This website is a heavy work-in-progress as of 1/31/2025, It's still getting setup as of that date. known issues

This space is an archive of my creations, the places I've been, and the experiences that have shaped me. It's a home for reflections, creative experiments, and curated notes. Here, I collect fragments of thought, track ongoing projects, and preserve moments that might otherwise fade with time.

In keeping with the ethos of Merveilles[^1], the design of this space embraces a minimalism and accessibility. To uphold these principles, I have intentionally avoided JavaScript to ensure the site remains lightweight, fast, and functional across a wide range of devices and browsers.

A System for Knowledge

This space is generated by Ordinal[^2], a custom-built static site generator written in Python. Ordinal processes content structured in Markdown, extracting metadata from frontmatter and transforming it into interconnected web pages. The system uses Jinja2 templates to dynamically render each page, ensuring a consistent structure while allowing for flexible layouts. Styling is handled with Dart SCSS, for a more organized approach to CSS.

I had accumulated a large number of journal entries and notes over the years, all interlinked wiki-style, having written them with tools like Vimwiki, moving to Dendron, and then Obsidian. Over time, I built a system that worked the way my brain is wired.

Ordinal is hypertext focused. Wikilinks resolve into bidirectional linking references, structuring information dynamically.[^3]. Metadata enables categorization, sorting, and filtering[^4]. The result is an archive that functions more like a network of thought.

Closing

Over time, I’ll be adding more to this site as I go through past entries. Most were written for myself, never with an audience in mind. Some are exceptionally well-written pieces, carefully structured and thought out, while others are scattered thoughts or quick notes. They can be opinionated, and I don’t always agree with them anymore, but each one served a purpose at some point.

— Aleph

I'm Aleph, a multidisciplinary developer exploring software engineering, game development, and design. I'm fascinated by emergence, both in how it unfolds within systems and how communities form, adapt, and grow as ecosystems around the creations within them.

Personal Projects

In my free time, I primarily work with Python and have built various tools, including Auger, an RSS feed aggregator for the Merveilles Webring Project, and Starlamp which was a django based portfolio management tool. I’ve also explored C, developing projects like Apsis an attempt at a global metronome for networked music performances using SDL, and Sidg64, an early attempt at a Snowflake ID generator for PostgreSQL, which gave me experience working with libpq-fe. My first website, sudogami, was initially written in C, a fork of Hundred Rabbit's static site generator, but later migrated to the 11ty JavaScript framework as a static site generator.

Currently, I’m working with Drednorzt on an undisclosed project under the team name Creation, where we work on videogames. We originally started as a small team developing in the early development preview of S&box, working with Source Engine 2. During this time, I gained experience creating 3D models in both Blender and Hammer 2, as well as designing textures in Substance Designer and Photoshop. We later transitioned to Unity before ultimately settling on Unreal Engine, where we continue our work today.

Professional Experience

In my professional life, I've worked in IT Operations and DevOps within large enterprise settings, building reliable systems in Python, orchestrating automation with Ansible, and monitoring infrastructure with Prometheus and Grafana. I’ve built and maintained CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins and Bitbucket, deployed containerized applications using Docker, Podman, and Kubernetes, and enforced infrastructure-as-code practices with Puppet.

Beyond enterprise work, I’ve contributed to smaller, experimental projects. I maintained web infrastructure and developed asset pipelines for Evil-Algorithm, a VFX studio founded by David Karlack and Leri Greer focused on immersive world design. My role involved building workflows to streamline integration between third-party tools.

Tools I Use

My tools of the trade are as follows: I primarily use VS Code for programming, with Visual Studio when needed. For image editing, I use Affinity Photo as a replacement for Photoshop. Blender is my go-to for 3D modeling, and while I’ve used Substance Designer for texture creation, I prefer handcrafted textures over procedurally generated ones. For 2D vector art, I use Inkscape.

Email: AlephOhara@proton.me, Mastodon