The Fog Is Your Friend

Most of my projects begin in the fog — a vague shadow of an idea, glimpsed but not clearly seen. That uncertainty can feel unsettling. Should I chase the half-seen idea, or settle for the safer one I can picture more clearly?

But here’s the thing: the safe, well-lit path casts its own shadows. Sometimes the danger is not in what you can’t see, but in the belief you’ve seen everything.

In DOTA, in most games, this is called the fog of war. You can only see as far as you or your allies reach, and when you step back, the map fades to grey again. This fading to grey is scary, but as streamer Jigglebilly once put it, “the fog is your friend” — if you can’t see what’s coming, neither can your opponents. Sometimes the best move is hidden in the shadows, just outside their view.

Life feels the same. The fog never really lifts, but we get better at moving through it — testing paths, placing a ward here and there for a glimpse ahead, and learning from the times we overextend into a multicast we should’ve seen coming.

This blog is my attempt at a map. Not a final guide, but a record of the paths I’ve taken, the wrong turns, and the occasional shortcuts. The fog will roll back in — it always does — but maybe next time I’ll recognise the terrain a little faster.

I’m Thomas — engineer by trade, blacksmith by craft, and recently, papa by miracle.

Most of my life has been about making things (and, if we’re being honest, breaking a fair share along the way). I’ve built hospitals, forged steel at the anvil, and tried my hand at more projects than I care to count. Now I’m also learning how to build something far less tangible: a life worth passing on.

This log is where I map that journey. Notes on fatherhood, work, craft, and the foggy in-between — the uncertain places where you don’t know what’s next, but step forward anyway. It’s not a guide or a sermon, just a record of what I’ve seen and what I’m still figuring out.

If you’re curious about the mix of hospitals, hammers, and honest reflection, you’re in the right place.