Hello, World! (And a Glimpse into My Brain)

Alright, deep breath. This feels… weird. Like hitting "deploy" on a project you've been tinkering with for ages, but instead of code, it's my internal monologue. Welcome, I guess, to the inaugural post of what I’m tentatively calling "Jake's Dev Log" – a space for me to ramble, reflect, and hopefully, grow.

It's 7:42 AM on a crisp Portland Friday, September 6th, 2025. The espresso machine just finished its morning symphony, and my cat, Bytes, is currently judging my posture from atop a precarious stack of retro console boxes. Pretty standard start to a day, really.

So, why now? Why a blog? For years, I’ve been coding in my little bubble, building software, wrestling with game engines, and generally just… doing. But lately, especially as I navigate the treacherous waters from what felt like "junior-ish" to something more akin to "mid-level-trying-to-be-senior," I've realized something: I learn best when I explain. When I document. When I force myself to articulate the messy, often frustrating, process of turning an idea into a functional piece of tech.

This isn't going to be a polished, perfectly curated feed of flawless achievements. Far from it. This is more of a digital sketchbook, a public journal of my triumphs (rare, but they happen!), my inevitable failures (plentiful!), and the endless rabbit holes I tumble down in the name of "just one more optimization." My perfectionism is a beast I constantly wrangle, and this blog is, in part, an attempt to tame it. To remind myself that shipping is a feature, not a bug, and that progress, not just perfection, is the goal.

Consider this the "Genesis" commit. The very first line of code in what I hope will be a long, messy, and ultimately rewarding journey. Let's see where this takes us. Probably to a lot of obscure error messages and late-night coffee, but hey, that's the life, right?