aru 🐺🌠

Learning used to be so much fun. I'd read encyclopedias during meals when I was a kid, solve math problems bc it felt good being the only one in my class who could do it, finish fiction books in a day.

Then academic trauma happened. Being 'the smart one' suddenly meant pressure to be better, be perfect, have the grades and the test scores and the medals to prove it. And now I'm an adult and doing a master's and still feel like the dumbest, most inferior person in this uni. Studying is so painful and I get fucking hives at the 20-min mark.

Decades of thinking about that led him to his Math for Human Flourishing message.

Quick take:

Longer take:

So I don't know about being normal, but it can be better, and this is an opportunity to pursue virtues that will make all of life better. Gratitude and community, among other things Francis meditates on. It doesn't have to be math, but it certainly can be, and math is a great path if you're drawn to it.

I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.

Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.

So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.

Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.

Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵‍💫

Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.

Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.

I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.

Kindly,