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Here was my last Workplace post in the "Shitposting" group the night before the mass layoffs:
In the end, it doesn't even matter
I was incline benching 155 lbs in the packed MPK gym this evening while some Metabrothers were standing in front of me waiting for the squat rack, and I heard that song "I tried so hard, and got so far. But in the end, it doesn't even matter. I had to fall, to lose it all. But in the end, it doesn't even matterrrrrr".
That was always my favorite Linkin Park song since I was a kid. I love that melancholic piano melody interweaving with Mike Shinoda's rapping. Some people have told me I look like him - and we do both share samurai blood - but I don't sound as good rapping.
I love music, but I admit I rarely pay attention to lyrics unless they're particularly good ("I See $'s" by Yung Dolph) or bad (that hideous pop remix of Eiffel 65's "Blue"). But this time the lyrics stood out, like a message from Mike Shinoda himself. "In the end, it doesn't even matter" sure hits different with 5/20 coming up.
A great reminder that at the end of the day, none of this really matters.
Well unless you're on a H1B visa. Then you have 60 days to find another job.
Or if you have a $12k/month mortgage on a $1.6m starter home in a San Jose hood and your emergency fund only covers 6 months expenses. Then you better start dusting off that resume.
Or if you're a junior/mid level software engineer who didn't graduate from Stanford University CS and haven't been Leetcode grinding since prep school - I heard the market's rough out there.
But it's all good because a lot of the tech CEOs are telling us that there will be a surge in new jobs due to the incredible productivity boost of AI. We just don't know when yet. But to be honest if you're still reading this, you're probably not landing one of those $100m offers anytime anyways (I don't mean to discourage anyone though - print this out, put it on your fridge, and prove me wrong! Thank me later!)
I saw a lot of orange lanyards tonight at Epic Cafe dinner in MPK classic. They were serving poke, and I love poke. Of course Meta poke isn't as good as Masa Sushi in Mountain View, and they douse it in too much sauce, but it's poke. It's the gesture that counts. Maybe there's some humanity left in this world after all. And maybe wearing an orange lanyard isn't so bad after all. They're always smiling, laughing, so happy to be here. If only there were a way to wear that orange lanyard and still get the vests (marry a Metamate?).
I still own a lot of stock. I hope the stock will recover. Layoffs will reduce company costs, which should boost the stock price. Sometimes in life you need to sacrifice. Sometimes you gotta grind it out for that arbitrary deadline. Sometimes you gotta write Google Docs for your Direction axis. Sometimes you gotta align in meetings. Sometimes you gotta dogfood. Sometimes you gotta pull those Deltoid metrics and screenshot paste them into Google Docs. Sometimes you gotta tell Claude to write PHP. Sometimes you gotta label training data for avocado. Sometimes you gotta take one for the team. This isn't Nvidia, we stack rank here baby.
No matter how tough it may be, remember that in the end it doesn't even matter. Be grateful you got to contribute to the impact, even if your final impact was sacrificing yourself for shareholder value.
It starts with one thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to explain in due time
All I know, time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day, the clock ticks life away
It's so unreal, didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Tryna hold on, d-didn't even know
I wasted it all just to watch you go
I kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when
I tried so hard, and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to remind myself how I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mockin' me, actin' like I was part of your property
Rememberin' all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so far
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then, but it all comes back to me in the end
You kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when
I tried so hard, and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should know
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
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