BIT-101
Bill Gates touched my MacBook Pro
What happened in 2024. A rough guide to things that I remember.
I’ve been really into music creation stuff in the past few months. It’s been cycling in and out for the last couple years, but each time I go a bit deeper and understand a bit more. My initial goal was just to create soundscapes to go with longer animations. But now I kind of want to explore music on its own. I feel like I’ve been way to deep in the technology of it all. I need to focus on actually completing some short pieces. #Jamuary is on and people are posting good stuff. I might try to throw out a few thing here and there. I like the idea of doing quick jams, recording them and putting them on line somewhere. Not as a polished thing, but just - “hey, I did this”. It’s the closest to the visual “experiments” stuff that I’ve always done well with.
I also love doing and will continue to do visual creative coding. But honestly in the past few years it often feels like I’m going over the same ground over and over. I mean, I’ve been doing this for 26 years. I think I do it better now. And I occasionally find something brand new to experiment with. And often combining one technique with another I find something absolutely brand new (at least to me) - something I’ve never thought of doing or ever seen anyone else do. But it’s not the same as the early 2000s when everything was brand new to me. That’s where music is at for me now.
I’m pretty sure I’ll get back into running again. I started up again a couple months after the surgery, but around October when I got sick (minor cold), I got knocked off my schedule again. I ran last week - then later that day I got sick with Covid! As soon as I’m recovered from that, I’ll be back out there.
This year will see my youngest daughter graduate from college - CS degree at Boston University. I hope the economy improves a little bit. I know it’s rough out there for software engineers looking for jobs. And I’ll see my second grandson (from my older daughter).
Yeah, I’m in my 60s now. That just seems so weird. When I was in my late 20s, approaching 30, I started obessing about my own mortality. Oddly, the closer I actually get to it, the less and less worried about it I actually am. My biggest concern now it making sure that I actually enjoy the rest of my time on this merry go round and do meaningful stuff, not work myself to the bone and die chained to the machine. Sounds morbid, but it’s not. A while back I got this memento mori coin.
One side says “Memento Mori” - remember death. The other side is “Memento Vivere” - remember life.
Just as a reminder that I’m not going to live forever, so I should be living my life with meaning. And hey! I have a lot of years left, hopefully! Although my grandson is just a year old, no reason I couldn’t get the title of great-grandfather eventually.
I don’t do resolutions per se, but I really feel the need to work on reducing stress and living happier in the coming year. The past couple years have been super stressful. For six and a half years - from mid 2017 to early 2024, I did not get sick. Not even a cold. This year, I’ve had two serious illnesses, one minor cold and a surgery. I know that stress is a key factor. For the last few weeks I was thinking to myself that stress was going to make me sick. Sure enough. It’s mostly work stuff, and I resolve to fix it. Because this cannot continue.
I guess that’s about it. Not all rosy, but the new year is always a good cue to start fresh and make improvements. I’m in.
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