Compound Exponential Growth

The most impactful mathematical model I've learned is compound exponential growth.  

A small improvement that has positive effects on the future growth is one that compounds.  Every additional change makes the next one even better. 

Sustained over a long period of time it becomes a force multiplier largely exceeding expectations.  

But in the moment we rarely see its action because it's a second order effect.

Strive to make every action compound with positive outcomes, and each one will accumulate to make the next even better.  When the cumulative impact eventually reveals itself, you will be surprised at its size and reach.

The Journey and The Destination

The journey and the destination are forever entangled like inseparable threads.

A journey leads to a destination, and a destination begins a new journey.

And so on and so forth.

Irony of Achievement

The irony of achieving a goal is that once it is done and checked off, I now have less direction and guidance.  

If I am not comfortable in stillness, I need to move.  To keep moving, I need another carrot to chase.  

It might have been better to set the goal so high that it is unachievable, or perhaps set none at all.

Taking Aim

Aim at your goals carefully, because you will achieve them.  The universe realizes your inner wishes, sometimes directly, other times in roundabout ways.  So to be deliberate about the direction of our attention and pursuit is to align ourselves with the motion of the world.  If we set the right goals, the effort of our actions will lead us towards the best version of ourselves.  If we set the wrong goals, we waste our energy and work on outcomes that we didn't actually want at all.

A Cat's Desire

My cat desires to go outside every morning. She meows and meows to wake me up and pats the door to ask me to let her out. Some days she gets to chase the birds away. Some days she has a visiting cat over. And some days when the sun is out, shining bright and warm she sits in the grass to in deep contemplation. I wish I knew the stories of whatever escapades she's been through, and the ideas that spring forth in her cat's mind.

Growing Seeds

I like the metaphor of the growing seeds. To grow a plant you must bury it and consistently water it until it is able to seek light. When it is below the surface, there is a lot of uncertainty as to whether this plant is going to take root. It's hidden from view.

Creating a new project has been similar for me. It will take time to nurture the ideas into a growing tree, and I'm yet to know what shape it will take until it grows up.

To The Past: The Games That Most Influenced Me

Meow In Verse's second article published!  This time about my favourite games.

https://medium.com/@shuandang/to-the-past-the-games-that-most-influenced-me-e0ac5c87513e

Time Scale

We perceive the world on a time scale that is uniquely human. Yet infinitely many time scales are a possibility. The plant that patiently spends day and night germinating eventually stands tall.

The effect of change is a function of the time scale of operation. When nations are born they set out to foster prosperity for generations. The ebbing and flowing of ideas and exchange are set to a tune with low frequency and long wavelength, set to drive the effort forward for hundreds of years.

When abrupt disruptions and short-term thinking invade our outlook, we shrink into an tiny, ineffectual time scale that is at odds with the great deeds desired to be done.

A few quotes from the Library of Lenia

Quotes from the Library of Lenia

"To see is to know, to know is to seek."

"The mind is a fragile vessel for the most valuable gems."

Curiosity is the Font of Life

Exploring and discovering new concepts, seeing the surprises that we have not seen before, seems to me the source of life's direction. Curiosity that drives the mind towards finding the gem hidden behind the endless veils of time. The need to be there and experience discovery, is so strong that we would move worlds for a little bit of information. 

In the face of insurmountable odds

In any context, the outlier, the strange, the unpredictable catches our attention. How is it that sometimes, things go in a way no one expects? In the sea of randomness, it's certain that something, or someone, will do the unthinkable. The hero steps away from home. The warrior fells a mountainous dragon. Those are the stories worth telling, for they are unlike any other.

Found some data

I dug through my hard drives doing an update to my June 2020 backup. This week I converted all my old recordings of photoshop drawing (from my college days), and popped those onto the external along with some of my new work. In total, the full backup of my data was just a little over 3 terabytes.

That's with most of it dedicated to a huge backup of a few AVID projects.

With cloud storage being rather plentiful nowadays, my workflow has been to work from a cloud-synced folder. Most types of work (illustration, gamedev, writing) are fine in this situation, except for video for it's huge data sizes.

I did find some unsorted data lying around, and it drew a big comparison between the internet of old and the one of today. There's just so much stuff online now that can be consumed within the browser that downloading is pretty much unnecessary. In the past, I would fill up hard drives full of downloads and interesting media in case the servers disappeared or if I lost track of the source. Today that's hardly the case with the endlessness of the net that's just a search away.

In the unsorted data were some videos of a peacock from my family vacation. There's still data that's not on the internet that is slowly being forgotten and left to hide on old drives.

A Month of Blogging

 August was my first attempt at one month of daily blogging. It's certainly the first time that I have consistently delivered on a resolution for a whole month!

What happened this time around?

I expanded the type posts that I make, allowing myself more freedom to create whatever I felt like for the day. I graduated from school, leaving behind my student self which was focused on learning. I set a new goal to share and connect with others. I updated my website!

The month-long blogging experience taught me a few things:

-> A new day, everyday. The wonderful thing about a daily activity is that you can wrap it up and get it done within the day. I try to focus on my new experiences and even though much of my day is spent at work, I'm able to find time for myself to read, play, and think.

-> A million distractions minus one. It's too easy to habitually look for news or excitement on social media. I still do it when the time permits, to my detriment. At the end of the day, its transient and immaterial unless you're valuably engaged in it. Having a small daily ritual helps me turn the phone off and focus on the task at hand.

-> A journey takes time. There's a ton of other projects on my mind that deserve attention, too. But it takes time and a lifetime's worth of work to navigate and figure out how to do it. What's worked best for me is looking ahead 20 years for some really long-term goals and building that path one step at a time.

Not every day is going to be a super amazing and productive one. But putting a bit of effort into blogging each day let me feel the nuances of the ups and downs, between which I hold a worthwhile balance and incessant self-examination.

Story Before Visual Polish

From Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull:

"For all the care you put into artistry, visual polish frequently doesn't matter if you are getting the story right."

As I improve my approach to creativity and creation, I am discovering that the most sticky ideas in my head--the ones that present themselves most clearly--are the ones with a story.  Even before a character's form and attire or an environmental structure comes to life, the journey that they take on captivate me.  They appear not as static fixtures but as dynamic forms that will change as the story unfolds.  Thus, they present in my mind at once as slices of a timeline of what could be (what will be).

Change

"All things change in a dynamic environment." - Ghost in the Shell

Change is always tough to bear when we are facing it. It brings adversity and discomfort. But to change is necessary and we have to take it head on and accept that the past will not be helpful in the future. Change doesn't have to happen all at once. Day by day, consistent, minor improvements will add up over time. Evolution does not happen overnight. But in the long run, we change by immersing ourselves in a dynamic environment and by adapting along with it.

Repairing a Room

Take care of the spaces that you spend your time in.  Your surroundings have a subtle impact on your mentality, and the better maintained, comfortable spaces will give you productive energy instead of sapping it.

I repaired the room in the house that I spend my down time in.  The floor is partially carpeted, a large bookshelf sits under the window, and I can relax there at the end of every long day.  Though it's not quite perfect (missing curtains and a new coat of paint), it still gives me a sense of personal comfort.

Where Games Are Heading

Meow In Verse's first article: "Where Games Are Heading"

Publishing on Medium & WeChat, for a global launch!

https://medium.com/@shuandang/where-games-are-heading-the-next-decade-in-creativity-a12a981b589

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AndrewDang/20200810/367875/Where_Games_Are_Heading_The_Next_Decade_in_Creativity.php

Sold Out Lamps

We went shopping for a lamp, a desk, a mat, and a shelf at IKEA yesterday. The store funneled us in to prevent crowds. It was uncomfortable to be near others even though everyone was wearing a mask.

From my shopping list, I had a vision for the bookshelf that I wanted (based on my previous visit). We really liked the design of the Besta shelves. In my mind I knew roughly that it would go underneath the window, and that the color would match the decor of the room. But in the store, the pieces didnt come together. From the options shown I had the choice of mounting a floating tv stand to the wall, or stacking a shelf and a short-shelf for the desired height.

I had no vision for a lamp, though I did like the tall cylindrical ones. My family requested a desk, but called to tell me they changed their mind.

We found a nice lamp, and after deciding to purchase it, found that it was out of stock.

We found a single soft floor mat in a heap of exterior door mats. It was out of place and we couldn't find where it had come from. I wanted to see if there were alternate colors, to no avail. We took the mat.

Towards the end of the trip, I walked into the as-is section to buy a set of Billy shelves. Again, the color matched, but it didn't feel like the right shelf. I passed, and circled around a few more times.

Serendipitously, perhaps by the hand of fate, I finally noticed the discontinued Besta standing tv- shelf. It was the right size and all.

There really was no choice for me that day in shopping.

Change Happens

We measure progress with tests and metrics. We measure performance with tests and metrics. These tests are simply measures that help us confirm that changes have happened, that improvement and progress has been made. They aren't a necessary condition, and shouldn't be the only way progress is achieved.

Change happens whether we measure it or not. Time flows without us constantly watching the clock.

Daily Habits

There are a plethora of books about how to build habits, but you must create it by acting it out. Ultimately, it will be a very personal journey that will allow you to build the life that you want. 

A natural requirement to being a human on Earth is that we have a daily routine: Waking up and falling asleep with each turn of the planet. Use the sun-rise and sun-fall as universal anchors and build your day.