Seizing the moment

When it comes to procrastination, there are tons of different ways to rationalize our decision to delay the work, but they mostly condense in two categories: either it is not the right time (featuring among others "I will not have time to complete the task" and "my partner will be angry if I start with this now") or we are just not prepared for the job (including the all-time favorites "I have to read some more" and "I will find the tools this evening"). In real life it often happens that the fear is much bigger than the task itself and once we get the work started it proves to be easier/faster/prettier than we anticipated. But that, of course, requires the task to be started, also in competition with many other tasks that are more important or more urgent, so we end up letting it sit for a little bit longer.

However, it is remarkable how sometimes long postponed plans, for which we never find the necessary time or preparation, can be catalyzed by the most serendipitous events, the way running into a random author signing books in your favorite bookstore can remind you of the book you always intended to write, or crossing an old school acquaintance can remind you that you have been thinking of dying your hair.

Photo: StockSnap

In my cases, yesterday's visit to the 2-D car simulator page reminded me of the idea I have had for years to set up a web page for interesting visual displays. I have been programming for more than 35 years now, and one recurring theme has always been creating dynamic images which changed following certain rules and see how they evolved. It is, in some sense, like looking into the fireplace and watching the wood burn, just applying different rules.

For many years I have been thinking about it: I am a programmer, it should not be difficult to make it a reality. Additionally, I had many of these programs already working in my computer, either as Python or C++ programs; I just could not put them on a web site and have everyone enjoy the view. The surprising chain of events that led me to solve my lack of preparation is a warning that my web browser showed when I opened the Boxcar2D site: it runs based on Flash technology and many computer systems will not support Flash beyond the end of 2020, so I started to wonder what technology could be used to replace Flash and eventually have the web running on January 1st. It turned out that the technology, called HTML5, was much easier and accessible than I anticipated (duh).

So, with many years of delay, I hereby present you all with one of my favorite animations my new website. I have to confess that I turned it into a screensaver probably ten years ago and had it install in my office computer, and it was not infrequent at all to find someone who came looking for me and got captivated by the display and stayed there for two or three screens.

Now that I see it running I cannot help but feeling a pinch of regret that I did not put the effort a long time ago. I also feel a little bit of pride, because I had the impression that it would be nice to look at, and I think it is. I hope you like it too and, in the meantime, have a nice evening.