New year
The weather was wild. The temperature had dropped to -12 degrees, and the wind was blowing fiercely. Even though -12 doesn’t always sound dramatic on paper, the wind made it feel bitterly cold and almost unbearable. After just twenty minutes outside, I gave up. I simply walked around my neighborhood once and headed back home.
But that short walk wasn’t completely ordinary. There he was — Santa Claus — still hanging on the wall as if the New Year holidays had never ended. It seemed they had forgotten to take him down. I had noticed him before, but I didn’t manage to take a photo. This time, however, I finally decided to capture the moment.
The weather today was quite sunny. Throughout the entire day, the sun shone in a perfectly blue sky, and I didn’t see a single cloud. However, the air temperature was rather low — around -10 degrees Celsius — though it felt closer to -15 or even -20 because of the cold wind. Still, during the day, I noticed that people walking under my windows seemed quite comfortable. They weren’t in a hurry; they walked slowly and calmly discussed the worries of the world.
Today I slept until 11 a.m. and got out of bed at 11:15. I can explain this situation. Something understandable happened today. All night, the street lights were on, and the light came slightly through my window. My bed is located right next to the window, so the room was as bright as possible. Usually, the street lights are turned off around midnight, but this night they stayed on, and it really bothered me. As a result, I fell asleep around 3 a.m., even though I went to bed at 1:30 a.m. For about one and a half hours, I tried to fall asleep and read Reddit posts, as usual. After I woke up and finished my morning routine, it was already close to lunchtime. So I waited a bit and started my day with lunch.
Today I woke up a bit late, around 8:45 AM. Because of that, my morning was fast and busy. However, I still managed to finish my morning routine on time and had an opportunity to join our morning meeting. The meeting was without the team lead because he was absent until around 2–3 PM, so the deputy team lead was responsible during that time. During the meeting, the deputy team lead mostly wanted to have casual conversations, but the lead developer started asking questions about tasks and discussing them. Eventually, we got involved in work-related topics. Honestly, the meeting didn’t last long — about twenty minutes in total — but we could have used that time just to relax and take a short break from work worries.
I started working at 9 a.m. and finished at 6 p.m. During the day, I had several tasks to handle. One of them was new for me and was related to the Telegram API. I needed to check its functionality and analyze the code because there were issues with notifications. Today, I managed to test and review all of that code, although I still haven’t reached a final conclusion.
After some time, the lead developer sent me a message about one of my previous tasks. We discussed the main problem, and I explained what fixes I had added and why. His questions weren’t about mistakes on my part; on the contrary, I needed to extend the solution by adding a few more fixes within the scope of the task. Overall, the workday was quite good — not too difficult and without any serious worries.
I got out of bed at 10 a.m., although I actually woke up around 9. I had gone to bed only at 2 a.m., maybe even later, so in the morning I felt a bit weak and didn’t really want to get up. I stayed in bed for a while, scrolling through Reddit and listening to someone speaking loudly in another room. I also reread my post from yesterday, reviewed my blog, and planned some changes. I want to implement these updates during the New Year holidays and fix a few bugs in the mobile version. In general, I spent the morning — or rather the first part of the day — in bed, then did my morning routine and had lunch. It was a simple, quiet, and even slightly cozy start to the day, a bit unusual for me.
The day was very busy and a bit difficult. I spent almost the entire day in Kazan—from 12 PM until 9 PM. However, I left home around 10 AM. I woke up at about 9 AM, which was quite late for me, so I had only one hour for my morning routine, and that wasn’t enough. I had many routine tasks that morning and couldn’t finish them without rushing. I started by brushing my teeth, which is always the first thing I do after waking up. Then I shaved my face because my beard had grown quite a lot, and I hadn’t shaved recently. After that, I took a shower and had breakfast. Since I had to visit the dentist after breakfast, I brushed my teeth again. All of this took more than an hour, so I ended up being late. I had planned to hit the road as early as possible, but everything turned out the opposite way. I finally left home at about 10:15.
It’s already December 26, and there are only five days left until the end of the year. I clearly remember the first months of this year — how I obtained my Schengen visa and traveled to Europe twice. I also recall my trips to several Asian countries. These experiences became some of the most unforgettable journeys of my life. Time passed incredibly fast, but fortunately, I managed to preserve those moments. My blog pages are now filled with travel stories, and, of course, these memories remain vivid in my mind as well. Despite everything, I truly enjoy this period of the year. I’m not entirely sure why, because the final days are usually quite hectic. Yet, I feel calm and comfortable. There’s a noticeable New Year atmosphere everywhere — decorations in the streets, people in a festive mood, and the pleasant realization that I’ll have long weekends over the next two weeks. It’s simply a wonderful time to slow down and rest.