index.html A journal of essays, notes, and work. Reflections on everyday life, ideas, and making things happen. en Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:06:31 +0000 articles/stay-fit.htmlarticles/stay-fit.htmlFri, 18 Sep 2026 03:33:00 +0000Staying fit is less about becoming a different person and more about taking better care of the one you already are.NotesAbraham Herd articles/you-dont-have-to-worry-about-being-different.htmlarticles/you-dont-have-to-worry-about-being-different.htmlMon, 14 Sep 2026 01:49:00 +0000I used to call it social awareness. Often it was fear: the habit of making myself easier to explain.EssaysAiko Tanaka articles/life-at-work-is-boring.htmlarticles/life-at-work-is-boring.htmlFri, 11 Sep 2026 02:00:00 +0000Work does not have to entertain you, complete you, or become your identity. Sometimes it only has to be work.WorkTheo Okafor articles/someone-to-talk.htmlarticles/someone-to-talk.htmlThu, 10 Sep 2026 00:30:00 +0000I have someone to talk to. It is not a miracle. It is the best ordinary thing I own.NotesAbraham Herd articles/we-have-to-keep-going.htmlarticles/we-have-to-keep-going.htmlWed, 09 Sep 2026 02:15:00 +0000Between the start and the finish sits the long middle, and the only way across it is one more step, taken on purpose.EssaysAiko Tanaka articles/have-no-future.htmlarticles/have-no-future.htmlMon, 07 Sep 2026 12:45:00 +0000A sentence you hear everywhere now, said without anger. About a generation doing everything right and still standing still.EssaysAbraham Herd articles/why-do-people-always-make-everything-so-complicated.htmlarticles/why-do-people-always-make-everything-so-complicated.htmlMon, 07 Sep 2026 11:45:00 +0000Every unnecessary step in a workplace has a story behind it, and most of those stories are about fear. Simplicity, it turns out, is an act of courage.WorkAbraham Herd articles/i-love-my-country-but-not-the-government.htmlarticles/i-love-my-country-but-not-the-government.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 13:05:00 +0000Loving the country and defending its government are two different things, and it took me years to stop letting the second borrow the first.NotesTheo Okafor articles/your-coworkers-are-not-your-friends.htmlarticles/your-coworkers-are-not-your-friends.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000The people you work with can be wonderful company. They are still not the ones who owe you their life.WorkTheo Okafor articles/i-miss-my-mom.htmlarticles/i-miss-my-mom.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 01:39:00 +0000It has been years since my mother died. I still have days when the first person I want to tell is her.NotesAiko Tanaka articles/good-morning-same-old-pattern.htmlarticles/good-morning-same-old-pattern.htmlSun, 06 Sep 2026 00:45:00 +0000Same morning, same route, same faces, until one dark shop finally made me look.NotesAbraham Herd articles/what-kind-of-country-are-we-living-in.htmlarticles/what-kind-of-country-are-we-living-in.htmlSat, 05 Sep 2026 14:21:00 +0000Sometimes I look at Indonesia and genuinely wonder: what kind of country are we living in? Between hope and exhaustion, the same patterns keep repeating.EssaysAiko Tanaka articles/let-them-talk.htmlarticles/let-them-talk.htmlSat, 05 Sep 2026 13:27:00 +0000Someone will always have an opinion. The finished work is the only reply worth sending.WorkTheo Okafor articles/be-patient-with-everything.htmlarticles/be-patient-with-everything.htmlSat, 05 Sep 2026 13:13:00 +0000A poster on my wall says four impossible things. After years of ignoring it, I learned they were instructions, not decoration.EssaysTheo Okafor articles/why-do-i-have-to-care-about-peoples-opinions.htmlarticles/why-do-i-have-to-care-about-peoples-opinions.htmlSat, 05 Sep 2026 12:27:00 +0000You are allowed to care a little, and about very few people. Here is the difference between caring and performing.EssaysAiko Tanaka articles/the-first-ordinary-evening.htmlarticles/the-first-ordinary-evening.htmlSat, 05 Sep 2026 12:16:00 +0000A house becomes a home the moment you stop treating it like a project.NotesAbraham Herd