Published 2025-10-13
tag(s): #meta #failures #random-thoughts
Well, I guess because the title isn't a yes/no question there's something to explore here...
I am a parent of a middle schooler, work full time, and I realized yesterday night that I have more hobbies and interests that I can realistically give my attention to.
So of course, writing and moaning is the way to get more things done. Obviously.[1]
A couple years ago I got quite far into the Duolingo course, but eventually dropped it and forgot all about it. It didn't help that the Esperanto meet up in Denver didn't recover from COVID.
Being in the NYC metro could potentially help with finding more people practice with.
And about two months ago I bought a book, because I am old school like that. But since then I
have only read one chapter and listened to the audio thingy once too.
I want to become more proficient with Common Lisp, and the way to do that is to build things, which of course takes time. The last couple days this took center stage as after moving this site to a proper server, I now have a place to host web stuff and I experimented a bit already.
But I also have a project to build a dict server in pause, for months now.
There are changes and cleanup I want to make in my config that will take at least a day. Maybe two.
I have
started fishing
lately, and I would like to do it more often.
Yes, despite not catching anything so far LMAO. I just enjoy the time away from the screen and
outside.
For this, the cold weather won't be a deterrent for me. I have no idea if it impacts the fish quantity...although, can it be less than 0 fish caught :)
I really don't want to stop writing often here. It helps me, gives me focus, and a way to express my thoughts and feelings. It is therapeutic, a release, and I just enjoy it.
But...there are topics that I would like to write about that are complex, nuanced. And those
posts take time and the right frame of mind to attack them.
I would like to write about taking sides, about separating art and artist. Some long form
ramblings on software: what I think is good software and what I dislike, and how that changed
in the years I've been writing it.
Speaking of software, I also have some techie guides planned, around Windows 11 and SSH, Emacs
and TRAMP on Windows, and a few other things I learned at work lately. Those also take time,
and need extra review to make sure all the information is correct. I know the information is
already out there, but I would like for other people to have an easier time than I had,
reading 900 blog posts and tech articles to distill what is really needed.
These are the ones I've been doing a bit better with lately. I finished a couple games (took me quite some time) and read a couple books (bus commute helped with that!).
I am a curious person by nature, and then there's hardly a topic that I find boring.
A language that barely any people speak, but it is touted as helping you develop skills to
learn more languages later? Bring it on!
A programming language that is the cradle of 90% of the features in other languages nowadays?
Why use Python, Rust, Go, etc. if I can go straight to the source and learn more Common
Lisp?
And so on and on.