Yes, it’s this time again to reflect on the past year ☀️
A few months ago I was quite eager to write this piece and wrap 2024. But in recent weeks my energy level has been a bit lower than usual. It requires quite some effort to write these texts (100% AI-free). To choose the words and thoughts that I’ll share openly, and I want to share a lot to stay true to myself. So it’s not particularly easy this year.
Still, I feel having and sticking to some routines is important. They enable us to keep a pace. They are kind of a rhythm. This “year review” routine is my way of gathering my news and personal thoughts, keeping in touch with the people I care for, people I shared things with, people I live with; sometimes sparkling new conversations.
So, in the last 3 days, I have gathered time and energy to properly conclude this year and start the new one. Is this text perfect? Nah. But, Something is better than Nothing. I hope you will have a good read, maybe learn some stuff, remember others, or at least enjoy some of this year's pictures ❤️ Don’t hesitate to send me a message if you gave it curiosity and a few minutes of your 2025.
In short, I feel 2024 was pretty fu**** up if I may, with some good things along the way. At least that’s the intuition I get by watching this year's recap by Le Monde (let’s avoid making a list here) and my experience / the things & people I care about. But there is still plenty of things to share 😌
So let’s do it 💪
Flo Emir de la belle data
On the professional side, 2024 was busy.
Most notably, around February I decided it was time to move on from Qomon after 3 years. Not an easy decision given my interest in politics and the best / most unique group of individuals I have known so far on a project. But some stuff was bothering me, ethical concerns being one of them. So unfortunately, I didn't pursue the several project ideas I was excited about last year.
Am I happy to have changed job? Yes! I still think it was the right decision. Do I miss some things? Yes of course (the international context or the bit of adrenaline that came with campaigns for instance). But I am also very happy to have kept close contact with a lot of colleagues, now friends. And also to witness Qomon growing from a new angle 😉 Long live Qomon & Democracy ♥️
I am now part of the earliest adventure I have ever joined: 🍑 Abrico. It ticked all my boxes I had in mind at the time. And in 6 months I have learned a lot about houses / flats renovation to improve energy efficiency. Another subject close to my heart 🌍 In that time I also first touched the talent we have in France to engineer administrative complexity. It’s kind of painful to see and understand. But we are making it easy for everyone to navigate this complexity and get access to subsidies and the credit they deserve. To accelerate renovations and fight climate change.
I have transitioned from “data” to general full-stack software engineering at the moment, relying on skills acquired as far back as when I developed that foreign exchange feedback platform back at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne. I am also fairly happy to be temporarily leaving Python*. Typescript* type system is really a joy to work with. I am a fan.
*To my non-tech friends and acquaintances, Python & Typescript are programming languages.
Changing adventure also means discovering a new work style with a welcome emphasis on async written communication and deep work friendly environments. I enjoy both.
We are still very early, I won’t dive too much more on Abrico in itself here. Not to spoil things to come.
To wrap this professional facet, I’ll share one answer I gave during my (partly written) interview process at Abrico as I feel it is relevant in this piece.
[Question] How far and how do you project yourself?
[Answer] It depends on the phases of my life. Life is made up of encounters (both professional and personal). Some encounters inspire more desire to "project" myself than others. I don’t believe there’s a global optimum that will remain valid until the end of my life; instead, I look for local optimums and accept as best as I can that they might change. [...]
But in the long term (>5-10 years), I estimate:
It’s unlikely I’ll still be in the Paris region (it’s not a life goal to stay here, even though I’m enjoying it again at the moment).
It’s likely I’ll run for parliament or president (whether as a joke or not), because today’s politics don’t seem optimal to me.
It’s also likely I’ll start a company with friends or acquaintances.
It’s very likely I’ll still be doing week-long hiking (or cycling) trips every year.
But I strongly believe life is made up of encounters and unpredictable things, which will change my understanding of things and my desires.
Yeah, I try to be honest during interviews. There were plenty of other questions. I won’t dive into my answers in this year review (let’s keep content for another time 😇). But here they are in case that’s interesting to reflect on yourself:
If we work together and in 1 year you are very satisfied, where will you be, and what will make you say that you have had the best job in the world for 12 months?
What is the archetype company you want to join? Why?
What industrial sectors interest you?
What are the constraints of startups for you?
What demotivates you? In the past, what have you done when you were demotivated?
What do you expect from your manager?
Flo’s personal facet
🧠 Stimulation
This year I have attended 2 PhD defenses of close friends. It felt good to encounter some deep intellectual work again. The subjects were both very technical / scientific and in one I only understood the first slide. I am proud of them, the effort they put in. And especially to Gwen for their defense conclusion, basically a thoughtful “review” moment. A very good one. Listening to it made me / everyone emotional. Respect to you, I hope you will find the thing that fits you.
Thanks to a new encounter of this year, I have also discovered l’Institut des futurs souhaitables and we went to an interactive conference by Olivier Hamant “Antidote au culte de la performance”. Super interesting. I’ll look forward to attending more of those events next year. I miss intellectual stimulation in general.
I had plans to read his short book (same title) before writing this review, but I failed to complete this task. Though I’ll leave you with these quotes I took note of so far, which ring some bells:
Comme le dit Dennis Meadows fréquemment : “il y a deux façons de réagir à une déficience perçue. L’une consiste à s’efforcer d’obtenir plus. L’autre à se satisfaire de moins”.
Nous avons optimisé notre environnement pour le mettre au service de nos demandes, et non de nos besoins.
And one word: “Robustness”.
Ideas he presented echoed some of my recent personal choices. I highly recommend this read.
🚄 Where have I been?
Flo not moving around is… not possible I guess?
Here is a recap.
End of January, I went to Valenciennes with my brother, to choose our new bikes 🚲. Not a city I would go live in personally. But my new bike on the other end is pretty nice (and has some orange of course).
Not long after I went for a few days at Puy Saint-Vincent to enjoy some ski with family. I really like to go back to this specific ski station as I have been there dozens of times and I know it by heart. There I shared an off-piste session with some very bad snow but good views with my brother-in-law.
Few days after that I was in Nantes for the 1st PhD defense of the year and a very nice weekend in Redon.
Then Six-Fours-Les-Plages for the baptism of my niece,
Of course in the first part of the year I also went to Bordeaux several times, as a Qomon employee, and also to say goodbye.
Early April I took a bunch of trains to go all the way up to Norway. I saw extremely appealing landscapes. And also had the pleasure to make stops at Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen, Ålesund & Trondheim, see the Norwegian fjords, go cross-country skiing, etc. Extremely nice trip. And the fun fact is I left Olso on the 16th afternoon, and made it to Bordeaux at 9am on the 18th. All by train.
Early May, I went bike-backing around Lac Léman for 3 days with my usual biking
partner in crime. Extremely nice weather. I recommend it, especially the Swiss side is really really nice. It was a pleasure to get back to Lausanne, Geneva, and quickly discover Montreux too.
And because that was not enough travel for May, I went back to Croatia a couple of weeks later 🤩 On the menu? Trains of course, a bunch of buses too, but most importantly, Zagreb, hikes in Plitvice, Zadar and Ugljan island, Krka, Split, and the marvelous Dubronick (I had never seen that many tourists in a single place before though). Croatia is stunning. And I was pleased / surprised to discover more of its inland greener parts. The way back was pretty fun, Dubrovnik -> Split -> Ancona (Italy) -> and then a bunch of trains back to Paris. That was the fastest (less than 24h) route to get back just before the start of my new job.
The summer kicked off with a stop in Lyon for the second Phd defense.
Then a quick weekend in Bordeaux / the Pyrénnées for a challenging hike around the Pic du Midi d’Ossau. It was really nice to share it with 2 former Qomon colleagues. You should have seen the heels of one of them, that was very brave of you to keep going.
Few days after that I headed to Tours / Blois to bike for a week along the very nice Loire à vélo. It’s a lovely region of France, maybe with a bit too many castles to stop at, though. It was also an opportunity to meet again with a friend there.
A quick day stop in Paris, and I was back on trains to go to the South of France near Castelnaudary at my grandparents.
And shortly after, we temporarily moved our colocation to my sis place in Six-Fours-les-Plages. It was hoooottt. But nice to get back to the Méditerranée.
In September, I went for the first time to the Fête de l’Humanité. It was
interesting and the music really enjoyable. It was funny to listen to artists and be like “Oh damn, you are the ones who sing thhhhattt” (I listen to a tone of music but don’t pay attention to it). Seeing all those PCF stands was sometimes funny. It was also a condensed summary of a lot of militant activities happening across France and the world, which was a bit overwhelming sometimes for me. But super interesting and nice!
Few days later I finally made it to my friends in Alençon for our usual friend reunion (I was in Norway for the previous one 😭). For a short period of time though, as I left early Saturday to get back to Paris for my high school graduation 10 years celebration (allreaaadyyyyy), where 50+ people came.
It was really nice and a bit emotional to reconnect with them like no time had passed.Weirdly enough, I have no train records in October 😅 I remember I almost went to Spain to honor a pinky-promise I had made. But my stamina was not there so I stayed and the pinky-promise was extended 🙏
Well, no trains in October, but I did go to the esthetician for the first time! More on that later.In November I spent a quick weekend in Rouen (first time there) and back to Alençon too.
And finally in December a quick stop in Tours and a weekend in Six-fours-les-plages to help out with my nephew & niece (sorry I was really tired). I also went by surprise (no joke here) to the private place with the most ostentatious wealth display I have ever been. I can’t share pictures here. It was interesting but too much too. I feel it shouldn’t exist in this world.
And… that’s it. Ok well, you can add Dieppe where I am spending with my roommate the best introvert New Year’s eve right now 🎉 (and proofreading one last time this piece 🕵️).
That is quite a lot. I don’t know if 2025 will be as packed, but I am sure I’ll be back to some of those places. And new ones. The only thing planned to this day is Scotland early May 🤩
✨ What “cherry on the cake” stuff have I done?
I finally got my ears pierced and I love it. Thank to those former colleagues who convinced me to make the jump ❤️ (for the record, I wanted to do it, you can check last year piece for instance, I just needed that little extra push).
I think my dad is the only non-fan of it. We will survive that.
👪 Family wise?
I am going to be short.
1st circle, pretty ok, I’d say.
2+ circle, a bit rockier, health / relationship wise. But mostly everyone is fine from my imperfect point of view.
Of course everyone faces challenges, but I am also seeing people exploring, entrepreneuring, questioning, etc. Positive things.
The biggest change to come, should be my parents entering retirement next year 😱
How is my original apartment-sharing going?
Really greattttt 🔥
Major events include having ants as pets. Then, them dying 6 months later. But a new colony has arrived 💪 We will try to take even better care of them.
Our apartment-sharing almost ended because of professional reasons. But in the end everything worked out and I am very happy not to have had to move again.
Of course we had some issues, but I’d say extremely few and we are pretty good at communicating, improving, moving on, etc. So 🔥
And yes, we finally got a sofa, to celebrate our 1st year living together. You are welcome anytime (we have a sofa bed too) ❤️
Gif-sur-Yvette, la Vallée de Chevreuse and Paris have a lot to offer.
Maybe we will do a housewarming party after 2 years who knows 😀
🥇 Finally, 2024 was a year with a lot of firsts
It’s usually hard for me to do things for the first time on my own. Not like I don’t want to try things but more that I like to do things the best possible way from the start and therefore to share those firsts with more knowledgeable people on the matter.
Among those firsts that happened this year are:
I tried out climbing, and happily now does it once or twice a month with friends / acquaintances / family,
I went cross-country skiing,
I personally took part of a political campaign.
Which included a real-life Splatoon like billboard battle and covering fresh posters from a far-right candidate just before midnight 💪
And for the first time being an assessor for 2 full days at a polling station.
And checking the ID with a big smile of that far-right supporter who insulted me in the street a few days before. Democracy.
I took a night train ride (multiple actually),
I bought a sofa,
I witness flooding (in Gif) from centimeters away,
I went to a music festival as a “participant”.
I went on a “cruise ship” (not a bigggg one)
I ate (good) bread from a bakery trash,
I discovered The Rocky Horror Picture Show “experience”, the
rightleft wayI got my eyebrows waxed to dress up as drag for a birthday party
I bought my first perfume 🌸 (the AWESOME exhibition we visited at Le Clot Lucet during my bike ride on the Loire à Vélo inspired me to do so)
And last but not least, I filled a sworn statement to support a friend changing their legal name 🌈
🌱 This year's vegetables?
I discovered the Blue meat radish at the local market in Gif. I love it. I wanted to share it with the world.
👨🍳 This year recipe?
I am inaugurating this year a new section to share a (vegetarian) recipe others and I enjoy. I have a bunch that I enjoy a lot but let’s start with marinated pepers. For its history, it was one of my childhood's top desired foods, I think mostly done by my grandma. I have perfected it this year, you can ask the few who had the opportunity to taste it 🔥
Ingredients:
n red peppers (I usually go for ~8 / 1.5kgs)
Olive oil
Garlic
Lemons
Shallots
Honey
Cinnamon powder
Salt & pepper
Steps:
Cut around the stem of the peppers, remove it, try to remove as much of the seeds inside with your fingers, wash the peppers and their inside and remove as much as possible of the water.
Put the peppers in the oven 180°C, fan on. Your objective here is to roast each face without burning the peppers so that you can peel them easily. It usually takes around 40 minutes in total, but make sure to check on them every 5-10 minutes and appropriately rotate the peppers. I found that a good position to start with is the tip up, hole down.
Once peppers look ready to be peeled, remove them from the oven, let them cool down a bit. Peel them and break them at least in eight. Do not wash them. If the skin is a bit hard to peel, know that next time they need a bit more oven time.
🤫 My secret twist: put them in a colander, and let them dry outside for several hours. A bunch of juice will come out of them, make sure to have a plate underneath and to empty it regularly. The idea here is to remove a bit of the moisture so that they later absorb as much as possible of the marinade.
Prepare the marinade. I usually go for a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, a bunch of crunched garlic, minced shallots, a bit of honey, cinnamon, and finally salt and pepper. The quantities are yours. Just make sure to make enough of it ;)
Mix the peppers with the marinade, and put everything in the fridge. They will be best the next day.
Do I have (nice) pictures of marinated peppers? No, oupsi. But I hope you will enjoy it!
Please accept a nice random food picture instead 🫶
Looking back at last year numbers & objectives, setting the path for 2025
Here is the update on my transport / carbon footprint from last year:
~35 000 km by train ⇾ ~20 000 km (bye bye TGV Max well well well) + ~7 500 km with Interail 🇭🇷 🇮🇹 🇫🇷 🇨🇭 🇩🇪 🇧🇪 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 🇩🇰 🇸🇮
~2 500 km by bike ⇾ I didn’t keep track of it too much, maybe ~1 500 km. Definitely not enough given my new really nice bike.
~3 700 km of mostly car sharing ⇾ Forgot to track that (and I don’t have stamina to look back in detail), but I am confident it’s less than last year.
0 km by plane ⇾ 0 repeated 🙌
Objectives I had set for 2024
Mind about my diet for the planet (also for my own health 😅)
And extend my cooking knowledge / creativity, I feel there is room for that in my new colocation. Maybe start to gather the recipes I enjoy.
I have become 98% Pescatarian since ~February. I won’t make a scandal if there is meat to eat basically and I eat as little as possible. Fish is still around in my diet partly because it’s logistically easier at home.
I did lose quite a bit of weight in the 1st half of the year. But it appears to be back 😅
Go on adventures in Spain, Switzerland & Northern Europe (most of them are theoretically planned). I am not sure the GR20 hike is for this year unless some people join this project and I get physically ready for it.
Spain was planned in my mind, but when the time came I had no stamina. Unfortunately. Northern Europe is a big check. GR20 might be a good one for 2026 to celebrate turning 30?
Share hiking / bike trips / adventures with more / new people ; introduce new people to these kinds of adventures.
We are good here 🍾 More to come next year.
I would love to join a collective / “militant” group, it would remind me of the good old days before the start of my “professional life”. I feel my work is already a lot in itself. But I love engagement towards the community and I think I can help with my skill set. Just like with me being helped to kick off my adventures facet in 2022, I’ll need some help / push here. Feel free to reach out.
Personally taking part in the surprise French legislative elections is a win here I feel. But nothing regular has emerged unfortunately.
Be less tired (I have a lot of energy but I am also a bit tired regularly 😅)
A mix of success and failure. I need to take more time for myself. Accept to rest / “burrito” more. Self-date, take care of me, myself and I more often.
Keep learning, supporting, becoming more aware, staying open-minded, exploring, cherishing relationships and embracing change.
Pretty ok from my PoV here.
Embracing change is not necessarily an easy thing when it’s not aligned with what I envisioned or hoped, but that’s life.
The vibe I am setting for 2025
Keep caring for those I care, stay open. Respect others' choices (yes of course, it just can be a bit hard for me to accept doing things I would do in a different way sometimes).
Be overall less tired across the year, definitely finish it rested, take care of myself.
Find new, robust, optima / equilibria in my personal / professional life. Give a push to myself to get involved in some project other than day to day work. Make time / room for it.
Gain back more intellectual stimulation one way or another.
If I have stamina, take on a new sport-related routine, mind more about my diet and lose 8-10kgs, durably => get ready for the GR20 in 2026?
By the way, why “Flicks!” as subtitle?
We are getting towards the end of this review.
Giving a title to those year reviews is hard. Especially this year. But flicks (“pichenette” in French) sounded appropriate. Like not so gently pushing / annoying something or someone. Making it / them leave their current local optimum / stable or unstable position.
One of the biggest flicks of the year is, of course, Macron and its “misunderstood” dissolution. But I had a bunch of other flicks to deal with this year. Thanks to friends, acquaintances and family for always being there.
Well, also in one way… the next optimum is often one flick away 🎉
“Flo you are always so hopeful 🥲”
From me, but I can hear this from miles away by someone I know very well. Sorry not sorry.
It actually felt good to write this review and to wrap this year. Give a fresh start to 2025.
2025 here we come!
Please Trump, don’t f*** it up too much.
PS: as usual, more pictures are available at photos.floflo.ch 📷 Also, I suggest scrolling a bit more.
PPS: one last image to meditate.