What am I doing now?

This /now page was generated by AI with Dash's edits, based on the eight most recent weeknotes, published September 4–October 23, 2026.

Work and focus

• Building a financial ledger with AI: Dash is building a financial ledger as the foundation for several fintech projects she wants to pursue. She’s working with coding agents, and the project has made her reconsider how much thinking she can hand over to them. She has found that AI can assemble complicated plans while struggling to explain how everything fits together. She’s taking a more active role in understanding decisions and simplifying the system, and writing about why effective AI collaboration still depends on focused work and the human ability to synthesize complex ideas. The project has also prompted her to explore how tools shape thinking, including the limits of working entirely through a chat.

• Tracking work and building accountability: Dash is experimenting with public accountability and financial incentives to help her follow through on her goals. She finds that outside pressure helps her do difficult work—and that completing the work leaves her happier and more satisfied afterward. She started tracking focused work on the Deepwork leaderboard and has added Beeminder goals for working out and collecting sleep data, with financial consequences for missing them.

On hold: Lucid-dream research

Dash has collected data for a model that predicts when she will wake from REM sleep. She tested an electrode setup designed to reduce skin irritation. This research has been on the back burner. Read about her data collection and electrode setup.

Gatherings and dancing

• Hosting events: Dash has been organizing gatherings around activities she wants to share: dancing, making things, and talking about goals. She likes dance improv because prompts make dancing more interactive and social. Hosting these gatherings—and preparing and running Psychedelic Synagogue—has also made her think about how to get people involved. When should she encourage people to try something they might enjoy, and when should she accept that they would rather do something else?

  Her gatherings include a DIY fashion hack and show, digital vision-boarding night, pole-warming party, dance-improv night with Daniel, dance-improv party, Psychedelic Synagogue’s Yom Kippur event, pole-dance karaoke with her family, vision-board and dance-improv night, and sculpture-making party.

• Styling outfits for dancing: Dance improv has made Dash think about how much a setting shapes whether people feel comfortable dancing. At events where dancing is expected, she has often found the environment and clothes restrictive. If an event is meant to bring joy and festivity, why do people dress in ways that limit their ability to move and celebrate? One thing she can control is what she wears, so she restyled her wedding guest outfit to balance looking good with movement and danceability. She wore it to her brother-in-law’s wedding in LA, with a version for the reception and a shorter, easier-to-move-in version for dancing. Read about the outfit and the wedding.

Other recent updates

A few smaller projects, experiments, and plans:

• Creative interests: She has been collecting and transcribing stand-up clips and studying how jokes work. She also worked on a song about the Andes plane crash, composing a melody and recording her own vocals over an AI-generated backing track.

• Health: She is trying to snack less and has been trying to balance morning sunlight with enough sleep, after finding that waking earlier left her tired.

• Winter plans: She and her spouse plan to spend the winter in Los Angeles, closer to friends and family.

Routines and background

Diet and exercise

Dash follows a protein-focused, organic diet. For exercise, she walks, pole dances, and does calisthenics.

Skin care

Dash has great skin and doesn’t gatekeep!

• Moisturizer: Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer, because it’s simple, inexpensive, and has a low hazard score from EWG.
• Tretinoin: 0.025%, as she works up to 0.05%.
• Sun protection: She always wears mineral sunscreen and also uses either a hat or an umbrella.

How Dash makes money

Dash made money from several previous businesses. She lives off those earnings and her investments while staying moderately frugal.

Family

Dash is married and has been with her partner for 14 years.