Year MMXVII in 1 ⅓ minute2 min read

As part of my seven-years retrospective, here’s a high-level overview of what I did in 2017, in roughly 1 minute and 20 seconds:

Pictured: mai waifu.
  • I did a painting featuring Tintin vs Sephiroth.
    Because I could.
  • It is only in February of that year that I found the time to finally review and sort through over 2750 photos on my computer, accumulated since the fall of 2014, bringing the number down to 500 untriaged photos within 7 to 8 hours of focused work.
  • Started wearing a short wool cloak.
    Y’all didn’t see me with it, because GUADEC never happens in the northern hemisphere’s winter.
  • Suddenly and unexpectedly got noticed by this lady (henceforth nicknamed “mai waifu”), who initiated a long and complicated love story that lasted until 2020. Notice me, sempai!
  • Was very happy to elect Montréal’s first ever mayoress the city’s 375+ years history, leading what I see as pretty much the only party with a sustainable development/transit/eco-oriented vision. She’s not perfect of course, and the press & vocal folks love to bash her and her party for some blunders and a handful of unrealized promises, but I do feel like she’s the best we’ve got so far, and probably the first shakeup we’ve had since the 50’s. Screw flashy events and north-american “car culture” city design, we need resilient cities built for humans. And as a marketeer, I can’t help but grin at the thought of a lady who campaigned as “The right man (sic) for the job”.
  • Provided photographic evidence of the enduring relevance of “chocolatine” to all French naysayers, by showing them what “pain au chocolat” actually is:
“Pain au chocolat”, as labelled behind Première Moisson‘s counter.
  • Curiously looked at powertop numbers and wondered why I can’t seem to break below the 50-60 wakeups-per-second barrier on modern Linux desktops: part 1 and part 2. Those observations may or may not be outdated by now.
  • Wrote my own super-accurate French subtitles for the original version of the Ghost in the Shell movie, but never released those. Would anyone care?
  • Restructured & rewrote my whole personal website during the course of September 2017, which then stood the test of time until summer 2019.
  • Started debating my couch’s upholstery with friends. The matter was settled only in 2021.
Jeff