Starting 2023

It’s been a while since I did one of these. The world imploded a few months after the last one.

I think we can agree that the last three years have been a total shitfest for everyone. Things certainly haven’t been getting much better, and it doesn’t look like we’re remotely done with Covid.

Personally, I feel like I’m in much the same place as I was three years ago. I have better handwriting and I ditched Twitter long before it became fashionable, as it was really bad for my mental health. I started using my long-dormant Mastodon account, and it’s been nice to chat with some of the people who’ve started ditching Twitter. You should too if you’re reading this and haven’t already done so.

I’m heading to FOSDEM this year. It’s a tad more expensive than it’s been in previous years, what with everything that’s been going on. Let’s hope everything doesn’t implode further before the start of February.

Given there’s a movement to bring back blogging, I’d like to make an effort to post here more. I’d like to bring back comments too, though I can see several issues. For a start, this site is static, which precludes the usual methods. Secondly, comment sections seem to trigger all my worst impulses as far as communicating with others goes, so I’m a little wary of doing so. Thirdly, there’s finding a service that (a) doesn’t suck and (b) is GDPR-compliant. That means the likes of Disqus is out. I quite like the GDPR in general, even if it can the cookie directive are subject to malicious compliance by data harvesters. The best alternative seems to be Isso, and that may end up being what I use in the end, but I have some ideas that I’d like to test out first in the form of Descant¹. I’m hoping this won’t be yet another abandoned project. It would be nice to have some method of engagement here, because it often feels like I’m just shouting at the void.

I’m giving Dry January a try this year. The past three years did nothing good for my alcohol consumption and I think it’d be wise to readjust my relationship with it.

Other than that, I have no real plans for this year. No resolutions either. No themes. The closest I’ve came up with is that this year I need to do a lot of pruning and tidying of things I’ve allowed get out of control over time. I also want to work on being more reliable in general, which means making sure I’m more timely about things, following through better on things I accept, and being more honest with myself and others when I can’t. All very nebulous, I know. Also, take breaks so I don’t end up frustrated and burnt out at the end of the year.

Here’s hoping this year is better, somehow.