Sam Dinh

Question 1: If the last year were a movie of your life, what would the genre be?

Adventure and romance at the beginning, and a touch of drama and slow-paced documentaries at the end.

Question 2: What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring?

Romance and comedy.

Question 3: What did you accomplish this past year that you are the most proud of?

I don’t think I feel most proud of a particular thing because it’s hard to pick one only. Probably the first thing I am proud to have accomplished this year is to gain my financial stability. I have wasted a few years struggling with my spending habits and paying debts. I even marked the date on the calendar to remember it. It’s a small step to the world, but a big step for me.

My second proudest achievement would be doing exercises regularly. I only skipped exercises in my periods, during my travels, business trips and sickness. I have been doing yoga in the morning, and pilates/hiit in the afternoon.

The third thing I am proud of myself last year is learning Spanish daily for the last 8 months. I started learning Spanish on 9/1/2023, was on and off during 3 months and finally more commited after I signed up for Duolingo Family plan. It was one of the best decisions I have made in 2023 because it has accelarated my learning speed, given me more fun and confidence in making errors, as the free plan only allows you 5 times of errors, and if you use them up, you have to wait until the next day to continue learning, which was kinda annoying to me as I tend to action fast and am more prone to making mistakes. Now I am just 4 units away from finishing the level A2.

Last but not least, this one popped up in my head last night after I published the post, so this is an update. I am proud that I actually started this blog, from buying the host and the domain, choosing the theme, to customize the design and making it look a bit tidier. At first I wanted this blog to be my portfolio, but then I wanted to be freestyle and more relaxing in writing, so it has become something like my journals + portfolio. I want this to be my legacy to this world, and maybe someone will find my thoughts and insights useful.

Question 4: What do you feel you should have been acknowledged for but weren’t?

Work-wise, I think I should have been acknowledged more for my attempt to bring the team members in my company closer together. We mostly work from home, and our work is specialized in different fields and we don’t get chances to work with each other much. I notice that the bonding between the members is somehow clustered and we lack of a cohesion across the team. So, I tried to engage everybody in the monthly birthday party and created some fun activities such as Secret Santas and mini games. I volunteered to do this so I don’t expect a salary raise or a thank you note from the CEO 😂, and I also know that external praises should not be relied on, but a recognition from the team for my effort would be nice.

Question 5: What disappointments or regrets did you experience this past year?

Oh boy this would be long. I experienced several failures during the past year.

I wanted to apply for a position of customer support in Germany, so I made my very first CV video to prove my ability and devotion, and I was rejected. I liked that company because they seem to be people-oriented and I liked their product. I guess I was not suitable for the position because they were looking for someone living in European timezone and able to speak Germany. Whatever the reason was, I had fun making the video and doing the entrance assignment. It’s been a long time since I poured my heart and soul into creating something like that.

I applied for youth program about Creative AI and I failed as well. I think I failed because I did not prepare the video in advance and to be honest, I did not feel that what I had suited the purpose of the program. I still did it because why not? Now that I am thinking back, I did really plunged myself into anything I found interesting in the first quarter of 2023, just for the fun of it.

I applied for a Power BI competition in my company and failed miserably because my submission did not completely follow the rules and conditions. This lesson has been very well taken, I am planning to join it again next year and look out fellows, I am coming and will conquer it!

I failed to start my own cooking social media, and this one is big as anyone close to me would know that I talked about it a long time ago. I love cooking so much and often daydream how my page would look like. Yet I am still wandering on Instagram and wish that I should have done that.

I also learned how to swim but quit because I am afraid of my feet not touching the pool base and partly I did not get along with my swimming teacher.

Question 6: What was missing from last year as you look back?

I wish I could add more of dedication. My tendency is to start with high enthusiasm, then that enthusiasm dies down and I would jump on the next thing in my bucket list without diving deep in the current thing. I also overlooked the importance of connecting to my spiritual self.

Question 7: What were the major life lessons you learned this past year?

• You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.
• If something’s been in your head for a long long time, you need to do it because chances are you will regret not doing it sooner.
• Best friends are friends for life. I love having friends that I can talk non-stop with, even the most frivolous things.
• Love sometimes are not expressed by words, but by actions. The difficult thing is to recognize those, otherwise you’re going to take it for granted, or worst, think that you’re not loved.

Here’s to the last day of 2023. Thank you for everything!