# Randy Reflects

> Randy Reflects—where I write about things I learn. Some of my interests include language learning, language teaching, music, and photography. Welcome!

Author: Randy Josleyn — Language learner, language teacher, music lover. Living in Beijing, Boise, and elsewhere.
Website: https://www.randyreflects.com

## Posts

- [Math Rock](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/math-rock) (Essays, 2026-08-09): My answer to focus when working in an open-layout office: loud, rhythmically complex rock music.
- [Music Processing in the Brain](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/music-processing-in-the-brain) (Essays, 2026-07-29): Neuroscience can teach us a lot about how AI models could be taught to understand music.
- [Visceral Reactions to Music](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/visceral-reactions-to-music) (Essays, 2026-07-20): Daniel J. Levitin's writing on music, flow states, and the brain helps explain why I feel so strongly about certain music.
- [Coding with AI](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/coding-with-ai) (The Office, 2026-07-12): Agentic engineering is still a new thing. I write about two software developers’ strategies for working with AI to build software.
- [So You Want to Teach in China…](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/teaching-in-china) (Essays, 2026-06-26): Teaching in China is an exciting prospect that brings many challenges and opportunities.
- [Language Learning and Linguistics](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/language-learning-linguistics) (Essays, 2026-06-07): I explore the difference between learning a language and learning about a language.
- [A Short Reflection on Friendship](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/friendship-reflection) (Essays, 2026-06-01): Good friends are fun to be around—but they also tell it like it is.
- [The Future of Work](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/future-of-work) (Essays, 2026-05-16): Humans as workers may become obsolete in my lifetime. What will that look like? How will humanity cope?
- [Capturing Motion: Deciding on Shutter Speed](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/shutter-speed) (Guides, 2026-05-01): Avoid the disappointment of “that shot looked great in camera” but too blurry on your monitor: focus on controlling shutter speed in your camera shoots.
- [Plain-Text Accounting Web App](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/plain-text-accounting-web-app) (Essays, 2026-04-17): I decided to try my hand at writing a personal finance app. This app uses plain-text accounting, meaning all your data lives in boring old `.txt` files.
- [A Weekend at Treefort](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/a-weekend-at-treefort) (Essays, 2026-04-01): Food trucks, live music—and waiting in line at Costco—I chronicle several firsts for my wife and kid as they adjust to life in Boise.
- [Using Agent Skills to Teach LLMs New Things](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/agent-skills) (The Office, 2026-03-21): Agent skills are a new open format for teaching AI how to do new things, and the sky is the limit. Read about how I'm using them in my personal projects.
- [How to Translate SQL Data Analysis Patterns into Pandas](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/sql-to-pandas) (The Office, 2026-03-07): Learn how common SQL data analysis patterns translate to Pandas techniques.
- [What Happens During Chinese New Year?](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/chinese-new-year) (Essays, 2026-02-24): What do you know about Chinese New Year? I introduce the holiday as I’ve experienced it over the years.
- [How to Create a Monochromatic Sepia Effect in Darktable](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/darktable-sepia-monochrome) (Guides, 2026-02-15): I share a technique to create a sepia effect—with a downloadable style for Darktable.
- [Setting Default Modules and Presets in Darktable](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/darktable-default-modules) (Guides, 2026-02-08): In this short article, I show how to set default modules and presets to speed up the editing process in Darktable.
- [My Coffee Expenditures: An Express(o) Analysis](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/coffee-spending) (Essays, 2026-02-01): I do a little budget analysis of my coffee habit.
- [Using Obsidian Bases for Car Shopping](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/obsidian-bases-car-shopping) (Guides, 2026-01-25): I show how I use Obsidian Bases to shop for cars. Learn how to use this powerful feature of the popular note-taking app.
- [Using Data Analysis to Power the Car-Buying Process](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/buying-a-car) (Essays, 2026-01-20): I share what I learned about buying a car and how it helped reduce my stress during the process.
- [An Eventful 2025 in Review](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/2025-review) (Essays, 2026-01-08): I look back on all the things I've done this year, from international travel, to learning how to cook, to changing careers.
- [Making Deep Blue Skies with Parametric Masks in Darktable](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/skies-parametric-masks-darktable) (Guides, 2025-12-29): I show you how to make use a powerful masking feature to increase the saturation of the sky in an image. This technique pays dividends for many image-editing tasks!
- [Overcoming Culture Shock: What Research (and Experience) Suggests](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/culture-shock) (Essays, 2025-12-25): What does research say about overcoming culture shock? I combine key findings with personal stories from living in China to share practical ways to adjust.
- [Why I Like Guo Ding’s Song “The Fog Space”](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/the-fog-space-lyrics) (Essays, 2025-12-13): There is a big difference between healing and moving on, and this song illustrates it well.
- [Setting up the Darktable Interface](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/darktable-setup) (Guides, 2025-12-07): I describe the main settings in Darktable that may help flatten the learning curve.
- [PACT: A Catchy Alternative to SMART Goals](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/pact-goals) (Essays, 2025-11-24): I nerd out on goal-setting frameworks. PACT is a little-known one I found in one corner of the internet.
- [The Math Behind Depth of Field](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/depth-of-field-math) (Essays, 2025-11-09): I describe the math behind depth of field and visualize it to better understand how it works.
- [Notes on Choosing the Right F-Stop](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/notes-on-choosing-the-right-f-stop) (Guides, 2025-11-03): After taking fall foliage pictures in the park recently, I share what I learned about f-stop from my photos.
- [Notes on Loneliness and Social Media](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/loneliness-social-media) (Essays, 2025-10-28): When I returned from China to find work in the US, I didn’t expect to feel so lonely in my hometown. I reflect on how social media can sometimes make it worse and suggest what might actually help.
- [How to Calibrate White Balance and Adjust Colors in Darktable](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/how-to-calibrate-white-balance-and-adjust-colors-in-darktable) (Guides, 2025-10-21): I show how to correct the colors of an image to set the stage for creative color grading.
- [How Information Theory Can Improve Your Photo Organization](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/how-information-theory-can-improve-your-photo-organization) (Guides, 2025-10-11): Learn how information theory and cognition reveal better ways to organize your photos.
- [Machine Learning Approaches to Marketing in the Banking Sector](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/machine-learning-approaches-to-marketing-in-the-banking-sector) (The Office, 2025-10-07): This project explores machine learning approaches to forecasting customer engagement in a Portuguese financial institution’s term deposit direct marketing campaign, highlighting data-driven insights for business strategy.
- [Statistics: Remembering Sensitivity and Specificity](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/statistics-remembering-sensitivity-and-specificity) (The Office, 2025-09-30): I had trouble remembering what sensitivity and specificity were. After writing this blog post, I won’t forget. (Includes a poor drawing of Rambo!)
- [Darktable for Beginners: How to Import Photos from an SD Card or Camera](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/darktable-for-beginners-how-to-import-photos-from-an-sd-card-or-camera) (Guides, 2025-09-21): This tutorial walks new Darktable users through the process of importing photos from their cameras or SD cards.
- [Recipe: Tzatziki Chicken Sandwich](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/recipe-tzatziki-chicken-sandwich) (Guides, 2025-09-15): I try making a simple but delicious sauce. In the process, I learn a little about some of its ingredients.
- [Cropping Photos: Creativity, Discipline, and Exercises](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/cropping-photos-creativity-discipline-and-exercises) (Guides, 2025-09-09): A look at the philosophy and practice of cropping photos, with exercises to sharpen your skills and examples from my photography.
- [Using Unsupervised Machine Learning to Tag Blog Posts](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/using-unsupervised-machine-learning-to-tag-blog-posts) (The Office, 2025-09-01): I describe the process for using machine learning to categorize my blog posts with Python.
- [How to Create a Retro Sepia Effect in Darktable](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/how-to-create-a-retro-sepia-effect-in-darktable) (Guides, 2025-08-24): Learn how to use the split-toning module in Darktable to create a 70s retro sepia photo effect.
- [Recipe: Simple Chicken Stir Fry](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/recipe-simple-chicken-stir-fry) (Guides, 2025-08-17): In my quest to eat more healthily, I’ve been learning how to cook chicken. Here’s a quick and simple dish I like to make.
- [“I Need a Coffee:” A Tiny Coffee Tour of Japan](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/i-need-a-coffee-a-tiny-coffee-tour-of-japan) (Essays, 2025-08-10): While we were in Japan, my dad and I drank a whole lot of coffee. I share which places we liked and which we didn’t.
- [To Japan and Back Again: How the Trip Went](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/to-japan-and-back-again-how-the-trip-went) (Essays, 2025-08-01): My third trip to Japan was a success, but not without its hiccups. Here’s what I learned from the experience.
- [My Japan Itinerary](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/my-japan-itinerary) (Essays, 2025-07-20): I share my ten-day summer Japan itinerary, covering Kyoto and Tokyo with a day trip to Nara.
- [The Bhagavad Gita on Relationships](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/the-bhagavad-gita-on-relationships) (Essays, 2025-07-10): The Bhagavad Gita is a hugely important work in Hinduism. In this article, I look to what it can teach me about my family relationships.
- [A Reflection on Family Relationships](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/a-reflection-on-family-relationships) (Essays, 2025-07-03): As my son begins his second year of life, I consider some important issues surrounding my young family.
- [Two Passing Ships on the Sea: A Graduation Reflection](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/two-passing-ships-on-the-sea-a-graduation-reflection) (Essays, 2025-06-15): My 12th-grade students graduated a few days ago. I reflect on my own experience moving abroad in 2017 and on the challenges and opportunities they will also face.
- [How to Play Rummy](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/how-to-play-rummy) (Guides, 2025-06-01): If you want to know how to play rummy, I’ve compiled a summary of the rules here.
- [Bias-Variance Trade-Off: The Case of a Lemonade Stand](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/bias-variance-trade-off-the-case-of-a-lemonade-stand) (The Office, 2025-05-18): In this article, I examine an important concept in machine learning: the bias-variance trade-off.
- [Five Artists That Influenced My Childhood](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/five-artists-that-influenced-my-childhood) (Essays, 2025-05-07): I share the five artists that had a huge influence on my childhood.
- [How AI Is Affecting Education—And What It Means for the Future](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/how-ai-is-affecting-education-and-what-it-means-for-the-future) (The Office, 2025-04-20): AI is upsetting the power balance between teachers and students. I explore how teachers can adapt to the rise of generative AI and use it to promote real learning and critical thinking.
- [How a Black Eye Changed How I Hear Music](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/how-a-black-eye-changed-how-i-hear-music) (Essays, 2025-04-03): One punk rock show taught me how to value connection over perfection.
- [Introduction to AI and Machine Learning](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/introduction-to-ai-and-machine-learning) (The Office, 2025-03-24): I give an introduction to the basic concepts of machine learning.
- [Teleology in the Baghavad Gita vs. Aristotle](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/teleology-in-the-baghavad-gita-vs-aristotle) (Essays, 2025-03-10): I look at human purpose between Hinduism and Aristotelian virtue ethics.
- [Initial Thoughts on the Baghavad Gita](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/initial-thoughts-on-the-baghavad-gita) (Essays, 2025-02-23): My initial thoughts and questions on the translator’s introduction.
- [Book Review of Being Good by Simon Blackburn](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/book-review-of-being-good-by-simon-blackburn) (Essays, 2025-02-14): I review a book which I purchased to evaluate as a resource for my students.
- [Brodsky’s Reading List for an Intelligent Conversation](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/brodskys-reading-list-for-an-intelligent-conversation) (Essays, 2025-02-04): I’m considering joining my father in reading Joseph Brodsky’s list of 83 classic works. Will it make me smarter or better at conversation? We’ll see.
- [I’d Love to Learn How to Draw](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/id-love-to-learn-how-to-draw) (Essays, 2025-01-27): I’d do it for creative expression, personal betterment, and family bonding.
- [Reflections on Change, Virtue, and Parenthood](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/reflections-on-change-virtue-and-parenthood) (Essays, 2025-01-06): I reflect on how fatherhood, philosophy, and good friends helped me grow in 2024.
- [Making Browser-Based Educational Games](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/making-browser-based-educational-games) (The Office, 2024-12-01): I describe my recent experience making a browser-based word matching game for a colleague. src="/src/assets/posts/img/game-screenshot.png"
- [Making Slideshows with AI](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/making-slideshows-with-ai) (The Office, 2024-10-20): I demonstrate the process from idea to PowerPoint slideshow. It’s a technique that saves me hours of time every semester.
- [From Newborn to “Gooh” in Twelve Weeks](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/from-newborn-to-gooh) (Essays, 2024-09-18): I share my son’s progress in his first twelve weeks of life.
- [Installing Web Apps with Chromium](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/installing-web-apps-with-chromium) (Guides, 2024-08-27): I document the procedure for installing a web app that didn’t install itself correctly.
- [Adding Page Labels to PDFs](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/adding-page-labels-to-pdfs) (Guides, 2024-08-26): I hate it when the page numbers in a PDF don’t match the numbers in a scanned document.
- [Scraping the Web for IELTS Questions](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/scraping-the-web-for-ielts-questions) (The Office, 2024-08-18): I use Python to build a library of IELTS writing questions I can use in the classroom.
- [Planning for the New School Year](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/planning-for-the-new-school-year) (The Office, 2024-08-15): I’m an English teacher. I’m preparing for the new school year starting next month.
- [Analyzing Personal Finances with Python and Ledger](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/analyzing-personal-finances-with-python-and-ledger) (Guides, 2024-08-06): I start learning how to use the Pandas library to analyze my personal finances.
- [My Apartment Cleaning Soundtrack](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/my-apartment-cleaning-soundtrack) (Essays, 2024-07-31): You can learn a lot from a song, even when you’re cleaning your apartment.
- [Thinking About Moving to Seattle](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/thinking-about-moving-to-seattle) (Essays, 2024-07-24): In preparation for moving back to the US next year, I need to get my budget in order.
- [A Bellybutton](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/a-bellybutton) (Essays, 2024-07-17): In my son’s third week of life, he now has a regular-looking bellybutton.
- [Two Weeks As Dad: Hands and Cloth Diapers](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/two-weeks-as-dad) (Essays, 2024-07-10): My son found out he has hands. He still hasn’t figured out how to use them. My hands are hurting from washing cloth diapers.
- [My First Week of Fatherhood](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/my-first-week-of-fatherhood) (Essays, 2024-07-06): I did my best to prepare for fatherhood, but some things still caught me off guard.
- [My Son Was Born](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/my-son-was-born) (Essays, 2024-06-26): My son was born, 8lb 10oz.
- [More Summer in a Northeastern Chinese Town](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/more-summer-in-a-northeastern-chinese-town) (Essays, 2024-06-24): Days like this are hard to come by.
- [Early Summer in a Northeastern Chinese City](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/summer-in-a-northeastern-chinese-city) (Essays, 2024-06-24): A slice of life in a “small town” in Northeast China.
- [Learning to Salsa](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/learning-to-salsa) (Guides, 2024-06-21): I’m uncoordinated. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like dancing!
- [Moving Your Site Hosting but not Your Email](https://www.randyreflects.com/posts/moving-your-site-hosting-but-not-your-email) (The Office, 2024-06-18): My site hosting provider hosts my email, too. I want to move my site hosting, but I want to keep my email where it is. Follow along as I learn how.

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