The Cookie Jar
— drawer №03
№ 03 · the lab

now, the things
I am trying to learn.

Open threads. Half-formed. The ones I think about in the shower. Updated whenever the thinking is.

↳ this page is alive — last edit, 2 days ago.
live · evolving 5 active threads · 2 paused updated · 07 may 2026
thread № 01 · since mar 2026
Systems
design,
properly.
technical backend distributed
60%
through the plan
remember:
the goal isn't to know — it's to build ◡ — what & why

I want to feel comfortable designing a system from scratch.

I can build the apps. I cannot yet design the back of the apps. That feels wrong for someone calling themselves an engineer.

— current plan
  • Read DDIA chapters 1–7
  • Build a TinyURL with sharding from scratch
  • Watch ByteByteGo's full primer
  • Build a rate-limiter (token bucket) in Go
  • Read DDIA 8–12 (consensus, batch, streams)
  • Mock-design Twitter feed end-to-end on paper
— note to self · 06 may
The hard part isn't choosing the parts. It's knowing why you didn't choose the others. Read every system design doc with that lens.
— resources stacking

DDIA · Designing Data-Intensive Applications · the gold standard textbook.
Alex Xu · System Design Interview Vol. 1 + 2.
The Pragmatic Engineer's "Real-world systems" series.

thread № 02 · since jan 2026
Drawing,
badly,
daily.
non-technical craft analog
128
days of streak
15 mins.
every. damn.
morning. — what & why

The hand should keep up with the eye.

A designer friend told me: "if you can't sketch the idea, you don't have one yet." I can't sketch. I'd like to. So 15 minutes, daily.

— the rules
  • Pen & ink only — no erasing
  • Same time, same notebook
  • Don't post any of it
  • End of year — pick the 12 best, frame them
— observation · week 18
The leap is between week 6 and week 8. Suddenly hands look like hands. I have no idea what changed but I felt it the morning it happened.
— studying

Currently working through Mike Lin's Drawing in 7 Days (a misnomer)
and slowly, slowly, James Gurney's color & light essays.

thread № 03 · since feb 2026
Rust,
but for real.
technical language
30%
comfort level
— current state

I no longer fight the borrow checker. We're in talks.

Rebuilding Level'd's streak engine in Rust as a way to learn it for real. Compiles > ships > works.

— questions I'm sitting with
  • When does Rc<RefCell<T>> stop being a code smell?
  • Async — Tokio vs async-std, when does the choice matter?
  • Embedded Rust — is this a rabbit hole worth falling into?
— honest assessment
I am still slower in Rust than in Go. I might always be slower. But the things I write feel more solid. Worth the trade for systems-level work, not for prototyping.
thread № 04 · since apr 2026
Cooking
without a
recipe.
non-technical life
~20%
don't burn it
— what & why

I want to walk into a kitchen, see what's there, and make dinner.

Right now I cook by following. I'd like to cook by listening. That requires understanding what fat does to acid does to heat.

— studying
  • Read Salt Fat Acid Heat · twice
  • One new ingredient a week
  • Can I do a perfect dal without measuring?
  • Bake a loaf of bread that I'd be proud of
— small wins
Made a tomato pasta last Thursday with no recipe, just intuition and salt. It was the best one I've made. I think the trick was patience with the garlic.
thread № 05 · since may 2026
Writing,
in public.
craft scary
3
essays drafted
— what & why

Writing forces a thought to actually finish itself.

Half my opinions die in the shower. I want to publish 12 essays this year — small, honest, on whatever I'm thinking about.

— in the queue
  • "Why I'm building Level'd" · 1,400 words · drafted
  • "Reading is a kind of company" · 900 words · drafted
  • "The case for the slow side project" · outline only
  • Publish first one · 15 may

the stack, today.

how it feels — by my own measure
React / TypeScript
technical88 / 100 · second nature
Swift / SwiftUI
technical80 / 100 · ship-fluent
System design
technical55 / 100 · in active study
Rust
technical35 / 100 · learning
Visual design
non-technical70 / 100 · self-taught
Writing
non-technical50 / 100 · improving
Drawing
non-technical25 / 100 · daily practice
Cooking
non-technical30 / 100 · learning to listen

questions I am sitting with.

The questions matter more than the answers. These don't have due dates.

"What's the smallest possible interesting product?"
since mar
"How do you make a habit feel earned, not enforced?"
since jan
"Is there a version of social software that makes us less lonely, not more?"
since '24
"What does it mean to be technical & non-technical at the same time, on purpose?"
since '23
"What's the engineering equivalent of a good handwriting?"
recent
a typical day

the day, on a clock.

A real day, drawn honestly. The colored arcs are time spent on specific kinds of work. Big gaps are sleep, walks, friends, dinner — also important, also not on the clock.

deep work · code, design
reading + journaling
drawing + cooking
classes / lectures
00 06 12 18 a day tue · 06 may

next, the album.

The slow timeline of where I've been.

to the gallery →