Susanna Codes

Center Of Gravity Continuing with the theme of Phutureprimitive, today's blog post is named after his trance track "Center of Gravity" (spelled the American way, which is also used in code!!!). I like his use of breath within the song as part of the sounds.  I think it's very very unique and very very unusual. Really random picture... this is a cardboard factory in my hometown in Luxembourg. Can you see those trees? I love them so, so, so much. I used to go round there and dance to Phutureprimitive's music, when there was no-one around, and it was empty. Dancing to trance music in a vast, open, empty space... is my idea of heaven. Centring an Element Aptly fitting the title of this blog post, my first thought was about how to centre an element. I think that the following code works really well: selector {     margin: 0 auto; } So if you were thinking of using "margin: center;" like me (oops)... think again... and instead use the above!  Here it is one mo...

Cryogenic Dreams Today I am knackered. I've been doing a lot of hosting at work and I have a lot of other stuff going on (big news) and I have set myself one coding goal: watch a video with Codecademy about the Box Model in the Dev Tools. WOW! I learned the most amazing thing in the Dev tools... I can't BELIEVE that I didn't know this before... So if you...: Go to the dev tools Select the HTML element Use the + button in Styles to add a new style  Edit the HTML selector to be a universal selector * Enter in this following block of code: * {     border: 1px solid red !important; } This will add boxes around every single element on the website! Super helpful. I should also add if you are as neurodivergent as me (and as pedantic) it can be whatever you want - 10px double aquamarine etc. - but it might get harder to read. Also, you might not need the !important . But it is good to know it just in case... Calculating Width To calculate the width of an HTML element's box w...

Aftertouch Aftertouch by Princess Chelsea is a magical, ethereal, supernatural, surreal song.  I listened to it on my trip to Liverpool in 2022, while I was hoping and praying and dreaming for the successful outcome to my Product role interview.  The music video is really something else too. The one thing I will say is - that it never had the same impact on me as the first time that I watched it. So pay very very close attention to your first watch! I also really like how it's styled like a sort-of karaoke video. Princess Chelsea has no shortage of creative music videos - I'd like to talk some more about "Caution Repetitive" some time, in particular, especially. Princess Chelsea "Aftertouch" - A clip from the music video. Learning Dev Tools Yesterday I started learning dev tools as a way of exploring CSS features in websites. E.g.  Going to the three dots menu on Chrome -> More tools -> Developer tools And then going to the Elements tab from which you ...

I've Just Returned From The Salt, Salt Sea I'm going back to CSS for a bit. I've made the decision. My head is so full of JavaScript atm. I need to take a break from it for a bit - and also thanks to one of the amazing EM's at work I have a new approach. I'm not going to be trying to memorise everything from CSS anymore. Because, the main thing with every feature and function of CSS is to know that it exists, right? I can always look it up.  Thank you. 💚👽💚👽 Wrapping Up The Box Model I finally went back to my CSS Box Model and I finished wrapping up the task where you just play around with the example for a little bit. I finally did this after I put this up for months. What I enjoyed: switching up the colours. What I wasn't as fussed about: changing things like margins and padding sizes. What can I say, though? I just really like bright colours. 😍😍😍😍 Changing the Box Model The main elements in the box model are: The box dimensions The borders The padding ...

 I'll Pick You Up "Oh, I'll pick you up If you come back to America You should just hit me up Cos this is crazy love I'll catch you on the flipside If you come back to California You should just hit me up". - Lana del Rey, California Here is California by LDR being covered by one of my favourite singers and cover artists of all time, Erato Benetou. And I just want to say something that I have learned over the past couple of years:  Hold onto that little voice inside of you that tells you that everything is happening for a reason and that you are on the right path - because that voice will never, never steer you wrong, and it will always, always be worth it. 💚💜 Huge changes are happening in my life I can't say too much but I am having the BEST DAYS EVER. I remain so, so hopeful for my life and for my future. A Growth Mindset I was speaking to a product manager from work and he gave the me most amazing feedback ever. He told me that I was the perfect example ...

No Time For Caution I love programming so so much.  Here is the song this blog post is named after. I Built My First Ever Game I have published my first ever game! It's Rock Paper Scissors and it's on CodePen. Massive shout-out to Rosana because they really helped me out.  You can play it here. I Heartfeltly Love Programming I love programming more than anything else in this world. I love programming more than anything in my life (apart from, of course, you know, well, my family).  I love it so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much. How I Feel Right Now 💜

Til The Siren Comes Calling Siren Song is a song by the beautiful British singer Bat For Lashes. I am in love with all of the softness and the tenderness that is wrapped up in this song.  I used to listen to Bat For Lashes a lot when I was living and studying in Liverpool. It all started with the song 'Daniel'. It came up as a YouTube recommendation for me and it completely changed my life. I even went to see her live when I was living in Manchester the following year.  Bat for Lashes has helped me so much with living with the struggles and pressures of being a young woman - I was mainly into her at 24 and 25, a time when so many things are uncertain and you are still trying to figure things out. I am getting back into her again now at 28 - what does that say about me now? Well actually probably the same thing - that I am growing, changing, and evolving. And that I need support along the way. Like all people, I need support along the way. And sometimes, music can be that suppo...

Becoming One Of The People Becoming One of the People is one of my favourite songs from the original Avatar's first soundtrack. I listened to it again and again while I was writing up my second Master's dissertation. My love for the earth was what fuelled me on to write so much about such a difficult topic and if there's one thing that the Avatar movies remind me of it's my love for the earth. 💚💙💚💙💜 I DID MY FIRST SUCCESSFUL DEBUGGING TODAY!!! In my Rock Paper Scissors game, I realised you could only tie, or lose. Then I tested it with rock. And you could win with rock. But not with paper or scissors. Then I realised that I had this:  if (computerChoice === 'rock') but then further down in my function, I only had if (computerChoice = 'paper') and if (computerChoice = 'scissors') (And actually scissors was spelled wrong there as well previously). Can you see the difference? It was a lack of = operators. In an if statement, there should be t...

The Future Belongs To Those Who Believe In The Beauty Of Their Dreams Here is a photo of the Lac de la Lande, a lake in France, in the Vosges Mountain Range 💖💖💖, that I went hiking to when I was about 15. I have mentioned it on here before. It is a legit photo taken by my friend as I stood next to her. Can you see the dam on the end of the lake? I stood on that dam aged 15 and felt more powerful than I had ever done in my life. I can still feel that power that I felt standing on that dam 'til this day.  As it is a hydroelectric dam, and I have been obsessed with electricity my whole life, this makes sense. I frequently return to that place in my mind when I need a feeling of power. It takes power to balance learning to code with a Product role  It takes power to believe passionately in your dreams It takes power to have faith that your dreams will come true. But, don't you know? That Eleanor Roosevelt said: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their...

Set Yourself On Fire, Part II "Now come and stand, see the sights and warm your hands, and fan the flame inside of me." - Charlotte Gainsbourg, 'Set Yourself On Fire' I bought  a book over the weekend and it changed my life.  I woke up on Saturday, knowing that I needed to go to London, and that I needed to go to Foyles, and that I needed to buy myself a JavaScript book there. So that's exactly what I did.  I read about Rock Paper Scissors in it.  And lo and behold, on Sunday, I woke up, and I knew the answer to my Rock Paper Scissors question I had been not only stuck on but distraught over for the past few days.  What was I doing wrong? I had been trying to put an if/else statement inside of a function. I had spent so long on functions that I had forgotten that you do not actually need to put if/else statements inside of them... Further Thoughts On RPS Again, I have been learning with Carlos. Carlos is so, so good. Carlos is so, so, so, so, so, so, so good. ...

Set Yourself On Fire "Set Yourself on Fire" is a song by the British/French artist Charlotte Gainsbourg.  "Been burning all my life  So come and set my house alight Yeah, come and set my spirit free". When I read the above three lines I almost burst into tears (for the 3rd time writing this post). Because: This is exactly me. This is exactly my story. All my life I have been moving towards this great, great, great passion.  All my life I feel I have been moving towards something wonderful. Something that I was meant to be doing.  And I feel like I finally found it with coding.  I love this thing so, so much. I love this passion. I love this journey. "Been burning all my life/so come and set my house alight/ yeah, come and set my spirit free". Charlotte Gainsbourg is the daughter of legendary French musician Serge Gainsbourg. His song, Bonnie and Clyde , with Brigitte Bardot, has beautiful and immense healing potential and powers as well and I have often li...

I'll Do It For The Right Reasons Everything I do, I do out of love.  Even Software Engineering. Ultimately, I don't do it for the Software Engineering of it - although, I do love that as well - but ultimately I do it for love.  I do it because I love it. If you are not doing something out of love, then what are you doing it out of really?  P.S. As usual I am quoting Lana Del Rey, "Yosemite", my top/one of my top 3 BECOMING AN ENGINEER songs. I did it on purpose today because I do need that extra boost. I am exhausted. I am knackered. But I have the strength to keep going because I am doing it out of LOVE. 💓 The Yosemite National Park, the namesake for the song that keeps me inspired and motivated on my Software Engineering journey. Learning My Lessons Sion  I am actually going to struggle writing this one a little bit (Sion, I hope you don't mind). Sion was my manager from October 2021-April 2022 and he basically managed my while I was really really struggling in...

Every Time It Turns To May, All My Sisters Fly To Me, To Paint "Blue Banisters" by Lana del Rey is one of the softest and the gentlest songs I know. And actually, there's a  cover  that I really like - and it's by me, lol 😂 back when I had long blue/green hair (kind of like the colour of the sea). But obviously I recommend the original (of course). It's a beautiful song about femininity and about friendship. If you know anything about me then you'll know that I love softness and I love gentleness. I wish that the whole world could be soft and gentle, always. But one of the hills near my house in Luxembourg, (that I call the 'American Hill' because if you climb deep enough and far enough, it feels like you are in America), and one of my favourite parks in Liverpool (Sefton Park), and my FAVOURITE COVER ARTIST and probably my favourite singer in the world, Erato Benetou , all feel SOFT. They all feel gentle. They all have soft, soft, soft energies. And ...