Walking down an alley I haven't visited in a while, I turn a corner and.. hey, it's still here. Wow. Has it been 5 years? Jeez...
Glad to see it's still here. Same bar, same decor, some new taps of course. What makes one suddenly wonder about Gemini sites years later after life throws a wrench that fully refocuses your attention? Who knows. The brain is weird.
Anyway, it's brisk out, so that calls for a nice stout or porter please. ~bartender's choice.
It's good to see the place is still here, along with many of the other odd corners away from what the online world has become. OK, it's not all bad. I know to focus on the gems among the gravel and dust, and have evacuated the places that are the worst. And professionally, things aren't bad. I sometimes get to solve interesting problems, and I mostly get to write code to solve them. But man, it sure seems like after covid, the world (online and otherwise) got put back together with some of the pieces turned backwards and installed sideways, even worse than they were before.
So I'm finding some refuge from the chaos with a few basic things. Finding musical acts far off the mainstream. Taking time to read, on paper. Turning off all news alerts (social media was turned off a few years ago). I'm also working on a re-write of an old short sci-fi story with an intriguing concept, but bad writing. Mine may not be any better, but that's not the point. It's a creative, private exercise that is the opposite of aimless distraction and worry about things I can't change.
There's a quote I ran across that I'll paraphrase here- If you are at a point where some Very Large Things seem to demand that your life is lived in relation to them (social media empires, corporatized entertainment, an increasingly totalitarian state, etc), then checking out and taking control of your attention is not apathy or burying your head in the sand. It's a form of resistance.
Good to see everyone. Next round on my tab!