May 12, 2026
I build everything twice
[DRAFT] Once in my head, then again with my hands — and why the second one always argues with the first.
[DRAFT — starter article, replace with the real thing.]
The first build is always the clean one. It lives in my head, where the parts fit because I haven’t tried to fit them yet. No tolerances, no friction, no bolt that’s seized after fifteen years in a Banten garage.
Then I build it again with my hands, and the second one argues with the first.
The gap is the work
That argument is where the actual design happens. The head version is a wish. The hand version is a negotiation — with the material, the deadline, the person who has to use the thing after I’m gone.
Why I don’t skip the first one
You could call the head version a waste. Skip straight to the hands. But I’ve found I need the wish to know what I’m compromising away from. Without it, the first compromise becomes the whole design, and nobody decided that on purpose.