Nothing is fixed, nothing is permanent, and nothing lasts. This is true of all things, including your ideas of self and identity. Want to be somebody who knows how to cook, or code in Lisp? Or somebody who knows how to rollerblade, or only eats plants, or worships the moon? Just start doing those things and then, poof! Now you are that person.
— 🛋 SOFA
Every year, I make this promise to myself: “I’m going to do all my course preparation in May and June. I’ll go to the office every day. All my term work will be done by July, and I’ll luxuriate throughout the summer and school year.” (You can hear a bit of this siren song in Weeknotes 14.)
This year, I thought that the dream would come true. Nope. Looking over my week notes, I can see that I was doing a lot of interesting and important stuff. It just wasn’t course preparation. Thinking about the summer, I had no idea how deep I would go in French or how excited I would get about Faulhaber polynomials.
I’ve added a little note to my calendar and the almanac for next year saying: “Don’t worry about course preparation. Be curious and have fun.”
This week, I read Les Sorcières de Brooklyn (TPL) on a whim. The library had it and it looked super cool. It’s a translation of Witches of Brooklyn (TPL) by Sophie Escabasse. I’m excited to read the rest of the series. I put holds on the English versions of the first two volumes as well since Mira seems interested. The story is a classic “orphan discovers they have magic powers and saves the day” type story.
Reading to learn a new language without checking the dictionary is a trip. You find yourself in lots of strange “I get it but at the same time I don’t get it”-situations. For example, I know that ma puce is a cute term that an aunt would use for her niece, but I have no idea what it actually means1.
Les Sorcières de Brooklyn went way faster than Le Chevalier Inexistant from Weeknotes 17. If I had to put numbers to it, I understand ~90% of the text in Les Sorcières and about 10% of the text in Le Chevalier. This makes for a much more engaging (and much less puzzle-y) reading experience.
At CMESG, a graduate student asked me for some writing advice. I did a quick impromptu explanation of my writing ritual which led to me writing +1500 words about my workflow. I’m glad to have it documented somewhere. Also, I finally started writing Prove The Fundamental Theorem First! which was hinted at in Weeknotes 10.
I upgraded my Yuba Kombi by adding “Monkey Bars” and a “Soft Spot” from Bateman Bikes, so that both girls can ride at the same time. Also, my wife got a used bike from The Up-Cycle. We’re a biking family now.
We had an invasion of (probably?) striped cucumber beetles that ate most of the leaves off Meg’s pumpkins. She swiftly retaliated with Safer’s End All insecticide which seems to have worked. The pumpkin plants are growing new foliage and have big thick stems now.
A friend sent us some mother of thousands plantlets after the Lakeshore AVS Spring Sale. It was my first time getting plants by mail! The plants are starting to develop and one even has its own plantlets now.
When I arrived at work today, my colleague was like: “Hey Parker! Want to help assemble robots?!” And 8th grader Parker, who still lives in me, what like: “Yipee! Let’s go!” So, my work day started off with assembling a robot. I love my job.
Published: Jun 27, 2025 @ 11:00.
Last Modified: Jul 5, 2025 @ 16:17.
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