Build Beautiful Things

Main Quests

Main Quest · 01

Build a company

I believe that the most productive way to contribute to the world is to create a business. It will turn energy into solutions to problems that previously went unsolved.

As a 21 year old, I think there is currently no greater mission in my life than creating a business that solves problems in a better way.

In Progress
Photo: hardtech workspace / circuitry
Electronics workbench with a subwoofer, breadboard circuits, amplifier boards, soldering iron, and microphone
The bench mid-build: speaker, breadboard, solder, and a plan.
Main Quest · 02

Earn a physics degree

Physics is the language of the universe and the scaffolding of what is buildable. Understanding physics means understanding what is possible, which is essential in guiding my ambitions.

In Progress
Photo: equation sheet
Handwritten physics equation sheet covering tight-binding models, graphene, and the Hall effect
Condensed matter physics, condensed onto a single page.

Side Quests

Side Quest · 01

Create a fishing videogame: Brackish

Brackish is a fishing game with one non-negotiable requirement: it has to be genuinely, grin-inducingly fun. Not "fun for an indie game" — fun, period. The tagline tells you the rest: your boat is smaller than you think.

Under the calm surface it's a full-stack creative challenge — game feel, the physics of the cast and the fight, the "one more catch" loop, and the creeping suspicion that something much bigger is circling below. Building a world people want to stay in is its own kind of engineering.

In Progress
Photo: Brackish logo
Brackish logo — a fisherman in a small boat above an enormous open-mouthed sea creature
Brackish — your boat is smaller than you think.
Side Quest · 02

Set a Guinness World Record

Most consecutive L-sit pull-ups: 30. Set on May 30, 2025 in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

An L-sit pull-up makes you hold your legs parallel to the floor for every single rep. I saw that this record was relatively low hanging fruit and spent about a month training for it. Hopefully it doesn't get broken too soon...

Complete
Photo: world record
Sam holding a framed Guinness World Records certificate for the most consecutive L-sit pull-ups, 30
Thirty L-sit pull-ups later: the certificate, framed.
Side Quest · 03

Cook eggs 50 different ways

Fifty ways, one humble ingredient. Cooking makes me a more rounded person — someone who can create in the kitchen, not just at the workbench, and who understands the effort behind every delicious dish.

Complete
Photo: cooking
Cast-iron skillet of shakshuka — eggs poached in tomato sauce, topped with feta and cilantro
One of the fifty: shakshuka in cast iron, feta and cilantro on top.
Side Quest · 04

Memorize 5,000 constants & facts

The mass of the Moon (7.3 × 10²² kg — about 1/81 of Earth). The energy density of diesel. The GDP of Indonesia. I keep a running arsenal of ~5,000 constants and facts, drilled daily with spaced repetition — the raw material for Fermi estimation.

With enough anchors in your head, you can sanity-check almost any claim, size almost any market, and estimate almost any quantity to within an order of magnitude — no search bar required.

Ongoing
Photo: flashcard
Anki flashcard reading 'Moon mass: 7.3 × 10²² kg (~1/81 of Earth)'
Card 1 of ~5,000: the Moon, weighed.
Guiding Principle
“To glorify God with this gift of life by creating beautiful things.

Every quest on this page — the physics, the hardware, the game, even the eggs — is downstream of this one sentence. Craft is a form of gratitude.

Photo: Rome trip
Ornate baroque church ceiling in Rome — gilded frescoes of saints and angels
A ceiling someone spent their life on.