The end of the year is always this weird liminal space for me. You know that feeling? Offices become ghost towns, everyone’s mentally checked out, and the world seems to pause between Christmas and New Year’s. Most people treat it like a collective nap.
But me? I get this strange surge of energy in anticipation of January.
This year was no different. However I’ve been a bit inconsistent with my blogging schedule, but I am still showing up for my 30-day writing challenge (every single day, thank you very much).
I’ve also been juggling my Chinese/English class, my wife taking a trip to South Korea with her sister, and a cat who has apparently decided that my lap is the only acceptable workspace in the entire house.
You try maintaining a content calendar when a furry dictator is demanding belly rubs at precisely the moment inspiration strikes. The cute little fucker.
Despite the chaos, I went all-in on what I’m calling my “vibe-coding experiment.” Building a note-taking app specifically designed for language learners.
And honestly? It’s been one of the most exciting weeks I’ve had in a while. So here’s your first real update on how this wild ride is going.
Platform of Choice: Lovable
When I first wrote about this challenge, I was knee-deep in Google AI Studio, building what I thought would be a functional prototype. And it was… sort of.
I could get about 80% of the core functions working for an MVP, which sounds great until you realize that the remaining 20% is the part where it looks decent and has a user-friendly layout, was driving me absolutely fucking bananas.
Hunched over my laptop at 2 AM, muttering increasingly creative phrases at my screen because I couldn’t figure out why my buttons refused to align properly. Not my finest moment.
So after some serious deliberation (and what I’ll generously call “research” but was really just endless Reddit scrolling, comparing platform flame wars), I pulled the trigger on a Pro Plan with Lovable.
Best decision I could’ve made.
Lovable’s onboarding was surprisingly intuitive, beginner-friendly for non-developers like myself. I was able to take everything I’d built in Google AI Studio and re-prompt it into Lovable, this time with a layout that didn’t make my eyes hurt and logic that kind of worked.
After an intense week of tinkering, experimenting, and occasionally shouting “YES!” when something clicked into place, I got the hang of it.
I’ve made the executive decision to stick with Lovable until either my vibe-coding skills level up significantly or my language learning app outgrows its adorable baby stage and needs something more sophisticated.
Building the Website (Kind of)
After 20 years of religiously using WordPress for absolutely everything, I decided to pivot.
But Lovable hooked me: it wasn’t just about building apps. I wanted to test-drive how these AI-powered platforms got so good at creating websites and landing pages. Could they really deliver on the hype?
This was my first time building a website entirely through prompts with AI assistance. And I have to admit, I’m honestly impressed. The result is clean, professional, and exactly what I was envisioning for an MVP SaaS product. No wrestling with CSS at midnight. No plugins breaking everything. The thing just works.
What I’ve accomplished so far:
- Published the home page with some basic placeholder content
- Added two calls-to-action buttons
- Currently wrestling with making the waitlist button functional
My plan for this week is to finish the essential pages and nail down the core information so I can start mapping out my branding and marketing strategy.
Finding the Right Brand Name
Finding a brand name is a special kind of torture. It’s worse than naming a pet, a band, or your firstborn child, because this name needs to work on every possible level.
My criteria list looked something like this:
- Short enough that people won’t abbreviate it into something unrecognizable
- Easy to pronounce
- Easy to spell and type
- Memorable enough to stick in someone’s brain
- Serious enough for dedicated language learners, but not so serious it feels like homework
- Professional, but not so corporate that it sounds like a management consulting firm
After more deliberation than this probably deserved, I landed on Strevius.
The name comes from “strenuous,” which by definition means: “requiring or involving the use of great energy or effort; characterized by great activity, effort, or endeavor.“
That’s what language learning is according to my experience. It’s not passive. It’s not easy. Every language learner knows the grind. Taking notes, documenting progress, pushing through plateaus when your brain feels like mush and you can’t remember if “embarrassed” has one ‘r’ or two.
For me, Strevius captures that spirit perfectly. Will everyone else see it the same way? Maybe not. But I plan to defend this brand name with the conviction.
Building The App: The Feature Creep
I spent a significant chunk of my trial phase in Google AI Studio, and I was completely winging it. What features should I include? What functions are actually necessary for an MVP? What’s “nice to have” versus “must have”?
And here’s where I fell into the trap.
Platforms like Lovable and Replit make building things soridiculouslyeasy that you end up in a rabbit hole, adding feature after feature like some kind of caffeinated squirrel collecting acorns.
Before you know it, you’ve lost sight of your original goals, buried under a mountain of “wouldn’t it be cool if…” ideas.
I’m blaming my enthusiasm for now (it sounds better than admitting I have zero self-control when it comes to shiny new features). But I’ve realized I need to take a breath, step back, and remind myself of something crucial: I’m currently focusing only on English/Traditional Chinese and Traditional Chinese/English speakers.
That’s my lane. That’s my MVP. Everything else is future-me’s problem.
What I’m currently building:
- Workspace creation (one dedicated space per language you’re learning, because your Japanese notes and Spanish notes don’t need to mingle for example)
- A basic note-taking app with rich editor functions (bold, italic, highlights, and other essentials)
- A translation feature where the words and sentences you look up can be added as flashcards or saved directly into notes within your designated workspace
- A separate area for general notes and documentation (because sometimes you just need to jot down “watch this anime” or “check out this podcast”)
I’ll be sharing more specific progress updates on my official roadmap on the website, while continuing to document the ups, downs, and occasional existential crises here on the blog.
Final Thoughts: The Joy of Building Something
I feel accomplished. Not in a “I’ve conquered Everest” way, but in that quieter, more satisfying way where you realize you’re doing the thing you said you’d do.
My vibe-coding experiment is going better than I anticipated. I was bracing myself for more hiccups, more frustrations, more moments of staring at error messages while questioning my life choices.
Instead, I feel genuinely inspired. I’m starting to understand how software developers and app creators feel when they’re building their micro-SaaS startups like their lives depend on it.
There’s this addictive quality to it. The problem-solving, the tiny victories, the moment when something you built works and does what you intended.
It’s strenuous work. But maybe that’s exactly why it feels so good.
More updates coming soon Here’s to building things in public and embracing the beautiful chaos of it all.
P.S. – Yes, I know the waitlist button isn’t working yet. I’m working on it. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and apparently neither are those fucking functional buttons.