first post

The title is harkening back to a nostalgic tradition, where the presence of commenters and discussion was a welcome sign. In the same way, I'm returning to blogging because I want to write and be read.

I'm choosing a delightful indie platform, smol.pub, which targets the platforms I want to support, namely Gemini Protocol, RSS and simple (smol) web.

//smol.pub

I chose a service to cuts through programmer overanalysis, the temptation to spend days crafting a blogging system but ultimately writing nothing. My writing will probably be occasional and sporadic, but my goal is that it shall be there. But my goal is that it shall be there.

There is nostalgia at play, and nostalgia is dangerously alluring for someone of my generation, but I'd like to think that there is wisdom and curiosity at play as well.

A bit about me, and what I might write about:

• I'm a software engineer unsurprisingly, mostly working with web technologies, but increasingly interested and minimalist, retro and open technologies and open platforms.
• I'm lucky to be starting a new job, and I want to figure out how to make the most of it.
• I am becoming more engaged with hyper-local politics and other kinds of community engagement, for example through my kids' school.
• My kids are awesome and so is my spouse, and I want a better technological and cultural future for them.
• I am an amateur game designer, mostly of analog games, and may return to the space. I'm also playing some ancient games and abstract games more deeply.
• I should learn the bass. But I will not start a podcast. I love bullet lists but wish these were nested, honestly.
• If this blog is my midlife crisis, that's not so bad, is it?
• I'm somehow reading more, but still slowly; mostly print books, and mostly from our excellent library system.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to be back soon.