Gathering thoughts…
A world of little thoughts.
Yesterday, I accidentally smashed a bottle of red wine in our kitchen. Pieces of the broken bottle scattered everywhere, and red wine covered the floor and splashed on the walls—it was a huge mess. Understandably, I was very pissed off at first. But I remembered Shirzad Chamine's mantra of "taking the hand off the hot…
(original: 2010 November 8, excerpt) f|back: when my friend oracle speaks ... ... or [when my friend "oracle"] types ... when i chat with my friend, i enjoy the intellectual banter that ensues. my friend earned the nickname from "the oracle of delphi" - he shared a series of different answers to his daughter's…
Computing metaphors are often stretched a bit thin, but one of my favorites that I find myself returning to over an over is serialization. When machines need to exchange information that is being actively processed, they need to first structure and then write out that information in a format that can be transmitted…
I try to live my life without regret. I try to live in the present, neither the past nor the future. It isn't easy though. I have bad days all the time, horrible, miserable days. At times I just want to give up and many times I do. In these moments, I find it hard to live in the present and yearn for a better tomorrow…
Building a habit of daily writing is one of the things that many folks out there recommend. Just the act of taking some time out and put stuff out in a physical or digital notepad is enough for the effects to start compounding. For many, this would be okay. The issue lies on you eventually wanting to publish that out…
Wife, after sharing second thoughts about starting a new job: "Do you think they're the kind of people who would hire a woman just because she's a woman?" Me: "Wondering whether you're the benefactor of affirmative action feels kind of gross, doesn't it?" Wife: "Ugh" I should note that the Hebrew term for that…
I didn't see the loneliness coming, the solitude I craved turned on me. I'm trying to reach out, to feel some sort of connection. But I won't beg for it, I deserve to be wanted.
I've always been a bit on the fence about journaling, but I've just come across a very good argument for it - clearing the human cache. It is true that we get bogged down in thoughts, I know I do anyway, and it leads to pages of messy scribbles as I write out hour-by-hour plans for the days ahead on the same page as…
I used to think to produce good work, I have to duck my head down, empty myself, fully, so that I could un-become, and just be - right - do the right thing - somehow. I now know that my best bet is to integrate, to align, to face my heart, and yours. My best bet is to take things to their logical conclusion - because…
Have you ever scrolled through your past writings or posts online and had a feeling of cringe. That can't be me, What a stupid I was ! I am sure you have, at some point. In part, this is explained by a phenomenon called Denning - Kruger effect. The less you know about something, the more likely you are to not know…
It’s Saturday. I should be grading homework and unit assignments. I have a master’s portfolio proposal to write (separate, apparently, from the actual master's thesis I wrote last semester). I have grad school homework to do. Instead, I’m on the couch. My youngest child has his legs draped over mine; he’ll follow me…
People commonly fantasize about starting their own location-independent, million dollar businesses. I know several people who now work out of their boats. While there is a whole industry on entrepreneurship (e.g. books, social media figures, boot camps, communities) - the overall landscape is covered in survivorship…
Critics are everywhere. No matter what anyone does, how great of an achievement it is, you will have a set of people waiting to belittle them. It is very easy to be a critic. It takes no courage, no effort and no dedication to say — "Told you so they'd fail". There are people out there who literally wait for others to…
Today I had a goodbye dinner with my parents at a nice restaurant, before leaving for San Francisco tomorrow. It was the same restaurant where we have been for a goodbye dinner nearly exactly two years ago, before I left for my exchange semester to Taiwan. It felt melancholic to have a similar moment again. And it…
i’ve been rejected so many times in the last year or so. Countless job apps, applied to accelerators for funding, no nothing in return, even reached out to contacts. Nope. Gotten kinda numb these days. Must not lose hope. Maybe better days are ahead..
Today, I'll be going to the gym. Since starting my training journey in August 2022, I've made significant progress. Before that, I had been suffering from hemiplegic migraine attacks since my early 20s which left me feeling drained for days. I reached a point where simple tasks like applying shampoo or inflating car…
You don’t meet “new friends” by actually meeting new international friends You gotta be interesting enough And that means not afraid to speak up to anyone Let yourself be yourself be in your skins Do whatever you do in the moment And work on things Can’t be empty headed anymore Enjoy every moment and taking everything…
Feel the pain. Look for the silver lining. Feed a distraction. Journal the thoughts. Blame not yourself. Think of the other times you’ve gotten over things. This too shall pass.
Bias is a necessary component of human knowledge formation. Bias is commonly understood as a form of error, a deviation from truth, that ought to be corrected for. But what, exactly, is the process of deciding what is true and what is not? Your phone has advanced digital signal processing capabilities which allow you…
Ever found your self doing something out of habit without you ever noticing? The (not so) humble android OS was designed to run on any device - from simple toasters to sophisticated devices having more computational capacity than the rocket that landed us on the moon. Part of this robustness is due to the multi…
(original: 14 Jan 2006) Welcome to my relocation rants & raves! Hello! FIRST TIME BLOGGER and BUSINESS OWNER ... This is my first blog mainly for those interested in my relocation planning and activities from San Diego to the Bay Area. (And I'm sure it will contribute to my tendency to procrastinate and provide an…
i've apparently made it a quasi-tradition to start editing a new site or writing a new blog post (or if i'm feeling super ambitious, both!) right on the new year. two years ago it was substack, last year it was buttondown, and now it's omg.lol (and here too, i suppose). last night i entered the new year alone (with my…
Praying in tongues is the super-power I wish I had known about earlier. Or, being honest, that I had used earlier.
I recall seeing so many resumes for software engineering positions that had COVID tracker projects. These people want to put their skills to use and show others that they have engineering talent, but they choose the most overdone and cliché project to make. Why do we need a COVID tracking app for the millionth time?…
Walking the streets of CBD by those towering buildings, cycling along ECP, trekking to Bukit Timah and sipping on beer at the hawker centres, I thought about you for the first time in ages. I lost you when I was 9. Ever since, subconsciously and actively, I hived away whatever few memories I had of you and pushed you…
It's a new platform. My thoughts are unfiltered, and unplanned. That also means I have not come up with a catchy introductory post. I'll share two of my favorite bits of rhyming verse instead. (1) Old Limerick She stood on the bridge at midnight. Her lips were all a quiver. She gave a cough. Her leg fell off. And…
There are chaos in my head. An ocean's worth of storms inside a skull. Contradicting ideas and thoughts fighting each other like storms in the seas. However, there is no victor. Intrusive thoughts making me question my own thoughts and self. This goes to anyone who can relate with me. You, I see you. I hope we will…
i find listening to content while working prescribes higher quality to the output. when designing for a creative output; poetry that influenced many great artists is highly productive listening. their creation influences my thinking, it forces my mind into a state of deliberation...
realistic fiction for adults that are uplifting & humorous & exciting: does this exist?
Sorry. I admit it's tough to 'accept' you into the spaces I frequent. Some of you I've muted, some I've just outright not talked to... and it's not really anything you did, I just personally don't want to be involved in your life anymore. Wherever you're going is not where I'll be. I'm happy for you, but we're just…
Então, ontem depois de remoer mais um pouco o atendimento horrível que recebi na famosa padaria, mandei uma mensagem pro dono. O sentimento é dúbio: "ah, mas foi só um croissant de chocolate..." E ao mesmo tempo "exato. Mesmo numa coisa tão pequena, a pessoa se sente no direito de me tratar assim...". Enfim, seguimos.…
Used to feel anxious and NOT wanting to do any work because feels like it’s forced But now I feel - it’s OKAY to just go with the flow ESPECIALLY that will get you to where you want Rather than wasting time feeling bad and not good about it Think of it as a learning experience! Everything might be new If you just…
Excuse the generic title, I am programmed to type those words first on all social media- Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google plus, etc. For me, internet in the late 2000's was about discovering humour blogs. We used to have those neighbourhood newspapers complete with satirical takes on our everyday lives. A…
Today I submitted my thesis and fully enjoyed life afterwards. Cooking great food, laying in the sun, kayaking in the lake, enjoying the sunset next to the water, going into a woodfired sauna - I kind of understand now, why Finnish people are the happiest in the world.
...she, anyway, doesn't know me anymore. we ended things. i couldn't stand being around her. it doesn't mean that i loved her any less. i loved her more than she loved herself. she loved me less than she loved the version of me she wanted. you see...there was our problem. i had brought this to her attention as well.…
the writing (that i'm reading, that i wrote, that i'm editing) is getting better. it is less sour. oh thank god this is salvageable. also i seem to encounter norwegians who make me think "you are so cool bc we are so similar" but i am not even remotely scandinavian and i think it has a lot to do with how they like to…
A few days back I was planning a trip with my family. I had to cast Google maps to my TV so that everyone can view map on big screen. This is when I realized how much Google maps sucks in landscape mode. The image shown above is a screenshot taken on my phone so the map is visible here but when we cast to TV, the…
Digital productivity apps - shiny object buffet of apps with low to high caloric brain-nourishment value One's lived experiences deserves to be housed where the moments will be organized, tended, and loved Home sweet home, especially your digital home. --- My love letter to friends who ask if they should switch apps.…
To refer to a phenomenon or quantity as being deficient implies that there is some proper amount one might expect to have. A gas tank that is three-quarters empty, for example, would rightly be considered deficient if our destination were two hundred miles away; a "gasoline deficit," as it were. It would be just as…
To stay in a 9-5: too slow to get the money! The success of anything links heavily to your xintai “Do they still call 23 young?” If there is one book I would want to take a deep read on Is how to converse with people Because any guy can be an expertise in a field But not many can be a bridge to link products with the…
Airport Arrival Terminals are a places filled with joy. Families and friends reconnecting, giving each other a warm hug and a kiss. Some, weirdly enough, spraying hand sanitizers as soon as possible. People stand waiting behind a railing waiting to get a glimpse of their loved ones, and as soon as they see them, their…
Hi, I'm using these posts to practice writing. Here's a paragraph to start off with. I've never written before so feel free to express your thoughts on how I'm doing. I don't know where to begin. I can't even imagine how all this started. My first memory is pretty dark. I can recall my mother snuggled up to me for the…
Kebahagiaan adalah merasa puas dengan apa yang kamu miliki. Kesuksesan datang dari ketidakpuasan. Kebahagiaan tidak muncul setelah mendapatkan kesuksesan, karena sesungguhnya kita bisa memilih untuk bahagia kapan pun. "Aku akan sukses jika memiliki X." "Sukses adalah ketika aku mendapat gaji sebesar X." Pernyataan…
i'm really glad that my friend is a big lana del rey fan; i almost feel like that's his defining personality trait: love for lana del rey; and he tells me things about her and he sent me an article about her and i keep thinking about it... i'm eating haribo happy cola because lana's song title "cola" gave me a sudden…
My first thought here was ok.. let's see what's up. After reading a few blogs I wonder if there are any humans around here. It looks nice on the surface and feels cool under ground. I wonder ...There must be something out here, limits are everywhere so let's find mine, was wondering my self. In the end it's only 10…
TL;DR=throw and raise are fuck ugly anti-patterns. Golang got it right. In typescript, just use type unions with you return type and a custom error type. Yesterday, my code hit an exception, and I had no idea why. When I went to look at what the cause could be, my eyes started welling up. Not out of pride, but out of…
A dream is like a seed in a garden. The right conditions must exist for a seed to achieve its full potential. The environment must yield the right amount of water, sunlight, air, nutrients. A gardener initiates the process and works with nature to sustain it. With dreams, we mistakenly believe that everything is up to…
If my manager read a page of my code contributions in the last month, it would either mean nothing to him or he would draw the wrong conclusions. Adding code doesn't make one a valuable contributor. It just means you're a contributor. The hubris of thinking that managers (or CEO's...😂) can discern anything of value…
