My Homelab Is Now Configuration as Therapy
I installed Kubernetes in my house. Not because I needed it. Because I was sad.
Therapy is $200 an hour. A three-node homelab cluster is $800 once and it distracts you from your problems for years. Do the math.
The Setup
I have three Intel NUCs that I bought on eBay from a guy who seemed like he was selling them under duress. They run a K3s cluster that manages exactly two workloads:
- A Pi-hole pod (critical infrastructure)
- A Minecraft server that nobody plays on (emotional support)
The cluster itself consumes about 15 services, 47 configuration maps, 12 persistent volume claims, and an alarming amount of my will to live.
Every time I kubectl get pods --all-namespaces and see everything running, I get a little hit of dopamine. It’s cheaper than Lexapro and arguably more addictive.
The Breaking Point
Last week I spent six hours debugging a networking issue. Turns out I had the wrong DNS server configured. Not because I made a mistake. Because I changed it three weeks ago and forgot. Then I changed it back and forgot that too.
I stared at the YAML for so long that I started seeing indent: 2 in my dreams.
My girlfriend asked me what I was doing. I said “reconciling my desired state with the observed state.” She said “so you’re fixing the internet?” I said “its more complicated than that.” She said “the Wi-Fi works fine.” I said “that’s not the point” and she walked away.
She doesn’t understand me. The cluster does.
The Realization
I don’t need Kubernetes. I need a hobby that isn’t just another job I don’t get paid for.
But also, have you seen how clean a properly configured Calico network policy looks? It’s beautiful. I’d frame it if I had any wall space left that isn’t covered in ethernet cables.
Moral of the story: kubectl apply is cheaper than therapy. Results may vary.