Fri Dec 13
time after time
🎈 On Monday, my december-adventure
collided with Nature of Code, chapter 2. The result was a helium balloon simulation that I got pleasantly carried away with. The physics were fun to play with and dive into a bit!
💕 Started a “heartening ML” document with a batch-mate to collect examples of encouraging uses of ML. It feels important to actively seek out and document these cases, especially when the concerning applications of ML are so much easier to find… also had an interesting chat with another batch-mate about how people even get into AI/ML nowadays. This is not the first time this has come up in batch! I realized I might be out of date here (is fast.ai still a go-to starting point?).
⏳ Mid-batch has brought about some reflections about my relationship with time right now. My wife pointed out something interesting: I am actually less flexible about disruptions during RC than when I am working a Real Job™, probably because I know this time at RC is finite and rare and genuinely fun. And when anxiety hit one morning around a slew of interruptions that had compounded into all that I had not accomplished… I ended up throwing my todo list out the window and… assembled a standing desk? I guess sometimes the best way to deal with spiraling thoughts is to build something in the tactile world. Even if my perfectionist brain struggles to accept that.
🎓 RC hosted an end-of-batch ceremony for W1’24 half-batch and F2’24 full-batch mates (recurse overlaps batches so that folks enter and exit batch every 6 weeks), complete with touching niceties for each (never-)graduate. While I am grateful that RC continues for me for another 6 weeks, each configuration of people is unique and temporary. January will bring another rhythm!
🎆 As this week closes, and as this year closes, my intention is to see RC less as a finite retreat and more as a catalyst for lasting change in how I approach both code and community. While our time here may be limited, the patterns we’re building - of curiosity, of generosity, of balancing deep work with genuine connection - these I want to extend far beyond my batch dates.