My Quiet Hot American Summer
Sweating it all out.
So long summer. We definitely noticed you in your final weeks. One last stream of sweat trickling down our backs. Last Wednesday when the UV was somehow still 13 on a scale of 1-10. You left us sunburnt and craving the fall.
Summer is my favorite season in the city. It’s the great equalizer. Everyone is uncomfortable. The finance folks do themselves in by wearing suits in subway stations that can often exceed 100ºF. Even the most savvy tank-top-wearing straphangers can find themselves in an underground crevasse that exceeds surface temperatures by up to 30º. My closest call was schlepping half a dozen frozen tikka masalas home from Trader Joe’s on a CitiBike with a flat tire when the sun was at its absolute peak.
Yes, you were hot at times, but you weren’t entirely vicious. Actually you were quite the opposite!
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I left my job at Notion in June after 4 years. My plan was to take at least 6 months off to recalibrate and think about what to work on next.
Although this wasn’t my first time jumping into the unknown, I truly had no idea how I would react to such a big change. I did, however, set some basic intentions for the summer:
No travel
Yoga or exercise every day
These proved to be helpful constraints that added just the right amount of structure. Plus, I’ve never had a bad day that started with exercise.
Going into the summer, I wasn’t sure what it would ultimately be about. In retrospect, I would say the summer was about closure. I needed to tie up loose ends from one era before entering another.
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From June 1st through August 1st, I spent 10-12 hours a day writing code (see unhinged GitHub contributions chart). I rewrote my music social network, Hendrix, from scratch.
I originally launched the site in 2016. After 5+ years of neglect it was truly on its last legs. I considered shutting it down, but there were still quite a few people actively using it. I decided to give myself a two month window to rethink and relaunch the site.
There was a big part of me that wanted to move on to something new, but I pushed forward nonetheless and was able to relaunch by early September (see launch videos here).
Post-launch, my interest in continuing to work on the project is at an all time low, but I’m actually really happy with that outcome. I finally feel free to work on new ideas. Plus, the project gave me a reason to modernize my tech stack and experiment with new tools. I feel well-prepared for whatever comes next.
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Thankfully, September has been more chill. I haven’t written any code this month. It’s been a nice month filled with friends, family, strange cravings for french toast, and abundant new energy. Much needed.
I’m really happy I stuck to my summer intentions, but the best part about making rules, of course, is breaking them. I’ll be spending October in the Mediterranean stretching and eating hummus. TBD whether I bring my laptop.
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I hope this fall finds you sleepcoded, bedpilled, and restmaxxing.