also went to watch the Red Bull Home Ground 2024 APAC Qualifier. It was exciting and fun, so I’m looking forward to next year’s competitive scene. And next year, I will hit Immortal.

Development

I made a tool called honryu that lets you select an area on your screen, capture it, and translate the English/Japanese text bidirectionally. There’s still room for improvement.

I’ve also been making small apps here and there that I’ve only shared within the company. Maybe they’ll see the light of day someday?

Other

Purchases

Looking back, I bought quite a lot this year…

  • Drum-style washer-dryer (Toshiba TW-127XM3L)
    • Best buy of the year. Not having to hang laundry is amazing. Compared to going outside, cleaning the filter is a trivial effort.
  • Cursor
    • My current main editor. Honestly, with my current usage, I thought maybe I could use Cody on VSCode, but Cursor has advantages in code completion and it’s not worth being stingy, so I’m using Cursor. Also looking forward to future features like Agent.
  • X Premium
    • I subscribed because it was on sale. Hopefully future me after graduation will get my money’s worth.
  • Humidifier with air purifier
    • Might be my biggest failed purchase this year. I thought it would be nice to have a humidifier and bought one randomly, but the tank capacity was too small. It helps a bit, but it’s like a drop in the bucket. Also, I’m terrible at refilling the tank, so that’s a problem.
  • MX ERGO S
    • I was using the M575S, but when I wanted the higher-end model, they finally released the USB-C version, so I upgraded. Being able to assign various shortcuts to buttons as gestures is so convenient that buying this was absolutely the right call.
  • CIO Polaris CUBE Built in CABLE
    • A product that combines an extension cord and charger. I used to carry both an extension cord and charger for university where outlets are far away, but now I have fewer things to carry and it’s more compact.
  • Anker Compact Pouch Pikachu Model
    • It’s cute, so I’m satisfied. I bought it since I had just gotten the charger anyway.
  • Anker Eufy Smart Scale P2 Pro
    • I didn’t have a scale, so I bought one. I’ve lost weight since buying it, so measuring quantitatively is important, I suppose.
  • SOLEMOOD Grill Pot
    • I replaced my previous electric pot because it was too small. Honestly, this one is on the larger side, but it’s great for hot pot parties at home.
  • Technics AZ60M2
    • My girlfriend got these for me as a Christmas present. The sound quality is great, the noise canceling is reasonably strong, and the ambient sound mode is so natural it’s surprising. Thank you.
    • But apparently a new model is coming out next year. The timing…
  • Gaming devices
    • Pulsar Gaming Gears X2H Mini
    • Scyrox v8
    • HITSCAN Hyperlight
      • I ended up buying a lot of mice. Since I have small hands, they’re all small mice by necessity. The HITSCAN mouse I bought recently is quite good, so I’ll probably settle on this one.
    • ARTISAN Hien FX Soft
      • ARTISAN mousepads are reliably good. But being an otaku, I want to use one with artwork on it, but they’re hard to find so I haven’t been able to buy one.

Outings

  • Kisarazu
  • Arima Onsen
  • Izu
  • High school cultural festival
  • Fukui
  • Yuzawa
  • Aizu-Wakamatsu

Including my club’s training camps, I went to various places this year. My frequency of going out is increasing, so maybe I’ll graduate from being a shut-in soon (really though?). I want to go to even more places next year.

2025

Thinking that I’m almost halfway through my 20s is pretty painful. Time passes before you know it…

As for my 2025 resolutions, the first challenge coming up is TreeHacks.

I heard there were about 12,000 applicants and the acceptance rate was extremely competitive, so I thought I’d be rejected. But somehow I got in, so I’ll be heading to Stanford from February 13th. I’ll be staying in America for about 3 weeks after that, but I can’t speak English at all (it’s obvious since I’m barely graduating university), so I’m worried about what to do. Seriously. I’ll have to rely on modern technology…

For now, my immediate goal is to absorb something from America, and I hope to have various experiences next year. I’d like to meet all kinds of people.

Another goal, or rather something I want to do, is to create some interesting product. The recent developments in LLMs are very exciting, and I want to get involved somehow.

Also, I need to graduate. Let’s do this.

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