I’m enjoying the relative quiet on my Mastodon feed. I think I burned out on all the other social media because there was just a constant flow of content all the time. It’s kind of nice to be able to reach the end of new posts every now and then.
I think I force myself to keep up with all the new things happening in web development by making myself redesign my site every couple of years or so. I never really consciously sit down to make comps and figure out all the details. The process is really more of me noodling on an idea I’ve had for a while until it crystallizes into something I can use.
I learned so much at #AEASF last week! Just implemented container queries, clamp(), and individual transform properties on my site 🥳
Because I was sick earlier this year, I feel like I finally really got into the swing of things when summer started. I unfortunately haven’t been able to travel, which I do miss, but there’s been so many things at home that have made me just as happy.
December and January were rough months for me. Work was stressful, my grandmother passed away, and then in January I suffered from debilitating migraines for three straight weeks. I think it was the culmination of all the anxiety and stress I was holding inside.
Late last year, my paternal grandmother passed away. She was an incredible woman, flaws and all. I wrote a short eulogy for her funeral.
One of my earliest memories of my grandmother was when I was about five years old. My parents had left me at her house for a few hours, and upon returning, found me hiding behind the sofa. They asked me what was wrong, and I told them I didn’t want to eat anymore. Ngin Ngin had fed me so much that I had finally had enough and had to remove myself from the situation.
That was how Ngin Ngin was. Whenever I called or visited, she always greeted me by asking me if I wanted food. “Hoo mm oo” was her favorite phrase with me. “Do you want this?” And she would wave some delicious home cooked food in front of my face. One time I told her how much I loved her fu jook soup, and that ended up being the only soup she’d make for me for the next fifteen years.
I don’t really speak Toisan, her dialect, and she didn’t really speak English, but we still managed to communicate. I would sit with her for hours while she painstakingly told her stories to me. About traveling to Hong Kong and the US, about her village in China and the famine she suffered though, about her struggles to raise her children by herself. She always emphasized that despite her struggles, God had blessed her with everything in her life.
She always reminded me how much she loved me and would giggle whenever I hugged her or kissed her cheek. Even at her last, she was smiling as I held her hand and told her I loved her.
I love you, Ngin Ngin, and I look forward to one day seeing you again in Heaven.
This week I talk with Gabrielle Wee, who’s done loads of creative coding work here on CodePen but like so many other creative people we talk to, her creativity explodes into so many other areas like illustration, photography, drawing, and even gardening. Plus a desire to share those techniques. Her path has led her to be working at Apple, a dream job.
