---
title: 'Vibe Check #19'
date: 2024-03-10T12:12:04.807Z
slug: 2024-03-10-vibe-check-18
author: Thomas Wilson

---
February 2024 was quite nice, to be honest.  The weather ended up being less 
dry and more windy, so it became harder to get out on the bike.  Which was a 
shame, after weeks of still, dry weather.  Such is the nature of a false 
spring.

It's got to to the time of the year: small pots of mud on the window sill, 
gently heated from underneath, condensation forming on the plastic dome, the 
morning, afternoon, and evening checks to see if anyone's come up yet.  The 
_joy_ of seeing something white, and half the size of a grain of rice, emerge.  

To see it turn green, and tiny leaves unfold. 

Spring is a nice time to feel lucky.  Lucky to share my house with these 
plants, and a live-in gardener.  Lucky to see the shoots come up and know (as 
much as one can) that I'll be around to see them flower.  Lucky that the 
inescapable dark of winter happened long ago, and will return long in the 
future.  

Yet more of my life is viewed in relation to the wedding.  Chasing guest RSVPs, 
making wedding rings (10/10 experience, would recommend), the suit.  _The 
Suit_, there is so much suit to make.  So many things to hand-stitch, to 
consider the finer details closely.  How on earth we came to purchase these 
things for _hundreds_ of Great British Pounds is beyond me.  The seven year 
tailor's apprenticeship seems fitting (forgive the pun).

I've spent more time taking photos.  A brief dalliance with my parents' film 
camera yielded nothing but mechanical failures and issues.  I'd love to spend 
the money and time to find someone to get it fixed, but not right now.  I 
purchased an 85mm prime lens (second-hand from 
[MPP](https://www.mpb.com/en-uk)).  I've a lot of social engagements this year, 
and I'm hopeful I can capture some nice portraits and candid shots with it.

I an struggling to make the time to read, but I am continuing through Wool by 
Hugh Howey, and enjoying it.  A superb piece of dystopian sci-fi.  Apple TV's 
limited series *Silo* brought it to my attention.  I'm only a half way through 
the book, but it's interesting to see the drift.  Similarly with *Lessons in 
Chemistry* - the adaptation to limited series made artistic and plot changes 
that were interesting.  It's nice that they're essentially separate pieces.

What of work, of software engineering?  Yeah, it goes.  I am still only months 
into a new company, I have seen the challenges and problems, and found where 
change is slow.  

I am still using neovim for test editing (I am using it _right now_).  I'm 
writing plaintext and _some_ code with it, but the features of JetBrain's IDEs 
are a) worn into me, and b) _incredibly_ good for working in legacy and large 
codebases.

I also gave into another pull I have felt for a while: I span up a new Ruby on 
Rails project.  Just a little side project.  Rails was the framework I wrote my 
first ever major piece of software with.  I am amazed how productive yet 
uninformed I was, as a _solo engineer_.  I've found myself thinking "this isn't 
what I should be spending my time doing" a lot recently.


