December 15, 2025: I found this in the drafts, realising I’d never finished and published it. I’m fixing that now.
And, in good old tradition (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018; 2019, 2020): here goes.—
The months
January – December
…
2021 in numbers
(I like numbers)
Traveled to Sardinia for a vacation and to see my family for the first time in two years. Otherwise, limiting my movements to contribute to limiting the spread.
spoke at twelve events,
wrote nine blog posts, more to come,
posted no significant number of Tweets, far too many Instagram stories, my first five TikToks. (It’s interesting how some of these categories are losing meaning over time. See also: travels.)
Took more than 4,500 photos,
read 29 books, and 1.1 Mio. words in Pocket,
Saw live: The 12 Cellists of Berliner Philharmoniker, Anna von Hausswolff, and Berliner Philharmoniker with Martin Grubinger: this was my first concert in 1.5 years, in a venue in the forest, and I’ll never forget the feeling of being among 4,500 people for the first time again.
Work: I moved from my engineering executive role to starting my own engineering leadership coaching and consulting business and studying psychology.
Coffee: Rarely.
Listened to 17,822 songs by 4,216 artists, and over 77,000 hours of music.
Favourite shows:
I spent a lot of time on rewatches this year, I find the familiarity of voices and stories very comforting. New and favourite discoveries this year:
- Superstore
- Lupin
- High on the Hog
- Bridgerton
Favourite books:
My reading significantly increased in autumn as I started uni and the endeavour of reading a book just for my studies each week. Oftentimes, I didn’t have much capacity to read, but I got to spend time with several books that moved me:
- Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
- The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
- A Matter of Death and Life by Irvin D. & Marilyn Yalom
- Journal: Tagebuch in Zeiten der Pandemie, Carolin Emcke
Favourite recipes:
This wasn’t a year of fancy cooking, but a year of feeding myself with the unfussy stuff: good bread, boiled potatoes, pasta with pesto, yogurt, simple salads. On Sunday nights, I’d sometimes make a version of this pizza pull apart bread. I made this Fetteh recipe for my friends once and it was very delicious. I prepared my own pumpkin spice syrup to make my coffee taste fancier and more festive. And I started making my own Kombucha.
Favourite podcasts:
My heavy rotation this year:
- 70 over 70
- DRINNIES
- Eine Runde Berlin
- funk - Der Podcast
- Recipe Club
- Vox Conversations
- wach & wichtig
- Recode Daily
- Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People
- Change Agent
- Dear Hank & John
- Death, Sex & Money
- Bad Blood: The Final Chapter
- The Crypto Queen
Ah yes, music. All over the place this year, and here are
The 11 songs I listened to the most:
- Worakls: Storm
- Django Django: Marble Skies
- The Weeknd: Save Your Tears
- Kishi Bashi: A Song For You
- Priest: Lonely Mansion
- The Fray: Love Don’t Die
- Paul Kalkbrenner: Graf Zahl
- Chilly Gonzales: Damage in Your Heart
- Joris Delacroix: Aiguilhe
- NTO: La clé des champs
- Olivia Rodrigo: brutal
