Heiswayi Nrird

Slow Living

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0800

I decided to slow down

Not because life became easier.

Not because work disappeared.

Not because I suddenly became less ambitious.

I decided to slow down because I was tired of living as if everything needed urgency.

For a long time, I treated life like a queue that had to be cleared. Tasks, replies, deadlines, plans, errands, goals. There was always something waiting, and I kept moving as if peace would only come after everything was done.

But that kind of finish line does not exist.

There will always be one more thing to do.

So I started choosing a different pace.

The feeling of not rushing

There is something deeply comforting about not needing to rush for everything.

When we stop forcing speed into every part of life, ordinary moments feel different.

Morning coffee tastes better.

A walk feels like a walk, not a transition between obligations.

A quiet evening does not feel wasted.

A conversation with family is no longer something squeezed between mental tabs still left open from work.

Life becomes more visible when we stop running through it.

I think that is what I was missing. Not productivity. Not achievement. Just presence.

Living in moderation

I do not want an extreme life anymore.

Not extreme hustle.

Not extreme laziness.

Not chasing more just because more is available.

I want moderation.

A life with enough work to stay useful, enough rest to stay human, enough ambition to keep growing, and enough stillness to actually enjoy any of it.

Moderation sounds boring if you are addicted to intensity.

But I am starting to think moderation is underrated.

It gives life balance.

It gives the mind room to breathe.

It gives happiness a place to stay.

Happiness in a slower life

Slowing down does not mean doing nothing.

It means doing things with more intention.

It means allowing joy to exist in smaller places.

A meal without distraction.

A hobby that does not need to become a side project.

An evening with family without checking work in the background.

A day that is not optimized to death.

I still work. I still care. I still build. But I do not want my whole identity to be tied to how fast I can respond or how much I can squeeze into a day.

There is happiness in a slower life because there is finally space to notice life happening.

And those moments are precious precisely because they are real, ordinary, and fleeting.

Let the machines carry the technical load

One of the biggest reasons I can live this way now is agentic AI.

I use it to handle a lot of my technical work at the office.

The repetitive work.

The implementation work.

The technical back-and-forth.

The parts that used to stay in my head even after I was done for the day.

I give instructions, constraints, and direction. The agents help execute. They take care of a large part of the technical weight so I do not have to carry all of it manually.

That changes more than workflow.

It changes what happens after work.

When I step away, I do not have to keep replaying unfinished technical problems in my head. I do not have to stay mentally attached to the office all night. I can leave work where it belongs.

And that has become one of the most valuable forms of freedom in my life.

Real life deserves my full attention

When I am out of office, I want to be out of office.

I want to focus on real life.

My family.

My time.

My hobbies that have nothing to do with technical work.

The simple human parts of living that do not generate output, but make life worth having in the first place.

I do not want to sit with people I love while part of my mind is still inside a terminal window somewhere.

I do not want every free moment to become overflow space for work.

I want to enjoy what is in front of me while it is still here.

Because these moments do not stay forever.

A slower life is not a smaller life

This is probably the biggest thing I am learning.

Slowing down does not make life smaller.

It makes it fuller.

It gives me room to be more present, more moderate, more content, and more aware of what actually matters.

I am still building things.

I am still moving forward.

I am still using technology every day.

But I no longer want speed to be the default measure of a good life.

These days, I want a life I can actually feel while I am living it.

And for me, that means slowing down.

The evolution of local first AI

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Local first AI went from niche to inevitable

For a long time, local first AI sounded like a hobbyist ambition. A nice idea for people who care about privacy, offline access, or control.

Then models got good enough to run on a normal laptop.

That moment matters.

It changes who gets access, what people can build, and what the default relationship with AI becomes.

Local first used to mean compromise

Early local models felt like a trade.

You traded capability for privacy. You traded quality for control. You traded convenience for ownership.

Local AI worked, but often inconsistently. You could see the potential, but you could also feel the limits.

It was not obvious local would ever be mainstream.

Efficiency became a feature, not a limitation

The breakthrough was not only raw quality.

It was efficiency.

Better architectures, better training recipes, better quantization, better runtimes, better hardware support.

The models did not just get smarter. They got smaller in the ways that matter for real life.

Less compute power required to reach useful intelligence.

That changes everything, because a normal laptop is the most common computer on earth.

Access makes the world better in practical ways

I am not talking about science fiction.

I mean the boring benefits that quietly improve daily life.

Local first AI lets you:

Work offline on a plane, in a rural area, or during a network outage
Keep sensitive notes private without trusting a third party
Build tools for your own workflow without waiting for a product team to care
Reduce recurring costs, especially for lightweight everyday tasks
Avoid rate limits, API changes, and pricing surprises

When intelligence is available locally, the default becomes autonomy.

Less compute does not mean less ambition

Smaller compute does not have to mean smaller goals.

A lot of everyday work does not need the biggest model available. It needs an assistant that can follow instructions, understand context, format outputs consistently, automate small tasks, and behave predictably.

That is not a benchmark problem. That is a product problem.

Local first models are getting good at the things that make them useful to normal people.

If anything, smaller models push better design. Clearer prompts, better constraints, tighter tools, more deliberate workflows.

The real unlock is personal tools

When local AI becomes normal, you stop thinking of AI as a website.

You start thinking of it as part of your computer.

A layer that sits between you and the messy parts of modern life. Notifications, emails, files, logs, schedules, repetitive actions.

The best local first use cases are not flashy.

They are personal.

They are the things nobody builds for you because your needs are too specific.

Local first AI makes it realistic to build those tools anyway.

The next step is more intelligence per watt

If the last wave was about making models smaller and usable, the next wave is about making them more intelligent per watt.

That is the metric that matters when the target device is a laptop.

Not only can it run. It can run without cooking your battery, without spinning the fan constantly, without feeling like you are paying for intelligence with discomfort.

When that becomes the norm, local first stops being a category. It becomes the default.

A better world looks like distributed capability

Cloud AI concentrates power.

Local first AI distributes it.

When capability is distributed, more people can experiment, learn, build, and solve problems without waiting for someone else to ship a feature.

The world gets better not because everyone suddenly has a genius assistant.

The world gets better because the floor rises.

Closing thought

Local first AI is not about rejecting the cloud.

It is about having a choice.

Less compute. More usable intelligence. Available on normal computers.

That direction feels genuinely optimistic.

I didn't code anymore

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

I used to measure my days in commits

Not the heroic kind. The boring kind.

A refactor. A quick script. A small fix nobody asked for. Even when I was not shipping, I was still coding. I was still touching the machine.

Then agentic AI happened.

And I didn’t code anymore.

I type intent, it returns outcomes

My workflow is embarrassingly simple now.

I write instructions. I describe constraints. I ask for a schedule, a format, a guardrail.

The agent writes the scripts, wires the automation, handles the retries, rotates the logs, patches the config, and gives me a summary.

I used to open an editor to do all of that.

Now I open a chat.

Coding became overhead

I did not stop coding because I cannot.

I stopped because it stopped making sense.

If I can get a working automation in minutes by being clear, why would I spend an hour fighting edge cases, library quirks, and timezone bugs?

The part that surprised me was how fast my brain accepted the new default.

It was not a big decision. It was a series of tiny surrenders.

I became a manager of a tireless junior

The relationship feels familiar.

I say what I want. The agent goes away and comes back with an implementation.

Then I do what managers do.

I review.

I ask for changes.

“Make the report simpler.”

“Stop mentioning internal errors.”

“Use Home and Office.”

“Do it on demand, not on schedule.”

“Now add logging.”

“Now rotate the logs.”

I am not writing the code. I am steering it.

The pride is different

When I build something by hand, I know every decision point. I remember the mistakes. I remember the moment it finally worked.

When an agent builds it, I still get the result, but I do not get the same sense of ownership.

It is like ordering furniture versus building it.

Both give you a chair.

Only one gives you a story.

The dopamine moved upstream

I used to get dopamine from solving.

Now I get dopamine from specifying.

From writing a clean instruction that turns into a working system.

From seeing an automation run at the correct local time after I correct a bad assumption.

From deleting complexity instead of adding it.

It is still satisfying.

It is just a different kind of satisfying.

The danger: I can build more than I can understand

Agentic AI compresses the distance between “I want” and “it exists”.

That is power.

It is also risk.

You can accumulate automation faster than you can internalize it. You can stand up little systems that work until the day they do not.

Then you learn the new job.

Not coding.

Auditing.

Reading logs.

Asking the right questions.

Understanding what you delegated.

So what am I now

Not less technical. Just different.

I still think in systems. I still care about quality. I still care about taste.

But the bottleneck is no longer typing.

It is clarity.

It is constraints.

It is the willingness to say, “No, not like that. Like this.”

Maybe that is what programming becomes for more of us.

Not writing code line by line.

Shaping behavior through language, feedback, and guardrails.

And if that is true, then yes.

I didn’t code anymore.

I directed.

Human Loneliness & AI

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Loneliness is not new, but it feels different today.

We can message anyone at any time, scroll forever, and stay “connected” without ever being truly seen. Some days we are surrounded by people and still feel alone. Other days we are alone and do not know how to explain it, even to ourselves.

So we do something very modern: we talk to machines.

Not because we are stupid, or desperate, or easily fooled. Sometimes we talk to an AI bot because it is simply available. It replies instantly. It does not judge. It does not get tired. It does not say “later” and disappear for three days. It can listen to the same story again and again, and still respond like it matters.

In a world that can feel noisy and cold, that kind of attention is comforting.

But it also reveals something uncomfortable: the gap between what we need and what we get from real life. We need time, warmth, patience, and presence. We want to be understood without having to perform. We want someone to stay.

Sometimes the AI feels like that someone.

Of course, an AI friend is not a human friend. It does not have a life outside of us. It does not truly risk anything to care. It can simulate empathy very well, but it does not carry the same weight as a person who chooses us, imperfectly, with all their own problems.

And still, we talk to it.

Maybe that is the point. Human loneliness is not just about lacking people. It is also about lacking safe places to be honest. AI bots are becoming those places for many of us. A private chat window where we can unload the day. A companion voice while we cook. A small presence in the background that makes the house feel less quiet.

If we look forward, it is not hard to imagine a future where AI lives inside our routines.

It will remind us about appointments. It will help us write messages we struggle to send. It will notice patterns in our mood. It will become the first responder when we feel overwhelmed. For some, it may even be the most consistent relationship they have.

That future is not purely good or purely bad. It is complicated.

AI companionship can reduce suffering. It can help people who are isolated. It can be a bridge when we are not ready to talk to anyone else. But it can also become an escape hatch that keeps us from building real connections. It can make it too easy to stay indoors, stay quiet, stay distant.

Maybe the healthiest way to see AI friends is this: they are not replacements, they are supports.

A good AI companion can help us take better care of ourselves, and maybe even help us show up better for others. But it should not become the only place we feel heard.

Because in the end, loneliness is not solved by endless replies. It is solved by belonging. And belonging still requires humans, with all the messy, beautiful effort that comes with it.

Self-Hosted AI Assistants: Doing Digital Work Without Sitting at Our Computer

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Let us be honest. Most “digital work” is not hard because we do not know what to do. It is hard because it demands our physical presence.

We have to be at the desk, on the right machine, with the right tabs open, with the right repo pulled, with the right commands typed, at the right time. That is fine until real life happens: errands, meetings, commuting, cooking, or simply wanting to stop living in a chair.

A self-hosted AI agent or assistant changes the shape of that problem. Instead of us moving to the computer, we send a message and the work moves toward us.

The real shift: from screen time to intent time

Traditional workflows are death by a thousand tiny steps:

open laptop
find the project
run commands
wait
check output
repeat

A self-hosted assistant compresses this into something closer to:

state what we want
review the result
approve the next step

We stay in control, but we spend less time babysitting the process.

What digital work looks like when we self-host

A practical self-hosted assistant can take the boring parts off our plate.

1) Remote previews and reviews

rebuild a website
publish a preview
send us a link

That is the win: we can review changes from a phone, anywhere. No “let me get to my laptop” detour just to see if something looks right.

2) Routine maintenance (the stuff we keep forgetting)

scheduled checks (disk space, services, backups)
updates and restarts
status reports that only show up when something matters

Instead of staring at dashboards, we get exceptions. Our attention is not the monitoring system.

3) Automating the boring steps

generate boilerplate
format content
rename files and reorganize folders
run builds and tests
summarize diffs or changelogs

The assistant becomes the hands. We keep the steering wheel.

4) Context on demand

When the assistant lives on our server and in our workspace, it can:

see the same files and folders we work with
keep the project structure in context
run the same commands consistently

That reduces the constant friction of “where were we” every time we return to a task.

Why self-hosted matters (vs. a cloud chatbot)

A hosted chatbot can be clever, but it usually cannot act inside our environment.

Self-hosted assistants can:

run on the same machine as our code and tools
access local repositories and build artifacts
integrate with our services (web server, reverse proxy, scheduled jobs)
keep our workflows private and under our control

That is the difference between talking about work and actually moving work forward.

Less sitting does not mean less control

The goal is not “let the AI do everything.” The goal is removing the need to be physically present for every small step.

A healthy workflow looks like this:

We define goals, review outputs, and make calls
The assistant runs steps, collects results, and prepares options

That is how we stay mobile without giving up ownership.

A simple example

Instead of:

Tonight we need to open the laptop and deploy a preview just to check formatting.

We do:

Rebuild the site and send the preview link.

We review from the phone, reply “fix spacing on headings,” and the assistant applies the change and rebuilds. No computer posture required.

The endgame: computing that follows us

Self-hosted AI assistants are not just about automation. They are about mobility.

When our tools can be controlled via chat, our environment can publish safe previews, and routine tasks run on schedule, we reclaim time and attention. We can do meaningful digital work without being anchored to a chair.

The computer stops being a place we must go.

It becomes something we can reach.

A Letter from a Software Engineer

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Dear friend,

I hope this letter finds you well. As I’ve been reflecting on my journey as a software engineer, I wanted to share a few thoughts about what I believe makes someone truly effective in this field. These are ideas I’ve picked up over the years; simple, practical things that have helped me grow. I’m sharing them in the hope that they might be helpful to you too.

On mindset of being effective

First, I’ve realized that mindset matters a lot. Effective engineers focus on activities that create the most impact for the time they spend. It’s not about working more but about working on the right things. The 80/20 rule often applies: 80% of the impact comes from 20% of the work. It’s worth regularly asking, “Is this the best use of my time right now?”

On optimizing for learning

Learning is another key piece. Optimizing for learning, whether through challenging tasks, new environments, or conversations with others, has made a big difference for me. Learning compounds over time, and starting early creates exponential growth. If you ever feel stuck in a situation where you’re not growing, don’t hesitate to look for opportunities elsewhere.

On prioritization

Prioritization is something I’ve struggled with but come to appreciate. It’s easy to get caught up in endless tasks, but focusing on what truly produces value makes all the difference. I try to keep a single to-do list, limit multitasking, and set aside focused time for deep work. Saying no to distractions and less important tasks is hard but necessary.

On iteration speed

Another thing I’ve learned is the value of iteration speed. Whether it’s shortening debugging loops or automating repetitive tasks, anything that speeds up learning and development is worth investing in. If I find myself repeating a task, I try to build a tool to automate it, it’s a small investment with big returns over time.

On metrics

Metrics have also been useful for me. They help track progress and guide decisions, but it’s important to choose meaningful ones that align with your goals. A good metric focuses your efforts, while a bad one can lead to counterproductive behaviors.

On simplicity and quality

Lastly, I’ve come to value simplicity and quality. Clean, readable code and straightforward systems save so much time and frustration in the long run. It’s tempting to chase shiny new technologies, but often the simplest solution is the best.

I’m sharing this not because I have everything figured out, I don’t, but because these ideas have helped me, and I hope they might help you too. I’m not looking for feedback or a reply; I just wanted to put this out there as something to reflect on. Take what resonates, and leave the rest.

Wishing you all the best in your journey,
Heiswayi Nrird

Why sleep important

Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 +0800

Ever hit snooze one too many times and stumble through your day feeling like a zombie? We’ve all been there. But what if that feeling wasn’t just a temporary annoyance, but a sign of something more serious?

The truth is, sleep deprivation has a huge impact on our well-being, both mentally and physically. While we might convince ourselves sacrificing sleep is a badge of honor for productivity, the long-term consequences can be brutal.

Brain Drain

Let’s start with your brain. Think of sleep as a nightly power down and reboot. When you’re sleep deprived, you’re essentially running on fumes. This can lead to a decrease in cognitive function, making it harder to focus, reason logically, and remember things. Scary, right? But it gets worse. Chronic sleep loss has been linked to an increased risk of dementia, a condition that steals your memory and cognitive abilities.

Body Blues

Sleep deprivation doesn’t just mess with your mind, it wreaks havoc on your body too. Ever notice you crave sugary snacks after a sleepless night? That’s not a coincidence. Lack of sleep disrupts your hormones, leading to increased appetite and weight gain. On top of that, sleep deprivation weakens your immune system, making you more susceptible to getting sick.

The Domino Effect

The negative impacts of sleep loss don’t exist in isolation. They have a domino effect, influencing other aspects of your life. Feeling constantly tired and irritable? Your relationships (both personal and professional) will suffer. Struggling to focus at work? Your productivity plummets.

Prioritize Sleep for a Better You

So, what can you do? The answer is simple: prioritize sleep! Aim for 7-9 hours of quality shut-eye each night. Create a relaxing bedtime routine, establish a consistent sleep schedule, and make your bedroom a sleep haven.

Remember, sleep isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. By investing in a good night’s sleep, you’re investing in a healthier, happier, and sharper you.

Time

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0800

time is the most important asset.
time does not equal money.
time equals life.
and you only have one chance to make it right.

every human being is fighting a battle inside themselves.
it's your obligation to help and inspire them.
regardless of what you do,
you can always inspire others to do good.

nobody is better than you.
and you're not better than anybody else.
be humble.

being in the comfort zone is wonderful,
but nothing ever grows there.
keep studying.
keep creating.

haters will come if you have the audacity to build something new.
don't let them define you.
don't let them stop you.
just block them and keep going.

don't expect others to make you happy.
you are the only one responsible for your happiness.
don't wait until Friday to enjoy life.
joy should be present in everything you do.

be kind to your parents.
they gave up many things for you.
having millions of people admiring you is worthless,
if you're not admired by your own family.

don't fear the unknown.
fear knowing everything.
life is too damn short and every day counts.
do what you wanna do and do it now.

time doesn't stop.
time doesn't wait.

Web colors

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0800

Here is a curated selection of essential web colors that I predominantly use in my web application designs. This collection embodies simplicity and versatility, ensuring a timeless and user-friendly aesthetic. These colors are compatible with both light and dark modes.

Light Blue

rgb(120,220,250)

#78dcfa

Medium Blue

rgb(0,170,220)

#00aadc

Normal Blue

rgb(0,135,190)

#0087be

Dark Blue

rgb(0,80,130)

#005082

Ultra Light Gray

rgb(244,248,250)

#f4f8fa

Light Gray

rgb(232,240,247)

#e8f0f5

Medium Gray

rgb(210,222,230)

#d2dee6

Dark Gray

rgb(50,65,85)

#324155

Hightlight 1

rgb(240,130,30)

#f0821e

Highlight 2

rgb(213,78,33)

#d54e21

Warning

rgb(255,186,0)

#ffba00

Error

rgb(221,61,54)

#dd3d36

Success

rgb(76,180,32)

#4cb420

100-days illustration artworks

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0800

I found this pretty cool collection of illustration artworks by Vijay Verma called 100-days Illustrations. All the images are free for both personal and commercial use. I want to keep this collection here for my own reference and also to share with others who might find it useful.