Happy New Year 2017!
Wow, how time flies! It was exactly 1 year ago that I posted the last article on this blog, and how naive I was, thinking that I’d be regularly posting here. I was just too preoccupied (mostly lazy) to do much of any writing.
Anyway what a year has 2016 been. For most of the world this year had been one of the worst years in recent history. From Brexit to Donald Trump being elected President in the US, and the dire situations in Syria and Myanmar, to the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East and several terrorist attacks around the world, the year had been filled with one bad event after the other. Even taking into account all of recorded climate history, 2016 was the hottest year on record. We also had several famous people dying on us in 2016, most notably Muhammad Ali and Fidel Castro.
Personally for me as well, 2016 wasn’t such a good year. But professionally, this was a year that I achieved several milestones. First of all, back in July I finally graduated from UNMC with a Bachelor of Science (Honors) Degree in Computer Science, with First Class and the top result in my class. And Alhamdhlillaahi, my Final Year Project was also awarded the Best Project Award in the School of Computer Science!
The first few months after graduation was a bit rocky, without much of an idea of what I was supposed to do now. I finally registered a business called “Javaabu” in July, but initially I wasn’t able to get the type of large projects that I wanted. Moreover I wasn’t able to land a job anywhere as well. However, Alhamdhlillaahi, things turned around for the better in the last quarter of the year. I landed my first ever and a very well paying job (that I eventually quit, more on that some other time) at Dhiraagu, the biggest Telecom Operator in the Maldives and Javaabu was awarded several contracts for various web development projects. I also attended the Maldives Investment Forum (MIF) in Delhi, having been nominated in the 5 Best Apps Challenge by Ministry of Economic Development.
2016 was also a year of new experiences too. Despite personally being in a down mood, I kicked off the year with two awesome trips to Bali, Indonesia and Singapore. My trip to Bali was the first time ever that I crossed the equator into the Southern Hemisphere. In Bali, I also saw a volcano for the first time and had my first whitewater rafting experience. In Singapore I had my first roller-coaster ride and stayed in a hostel for the first time. In May, I visited Langkawi for a second time and had an awesome time there as well. The most special event of the year was in June when my sister gave birth to a cute baby boy and I became an uncle for the first time!
Despite neglecting my blog for most of the year, I had found a new creative outlet on Instagram (@dash8x). I had been posting daily photos there (and uploading the high res versions to Flickr) for the past 3 months. Check out my photos there, I promise (hope?) that you won’t be dissapointed.
As we embark on this new year, take a moment to enjoy my New Year’s Eve tradition of light painting. This year’s edition was at the Tsunami Binaa Maizaan (former Thin Ruh Park) in Male’ City, Maldives. Admittedly it’s not as awesome as last year, but we’ll have to make do. Special thanks to my cousin Farish and some random stranger we met at the location, for helping with the light graffiti process. Hope you like the photo, and wish you all the best in 2017 and beyond.
Happy New Year 2017!