A day of nonstop thinking

The morning brought heavy wind and rain. I sat at my computer learning a Japanese song and wondering how I would get to work under a hail warning. By the time I left, the wind had stopped and the rain had eased, though the ground was slippery. I decided to cycle through the rain. I had left enough time to ride carefully, even when drops blurred my view. There were fewer cyclists out than usual. People under umbrellas picked their way along while I rode exposed to the weather.

It is the second-to-last day of the month, and unfinished tasks were weighing on me. When I opened my laptop, I felt stuck despite my reputation for getting things done. Sitting quietly for a while helped. Before long I knew what to do and could get moving.

By noon I had simplified the blog’s publishing process:

• Before: write a post in a local file, check how it looks on the site, then upload it.
• Now: write it in the browser and submit it there.

The new flow sounds simple, but reaching it took real time. I am glad the blog, my first small product, has reached a second version.

In the afternoon I continued researching Pop Mart, looking at the popularity of its toys, its falling share price, position in the industry, and business fundamentals. I concluded that it deserved more study and added it to my broker’s watchlist.

I also reviewed my “second brain,” my notes. The right system depends on how a person actually records things. After taking a close look at Obsidian, I decided to use Notion as the main hub with Obsidian alongside it.