Reading Watching Playing Listening: 2021

Reading, Watching, Playing, Listening: 2021

This is a section that I would normally include in my end of year review but I will borrow a leaf from Ben Werdmuller and make this a separate article. I will adopt this every month starting January but this one will be a wrap up of all things I have been reading, watching, playing and listening to this year. I hope I can recap most of it.

Watching 📺

All things Youtube, Netflix, Apple TV, TV

Unfortunately there has not been cinema for me this year.

I had to binge watch all the series and movies from the comfort of my 13” laptop. Torrents didn’t let me down and sites like Flixtor also did some justice when it came to streaming. Relatively I have not watched as many shows this year but I have really enjoyed quite a few; The Good Doctor, The Blacklist, Godfather of Harlem, Ted Lasso etc.

Favorite Youtube channels: MKBHD, Ali Abdaal, Slidebean, Stuart Elimu etc.

Reading 📚

Books, Articles, Stories

I have read a total of 19/24 books this year which is a huge jump from the total number of books I read last year. I am so proud of how far I have come building a reading habit. I have enjoyed most of the books and some of my notable mentions; Atomic Habits, The Company of One, Ego Is the Enemy, The Alchemist, Make Your Bed etc.

You can find a detailed list of the books I have ever read/listened to here.

Additionally, I read a ton of articles across the internet, bookmarked many and shared them across my network. Here’s a list of my top picks in no particular order.

💡 I read so I can write, I write so I can read — unknown

Playing 🎮

Board Games, Video Games, Sport

I recently got back to playing chess after nearly three years. Watching the Queens Gambit pushed me to have a couple of tricks up my sleeves I have won a couple of games but unfortunately I have no stats to show for it.

I played touch rugby probably for the first time and now I can sit in bar and follow a rugby game. I have always played pool table but I have lost quite a number of games to worthy opponents.

I played scrabble, cards and darts after such a long time. I am a happy lad 😃

Listening 🎧

Music, Podcasts, Sermons

I spent a lot of hours on the road either on foot, in a taxi or on a boda and during this time I got to listen to the Bible, podcasts, audiobooks and music. I installed the bible.is app which has dramatized audio sermons with specific lessons from the bible. It has reading plans and stories as well all following the chapters and verses from the Bible. The favorite feature is the reminders which always remind you at a certain time to read the bible. This was nice, I did not hit my goals but I am stuck onto this.

I still haven’t gotten to the subscription life but I think I am about 😬

For podcasts I usually use the Podcasts app on the iPhone but recently changed to PocketCast which is amazing. I listened to quite a couple of podcasts though I can’t list them all here but I can share some that really had a great impact here:

💡 If you're into podcasts I recommend you try the [Airr](https://www.airr.io/) app, it transcribes all the podcasts that you subscribe to and allows you to take notes for future reference.

Music; It was mostly Youtube & Youtube Music plus a sprinkle of Spotify, Deezer and Audiomack. Some of the notable artists this year: Lil Tjay, Toosie, Drake, Eminem, Stormzy, The Mith, Dax, Muky etc.

Takeaways

Sometimes it seems overwhelming consuming all content that seems important on the internet and it is easy to get lost along the way because everything seems so important and you want to apply it to your routine. Try not to get caught up, learn as much as you can and apply it somewhere.

Well, it’s a wrap. This has been such a great recap even for me. I am curious about what you have been reading, watching, playing and listening. You can reach out and share or discuss anything that was of interest to you.