Rewriting my emacs new-post function as a shell script
I wanted a more generic version of my emacs lisp function for creating new posts. Claude helped me write it.
I wanted a more generic version of my emacs lisp function for creating new posts. Claude helped me write it.
Itās all just bunnies on a trampoline, now.
I would like to quit social media completely, but Iām addicted to validation. I tell myself that I actually suffer from FOMO, but the reality is that Iām looking for ālikesā and comments and, well, validation. Maybe it isnāt validation so much as it is feeling like Iām being seen. I mean, how else can one know they exist in the world? So many people that I like are starting to share opinions that I donāt like. ...
I sat down this morning, looking to journal a bit about the past few days with extended family, but Emacs threw an error on launch. I fixed that. Then, I couldnāt find a note Iād written earlier. Sometimes I would just like to write stuff, take a few notes, and find things later when I need them, but without all the fuss. I donāt know how to get there.
Good morning. What shall we wring our hands about, today?
My blog turns 25 years old today
I am off social media for a bit. Whenever I feel myself doing nothing but scrolling or looking for likes or thinking of something ālike-ableā to say, I know itās time for a break. Iām not cross-posting to Mastodon at all anymore, either. So now, whenever thereās a lull in the action of my life, I feel lost. Thatās the feeling I want to get rid of. I spent time this morning working (with Claude Code) on displaying full content on the current daily post, but it ended up fighting what the theme wants, so I decided it wasnāt worth it. Just for grins, Iām now theme shopping. ...
Switching between the MacBook Air keyboard and the HHKB keyboard can be off-putting. I have loved using the HHKB for years, but Iāve lost patience for the function layer and missing arrow keys. My pinky hurts too often. Iāve been using an Apple Magic Keyboard and Logitech MX Master 3, and, while I love the mouse, the keyboard was boring, but fine, except the spacebar would intermittently fail to register. Thatās annoying. ...
I asked Claude to summarize my recent blog posts. Claude knows me.
I take a lot of screenshots using the built-in screen capture tool on macOS. By default, these are saved as PNG files, which are unnecessarily ginormous for my purposes, so I always convert them to .jpg files. Today I learned that the default format can be changed: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg killall SystemUIServer Better.
Iām realizing that my enthusiasm for Hugo reflects my current mood about Emacs. When Iām all-in with Emacs, Hugo is my favorite way to manage a blog. When Iām āoffā Emacs, I find other ways to blog because my whole Hugo workflow is built using Emacs. The problem right now is that Iām oscillating rapidly between Emacs and not-Emacs, so I post in multiple places. Itās fun having options, but I dislike making decisions. šµāš« ...
I continue to overthink everything related to my blog(s). I want specific things for specific posts, depending on my mood that day. Itās exhausting. The dream of course is to have One Blog. I have 4 active sites right now. Thatās more than one, for those who are counting. The new baty.photo blog that Iāve set up just for posts about photography feels like the right move. That one stays. I like using Ghost for that. ...
Iām not even supposed to be here today.
Iāve been doing this for 25 years. Iām just not feelling it lately, ya know?
Iām a little tired of all of this. Blogging, I mean. Iāve been writing about the same things on repeat for 25 years. Arenāt we all sick of hearing about blogging tools and software and tech and bla bla bla? I am. Maybe Iāll open a barber shop, like my great grandfather did.
I donāt feel much like writing full-on blog posts, so I keep spouting off little bits and bobs over on Mastodon instead. Itās not ideal. I mean, I just added the /notes feature here, so why not use that? I honestly donāt know. Thereās something about it I donāt like. I made the font here a bit smaller and a bit less black. It looked chunky and amateurish to me, somehow. Anyway, itās different now, which might be all I wanted.
Captured in the act
Iāve rejiggered the Ghost blog I was using for this site into a dedicated photography blog. Thereās a lot of cruft scattered about, and Iām using the default theme for now, but itās a start. The idea is that it will help me focus on photography, which is something I want to do, but havenāt been doing. Sometimes I need a nudge, so baty.photo is a nudge. See Why do I need a separate site for photography? for a bit more detail. ...
Ongoing issues with choosing to journal using fountain pens.
Why bother blogging when even I donāt feel like reading my posts? I guess I donāt understand why blurring my ācontentā behind semi-transparent UI controls is any better than hiding it behind easily-distinguished UI controls. The content itself is unusable either way, so why not make the controls easier to see/use? What do we think about about the whole /notes implementation here? I donāt think I like it. I donāt feel like creating a whole thing every time I want to share whatever useless thought pops into my head. OTOH, I donāt much like putting everything into these daily posts, either. Not on this blog, in this format, anyway. On the other hand, why not just do it here? Problem is already solved, right? ...