A rant on Escaping Monotony

[2025-06-11]

One thing I dislike is working on projects that spark zero life in me or the universe. A project so dull that it has zero impact on the world . But usually, these are half the projects you have to work on to put food on the table or if you are a student like me, get the super shiny grades.

One thing that has kept me going or better yet "motivated" is the technology I use when I am building. The goal is to challenge myself enough not to get bored.

Bob the builder buys a new hammer#

There is something so refreshing about a new language that you have zero experience with. The unexplored field blooming with millions of possibilities gets you so excited. I remember when I used vs-code for everything. It became very boring. Having a high startup time, the eletron app to didn't match my weak hardware. Everything wasn't as exciting as it used to be when I ran it for the first time on Xubuntu.

One of the most exciting points in my life was when made a C++ program that took two numbers and multiplied them. Ever since that day, I have been trying to create a similar feeling, the aha! moment.

And then I picked up Vim. I went through all the stages of a new vim guy:

• This is hard/stupid
• This is kind of cool
• this is amazing, why isn't everyone using it?
• It's OK that not everyone uses or understands Vim

The point I am trying to drive to is that picking up a new text editor or a new tool in your daily workflow will allow you to look forward to another coding session. Especially if you picked it up on your own accord.

Latex over Microsoft-word#

With writing assignments, I always used Microsoft Word or Google Docs. With no Vim extension built-in with Microsoft Word, I do not enjoy writing the assignment or any form of writeup.
I stumbled over the vim-tex argument and this was my introduction to latex. There is something so beautiful with compiling something for less than 5 minutes. I stuck with latex because: I needed a word processor replacement and also I could use it in vim with all the cool bindings.

Albums for tasks#

One thing about me is I like music alot. I can't imagine leaving the house without playing 3-4 songs when I am taking a stroll. Although this is unusual behaviour, I decided to use it to my advantage. I only listen to my favourite albums when I am doing a daunting task. Sometimes I go to the extra length of not listening to an album as soon as it drops so that I listen to it when I am about to do chores.

The goal of these endevours is to not drown in the boring work to the point you burn-out.

[#latex #vim #music]