Logbook

Today I refactored all of our web projects except Temettü, focusing mainly on:

• fixing layout issues
• improving SEO fundamentals
• removing unnecessary use client usage where possible
• and generally organizing things into a more coherent structure

Temettü is still pending, but getting everything else into better shape already feels like a big relief.

I’ve realized again how much of an idea-founder type I am. I love starting new things, exploring ideas, and jumping between concepts depending on my mood or inspiration that day. That’s part of my strength but without structure, it can easily turn into chaos.

This is why having one central place, with a bit of discipline and organization, matters so much to me:

• ideas don’t get lost
• projects stay revisit-able
• future contributions (by me or others) become easier

It’s less about perfection and more about creating a garden where ideas can rest until they’re ready to grow again.

Not the flashiest kind of progress, but the kind that quietly supports everything else that comes next.

Today was a proper rest day, in the best possible way.

After work, I went to a sourdough bread workshop that lasted almost four hours. It turned into a surprisingly grounding evening: learning the basics, touching dough, shaping bread, eating snacks together, and eventually tasting the bread we made. We came home with our own doughs to bake soon (we ordered iron pot, waiting for it), slightly tired but deeply relaxed.

There’s something about working with your hands like this: slow, physical, imperfect that resets your brain in a way screens never do.

I also took a few nice photos and short stories during the workshop. They’ll likely turn into a small write-up soon for a project we quietly planted seeds for this summer: goberliner.com 🐻

The idea is simple and very close to my heart: a curated directory of authentic Berlin experiences — good food, small places we genuinely enjoy, moments that break routine. Not a tourist guide, not SEO-heavy, but something personal and collaborative. A place where anyone on the team (and maybe future teammates in Berlin) can contribute over time.

As someone who lives here, this excites me a lot. Berlin has so much texture and it deserves to be documented slowly, honestly, and with care.

Today reminded me that rest doesn’t mean doing nothing. Sometimes it means learning something completely different and letting new ideas quietly take root.

Today was one of those try → fail → accept days.

I tried to remove use client; from the main layout of Temettü to improve SEO and align things more cleanly with the App Router model. On paper, it felt like a reasonable refactor. In practice, it quickly turned into a wall.

Too much critical client-side logic is tightly coupled to the main layout: state, providers, navigation behavior, and assumptions that have grown organically over time. Pulling one thread started breaking many others, and it became clear that this isn’t something I can responsibly “just fix” in a day.

It honestly sucked to not see concrete progress today. But days like this are still doing work — they sharpen understanding.

What this attempt clarified:

• the current layout architecture has real limits
• SEO improvements here won’t come from a quick refactor
• this needs dedicated, focused time as a team, not fragmented solo effort

So today wasn’t about shipping.

Some days move things forward by failing fast and learning where the real work is.

Today was mostly about catching up.

Since my laptop was gone for a while, I had been taking notes offline, fragmented thoughts, half-written logs, reminders to myself. Today I finally found the mental space to organize them and publish the waiting posts here. It felt like closing a few open tabs in my head.

On the technical side, the day quickly shifted gears.

With the latest React server components vulnerability alerts, we woke up to a round of patch notifications again. I went through all our web apps hosted on Vercel and bumped the Next.js versions, making sure everything stayed in sync with the latest fixes.

While I was at it, I also started refactoring layouts using use client more explicitly, moving page by page. Most apps are now done, only Langnotes and Temettü are left. Temettü is a bit more tightly coupled and critical, so I want to handle it carefully. I’ll tackle that right after the partner agreement is fully wrapped up.

Speaking of partnerships: we’re still waiting on the banner link materials, even though the plan was to start on Monday. It hasn’t arrived yet. I’m starting to notice a pattern: our Turkish partnerships tend to move in a more relaxed, postponed rhythm. It still feels strange to me, but I’m learning to sit with it.

Hopefully things align smoothly once everything is finally in motion.

Today came with a small but very exciting surprise: my craft station desk arrived earlier than expected!

I spent the entire evening building it, piece by piece, and then slowly trying out a first rough setup, not to make it perfect, but to understand what this space could become in the long run.

I already have a simple table-top tripod with a small light, just enough to place my phone above the desk. Nothing fancy, but more than enough to start. The idea is to record timelapse creative sessions while crafting, especially for Kit of Happiness, but also for any other faceless, hands-on work I feel like exploring.

This setup feels like exactly what I needed:

• a physical, grounded place to create
• space for paper, glue, scissors, and printed kits
• a faceless recording flow that feels natural to me
• freedom to experiment without overthinking platforms

Whether it ends up as YouTube, TikTok, or something else doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it fits my rhythm and my style.

I already know this desk won’t stay the same, I’ll improve it slowly, add things over time, refine the setup as I learn what I actually need. But even in this early state, it feels right.

And honestly, I’m already counting down to the Christmas one-week break from work. Having uninterrupted time to sit at this table, create freely, record, cut paper, and just play with ideas feels like the perfect way to close the year.

Today I wanted to do something purely creative, with no pressure, no roadmap, no expectations.

A few months ago, during Shipaton 2025, I built Stampie — a React Native app for collecting digital passport stamps. It’s a small idea, but one I’ve always felt emotionally connected to. Travel, memory, collecting moments: it all fits naturally.

Today I went back to it from a different angle.

I’ve been playing around with Nano Banana Pro on Google recently, mostly to understand its strengths around animated views, which is honestly one of my weaker areas. And… it completely blew my mind.

I added animated passport pages to the Stampie landing page, and suddenly the whole idea clicked in a new way.

Now I’m thinking:

• moving the stamp illustrations I already created to the web
• building a simple, playful web version using local storage
• treating it as a creative showcase rather than a “product”
• adding share functionality later
• syncing it with the mobile app eventually
• and even reusing the same animated view inside the React Native app

It feels like one of those ideas with a natural viral pull: not because it’s optimized, but because it’s emotionally relatable. People who love traveling tend to love collecting little proofs of where they’ve been.

For me, it also has a strong personal backstory, which makes it even more fun to revisit.

I’m not rushing it. I’ll pick it up slowly and let it evolve when the time feels right.

For now, there’s a very early prototype live: 👉 https://stampie.app

Today ended up being a rest day.

After a full, demanding workday, I felt genuinely tired, the kind of tired that isn’t fixed by pushing a bit more. So I didn’t. I slowed down instead.

Even though I still like my profession as a developer, I’m realizing more clearly that I’m a much better fit for a lean startup mindset. I enjoy building, experimenting, and delivering value directly. When companies move into scale-up mode, with more hierarchy, more planning, more meetings, and more layers, the joy starts to fade for me. It becomes less about creating and more about coordinating.

That shift is probably why things haven’t felt as exciting lately.

I also continued reading Tiny Experiments today, and the chapter I landed on was about building in public. It brought back a lot of memories. The best version of that era, for me, was somewhere around 2013–2016 — when sharing progress felt natural and human, not something engineered for algorithms.

Today, “building in public” often means being on X, YouTube, or constantly feeding social platforms I no longer enjoy. I know the reach isn’t the same anymore, and that’s okay. I continue sharing my updates here instead, not for growth hacks or visibility, but to keep myself accountable. This space feels slower, quieter, and more honest.

I really miss the early social web. These days, I mindfully stay away from posting personal updates on social media. This log feels like the right place for them.

Today also made me think quietly about what’s next. About next year. About whether I want to keep operating in environments like this, or whether it might be time for a reset, maybe even a gap year, if things line up the right way.

No decisions yet. Just honest noticing.

For now, today was about rest, reading, listening to my energy, and allowing these thoughts to surface without forcing answers.

Sometimes that’s enough.

Today was one of those days entirely swallowed by errands and full-time job responsibilities — interviews, follow-ups, signing agreements, mental load, all of it. By the end of the evening, there wasn’t much creative space left, and that’s okay.

But I still made one small decision that made me feel excited again:
I finally ordered a workbench I’ve been eyeing for a while, a Christmas gift to myself.

I’ve been wanting to build a proper craft station at home to support the printable kits, a place where I can cut, photograph, experiment, and maybe even get back into some light video making. A tiny maker corner for handmade things.

If all goes well, it should arrive next week. (Future note: arrived pretty quickly)

And also I needed to work on Temettü web banner arrangements a bit since my week is already pretty packed and it should be ready by the weekend.

I really need Christmas break to slow down a bit.

Today was a big milestone: the very first Kit of Happiness listing is officially live on Shopify!

I created and published the full listing for the Space Explorer Kit, including all the visuals, layout blocks, and product descriptions. It’s not perfectly lit or polished yet as I didn’t have enough time for a proper photography setup, but honestly, the most important part is that it’s live. The rest can evolve.

👉 You can check it out here

What I created for the listing

I prepared a full set of visual assets to help parents understand what’s inside:

• Main cover image
• “29 printable pages included” collage
• Lifestyle photos with kids using the kit (I just used AI to generate them for now)
• Sample pages (badges, puzzles, exercises)
• How it works (Download → Print → Have fun)
• What’s inside page with PDF breakdown

It feels surreal to see something I designed on screen now living on an actual store page, even in its version-one form.

There’s still a lot I want to improve: better lighting, real-photo sets, maybe a short video later. But today is about momentum, not perfection.

Kit of Happiness has officially entered the world. 🌟

Today I actually did the entire kit myself: printing, cutting, taping, assembling every page.

It felt strangely nostalgic, almost like meeting my child self halfway. If I could go back in time and hand this kit to little-me, I know I would’ve absolutely freaked out from excitement. Craft-based role play was always my soft spot, and seeing this come to life made that very obvious.

I resized the ID card so it now fits perfectly into the universal sleeve I ordered recently.

And I ran through the whole experience exactly as a parent/kid would, which gave me confidence: it’s genuinely fun.

There are three small materials missing to complete the craft station, so I ordered them:

• color pencils
• kid safety scissors
• pritt glue sticks

Once these arrive, the kit business becomes fully self-contained.

Now the only big step left is: photos + listing images + publishing.

For version one, I’ll leave videos out but during Christmas break, when life slows down a bit, I want to create some how-to and timelapse videos. Something warm and educational, but also usable for marketing later.

A satisfying, tactile day. The kit is real now, not just on screen, but in my hands.