Thursday. I woke up at 6am. I spent an inordinate amount of time with a simple widget, trying to design it in code, but in the end I jumped into Figma to prototype it and then implement it. I was not in a designerly attitude but, since I was already started I worked through it. I must remember to work according to my disposition.

At lunch time I went to the gym, and finally understood how it’s meant to be used combined with work. I went to a yoga class, then worked for about two hours, but my concentration was not great but I advanced, then I worked out, then I felt compelled to work again but I was getting hungry, so I relaxed at the sauna and came back home.

The understanding was this: as long as I don’t have tasks that require deep concentration, I can alternate work with exercise and relaxation at will. This will be best put at practice when the game is released.

I came back home and had a nap, this time without any dreams, and when I woke up a deep sense of gratitude came again, as in some days in the past. I felt the game was going to be successful, but the feeling didn’t cause ego inflation, it caused a desire to get in touch with the people who have been involved and make them part of the success. This celebration is premature, of course, but it was a great source of motivation to imagine sharing good news.

I had always been perplexed at the expression being humbled by success, and I understood it as coyness of being in the spotlight, but I think I’ve glimpsed into the true meaning today. I’m finding it awkward to write about success without having it, but these things are simply observed and registered as facts without passing judgement. Nothing that you feel is wrong.

In completing the game I’ve lost some performance because of glut. I was getting concerned about it, because I could see the experience suffer from jittery frame rates. I don’t remember when the idea came to me, but I realized that I could render paper.js elements on a canvas, and then animate the canvas with the GPU. I tried this out this night, and it gained some smoothness on desktop. I was not sure it was worth the hack until I opened it on the phone: it was buttery smooth!

It will take me probably an entire day to complete the performance upgrade, but it’s completely worth it. I will get native-like animation performance from it.

Questions I’m asking myself

  1. Is the gym a viable workplace? it is, for tasks that don’t require deep sustained concentration.
  2. What can I do to reduce distractions at home? The distractions are mostly in my head, I’ve optimized what could be optimized.
  3. What is the best way of notifying people that new stages are available?
  4. Where is my meditation practice leading me?
  5. Where am I going in April?