Journal

I was teaching a few concepts around agentic programming today, and at some point it struck me how weird and nice it is that markdown is having arguably its biggest moment yet. In a world of large language models, it turns out that plain-text enhanced with formatting and machine-readable frontmatter is a pretty useful thing to have knocking about.

I’ve been writing with markdown for years. The most important things I write, I write in markdown. I’m writing in markdown right now. There have been many times that I’ve considered using some other stack for this blog or for my private notes, but I keep coming back to markdown. There’s something so satisfying about a file vs. a database.

Markdown syntax has even snuck into other places, now. You’ll find some of it in WhatsApp and Instagram, and there are extended dialects like GitHub Flavored Markdown that give you even more to play with. John Gruber has done many great things, but bringing markdown into existence I think is still one of the best things he gifted to the world.

Who could have known that all these years later it would be the language spoken by these otherworldly tools. The language that we use to speak back, from agents.md to skills.md to the countless other places that it shows up. I have markdown files piled high from years of writing, ready now to serve some new purpose in a new world. Peculiar.

I’ve got an extra-busy few days ahead, and I was reminded today of how amazing it is to have someone who cares for you in the most everyday, but completely life-changing ways. This morning Aneesah brought me a coffee while I was working, and this evening she’s walking the dog and making dinner. She insisted that I catch up on this journal.

I like to think that we have a pretty well-balanced relationship, but during the times when I’ve got a little less to give I always feel so loved, and I hope that I’ll never take that for granted. Sometimes you need a gentle push to take small moments to care for yourself, even if you feel guilty for doing so. I only hope that I pay the same attention when it’s needed, but you’ll have to wait for Aneesah’s blog to find out.

For some reason, I’m sat here on the couch in my jacket. Do you ever do that? It feels cozy somehow, like I’m wearing a blanket. A portable hug, something like that. I like jackets. And hats. I have more jackets and hats than any other item to wear on my body. Thank god I live in Northern California so that I still need a jacket. Thank god it’s not just a raincoat these days, although I don’t mind a bit of rain, really.

It’s been a while since I got out to Point Reyes, and I wish that I was sat there right now, wrapped up warm and staring at the stars or something. I’ve not been there at night, but doesn’t that sound great? I want to camp out there at one of the wild campgrounds, but I’d even take a thermos and the bench at the lighthouse. I’m not too fussy, so long as I’ve got a hot drink and some biscuits. Maybe just fussy about the biscuits.

I’m analyzing a bunch of data this week. Usually that would mean “writing a lot of SQL,” and whilst there is a lot of SQL, I’m barely writing any of it, because this or that LLM is doing it for me. In the past, doing this sort of thing included two important steps: think of the question you want to answer, then translate it into the right SQL syntax. These days, the first step is the same, but the second one absolutely isn’t.

The good side of that, of course, is that you can spend more time on the first part, which was always the most important part. Maybe there’s a bad side? It’s interesting to move from a strict syntax that describes something logical to a floopy syntax where almost anything goes. I think there’s something lost in not “thinking in logic” but I’m not sure if it’s enough that the speed doesn’t make up for it ten times over.

There are moments where I caught myself assuming something was correct based on a cursory glance, only to realize my request had been misunderstood in a way that was important to the analysis. I would say that I’m one of the more “check everything that an LLM gives you very closely” kind of people, and yet here I was. I suspect that the models will eventually get good enough that I’ll just stop thinking about it.

One of those days that goes by in a flash. One minute I was climbing out of bed, legs sore from the weekend run, the next moment I’m putting the kettle on for a cup of tea before bed. Somewhere in between those two I drove to SFO to pick Aneesah up, and it feels good to have her home. It felt as though it was minutes and months that she was gone.

I’m going to cut this short to write morning pages (yes, at night) because I’ve missed a couple of days and I can tell that it’s the writing I need to do right now. You realize how powerful morning pages are when you go without them for a few days. The thoughts just rattle around in your mind, instead. If I only write one thing, it should be morning pages.

It might seem surprising that I still write morning pages when I’m writing this journal right here, but they’re two totally different things to me. I might write this sort of thing in morning pages, but there are things I’ll write there that probably won’t make it here. Things that I really do write just for me. You can’t give all of yourself away, after all.

A restorative day today. A busy one, but restorative. A bit of gardening, a few chores, a bit of writing while listening to records. The kind of day that Sunday feels made for. There’s something so calming about spending a day in the sun doing a whole lot of nothing. Pottering. This and that. Busy but not, could stop any time—and on that note, in fact, I will.

Woke up at 6am today because Cacio needed to drink water right that minute (I mean, water is great). Tried to sleep but couldn’t, so I just stared at the ceiling for a while. Decided to feel happy about it. Quiet. Relaxing. Got up at 7am so that I could meet a friend for a run at 8am.

We ran along the waterfront in Berkeley, and it was such a perfect day for it. The sun was out. Warm but not too hot yet. Clear enough to see that incredible panoramic across San Francisco and Marin, with the Golden Gate Bridge looking as glorious as ever. Great fucking bridge.

Friend’s studio is about 5km away, so we ran there and had a refreshing, fizzy drink. Just what I needed. His studio is so darn cool, and the vision for it is even better. A space for music, ceramics, art-making, wood-working, and more. A dream. Everyone’s dream maybe?

We ran the 5km back to where we started, then I swang by the house, grabbed Cacio, and we were right back out to hike for a few miles in the Berekeley hills. Lots of running around (her), climbing up hills (both of us), and taking in the view (me, she was busy eating grass).

After all of that, my body wanted a burger. Aneesah (who I do not deserve) also ordered me my favorite beers and got snacks delivered to the house for no other reason than love, and that she’s the most kind person on earth. She was doing all of that from England… at 2am.

Took a bath, read through 200 lines of pure Python that implements a working transformer from Karpathy (yes, I should still have read a novel), and now off to bed. A full day, and a full heart. Friends, exercise, nature, smiling dog, and the love of my wife (the love of my life).

I’m sat here listening to Sam Cooke on the record player whilst I do math exercises for… not fun exactly, but it’s completely optional. I must want to do them. The truth is that I want to understand a thing that is made of math, but I’m not super interested in understanding lots of math. I’m sure I’ll accidentally understand a lot of math by the time I’m done.

There are other things like that, surely? Things that we resent learning a little bit even though it’s what we want. I like learning, to be clear, but some learning is more fun than other learning. I’m fortunate now to have a reason. Over the years I’ve bought various massive math books with the idea that I’d just “get really good at math” for the sake of it, but I didn’t, because… what’s the point? There needn’t be one, I suppose.

In England people say maths, not math. I used to think that it sounded normal, but now it sounds funny to me, too. You don’t realize how your ear has changed after living somewhere new until it hits you in some random moment. Maths. The English accent even sounds a bit surprising to me now, and.. I mean… I have an English accent. I think? Certainly.

Now I’ve got Cacio trying her best to lie across the laptop keyboard and it would be so easy to move her but I almost never do. I twist around awkwardly to keep her comfortable because why shouldn’t she have this spot? I feel bad when I have a snack and don’t give here one. A strange thing, feelings. Many (most; all?) animals seem pretty sensitive to fairness or lack thereof. If there are two eggs, why shouldn’t she have one?

It’s been a long week, for no particular reason. Some weeks are just like that. Some weeks life is a bit heavier, isn’t it? The days seem shorter, or the heart feels heavier, or both and more. Not trying to get too dramatic here, just noticing. I’ve learned a lot this week. Maybe that’s part of it? It’s tiring, cramming lots of things into your brain. Usually worth it though. On that note, though, time to walk the dog and turn my brain off.