philosophizin' and blogrolls.

friday, october 6th, 2023.

A couple days ago, Moxie Marlinspike's blog post with career advice made the rounds on Hacker News. As a result, a new word has entered my lexicon: "treyf." Quite literally, "not kosher," but more loosely, "the things you avoid because you don't want to become like the people associated with those things."

The overarching theme of Moxie's advice resonates with me, too: extrapolate your future from the elders who have made the choices you are currently making. To reframe the concept— what might you look like when you follow through with the choices you make today?

I'm not about to set off on a quest to hop trains and leave my current life behind after chewing on this, but it definitely makes me reflect on some of the smaller choices I make on a regular basis. I think I could benefit from a more jovial, personable demeanor and let go of some of the intrinsic pessimism that permeates the culture of our day. Would I prefer to become a curmudgeonly elder or the sort of jolly old fellow you'd love to share a beer and conversation with at the bar? What sort of stories would that old man be able to share about his life?

blogrolls and the small web.

Kagi's small web-stumbling site has been a fun thing to play with lately. Clicking "next post" will take you to a random recent post from a long list of small websites. The list itself leans very tech-heavy due to the source data that Kagi used to build the list, but there's definitely some gems to stumble upon there, too.

Jake Bauer shared their blogroll over on the Merveilles forum today and it's real good. After poking around some of the sites, I just imported the whole OPML file into my RSS reader. That'll keep me busy any time I feel like reading some neat stuff on the Internets! Definitely recommend.

life is real good.

Every now and then, I'll read through my old journal entries. My journal is filled with a lot of emotion and a lot of mundane minutiae, too. If anything, I can practically map out a journey from an anxious and confused me from six years ago to a reasonably more stable and solid-footed me today. Things that felt big and important then have come and gone. Some of my habits have changed, some haven't. The things I still do today are probably going to stick with me into my later years, part of the extrapolated journey to the old man I'll become.

If there's a lesson that revisiting my older journal entries is teaching me, it's that I've a great deal to be thankful for. I'm holding onto the good parts, letting go of the less good bits, and the waters are calming.

The seasons change, each bringing their own unique qualities to be appreciated for a time. Autumn has arrived, the summer heat has relented, and the holidays are around the corner. I am looking forward to them a great deal more than I can remember having done in the past.

I suppose that's all for today's post— I've some errands to do today and this weekend is the little one's birthday party! The weather is beautiful and it's going to be a great time.

Until next time, be well! :)