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  • Journal: Apr 2025

    • I still feel that tingling in my fingers, itching to write more.
      • The inspiration from other makers led me to create this website and be part of the “Building in Public” movement for the first time. Butterflies!!! ཐི༏ཋྀ󠀮ʚїɞ
        • I’m still migrating all my content scattered across the web to this platform. I realized it’s really sad to see my work on platforms that will soon disappear or are owned by people I don’t resonate with.
        • This is my third “/now” update, and I’m absolutely in love with this concept. I can see this reducing a lot my need for publishing stuff on social media.
        • Big thanks to Rich Tabor for this WordPress template and inspiration.
    • Work
    • Volunteering
      • Sustainable Walnut Creek: Working on Earth Month Events (April)
      • AIDS LifeCycle: I’ll be a Roadie (Volunteer) in the last ALC ever. After 30 years, they decided to end this event.
    • Learning
      • I paused my Learning Korean initiatives for now. Hangul is so, so beautiful. And also quite hard. I’ll return soon. Thank you, Ryan Estrada for these mnemonic drawings.
    • Relaxing
      • Saturdays you can find me having a delicious Omega at Rooted Poets Corner, at the beautiful PH Library.
      • Trying to read less and less news. But reading more and more books.
      • I’m missing so bad my dog in Brazil, so we decided to pet sit around bay area using TrustedHouseSitters, this is so cool, we can meet amazing people, pets and also new cities.
    • Exercise
      • I’m doing more quick runnings than riding, quite sad to be honest, I’m missing riding with Peaceful Pedalers and as Training Ride Leader with Wildcats for ALC 2025

  • The Vibe Life: Building Smart Keys for Mac

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    I didn’t realize I was about to enter the “vibe” industry when I started building Smart Keys. All I really wanted was a way to sound fluent in languages without doing the hard work. Let’s be real: learning languages is tough. So, I built an app that lets me fake my english fluency until I make it. Besides hating this reference, the thing here is that I’ll probably never make it. I may not be as fluent as I sound using tools like this.

    Still, Smart Keys did the job for me on my phone. It solved my laziness problem and gave me a sense of accomplishment. Translate a message, change to a more casual tone, proofread an email, all with one tap. Suddenly, I was hooked. This tiny app had me feeling like a fluent native speaker.

    Bringing the Vibe to My Desktop

    Once Smart Keys worked its magic on my phone, I thought: why not bring this vibe to my desktop? I wanted to cut down on the constant back-and-forth between tabs, the endless browser windows, and that infuriating cycle of copy-pasting. Small tasks, like checking email, sending a reply, or fixing a bug, don’t require much brainpower, but they drain your energy nonetheless.

    So, I created Smart Keys for Mac.

    The goal was simple: stay in my flow, move through tasks without jumping between apps, and avoid losing focus on anything. I wanted to type, hit a shortcut, and keep moving. Proofread, translate, fix code, all without leaving the current task.

    Simple. Efficient. Minimal.

    The Perils of a One-Code Solution

    Now, if you’ve ever tried to port an app from iOS to macOS, you’ll know it’s not as simple as change deployment target and calling it a day. That’s what I thought, but nope. The idea of maintaining one codebase sounded genius: keep it efficient, keep it synced, keep the maintenance low. But here’s the thing: macOS and iOS are like distant cousins. They share some traits but are entirely different creatures.

    “If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.”

    – Edsger Dijkstra

    “Two platforms, one codebase” sounds like a dream, but I quickly realized that you can’t just slap a mobile UI onto a desktop app and call it a day. The screen sizes, input methods, window management, all these small details had to be adjusted. It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but making it work without losing the essence of what you built.

    Conditions for macOS and iOS, but also for device resolution on iPhone and iPad.

    The Fine Line Between Efficiency and Overload

    Incorporating macOS-specific optimizations wasn’t as simple as resizing windows. The app had to manage multiple displays, adjust for different screen sizes, and still feel fluid while taking advantage of the desktop’s power. Every change, every tweak, led to a cascade of other adjustments. Maintaining a single codebase was efficient in theory, but it created a lot of headaches along the way.

    I spent more time testing than I care to admit, making sure one small change didn’t break something somewhere else. But that’s the process. There’s no such thing as an easy app transition (yet).

    Selling a Quiet Product That Does a Lot

    Now that Smart Keys mostly works, the challenge has shifted. I’m not wrestling with bugs as much as I’m wrestling with words. Building a product that blends into your day is one thing. Explaining it without making it sound like a blender full of features is another.

    It rewrites. It translates. It fixes weird grammar and polishes sloppy code. All in the background, with shortcuts you barely notice. That’s the magic. And also the problem.

    It’s hard to pitch a tool that isn’t trying to impress you. It just wants to help and then get out of the way. Try to summarize it in one sentence and you either oversimplify or overcomplicate. Try to be specific and it starts to sound like five tools in a trench coat.

    “First, write the press release. Then, build the product.”

    – Not me

    So now I’m figuring out how to talk about it without killing the simplicity. Selling a quiet product in a world that rewards loud ones. Making clarity feel exciting without dressing it up too much.

    Still, every time I’m stuck rewriting copy for the tenth time, it’s right there. I hit a shortcut, smooth things out, and move on.

    Sure, half the time I’m fixing the thing I just built, but hey, at least I’ve got good shortcuts for the apology emails.

  • Not Loud, Not Lost

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    At some point, someone decided a “strong personality” meant loud opinions, fast answers, and the kind of handshake that says I drink protein shakes with my eyes closed. And the rest of us, with our awkward silences and well-timed nods, just quietly slipped into the background.

    For a while, I bought into that. Thought maybe I was missing something. Maybe I needed to speak up more or say things like “let’s circle back” with a straight face. But then I started noticing the quiet people. The ones who listen more than they talk. The ones who sit through a meeting without posturing, then send one sentence afterward that rearranges the whole thing. They’re not weak. They’re just not peacocking.

    I wrote this on a Tuesday when I felt like a ghost in a room full of confident noise:

    If I am not a mountain’s cry,
    am I the breeze that passes by?
    If I don’t shout, or strike, or shine,
    can stillness be a strength of mine?

    Turns out, yes. Stillness sees things. It notices how people shift in their chairs when they lie. It remembers where the scissors were last week. It doesn’t rush to fill silence just to prove it’s there.

    I’ve learned to stop asking whether I have a strong personality. It’s the wrong question. The better one might be, am I honest? Am I curious? Can I sit with not knowing and not pretend otherwise?

    Strong is relative. Some of us are just the type to quietly move a chair so someone else doesn’t trip. No one claps, but no one falls. That counts.

    Anyway. That’s where I’m at. Probably still overthinking it. But at least I’m doing it quietly.

  • Clicks From The Cheap Seats, 2002 Remix

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    Stumbled on a dusty folder while rifling through an old hard‑drive backup. Inside sat scribbles about Faith Popcorn’s trend bombs, written by a younger me who thought Winamp skins were the height of customization.

    Two decades later they still hit, so I stitched the notes into one coherent ramble and kept the timestamp vibe intact.

    Cocooning

    Back when 56 k modems squealed like wounded robots, parking myself at home felt radical. Work, class, and late night Counter‑Strike all funneled through the same beige tower. It looked like productivity, really it was bubble wrap for the soul. Faith called it the craving for a padded nest against daily roughness. Turns out pizza boxes double as insulation.

    Clanning

    Even hermits need tribe time. Message boards, LAN parties, and sprawling ICQ lists let miniature crews swap obsessions. One night I am hunting Photoshop tips, next I am deep in a Quake forum arguing rocket splash radius. Clanning hands out membership patches to anyone who shows up and types fast.

    Fantasy Adventure

    Thornton Wilder nailed it. Safe at home we crave peril, in peril we crave home. My shortcut was EverQuest marathons. Dragons melt stress better than therapy, at least until the server crashes. Imagination never loses.

    Pleasure Revenge

    We grind, then smash Buy‑It‑Now on something shiny. That impulse feels like justice for commuter traffic and neon deadlines. Consequences get punted to tomorrow‑morning Diego. Tonight is about the dopamine spike.

    The disk also held four fresh clicks that push the plot forward.

    Mancipation

    Suddenly the razor aisle stocks moisturizing gel and magazines tell guys to exfoliate. My grandfather would laugh himself silly. Sharing family gigs and cooking a half decent pasta feels less like rebellion and more like catching up.

    Ninety‑Nine Lives

    Every browser window wants a slice of the same day. Job, side gig, gym, band practice, grandma’s birthday, password resets. Multitasking is a myth yet I keep chasing it because the alternative boots slower than Windows Me.

    Check Out

    When the juggling drops a flaming chainsaw, Check Out surfaces. Quit the gig. Nuke the roadmap. Backpack across South America. The reset button is shock therapy for people hooked on busy badges. I have not punched it yet but the fantasy lives on a sticky note beside the monitor.

    Living Click

    All trends swirl into one gnarly soup. Living Click means syncing the fragments into intent. Less autopilot, more joystick. The buy‑in is attention, the payoff is those rare flashes where everything aligns and the noise cuts.

    Why Bother With This List Now


    Because the ideas still ring true and because early‑twenties me predicted hoverboards by 2025. Instead we got pop‑up blockers and a thousand passwords. These eight clicks became a crude compass. They do not guarantee bliss, they just flag the fault lines we keep dancing on.

    So here is the gist. Build the nest, join the clan, slay the dragon, eat the cake, moisturize, juggle, bail when it turns toxic, then stitch the pieces into something that resembles living. Pull that off and ping me on ICQ. I will be online unless someone picks up the phone.

  • Earth Day, Big Dreams, and Small Beginnings

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    I recently had a conversation with the global team behind Earth Day, and I left that call completely blown away by the passion and meticulous organization behind the event. They are behind tens of thousands of Earth Day events worldwide, including one right here in my city. It got me thinking about how far I’ve come from those humble days of orchestrating little movie theater sessions for kids at a local fair in Brazil. Back then, I never imagined those early experiments would someday lead to coordinating large-scale Earth Day events with city partners (which always brings back memories of dealing with Brazilian politicians), churches (even though I’m agnostic), and sponsors (since I admittedly suck at pitching).

    Cine Ratones
    The biggest little cinema in town.
    Ratonarte, Florianópolis, Brazil (2014)

    I’ve always had this odd notion that I wasn’t cut out to be an event guy, the idea of organizing something only to see empty seats used to terrify me. Yet here I am, spearheading events run by 100% volunteer-based nonprofits, operating on shoestring budgets, or sometimes, virtually none. Every event is a leap of faith, and despite the occasional panic, there’s a thrill in watching it all come together, even if it means sometimes laughing off the worst-case scenarios over coffee.

    The volunteer spirit is at the heart of these events, but even passion comes with a price tag. Sponsorships enter the picture, each with its own mission and set of values. This year, for instance, we were approached by a wide array of organizations, from big sports clubs and banks to electric vehicle companies. It’s a constant balancing act, because while accepting sponsorships can boost our budget and extend our outreach, it can also tether us to partners whose values might not fully align with our environmental or ethical stances.

    Declining sponsorships feels like a double-edged sword; on one hand, it might mean fewer resources and a smaller reach, and on the other, it reinforces the pride I take in keeping our mission uncompromised by external interests that delve too deeply into environmental or political controversies.

    In the end, these Earth Day events are more than just a calendar date; they are a testament to the unpredictable, often messy journey of turning small beginnings into meaningful, community-driven celebrations. And while the challenges are many and the stakes sometimes feel higher than a teenager’s first crush, the shared commitment of everyone involved makes every moment worth it.

    Earth Day at Civic Park, Walnut Creek, CA (2024)

    Here’s to the unexpected paths, to volunteers who show up rain or shine, and to keeping our footprint light on the planet and heavy on authenticity.