So when you say the light hits the page and not your eyes, is that mostly from the clip lamp angle or does the wall color behind the chair matter too? Been fighting this exact problem in my apartment for months and I keep blaming the lamp when maybe it's the spot. Also curious how low those Ann Arbor chairs actually sat, like seat height wise, because my current setup has me sinking so far back that the mug idea would never work without a table anyway. Did you measure the chair or just eyeball it when you tried to copy the setup? And does the 45 degree thing still work if your shelf is higher than your head when you're sitting down?

Been there. I did the finger poke thing for years and it lied to me every time (my kitchen runs warm so the outside felt fine while the middle was soup). Now I just stick a meat thermometer in the butter and pull it when it hits around 65 degrees, which sounds fussy but takes two seconds and saved my sanity. The chill time is the real hero though, I do 30 minutes minimum and my cookies stopped being puddles after that. Two trays is a cheap lesson when you've got a class party breathing down your neck, honestly.