I bought a chalkboard and built a classroom

Hey y’all, The big news this week is that I finally unveiled the next phase of my business, [Database School](https://databaseschool.com)! It's something I've been thinking about for a while: what do I want to do? Where do I want to go? It seems like the online / tech world is speeding up and getting sloppier and less real. Lots of AI generated junk, lots of brainrot. If you've been reading this newsletter for any amount of time you know that I'm trying to head the other way. I want to create things that are more authentic, more real, more human. So that's the bet for Database School! I released a video yesterday announcing it, which you can find on this tweet: The big reveal is that I bought a custom chalkboard! I built a classroom! I found a place in New York that makes boards for schools and just… called 'em up. I got it shipped down here to Dallas and that's that! Turns out the shipping was as expensive as the board itself, but hey, it's a write-off! (Now you know why I was on the lookout for those Professor Feynman pictures of him at the chalkboard a few months ago.) I built out a whole classroom in the living room of my tiny apartment. I want to create content I'm super proud of, that's educational, and that's interesting and enjoyable. I think I can thread the needle here. Just because I don't want to do brainrot doesn't mean I can be boring! The market will crush me if it's boring. So that's the challenge. I think I can do it, but time will tell. Wish me luck! --- ### Thoughts from the week I've been thinking a bit this week about how lucky I am to be married to my wife! Last week I tweeted () about how awesome marriage is, and this week proved it again. This week was kinda rough, tbh. I was leading up to this launch of Database School with the big reveal of the new set that I had been working on for months and… I felt like it sucked. Like really really sucked. I was in my head a bit, as I am prone to be. I came home on Tuesday completely beat down. I felt like I couldn't bring my vision to fruition with the actual video. I was struggling with the audio. I was just struggling with the edit. I just couldn't get there. I felt like just giving it all up. But fortunately! Fortunately I have the most supportive wife in the world. She talked me off the ledge. Reminded me that good things take time and effort. That this type of video work is something I haven't done, so of course it's a slow start. That I can find an editor in the future to help. And she got me some food, which helped. Turns out I had forgotten to eat all day. Silly Aaron. 3 coffees no breakfast! (Or lunch!) Every time I give a conference talk I say that I couldn't do any of this without Jennifer's support. It's not just a cute little nicety, it's God's honest truth. And this week is yet another example of that. --- 🎬 **YouTube** **Sweet hang with Jeffery Way** Ian and I had our second sweet hang on the Mostly Technical podcast this week, with our great friend, Jeffery Way. We talked about everything from opinions on Javascript to the evolution of Laracasts to modeling behavior for your kids and a lot more. It was a really great conversation. Check it out on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUjVmzh_ks) or your favorite [podcast player.](https://mostlytechnical.com/episodes/sweet-hang-2-humans-still-required-w-jeffrey-way) --- ### Things I found this week *Just a heads up that each Twitter/X screenshot has a link to the original post if you want to go follow the account.* [](https://x.com/mrsdobbins_/status/1978861323782856969) This is my dream! Actually, my dream is the family house in the movie Dan in Real Life. If you haven’t seen that one, it’s some of Steve Carrell’s finest work! The whole family goes up north for a week and spends time exploring, doing crossword puzzles, and family talent shows. I have a printout of the house from the movie on my door at the office. Above it I wrote “You can make it happen.” I like this goal because it’s holistic. If I’m successful enough to get the nice summer house but the family doesn’t want to come, I’ve failed. So it keeps me balanced.  --- [](https://x.com/NoahRyanCo/status/1978625394518454592) I almost skipped this one because I thought “I don’t do stimulants.” Then I read on and thought it was a clever redefining of “stimulants.” In the quest to get my attention back, I have stopped listening to as many podcasts in the “background,” because I realized that they’re not actually in the background. My mind foregrounds it a lot and it distracts me! I’ve even had to stop listening to music sometimes because I find my focus pulling away. I do like [brain.fm](http://brain.fm) as a replacement for pure silence. I’m not a crazy person, after all (he said, trying to convince himself) --- [](https://x.com/_christinacodes/status/1977411331814051886) This is a [short post](https://christinacodes.dev/writing/ephemera/) from one of my new internet friends about the ephemerality of life. It’s very very good. Christina first popped up on my radar after she tweeted at me in response to my [interview with Paige Harriman](https://rss.com/podcasts/idontknowanything/2174982/). And now we’re friends! That’s what I love about the internet and why I’m loath to abandon it altogether. --- [](https://x.com/blauer_geist/status/1977119266668458261) A full on cinema underground in Paris! Turns out it was a group of cinephiles that just wanted to watch some movies in peace. I can relate! Maybe they were all dads or something. (Alas, the image of the catacombs linked above is AI slop, so ignore that part.) You can read more about the Urban Explorers who set up the cinema here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les\_UX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_UX). --- [](https://x.com/dvassallo/status/1977256718850834725) [Visakan Veerasamy](https://x.com/visakanv) often talks about “joking about outcomes you want.” This is a great example of that in real life! Twitter user @aylacroft made a joke at framework about getting a free computer. Because, why not? Then the internet conspired to get her enough likes to meet the threshold of the original joke! Because they wanted to be in on it! And then she got a free computer. If you’re gonna make jokes, might as well joke about things you actually want. Sure would be funny if everything worked out for me! Wouldn’t be hilarious if all my dreams came true? Could be silly if I changed my life for the better! Wouldn’t that be wild. --- [](https://x.com/kobyjconrad/status/1977144228217340136) Idk man, but I’m doing it. At some point you might become resigned to all the questions and just say, I dunno man, but I’m doing it. That’s a good thing. --- If you’ve been enjoying the newsletter and think a friend may enjoy reading it each week too, please forward it to them! They can sign up to receive it weekly here: . That’s it for this week! I enjoy reading all of your replies, so if you see something interesting or just have a thought you want to share, please hit reply and let me know. Talk soon, Aaron {{ ENV.unsubscribe\_personal | default: visitor.unsubscribe\_url | hyperlink: "Click here to unsubscribe." }}