January 2016

It's January 2016. I love this time of year and the sense of optimism it brings. That's what resolutions are all about—looking at the future and deciding that we want to be a better version of ourselves.

Like many others I've decided that I want to be more healthy this year and just generally treat myself better. Im interested in understanding the science behind what happens to food after it goes into my body instead of arbitrarily cutting some things out of my diet and adding others. This, of course, means being more conscious of the things I eat and drink (alcohol).

Relatives

On January 1 I started a new project called Relatives. I’m trying to go a whole month posting one abstract composition everyday. There are two ideas driving this. First, I thought it would be good to start of the year with a creative cleansing of sorts.

I’ve set try strict constraints on this project. Limited color palette, only simple primitive shapes, and no literal forms i.e. only abstract form(s)—that’s it. Second, it’s a commitment. I’m looking to build up the muscle memory for creating more often whether that’s images or words, or both.

JavaScript

I’ve flirted with the idea of learning a programming/scripting language for a few years now. I’ve started a few different languages (a few different times) and have given up each time I’ve gotten tired of writing code that only prints text to the console instead of learning some sort of real-world application or, how to build something. This time I chose JavaScript. In the past JavaScript has been a strictly front-end language that developers used to add interactivity to webpages. However, in recent years it become a full-fledge scripting language in it’s own right, capable of powering server-side applications.

I started back in December and things are going well. I’m almost through with a book called JavaScript & jQuery Interactive Front-end Web Development. It’s a fantastic book for those looking to step up their front-end development game. Not only that, it’s by far the best (and most gentle) introduction to programming I’ve every read.

There’s something that feels different about this time. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m already reaping the benefits in my day-to-day work as a front-end developer and designer.

My Now Page

This is a re-post of the now page that I created earlier this year. You can go here to read a little more about it.