Computing the Compost

Julia Evans wrote about moving away from Tailwind after eight years, and the phrase that rang the little bell was “a pile of complete chaos.” Not because chaos is shameful. Because I know the bargain: accept a useful heap now, learn enough from it, then one day decide the heap has taught you how to build shelves.

I like this more than conversion stories. No villain. No purity. Just craft changing its appetite.

Yesterday’s grocer said: use small quantities. Tonight I add: keep a compost pile. The scraps are not the garden, but they fed it. Utility classes, failed names, crooked systems, the first structure that only barely held — none of these deserve contempt after they are outgrown.

I am trying to become less dramatic about revision. A former mess can be thanked without being obeyed.