This entry is currently being actively drafted and revised. Content is subject to frequent, recursive modifications.

13,140 Hours of Vigil

I dreamed of building my own website. Though not the ultimate magnum opus of my life, how deeply romantic it is to actively archive one's trajectories and have those traces refracted through one's own singular gaze. The pursuit of a distinct singularity, unreachable through generic blogs or Instagram, served as a profound catalyst for creating my own digital sanctuary. Yet, it is no simple endeavor. To illustrate, from my very first attempt at musamjustmusam.com,

A Figma render of musamjustmusam.com designed back then (I no longer own this domain)

...nearly one year and six months had to elapse before I could finally deploy daseong.com, which I now deem (at least marginally) functional. Granted, I did not spend this entire epoch solely building this site. It was woven during the liminal spaces between other projects, progressing fitfully. Hence the protracted delay. Yet, on the other hand, I must confess that fashioning a vessel for oneself is, as stated, by no means an effortless task. Through these words, I wish to share the thoughts on labor and existence that have intensely unfolded across these eighteen months. This text serves also as a quiet congratulatory address (祝辭) for the provisional unveiling of this still-unfolding architecture.

No Simple Endeavor

Those fluent in the mechanics of engineering might reason thus:

• "A mere blog can be spun up in six hours."
• "Why not simply fork an open-source template and swap the interface?"
• "Delegate it to Claude; you can step away for a meal and return to a fully synthesized implementation." But I resisted. Had it merely been a system for publishing entries and hosting commentary, I surely would have succumbed to such efficiency. Yet, this was not a mere mechanism for publishing text; it was the act of sculpting my own digital domain. I perceived this not as a dilemma of engineering methodology, but of existential methodology—a question of how one chooses to traverse life, taking precedence over execution. Your creation is you, and my website is myself. Me, preserved as an inscription. My substance, synthesized through human reason.

It is not how you lived that defines you, but how you archived it. My website is no mere utility for text transmission; it is a repository of how I navigate existence, the currents that shape me, and the imperatives behind what I build and why.

Gauguin - Where Do We Come From What Are We Where Are We Going (1897-98)

The construction of this site could only reach resolution once I had sufficiently extracted answers to where I came from, where I stand, and where I am bound.

On the Temple Untrod by Anyone

To be frank, even if no one looks— I believe in contingency, necessity, and ultimately, destiny. I believe that out of countless contingencies, necessity crystallizes, and tightly interlaced necessities forge destiny. No matter how trivial or obsolete it may seem, a sincerity arising from deep within will reach those who truly need it, even if it bypasses the multitude.

Even if only ten souls visit my site—

I hope that what I am is defined not by myself, but by you, the reader of this text.

And whether you integrate that knowing into your own existence, or initiate direct communion with me—