a lot of people secretly wish to be a part of a small, close-knit democratically organized co-living community, except for people who are from big families or people who’ve been very involved in their strata or people who’ve had roommates

i come from a very close knit family and have participated in strata, and as a result my ideal living situation is me, my wife, and my cat on an island that my friends and family visit regularly, then leave

the worst thing about tipping is that brief moment of warm, disingenuous human interaction while you’re holding the credit card machine

When I was in my 20s I’d see an article about how a programmer’s focus and flow is a PRECIOUS AND UNIQUE GEM THAT MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS and think “yes, it is, I agree”

and now, older, I think that we have had it too good for too long and are used to being treated like pampered babies, yes, we must be exempt from meetings and distractions in a perfect sea of quiet or the golden goose will not lay its programming eggs

… but I’m still happier when it’s quiet and I don’t have meetings

I don’t think it’s WRONG that programming is best done in quiet, uninterrupted, focused stretches, that’s actually kinda self-evident

but I also think that demanding these stretches can seem petty and arrogant, as if programming is the only discipline that benefits from focus and quiet and reflection.

Maybe, just maybe, every creative role benefits from focus and quiet and reflection, and only software developers have been privileged enough to be able to demand it.

Getting laser eye surgery was 100% worth it and I’m frustrated I didn’t do it earlier, but one of the benefits I imagined, “being able to see haircuts, the inside of my shower while I’m showering, and the bottom of the pool” turned out to be pretty underwhelming.

The inside of my shower is gross! The bottom of the pool is not worth looking at! And being able to see during haircuts just unlocks a whole new avenue of awkwardness. These previously locked off experiences turned out to be not worth it.

The actual concrete benefits of laser-eye surgery were to peripheral vision and comfort, where they were significant.

Also I have super long eyelashes so the inside of my glasses were always greased up a little bit: no more of that.

in order to work off some of the almost oppressive closeness of the Christmas season I basically don’t talk to anybody in my family (or outside my family, if possible) for the first 20 days of January