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- Laptop: Where most of the research code gets written. Usually late, lo-fi in the background, the desk lamp turned all the way down.
- Notebook: A new one every quarter. Most of the good ideas live here before they live in any repo.
- Coffee: Filter, black, no sugar. Almost always cold by the time I remember it.
- Candle: Lit when a paper is stuck. Half focus timer, half permission to slow down.
- Wedding ring: Married to the love of my life. The best co-author I have.
- Window · canal: The Brouwersgracht. On clear nights you can see the gables across the water. Most of my running routes start by following it east.
- Books: Sartre on the desk. A lot of Latin American fiction on the shelf, Borges above all. A short stack of paper drafts on top of everything.
- Half marathon medal: 1:43:53 in Amsterdam, October 2024. Mostly there to remind me that the long, boring middle of anything is where the good ideas show up.
- Running shoes: On their second resole. Most weeks they cover the loop from Vondelpark to the Amstel and back.
- 瓜子 · 狸花猫 (planned): Future cat. Breed picked: 狸花猫, the Chinese mackerel tabby, what my wife and I love most. Name picked: 瓜子 (sunflower seeds), because I cannot stop snacking on them. The chair is already reserved. So is the corner of the desk.
- Tennis rackets · Pure Drive + Blade: Two rackets. The Pure Drive is the easy one (mine, mostly). The Blade kills the wrist but unlocks the most when you find the sweet spot. That one belongs to my wife. Saturday mornings on the public courts.
- Wok · Sichuan stir-fry: I'm from Sichuan, so spice is in the blood. No slow simmer here, just the wok on high heat with garlic, chili, and doubanjiang, the stuff you smell from across the room.
- Tulips: Different colors, restocked every spring at the Bloemenmarkt. My wife and I once filled the apartment with them. The Dutch spring without tulips wouldn't be the Dutch spring.