This weeks notes is brought to you by these three emoji’s.
🩹 – The band-aid was ripped
Well, temporary no longer! Almost 3 months later, the company I worked for has decided the layoff was no longer temporary. Docs signed and all. The weight of will they, won’t they, has been lifted. And the answer is… thanks for all the fish.
🚪& 🪟 – Doors and windows and such
A classic phrase, when one door closes a window opens. Or is it, don’t let the door hit you in the butt so hard you fly out a window? Something like that.
For the past 3 months I’ve been killing skeletons to craft me some bone meal to quickly grow new opportunities! And probably playing a little too much Minecraft with my son.
Road trip! Not just any road trip, the Highline Road! Should I have taken it in my little 13 year old Kia Soul? Probably not. But I did, and adventures were had.
Route from Seton Partage to D’arcy. Note: it’s the only way to “trick” google maps to even show it as an option
Surprisingly the kids handled it much better than the Way in from Lillooet. Plus as you can se – much quicker route.
Route from Lillooet to Seton Portage
The past few weeks have felt pretty much the same as these two drives.
Loads of bumps. A few paved roads to get you’re hopes up followed by more gravel.
Kick it into first; take your time; hold the wheel.
Play some good pop music for you and the whole family to sing along the way
In case you want to know the music… kid’s watched this… Sssh 🤫 I kinda like it too.
Related/Unrelated
Another show with musicians that actually make decent song’s I liked…
Just writing that, and posting it online for the world to see oddly feels scary. But why? I have been an artist in some fashion my whole life. In my 20’s I self published poetry books and zines. I was a union card holding musician. I drew. I wrote. I yelled at the top of my lungs “Look at me create! I dare you to stop me!”
And then… I stopped.
Food. Rent. Bus Pass. Car. Insurance. Phone Bills. Cable. TV. Internet. Computer. Family. Mortgage. Diapers. Toys. Provide. Summer Camps. Swimming Lessons. Toys. Oh the Toys. Care for others. Take care of others.
One of the classic nay saying phrases from even personal help book on the planet ringing in my head, “Art doesn’t pay for these things.”
But it could.
Geek & art is complex
A while back I removed windows from all my personal computers. I switch every non work computer to Linux ( Ubuntu for those curious ). And that fared well until… well… this.
Turns out Adobe and Affinity don’t do Linux. So that digital art… there are ok alternatives. I’ve been adjusting fine to Inkscape. Haven’t done any full photo editing yet, to really hunker into the choices that work for me.
Audio and Linux are overly complex. It does show how much magic is required for good digital sound. I have yet been able to figure out how to get music to sound as good as it should. Drivers, hack on hack on hack. And while I can do it, why do I even have to?
I haven’t even gotten into real audio editing. I am a well trained Adobe Audition editor, and I’ve had to hobble on Audacity a few times. And it ended up…ok. Again… I could do it… but why did I even have to?
Need to get back …
Again cliché, but it’s time to get back. Create. Try something different. Throw it against the wall and see if it sticks.
Practice. Experiment. Find time for it. Nurture it.
Maybe then, I’ll feel brave enough to share it… again.
I want to work on trying to think more like a marathon runner.
Perhaps it’s the ADHD, perhaps it’s the situation I’m in.
I tell my kids all the time of The Tortoise and the Hare. I say to myself, I’m not the hare because I’m not cocky and rarely nap. But…
Maybe I’m hare-like. I do these insane short bursts. I do everything. I run and I run so fast that I crash. My crashes are mostly mentally and emotionally, which my wife loves 🤨
Also, when I’m in my particular position I say yes to everything, what else am I doing? I make a mountain pile on my shoulders so big… then a subtle wind from life, let’s say a little girls upcoming 4th birthday party, and down it all crumbles.
It’s coming along. I’m enjoying some of the interesting things I’m connecting with. Still not sure how to tie a bow on all of this. However, That’s the reason for the exercise, to explore.
ActivityPub
I’ve also continued my exploration of what could be an ActivtyPub platform for me to tinker on all AP idea’s. I’ve taken months to hunt and try a bunch of possibilities out. They are all are really good in their own way, but to me, feel like I’m strong arming what I want it to do. So… I’ve started and stopped and started and stopped, and now I’m started again to do the silly thing, and build something for me and my own brain.
Using PHP – because everyone has a server for PHP. Plus it’s the simplest for my hosting and my budget, which should be no more than I’m already spending on hosting.
Using Slim PHP – because I want to keep this light. Laravel and Symphony are great, but overkill at the moment. If this becomes “a thing”, then a rebuild would be in the cards, but that’s a 2.0 or 3.0 problem.
ActivityPub first – this is where I’ve found my mental problems. Many implementations feel like you’re always fighting some dissonance with a core foundation. It’s an extension, a plugin, a layer it on top of.. all of which work… but… not quite what I’m looking for.
