It’s a little less warm like
After what feels like a lifetime under non stop heatwaves - we finally had our first buckets of rain this past week. I’m elated to able to sit in my flat without needing a fan in my face and overjoyed at no longer feeling like I’m sleeping in a volcano when I go to bed. Bliss!
What should come as no surprise to absolutely anyone - I’m a winter being. I adore the rain, the cold, the wind and the grey skies that will soon be upon us. That being said - I’m trying to embrace summer more. This year I spent considerably more time sitting under the bright big orange ball in the sky.
As I type this it’s an absolutely stunning 18c, crystal clear skys. Must remember this when it’s freezing cold in December…
In other news, I’m old.
In a shocking turn of events, another year has passed, I’m still alive - and that means I’m older. I had two, yes TWO birthday events this year - because I’m just that cool ( I have friends in two cities who enjoy drinking with me ). The ceaseless march toward death doesn’t feel so bad when you are surrounded by friends - and I was so happy to see so many old faces.
It’s crazy to think how fast time is going by, I found a Spotify playlist titled ‘heres to you 22’ - a collection of songs I’d made over 10 years ago - presumably to act as a time capsule. Back at 22 I was a relatively new smoker, was routinely jogging every other day and was just about to set off on my travels. It’s funny to think about some of the tracks on the playlist though - I listen to most of them pretty regularly still, you can tell at 21/22 I’d just discovered Pulp and they continue to be played non-stop.
I don’t think I have any wisdom to depart or anything too insightful.
Aging is all part of the human experience - I guess I’d say that I’m much happier now than I thought I would be. I’m more comfortable in life and secure in who I am. I’ve had a good time of things and made the best of what I could, though some days are harder than others, the best is yet to come.
Tech stuff.
I’ve been feeling fairly drained with the uptake of A.I in the industry. Everyone uses A.I for everything and it’s started to have a bit of a drain on my mental health. I got into programming because I enjoyed making things, tweaking things and building them. Now it seems that passion is going as every task simply becomes ‘Ask Claude to build me X’. Of course it’s here to stay and is a tool like any other - but a part of me wishes it would become extremely expensive for users to use - that way it would be restricted and the joy of ‘finding out how to do it, fucking it up, and fixing it’ can continue for many years.
I also thinks it plays into something else I’ve been feeling for a while now - the web just isn’t as fun as it used to be. The old web had character, there was immense charm in the broken and janky nature of it all. All websites had this passion poured into them. I’m trying my best to keep some spirit of that still alive with this blog I suppose - but we’ll never see the likes of the early internet again and that saddens me.
Anyway, to make sure I don’t get burned out or god forbid, forget how to code, I’m picking up more small little hobby projects. Things where no A.I is used and I can just read the docs myself and attempt to build things. Currently I’m getting to grips with PixiJS. Nothing massive planned I just enjoy learning new frameworks and making things no one will ever use!.
Other stuff
I have a horrible secret I need to share with the world, and that is I’ve become addicted to League of Legends. I don’t know exactly where this gross addiction came from but it’s got it’s claws well and truly stuck in me. I don’t really understand why it gets such a negative reputation though - I’ve only had a few encounters with toxic people and even then you just mute them and move on. The actual gameplay is as simple as you want it to be - and a match can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, so it’s perfect for those moments where you cannot commit to a screen for too long.
I’m heading to this years Runefest with a bunch of my friends from all over Europe, and I’m really excited to meet (most) of these people in person for the first time. I’ve been playing Runescape since it’s very first weeks and whilst I no longer play for 12 hours a day - it’s a game and a universe I do really really love being a part of. So it’s going to be great to hang out with a bunch of sweaty nerds and talk about it non-stop for a few days.
Let’s see - my attempts to make a decent loaf of bread are NOT going well. I’ve started forcing myself to learn some actual music theory and try to practice more advanced guitar playing. I’m getting slightly better at reminding myself this blog exists and I need to actually, you know, update it.
Thanks for stopping by,
– Allan