Computers! After ~15 years as a professional software developer, I have gotten so burnt out, but this week I had so much fun coding for myself. I made a website: sloptrough.art, its not much but it’s very gratifying to have hosted it on my own hardware with raw html & JavaScript. I’m using proxmox, a hypervisor, to run OpenBSD which is running apache server. As OSs go, OpenBSD is paradoxically complex and unintuitive (command-line first, by enthusiasts for enthusiasts) yet also user-friendly and approachable (there are breadcrumbs down a path of well-written manual pages; I haven’t had to google at all).

Also, woodworking: i turned a pallet into garden storage to help clean up the patio

Sitting outside with my cats, especially if I leave my phone elsewhere. Reread the prompt; the most joy comes from my wife affirming that I’m a good person

A coat that Dolly Parton’s mother made for her out of rags, because that was all they could afford. The experience inspired the song Coat of Many Colors, take it away Dolly! https://youtu.be/Y3ardckySYY

Reminds me of the dwarf psychic that escaped from prison, i.e. a small medium at large

What’s brown and rhymes with snoop?

Without the clarifying footnote I would have posted some angry comment* deriding your thesis, but actually it makes perfect sense in context!

*this is a good comment that contributes to the conversation somehow

I prefer optimistic nihilism, such as John keats’ epitaph “Here lies one whose name was writ in water”. ashes to ashes dust to dust, the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, same as it ever was etc.

Fiona cares little for my game of correspondence chess My plan for this weekend is to be on the road until Sunday with back-to-back social engagements. It’s going to be exhausting, but worthwhile.

Unmet expectations, even for tiny things, are distressing for me too. Sometimes I think I should change, (e.g. I’d rather not lose my shit because someone moved my charger), other times I feel unchangeable and try to accommodate my different brain (e.g. lists! A million lists everywhere for everything!)

Thank you for your post, Hazel looks a lot like Fiona The highlight of my day is the iced coffee my wife made for me for my drive to work. I have a software development job where the lack of direction is anxiety inducing. Today I was able to work for about 10 minutes before I hit a dead-end (unreproducible bug, no logs) now I’m waiting to hear back on scheduling a call with the customer and browsing Lemmy until I get to go home. I feel insane pretending to look busy so that digital currency can be moved from one column to another, and in turn the global economy decides that I am allowed to have food, housing, and healthcare (USA).

Gah, she’s so little oh my god! Maybe I’m projecting a bit from my own situation, e.g. Here’s Fiona demonstrating couch scratching technique next to the couch she scratched (unrelated scratching post in the corner).

Ah, well if it isn’t the reason we can’t have nice things reminder of the impermanence of possessions & the profound joy of companionship

Pumpernickel? I 'ardly know 'er!

The moral of the original book is that the tricks and tools are not a replacement for self control. It’s humbling that a literal children’s book can (re)teach us profound things. And to me, it’s comforting to know that a child’s fresh mind is infinitely better at things so many of us struggle with (e.g., a phoneless child isn’t addicted to screens, a newborn can become a vegan as easily as an omnivore)

I think this capacity for “productive discomfort” has an older name that feels almost out of date. It’s patience

Fuck. Most of the problems in my life seem to be addressed by the most simple and difficult things I’ve heard a thousand times, yet fail to adequately incorporate into my life (“patience is a virtue”, “drink water & eat vegetables”, “stay active” etc.)

Apex enshitification

Oh jeez, I should’ve considered that before posting, I can hear mod sirens in the distance 😰

In my neck of the woods “thank god for this people crusher, I love it when my government crushes people and I will continue to vote for whichever candidate promises to crush the most people” is a depressingly common sentiment 😞