today started with the usual attempt to convince my body and brain that we are, in fact, a functioning organization.
i got my morning walk done, then did the first Bend session: stretching, yoga, meditation, and an OCD check-in in 30 minutes. contained. no turning it into a three-hour spiritual side quest where i somehow end up reorganizing a drawer and questioning every decision i’ve made since 2004.
then it was time to study..
i’ve already finished all of the freeCodeCamp Responsive Web Design lessons and workshops, but finishing the lessons does not mean every concept is permanently welded into my brain. now i’m going back through the material, testing what i actually know, and finding the parts that still look like somebody threw a technical dictionary into a blender.
today’s main event was accessibility flashcards.
fucking ARIA.
i started working through the cards while also being stuck on the phone with Verizon, because apparently one frustrating activity at a time was not enough. we were supposedly getting close to the final phone conversation, which is a phrase that has probably been spoken during every Verizon call since the invention of telecommunications.
my current flashcard system is pretty straightforward. when i hit something new or confusing, i write it down. then i highlight the important information. physically writing it helps the information stick better, and it gives me something more useful than staring at a sentence while my brain repeatedly says, “what the fuck does any of this mean?”
some cards went well.
aria-hidden="true" made sense once i got a real example. it keeps something visible on the screen but hides it from screen readers. that is useful for decorative icons that do not add any actual meaning.
for example, if a button already says “favorite” and there is a decorative star next to it, the screen reader does not also need to announce “star.” the star can stay visible while assistive technology skips it.
that card went under good.
aria-describedby also started making sense after the robotic textbook language was translated into something resembling human speech.
it points to extra text that explains an element.
a password field might be named “password,” while the description says, “must contain at least eight characters.”
the label tells you what the thing is.
the description gives you extra information about it.
that card also went under good.
then there was the difference between implicit and explicit labels.
implicit means the input is placed inside the <label> element.
explicit means the label and input are separate, but the label’s for value matches the input’s id.
the memory hook is:
implicit means inside.
explicit means linked.
i understood it more than i did at the beginning, but not enough to pretend it was easy. that card went under hard.
then i reached aria-label versus aria-labelledby, and that one can currently go fuck itself.
the official answer said that aria-label “defines the accessible name directly as a string,” while aria-labelledby “references the id of another element already on the page to use as a name.”
technically correct.
emotionally useless.
the missing piece was understanding what an accessible name even is. an accessible name is simply the name a screen reader announces for an element.
aria-label means i write that name directly on the element.
aria-labelledby means i borrow visible text from somewhere else on the page by pointing to that element’s id.
the memory hook is:
aria-label = write the name here.
aria-labelledby = borrow the name from text already on the page.
i understand the explanation more than i understood the flashcard, but it is not solid yet. i marked it again because marking something good when i do not understand it would only create a tiny digital monument to lying to myself.
the dyslexia frustration hit hard today.
there were moments when i knew i was looking directly at the words, but they still would not arrange themselves into a useful fucking meaning. that is one of the worst parts. it is not just “this topic is difficult.” it is the feeling that the information is sitting right there while my brain refuses to let me grab it properly.
i got angry.
i swore a lot.
i hated the cards.
i kept going anyway.
not in a motivational-poster way. there was no inspirational music swelling in the background. i was pissed off, confused, and still writing the answers down because apparently spite is also a valid learning strategy.
i’m going to keep pushing through the flashcards for another fifteen to twenty minutes. after that, i’m stopping the session instead of grinding until everything becomes meaningless noise.
later, i’ll do Coddy and Mimo. those are the lower-pressure daily practice sessions. they are separate from the deeper study work and the cold builds where i have to produce something from memory without documentation, references, autocomplete, or divine intervention.
at 2:00, i’ll do the second Bend session: stretching, yoga, meditation, and an OCD check-in. again, the limit is fifteen minutes. the point is to reset, not accidentally open a portal.
at 3:00, i’ll take another walk.
5:00 is free time.
at 6:00, i’ll do the third short Bend and stretching session.
at 6:30, i’ll post today’s Twitch promotion. the stream is live daily, but i’m rotating the promotional material instead of reposting the exact same flyer and caption until every social platform files a restraining order.
the Twitch page has also been getting a proper visual overhaul. the new About panels use a cream background, Twitch purple, music notes, brush textures, and a collection of extremely cute sloths wearing headphones.
the branding is finally starting to feel like one complete world instead of a pile of unrelated graphics held together by panic.
the panels cover things like:
- about me
- what the stream is
- the schedule
- music
- support
- chat rules
- equipment
- setup specs
- requests
- the sloth
- ways to connect
- a thank-you message
they are being made as individual panels, not one giant grid. the artwork is coherent, readable, and very fucking cute.
one technical problem remains: every Twitch graphic needs to stay below one megabyte. the current about me panel is still too large, so that needs to be compressed without redesigning the whole thing and summoning another round of unnecessary creative suffering.
at 7:00, i’ll make the WordPress post, which is the thing you are reading right now unless the internet has betrayed me again if i decided to do it sooner .
at 8:00, i’ll take the evening walk.
after the walk, i’ll work on eBay listings. the walk and eBay are two separate tasks. apparently this distinction needs constitutional protection because scheduling software and artificial intelligence keep trying to fuse them into one mutant activity called “walk plus eBay.”
the graphic-novel listings have been moving well. ten books have already been listed, and the faster workflow is finally clear:
take all the photos, let the eBay app scan and prefill the listing, verify everything it guessed, fix the condition, add the descriptions, set the buy-it-now price, and publish.
the app’s scanning feature is significantly faster than entering every detail manually, although it still needs supervision because trusting automated listing information without checking it is how you accidentally sell a hardcover graphic novel as a microwave.
i’m also preparing to start selling vinyl through Discogs.
that means learning to grade the media and sleeve separately, checking catalog numbers and runout markings, identifying the correct release, describing defects honestly, and never claiming playback quality unless i actually play-tested the record.
when i am stuck between two grades, i’m using the lower one and describing the problem. i would rather be conservative than become the kind of seller who calls a record “mint” after it survived a basement flood and a knife fight.
at 9:00, i’ll fill out tomorrow’s agenda.
that is the full day.
some of it is going well.
some of it is annoying as fuck.
some of it makes me feel like i am learning.
some of it makes me want to launch every accessibility flashcard directly into the sun.
but the work is still moving.
not perfectly.
not peacefully.
but forward.
and don’t forgot:
current mood: 😁 oddly calm
currently listening to:
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