Now

now Home. For real, this time.

Born and raised here, and spent years thinking it was boring. That changed. It’s home now: where I want to build a life, and where I’ll keep coming back to, wherever work goes.

Not a highlight reel. Good and bad, lonely and exciting, loss and stability, all at once. Formative because of all of it.

now Wishing there were more hours to spend together.

The most important person in my life. Our big nights are staying in: food, a movie, the couch. We’re about 24 and already act like we’ve been married for twenty years. The future I’m working toward is one we build together.

now The strongest pull right now.

A long road through university. Some days that feels late. It still counts.

now Hard to fit around class hours, and it costs some sleep. Still worth it.

Work that’s actually satisfying: enough creative freedom to stay interesting, and people who take my ideas seriously. It feels like it’s for something bigger than the ticket.

now Being built and rebuilt. This page is the newest part.

It started as a portfolio. It’s turning into a personal website, and this page is part of that.

The thing I’m quietly proudest of. Not fluency: the everyday kind, including the social nuance around the words.

I cut slack, skip steps and optimize everything: tools, time, workflows, systems. It’s been genuinely useful. Lately I’m less sure about the extreme end of it.

now The thing I'm actually working on.

Keeping the ambition without optimizing the life out of it. Sleep. Time together. Things that are worth it without being efficient.

At the desk, half-watching whatever’s on. My partner on the couch. Nothing in particular happening. It’s the version of peace I keep coming back to.

Writing on paper works differently for me than typing ever has. One of the three things I’d grab first. This site’s logo started on its pages.

now One of the big ones this term.

A school project, built the agile way, with CI/CD doing the tedious part.

now A little behind the suggested milestones. Reading week is for catching up.

Web development, one lab at a time.

Personal software. It’s maintained for the most honest reason: I still need it.

status built · waiting on the client's contract before it ships

Rebuilding the production site for Milano Nails Spa, years after building the first one in Texas.

status done · not done

Technically done.

The longest-running thing I’ve built: the site for a Calgary non-profit, kept going since 2019.

The first thing I wrote here. There’s already a résumé; the site is for everything else.

Simple from across the room, full of small things up close. The rule this site is built on.

vol. 20

The long one. Read on a tiny e-ink screen.

Strategy on the surface. I’m mostly reading it for what’s underneath.

Half for the book, half to keep my Japanese from going soft.

The shows we watch together.

Not something I’m watching. Something that never really left.

The one I keep coming back to, year after year.

A little e-ink reader that lives in the bag. Most of my reading happens on it now.

now Modded to USB-C. On the desk now, too.

Getting back into keyboards, carefully this time: something useful that should last, not just something new.

Bought in Tokyo years ago and still in use. Proof that some purchases are worth it.

Tiny, light, runs Arch. An unreasonable amount of attachment for an old laptop. One of the three things I’d grab first.

A plain folding knife. One of the three things I’d grab first.

An anniversary gift. The specs are not why I wear it.

An aquascape I keep up. Feeding and trimming is one of the better parts of a day.

Fish are one of the things I’ve become much too opinionated about.

Two trees and slow maintenance. Watering is part of the evening.

now Still becoming a habit.

A wooden tray, a teapot, cups from Japan. It’s less about the tea than the ritual around it.

We weren’t always close. We are more now, and we talk about more.

In some ways what younger me wanted Calgary to be. Southern hospitality, absurdly strong AC, a feeling of more room. Some of the wardrobe still comes from there.

My favorite bar in Tokyo, for the nights I couldn’t sleep. Natto toast, a lemon sour, talking with the master. It’s closed now; I still follow the master on Instagram.

Simple, fast, delicious: the food I miss most. Ideally with a crisp lemon sour in a steel cup.

now Not enough, lately. Working on it.

When I feel most like myself.

now Building it properly, one piece at a time. More structure, less stress.

Finish school, work hard, earn enough, build something that holds. Not status: a life I can look back on at 65 and be proud of.

Somewhere along the way I woke up and actually wanted to do something with my life. It came later than I’d like. The past is the past; it can’t be changed. What happens next can.

Years of training, on and off. It changed how I think about pain.

Pain, loss and mortality are part of it. Respect them, stay aware of them, and don’t let the fear of them make the decisions. What matters is what you do after it hits.

Starting to read philosophy properly. Less to find a label than to find out what I’m missing.

Something I’m still learning to do.

Trying to move from “oh, cool, buy” to: does it work, will it break, is it comfortable. Fewer things, better ones. They don’t have to be expensive.

Craftsmanship isn’t only precision. It’s seeing someone take pride in the thing, and clearly enjoy making it.

What a good life looks like: less constant stress, more serenity, a home.

Industrial design, technical manuals, literal textbooks, retro electronics, concrete lofts with a little wood grain, workwear, Japanese editorial layouts. Slate greys. Steel and leather.

The fundamental answer.

Trying to drink less of it. Tea is the plan.

Two minutes from the apartment. A drink, a couple of small things, and a seat by the ashtrays for a bit.

Getting off a stop early after work and walking the rest. Sometimes trying whatever restaurant was still open around 8, just because it was there.

Had to sell it. I miss the everyday rides, not the specs.

Seemed cool. Barely touched in a year. The counterexample.

Giving it another shot, with better bearings this time.

Earned through experience. Ask at your own risk.

Luis Miguel and Boyz II Men, lately.

Japanese jazz, blues, coastal jazz, pop and rap, and the city pop that isn’t the same five songs.

Something is almost always on while I work.

I come back to it every year or two. Every time.

Where the evenings happen. Also on the home page, in blocks.

Pen case, tech case, a small pouch, the e-reader. Whatever leaves the house.

The one before this one. The desk started there.

A small typing test, in English and in hiragana.

Client sites and a lot of WordPress, in Tokyo and Kamakura.

now Switched from the Flow X13. More power for school and work.

The new main laptop. Replaced the Flow X13: more power, bigger screen.

now Filling in after the Acer Nitro’s HDMI controller died. 5:4 and VGA, like it’s 2006.

The HDMI controller on the Acer Nitro died, lol. So a mid-2000s 17-inch Flatron is the second screen now.