Journal

Walking along the waterfront with a colleague today, I was reminded of the moments that rarely happen in a remote world. We talked about things I doubt we’d never have talked about over video/phone, or at least not in as much depth. It’s the kind of thing that feels inefficient when you’re in a scheduled 30 minute slot on the calendar, but sometimes you need to wander. Sometimes you need the 23 seconds of silence that’s deafining on a call but pleasant when strolling and listening to the ocean.

I spent some time today helping some folks on the design team set up a local development environment. For the past ten years I’ve been shipping code to production, and I believe so strongly that working directly with materials makes for better work. Now, we find ourselves in this funny world where you don’t need to spend years learning the ropes. It helps, but you could still get to the same place in weeks or months these days, and along the way you can just… ship.

I’m going to keep things brief this week because I’ll be busy, but brief is just fine, isn’t it? There’s something so satisying about showing up every day and making some sort of mark, even a meta-mark without much substance like this one. In some ways it’s like social media, but there’s something satisying about knowing it’s a little markdown file that won’t be wiped off some server at some point. I’ll keep this dumb little note forever.

Some good conversations with teammates today, and I was reminded that much of getting what you want out of life is telling folks what you want, or just getting it for yourself. It’s easy to forget that most of us are in the same boat, and that we don’t need the permission that we think we do. We can give ourselves permission. We can just do things and see what happens. Proceed until apprehended, because it’s always better to try.

A lazy day following a full day. Woke up late, made breakfast and ate it in the sun. Caprese salad left over from dinner and the pastries from yesterday. Laundry, pottering around, two trips to two different phramacies. A nice walk together to the second one. For dinner, an Indian curry that we were both craving. Nothing more comforting than warm spices, soft bread, fluffy rice.

We went to India in 2017 and I remember it like it was yesterday. In fact, I can’t believe it’s been so long. Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Mumbai, Goa. Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten was in Jaipur. What a gift it is to travel. To experience places so different to the one you grew up in, and to fall in love with all of them. I don’t take it for granted. Forever grateful.

A run in the hills with a friend. Our small running club: The No Pros Run Club. We joked that if your heart rate is below 150bpm after climbing the hill that you’re probably not allowed in the club. Thinking of running the Golden Gate Half in Novemeber, but need to get slighly more pro (but still no pro) if I’m going to do that. I like runnning. I especially like running in this beautiful place, and with friends.

My little ritual now is to grab breakfast after the run and to make coffee and breakfast for Aneesash. I got pastries and a sourdough loaf, and then made chilli scramble on toasted sourdough. Aneesah cooked Cacio an egg so that we all had a nice breakfast. She cooks it in coconut oil because it’s healthier for dogs, but I find myself wondering what coconut-oil scrambled egg would taste like. Maybe… good?

Later, best evening with best friends. We wanted to celebrate Eid in some way, and the best way is to enjoy a feast with family. Friends are the family that you choose, and it was so nice to celebrate with our chosen family. It’s hard to find folks you connect with as an adult, in some place thousands of miles from home, but I guess that we’re just lucky. Sat under the stars (and a blanket) afterwards. Perfect.

At some point in the afternoon I migrated from my desk to the couch. I mostly had writing left to do, and didn’t need my larger display to do it. One thing I miss about going to an office—a good one, at least—is moving around to different spaces thorughout the day. There aren’t so many spaces in my house. None of them is a library. I don’t have bleachers. Still, it was nice to reset and find a better place for a specific activity.

Dinner in the evening with new-ish friends. Good time. I find myself being a bit more British around new-ish friends, as if I need them to really know about it. Not sure why. I’m not really sure what my accent is any more. I think I used three different ones thorughout the course of the evening. West Midlands, East London and the King’s English (briefly). Life is mostly a strange performance. I’m not mad about it. Kind of fun.

Long day. Do you have those days? We all have those days. I had one of those days, today. My least favorite part of long days is the scrolling. Is it just me? I assume not. I assume I don’t even need to tell you what I mean. I hate these silly little screens, sometimes. They represent the best of us and the worst of us. The infinite pit of pixels. On my better days it’s at least a book I’m scrolling through. I mean… some funny videos though.