diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index b2eaaac..4327cde 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *Builder) void {
     const source_files = [_][]const u8{"src/journal/main.c"};
 
     for (source_files) |source| {
-        exe.addCSourceFile(source, [_][]const u8{"-W -O"});
+        exe.addCSourceFile(source, [_][]const u8{"-Wall"});
     }
 
     const zig_sources = [_][]const u8{"src/journal/journal.zig"};
diff --git a/src/journal/journal.zig b/src/journal/journal.zig
index e1f6826..af166b7 100644
--- a/src/journal/journal.zig
+++ b/src/journal/journal.zig
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ fn sliceify(ptr: [*]u8) []u8 {
     return ptr[0..c.strlen(ptr)];
 }
 
+fn sliceifyKnown(slice: []u8) []u8 {
+    return slice[0..c.strlen(slice.ptr)];
+}
+
 export fn journal_open(topic_cptr: ?[*]u8) os.fd_t {
     const topic = sliceify(topic_cptr.?);
 
@@ -75,19 +79,23 @@ export fn journal_write_topic(
     topic_cptr: ?[*]u8,
     message_cptr: ?[*]u8,
 ) void {
+    warn("zig uwu\n");
     var topic = sliceify(topic_cptr.?);
     var message = sliceify(message_cptr.?);
 
-    var tstamp_total = allocator.alloc(u8, 128);
+    var tstamp_total = allocator.alloc(u8, 128) catch |err| {
+        warn("failed to allocate string for timestamp\n");
+        return;
+    };
     defer allocator.free(tstamp_total);
 
     var rawtime: c.time_t = undefined;
 
     _ = c.time(&rawtime);
     var cur_time: [*c]const c.struct_tm = c.gmtime(&rawtime);
-    _ = c.strftime(tstamp_cstr.ptr, usize(128), c"%c", cur_time);
+    _ = c.strftime(tstamp_total.ptr, usize(128), c"%c", cur_time);
 
-    var tstamp = sliceify(tstamp_total);
+    var tstamp = sliceifyKnown(tstamp_total);
 
     std.debug.warn("tstamp: {}\ntopic: {}\nmsg: {}\n", tstamp, topic, message);