For this week I wanted to create something simple. Essentially click an image, which would take you to another page. I was surprised how difficult it was. First, I couldn’t get any image to show up because my nginx configuration file wasn’t pointed towards my images folder.
Second, I spent way too long trying to use CSS to split up an image in half. This is to allow each image to act as a link to another page. I waste a lot of time trying to understand how to crop an image, but decided to instead use a SVG editor to break the image up into two. This was so much easier to work with, and is a good reminder to myself not to be stubborn and think flexibly.
This website was inspired by Neo’s choice in The Matrix: take the red pill and wake up to reality, no matter how difficult, or take the blue pill and remain in a comfortable illusion.
This choice mirrors the journey of learning. You can either embrace the red pill—the difficult path of deliberate practice, where you actively apply what you learn, push through discomfort, and grow through failure. Or, you can stay in the blue pill mindset, consuming endless tutorials without ever taking action—stuck in the illusion of progress.
From my own experience, I’ve leaned heavily toward passive learning—watching tutorials, reading, but rarely applying. However, I’ve begun questioning this approach. Moving forward, my focus will be on application over consumption, choosing the red pill of real learning.
Learnings