May 18–24, 2026
Lately, I’ve started doing the LeetCode Daily Problem again. These days AI can solve problems for you, but I didn’t want to lose the ability to think through a problem myself and work the code out with my own head, so I picked it back up. Of course, I still ask AI when I run into something I don’t know well. But instead of asking for code that immediately becomes the answer, I ask for guidance in the form of hints so I can solve it myself. It took me a while to get my brain working again, but doing things a bit more the analog way has been fun in its own way.
This week, I meant to finish my work by the deadline, but I ended up continuing past it. Some of the things I was applying were new to me, so I used Codex while working. If I had skipped reviewing the code again and just applied everything right away, I probably would have finished faster. Still, I decided it was better to take the extra time to review the changes, make sure I really understood them, and check whether the work was actually moving in the direction I intended. In the end, I worked past the deadline, but I’m still glad I didn’t rush through an important task. It felt good to go over things one more time instead of letting them slide. I learned things I hadn’t expected, and testing everything helped me improve more.
I also cleaned my room, which I had been putting off. I sorted through the pile of paper receipts and trash, and cleaned up my desk for the first time in a while. It’s not completely clean, but I at least made enough space to work again. While organizing the receipts, I even found some from March, which made me realize just how long I had neglected cleaning my room. It had been about two or three weeks since I had really dealt with it. Just like I finally took care of the cleaning I had postponed, I want to keep moving forward by working through the tasks I’ve let pile up too.