/short

• i doubt anyone will notice the change because of how subtle it is at a small scale, but i made a new version of my brat avatar that feels a bit more dynamic and textured

  

• a hinge connection asked me about my interests in technology… let’s see if this makes them more attracted or scares them off

  

• been unemployed for 5 months but have never felt more optimistic and excited for whatever is next — after 10 years of full-time work, i’m thankful i didn’t just hop into a new job immediately… i’ve got a clearer sense of what direction i need to head in now, and i’m ready to get there in 2025

• introducing æ — arenaesthetics.com

  a new little side project from me to provide daily doses of hand-curated creative media/art on Bluesky

  i spend a ton of time each week collecting stuff on are.na that inspires me, so i thought i’d propagate the best of it someplace more public

  ⧇⧈⧆

  

• bluesky’s domain verification feature is dangerous for creators because now we have yet another tempting reason to buy a domain name for a new project idea before we’ve even done any actual work on the project itself

• and they wonder why we’re leaving X…

  

• if you’ve recently made the switch to bluesky, it’s important that you also use this opportunity to start fresh and potentially reset your habits, goals, and ways of being on social media… while this new platform is a big improvement, it won’t magically fix an unhealthy relationship with technology

• here are some good reflections on what it means that our phone camera rolls are overflowing with tens of thousands of images

  “Our camera rolls, our selves” by Emily Chang

• need a web browser that won’t let me open a new tab until i actually read and close one of the dozens i already have open

• reminder: open your windows when you can — helps your brain function better!

  

• i’m proud of the fact that my most popular block on are.na is a piece of my own art… i love seeing all the connections people make with it: www.are.na/block/18883240

  

• let’s check in with how the blockchain-based social networks are doing after several years…

  Nostr (Launched 2020)

  • Users: 1.1 Million

  • Active: 22K

  Farcaster (Launched 2020)

  • Users: 650K

  • Active: 42K

  Lens (Launched 2022)

  • Users: 573K

  • Active: 10K

• my only claim to fame

  

• went to a speed dating event for the first time and my general takeaway is maybe the dating apps aren’t so bad after all

• enjoying the new pokémon trading card game app, allows you to have the nostalgia for free without all the physical cards laying around

  

• my home screen from over a decade ago, only third-party app i’m still using is @iawriter

  

• been on quite a few dates this year but still haven’t met someone who could match my freak (my camera roll’s obscene screenshot to photo ratio)

• very fun little album, highly recommend

  

• babe are you okay? you haven’t absorbed your daily microplastics yet

• lockscreen + apple news tracker serendipity

  

• spiders subjected to various social networks vs are.na

  

• my election day schedule feels very appropriate

  

• throwback: my personal finance spreadsheet from over a decade ago (USB Club has me on a rabbit hole of exploring all my old hard drives)

  

• unemployment has been a lot of fun, i gotta figure out how to make it profitable so i can be unemployed all the time

• a connection on are.na is worth more than one thousand twitter likes