Week of Months of May, June, July, August 2026
Quarter note #
- itās been three1 months and I havenāt figured out how to write worknotes yet. That doesnāt mean its not valuable, it means I havenāt sat down and figured out how to remove most friction from the process
have unconsciously given me. # - I now realise I still need some form of public storytelling because over larger periods I lose the narrative that weeknotes have unconsciously given me. I thought I would stop writing weeknotes! Considered pivoting to worknotes, and considered giving them up entirely in favor of more blog posts. I have written more blog posts in the last 4 months than I would have, but I donāt think it needed to come at the cost of weeknotes. I have missed the process of writing these every. single. week. #
- I spent 7 days in Srinagar at the end of May (sad beautiful tragic plays in the background). It brought up a lot of shit I didnāt realise I had in me around growing up in an authoritarian state. Ate excellent food. Braved the cold. Did not die. Did not see snow. Saw many birds. Saw large lakes. Saw no nice orchards. Did not touch snow. Needed a week to recover from the experience. #
- Went to Akshataās place after a long time! Didnāt play board games, but it was nice to hang out with the Achievable Goals group after forever. #
- Took the parents out to Burma Burma for their anniversary. They really enjoyed it. Theyāve been coming home a lot more in the last few months, Iām not sure what changed. Theyāve finally decided to do something about the large backlog of tasks that show up when one runs a household that Iād asked them for help with over two years ago, and Iām very grateful.
- Figured out what inverter I should buy, then bought it and got it installed #
- got plug points installed in the bathrooms #
- fixed my geyser #
- Got me a great deal on a dyson #
- my car had a rat infestation! Along with a cousin, took it to the mechanic multiple times to get rid of it. #
- In his old age, Iām seeing my dadās emotions and character in a way I wasnāt able to before. He gave me the gory details of his teeth replacement surgery, and broke up a fight mum and I were having. I like having my parents in my life. I had resigned myself to a life without them knowing me, so this feels like such a gift. #
- Abhinav, Ankur, and I spent a lot of time and effort on putting together a day of lightning talks to celebrate a year of running IndieWebClub. #
- I have acquired a set of nesting vessels and a small cast iron pan perfect for eggs
- the set of nesting vessels is a traditional wedding gift for konkani women. Given that the gift is primarily meant for women establishing a household, I emotionally manipulated my mum into getting me a set. She put lots of effort into it; I am very touched. #
- Nunchai is excellent. I developed a small dependency and then had to wean myself off when the gut wasnāt happy about it. #
- Work became extremely intense and in six weeks, (predictably) the body gave up. Then I set very strict limits for myself + there was a small reorg as we moved to the next prototype which significantly changed how I think about the actual work Iām doing (reminders I wrote for engineers using LLMs) - specifically, Iām able to think about the larger product + the larger architecture more now that Iām not sweating the details. I suppose I did have to spend ten months caring about bullshit before being able to identify it from smell alone. #
- Pranav and Sindhu got married! The venue of the wedding was beautiful, pared down and gorgeous - and most importantly, there was a big board game table. I finally played a big board game after two years! Terraforming Mars, with Roshni and Nihar. We were the last people at the venue by about an hour, but we finished it! #
- Roshni ran a 25k in Yercaud. Sohom ran a 35k in Pune. I am very happy for my friends and will not be tempted into the pit of despair that is long distance running training. No, I am perfectly happy up here running my 5ks. #
- This time, when the body gave up, it took the brain with it. I lost all my mornings for at least 6 weeks. I stopped football, I stopped running, I stopped even being able to do a stretch. Things finally got better two weeks ago. But I went from being able to play 2 football games back to back (3 hour of on-off explosive running!) to not being able to spend even half an hour on the court without my core burning. Why does the body have to undergo such a drastic reset every time there is a break? I am sad but I know I have to make my peace with it. I will spend my whole life trying to walk up this hill. #
- I went to this talk about pitching your voice being given by a voice therapist- specifically in the context of gender presentation. I am interested in being able to change the long term register of your voice without causing stress to your vocal cords. I had a vocal chord injury ten years ago now that robbed me of several octaves. Itās been a decade but it is still hard to acknowledge this; which means I havenāt been able to put effort into [āfixing itā|āworking around itā]. #
- Anyway, the session itself made me feel like I was back in a classroom (in the worst way) but it did open my mind to lots of options that I wouldnāt have otherwise known about. #
- Need to keep reminding myself that the word āharnessā now has a special meaning in the LLM world. So what do I call the way I build applications now? #
- I accompanied a friend to a medical procedure where they were under anesthesia. It was hilarious. I enjoy listening to my friends talk about sofas that dance in front of the door that leads to unicorn land. I also like knowing that we are there for each other like this. Me and my village against the world. #
- Jalebi was under anesthesia for dental scaling (he is showing early signs of gingivitis). This was not as fun. This was happening in the middle of my worst flare and just as I was recovering from the burnout, so I scheduled 4-5 friends to come over and care give (with) me for the 48 hours after. Friends, when I tell you how unnecessary this was. The last time when Litchee was recovering I remember it being hell. It took over 24 hours just for the anesthetic to leave his body, and another 32 for him to be able to eat without smooshing his face against the bowl + not hide away the whole time. But Jalebi? The desire to big yell that courses through his veins burned any anesthetic up so fast he was up and ready to go before we even took him home. Whew. Iā¦ #
- But Jalebi and Jamun have certified Tummy Issuesā¢, and are now on a 2 month course of probiotics + folic acid supplements. Just when I thought things were easier with Litcheeās dental woes ending. #
- In the process of dealing with all the cat care, I referred to this blog several times, to see if I had actually done the things Iād set up on the calendar or marked as complete on the todo list. My weeknotes are a source of truth in a way that my other surfaces are not, because they help me reconstruct the emotional state of mind I was in at a given point in time, in a way that mere facts do not. This means I now have a good reason to build a search feature into the site. It also means that these notes are independently useful outside of the reasons I listed here. Iām glad I took this break from writing it, because it illustrated very clearly why this was ill-advised. #
- I told my parents that I couldnāt come to a vacation that they had (failed to) schedule because I was scheduled to go to a party and get drunk. They were stressed. Dad called me several times and wanted to know who would take care of me. Sir, that time has long passed. I am now going to parties in order to take care of other people despite being drunk points to all the baby gays #
- I cut my hair. It is now very short. First, I cut it myself into an asymmetric bob. Then, Sahiti cut it shorter. Then, I went to a menās barber and got a katori cut!! I am entering a new age of hair experimentation. Maybe this time I will color my hair. Maybe I will get frosted tips?! #
- I really, really enjoy shopping with and for the people I love. Spent half a day with a friend at a fashion exhibition, spent three hours on video call with a friend in a different country thrifting, spent half a day in a mall with a third friend buying shirts for an upcoming trip. Fashion is so important to me. i want to put more of my expeirmentation out into the world, but it involves using skills I donāt have that are not related; photography, lighting, videography, editing. I wish it were simpler to capture just the joy I get from cool fits and fun outfits. #
- Ananya, Juhi, Ankur and I drove out of town to see shooting stars! It was the first time I have been successful at seeing them. What an absolutely incredible experience. I love the night sky so much. #
My quarter in data #
- played football x12 times #
- went on a run x9 times #
- made bad decisions x17 times. Bad decisions come in three flavors. #
- hung out with people x times #
- number of times the parents came home x16 #
- dishes cooked x41 #
Media Consumption #
Read #
Lots, details on my Goodreads profile (sorry I canāt auto summarize for you here yet. POSSE soon inshallah) #
Listening to #
- I went to the middle room music festival where I discovered there is - more than one form of electronic music - I might like those other forms #
- Thank you to Devanjal who called it that I liked synthwave. Current artists on the roster include Curtain Blue, The Canons, Late Night Dinner Party, Ariana Grandeās new album, Nightcall, The Daughters, Magdalene Bay. #