Things I did when I was 21

I turned 22 a few days ago.

I never reflect. So this birthday, I spent some time looking through my photos, GitHub repos, bank statements, random notes, and calendar entries from the past year.

Honestly, I didn't realize how much happened until I started writing things down.

The big stuff

At 21, I graduated from NUS. That's probably the biggest milestone on paper. Four years ago, graduation felt so far away that I never really thought about what it would feel like when it finally happened. Turns out, it feels surprisingly normal.

This was also the year I registered my first company. Even crazier, it became profitable without spending anything on marketing. Most of the people found me through my YouTube channel, which again I never promoted. It wasn't some huge startup success story, but seeing some small money come in from something I built myself felt different.

Things I shipped

I also shipped more things this year than I ever have before.

shipping fast

I built my first browser extension, Stoppy. It helps you stop binge-watching because I binge-watched for a week straight. I built my first macOS application, Nudge.Notch. It reminds you to blink, hydrate, and take frequent breaks because I was diagnosed with dry eyes. I launched my first production-grade website completely solo for a client. Around the same time, publishing this website solo also made me take my Studio more seriously; I wrote the full production-site breakdown here. I started blogging again, except this time on my own website instead of WordPress. I wrote multiple technical blogs.

Lahlang blowing up

One random thing I definitely didn't expect was Lahlang blowing up. For one day, it was everywhere: X, TikTok, Instagram. More than 100,000 people saw something I made. Most internet attention disappears as quickly as it arrives, but it was still cool to experience once. Fun fact: I interviewed at a company and the interviewer already knew me through Lahlang going viral.

someone just created a programming language for singaporeans

Smaller moments

Outside of work, a lot of my favorite moments were much smaller.

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I took my family out for fine dining using money I earned myself. I booked my mom's first international flight to Singapore, to attend my graduation ceremony. Neither of those things shows up on a resume, but I think I'll remember them longer than most of the other things on this list.

I tutored a student who was struggling and watched him go from failing to a B+. That felt pretty good.

I visited the Taj Mahal for the first time, with my gf hehe. Went to Manali, where my gf got insanely sick that she was admitted for 2 days. Went on a road trip to Haridwar. Met my girlfriend's dad for the first time, which was somehow more nerve-wracking than some of my interviews.

I bought my first plant and discovered that I weirdly enjoy taking care of indoor plants. I also discovered that LEGO sets are dangerously addictive.

Looking back

I'm probably forgetting a lot.

The older I get, the less I care about collecting achievements and the more I care about collecting experiences, building things I enjoy, and spending time with people I care about.

Still, looking back, 21 was a pretty good year.

Let's see what 22 has in store.