The other day I saw a post on a reading group I found in some mainstream social media platform that shall remain unnamed, and it was all about how great The Night Land and The House on The Borderland by William Hope Hodgson were, but what I found most intriguing was how many people were fans of these works, even though the community and the post were in Spanish.

Most of the people leaving comments and praising those books were reading translations of the original work, and using adapted names for the books and such.

I am quite happy that there are so many great works available in my native language. However, that also stresses me out.

I just can’t decide what to do when it comes to translated works at all. Be it old books in English translated to Spanish—or modern ones to be fair. And what about Spanish books that I could read in English, or picking between Spanish and English for books that are in a completely different language?

It shouldn’t be hard, I read like five of Jules Verne’s books in Spanish and I absolutely loved them when I was younger! Same for H.G. Wheels and a other books translated from works in other languages!

I think I just take issue with deciding when my options are doubled. And taking into account how language and writing styles also evolve over the decades or even centures, I just end up with decision paralysis.

Back when I still didn’t write reviews on this blog, I picked up The Stranger by Albert Camus, and I absolutely devoured it, it was a read that took me only two days to complete. However, it was not the original in Frech, it was an English translation (and I’m not even sure of which translation I read). This is not something I realized until just today. But it doesn’t change the fact that the book was incredible and impossible to put down for me! So translations must be alright, right?

After all, soon after The Stranger I somehow decided it would be a good idea to read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a book published in 1897… and it was a total pain!

There were so many strange words, grammar structure I didn’t quite understand, but I pushed through it and I ended up really enjoying it, and full of pride too, for I sticked to it consistently until the very end!

However, Dracula is a great book with a story that glued me to the pages. How will it be for other works with old English that may not keep me as interested as if I just read the translation? This could be a big problem for me, and because of this, I am unsure of how to proceed.

When it comes to Science Fiction, a lot of terms such as Cyborg, Steampunk or DoubleSpeak just don’t hit the same when translated, ending up with hacky words that make me cringe a little bit, at least in older works.

Original books by Spanish-speaking writers also hit different! When I read Tender is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica—an Argentine writer—I simply had to switch to the original language after three or so chapters. The translation just felt way too dry and straight to the point to me, and the wonderful flourishes the Spanish language expressed were a very welcome surprise when I switched. The story was absolutely horrifying in the most amazing way and I finished it in a single sitting as the dystopian trainwreck of its plot just kept going.

It should be clear by now that I guess I prefer to read the original language if possible, but it does seem like I could be perfectly happy reading the translation if I get over myself or if I am ignorant of the existence of an original, I guess.

Jules Verne is French, so both English and Spanish aren’t the original, and I’ll probably stick to Spanish if I ever reread it. I do notice that most printed editions are based on old translations though, which comes with its own caveats, such as changing whole names and even chapters because why not. I wonder if reading Verne in English would be better… Or just a modern Spanish translation.

And don’t get me started on Latino vs European Spanish… I actually read like five chapters of Abbadon’s Gate and well, yeah definitely not the accent I imagined when I think of these characters speaking. Nothing against my Spaniard friends, just personal preference. Perhaps the cursing in Spanish also felt weird to me and older works with would be okay and even kind of epic to read in old Spanish style.

Some of the works I want to read next will also have to be translations. One I’m looking at right now is Solaris and The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem, which seems to be beloved in the Spanish reading group I found, though I wonder if it will be affected by the word choices Sci-Fi tends to have, and maybe choosing English for that one will be better for me, or not!

Of course, The Illiad and The Odyssey are also in my head, and as very old works, they have a huge list of available translations and editions. A dozen in Spanish, and who knows how many in English. I kind of want to go for Spanish, though I am extremely curious about how many more choices I’d have in English too.

Something that also worries me for the future, is AI-generated translations… A part of me wants to believe that maybe this is one of the generally useful uses for it, but I think that they may end up just ruining it all again. We are starting to see it everywhere, from ugly book covers to non-existing authors.

Still, I don’t want to think about that, it just came up on its own. For now I’ll just focus on reading a bunch of those old sci-fi on my digital and physical library, and perhaps wether original or translated, know that there is people with heart who have put effort into making these works accesible, and people who are still eager to read and talk about these works with enthusiasm to this day.

That conclusion seems a bit out of nowhere after I just rambled for a dozen paragraphs about how indecisive I am, let’s call it a day shall we? And of course let me know your thoughts about this all.

This is day 12 of #100DaysToOffload and day 7 of #Blaugust2026

I’ve been meaning to add her to my blogroll because of how cool she is, and I have wanted to comment on some of the posts, such as the one on the human houch, or another one about how social media is dead. So yeah, go read those! Can’t help but appreciate how raw her writing is and how unapologetic her opinions are.

To continue contributing to July Reply, I thought that this latest post would make for a nice reply from me. I’ll be trying to speak my mind about things as well in something that I love: Reading books, ereaders, and analog things!

First, it is absolutely true that the feeling of a book is a wonderful pleasure. A book that is well loved, or a book that is brand new, each has its charms and traits, and no piece of technology will ever equate to the analog sensation it provides.

After all, there’s a reason why I have a growing interest on writing by hand or listening to music offline, and I often still buy at least one physical book every couple of months.

The one thing that kind of irked me about the post, is not that books aren’t great, but that the screens of an e-reader and the screen of any other device are extremely different, and much less damaging than your average IPS/LED screen.

I felt like there were a few misconceptions, and I wanted to gently correct them, if I may do so in this little corner of the web I call my blog, I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself, I had to share some good news!

First, e-ink screens do not need a backlight to function! I am unable to explain how the technology actually works, but it’s pretty much just a panel that prints information on itself and displays it in the same way a sheet of paper would. Think of it like an improved version of a calculator or a cheap digital watch display, they don’t really have a light—other than an LED in the corner that you can turn on for a second to see the time—that’s why the battery lasts so long!

Most ereaders do come with a backlight of course, but it’s just a useful bonus feature, and only really needed at night, otherwise, an e-ink screen can be lit up by any external light source just like a sheet of paper in a book needs light to be seen.

Also, when you do use the backlight, most have a blue light filter setting to avoid eye strain. Another funny thing is that you don’t need power to keep e-ink screens working, it can display the same thing indefinitely, you just need energy to change its state.

Of course, there’s other points and negatives to Kindles. Such as a false sense of ownership, with Amazon messing up and even modifying purchased ebooks from people without consent, altering personal libraries or even banning users, unable to access books they paid for!

However, it is also true that you can acquire digital books without any DRM, books which you can put in a hard drive or USB or any medium you personally own, and transfer to your device without a problem!

Physical books should always have a place, and it’s a shame to see some publishers cheapening out as they prefer to earn more selling on digital form, with proprietary platforms more often than not.

I guess I just wanted to say that e-ink screens and book pages have a lot more in common than one may think. As do digital and physical copies, as long as they can be owned by the individuals, or why not, through libraries thanks to services like Libby or Overdrive!

The real enemy is being unable to access the books you own, just because of the greed of some companies who don’t respect what should be our rights as a costumer. I think digital and physical ownership are of equal value, and books (or any media) you buy should belong to the person who paid for it!

In the end, screens aren’t equal to books, but e-ink isn’t too bad I’d say :3

This is day 92 of #100DaysToOffload.

In a way, what the premise boils down to is what properties should an object have in order to be used with intent and not ignored?

The way we can afford to spend time intentionally, playing videogames, reading a book or listening to music, is heavily dependant in the context of our lives.

Right now the most time I get to spend doing such activities is on my commutes to work, but going to the gym, arriving early to work, or simply being home, come with their own set of situations.

On commutes

During my commute, I have plenty of advantages. I have free time, I have nothing else to do, and I can carry a backpack with fun trinkets inside.

This means that I can bring my Nintendo Switch and play it the whole trip without any problem. Or any other device for that matter.

However, not all commutes are the same, bringing the Switch is only worth it if my commutes are long and if I really just go from home to work and viceversa.

Sometimes, my commute takes an hour—perfect for some Switch gaming!—but other times, it only takes about 25 minutes, and that makes things a bit more tight. Those shorter sessions are excellent and they were plenty of time for me to complete something like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or Fire Emblem Awakening. However, I was lucky enough to have longer commutes when I played Metroid Prime Remastered.

Ocassionaly, I will get off the work bus on my way back home, and take the public transport, this happens when I’m heading to the gym, or to pick-up a delivery. In such a situation, I don’t dare to bring out my Nintendo Switch in public—I don’t want it stolen—and I won’t take out my PSP either, because the buses here are wild and if I drop it, the battery and its cover popping out who knows where.

Something like my Anbernic RG35XX SP is often ideal, much cheaper and smaller, and while not sturdier than the PSP overall, the battery doesn’t pop out—although the cheap plastic will definitely chip.

Of course, this is assuming I can sit. There are seasons where buses will be full of people all the time, and it’s in those moments where my Miyoo Mini Flip comes to the rescue! I actually haven’t used it that much, but when I know I’ll probably have to stand up among lots of people, using it to play one-handed-friendly games is awesome.

However, in that case, I may prefer to read some pages on my XTEINK X4. And yes, I am one of those weirdos that can actually read while on the move, even on a bus where I keep swaying in every direction at every stop.

Another reason I wouldn’t carry my Switch is because of the added space taken by it. A huge deterrent for me to go to the gym is carrying my extra clothing. I also don’t feel comfortable leaving such a device alone, even when there are locker rooms.

At the gym

I don’t use gaming handhelds at the gym. I probably shouldn’t care of what others may think if I did, but I do. Besides, it’s much easier for me to get distracted from the excercise by it, or slowing down my walking pace because of the game. Even if I feel justified when others spend that time on their phones resting for five whole minutes.

I simply stick to a podcast when at the gym, put my earphones and ignore everything else. My body focuses on the excercise and my mind is entertained by an episode of Wolf 359.

However, every once in a while I’ve been bold enough to take out my Kobo reader and read a whole chapter of The Expanse while using the threadmill. I have done the same thing with my XTEINK without much issues.

This is only really useful while on a walk or stationary bike, as most machinery lacks a decent place for me to place the ereader in a good position for me to read. Plus, getting stuck staring at a page I already completed because of an excercise would probably drive me mad.

Indeed, music and podcasts are best here, though the XTEINK’s form factor is nice to carry without feeling uncomfortable on my pocket for the rest of my routine. If it’s my Kobo, I’d have to bring it on hand, leave it on the floor or some other random surfaces, or store it in the locker after the warm-up.

At work

To be clear I do not play with my handheld consoles during work hours.

Fine, fine… maybe a casual session of Slice & Dice on my phone every once in a while.

Still, for the longest time the fact that the Kobo looks like paper allowed me to just have it by my side and read a few pages here and there. The form factor was ideal to pass off as a notebook—or maybe people knew sometimes but nobody cared.

Eventually, when the XTEINK came about, things got a lot easier! Although I still use both interchangeably, as it seems not many people mind about telling me to not read books at work…

Oh, right, outside of work hours, I do play with my handhelds sometimes, whenever my commute is short and I arrive early at my workplace! I only do this with smaller form factors, latest of which is my New Nintendo 3DS XL, that has been the largest of the bunch, but still slim enough for me to use before more people start showing up. The Nintendo Switch is way too big and I don’t need to bring attention to it, honestly.

At home

Tthe only thing that stops me from gaming, reading, or doing whatever I want, is the fact that I don’t live by myself!

Now, it’s not that I can’t do something I want, I am simply reminded of my responsibilities and aware of the fact that everyone in the house has to fulfill them for the sake of peace, harmony and love!

Because of this, I mostly stick to devices that allow me to have quick sessions, or some leisure time on the TV with my Nintendo Switch, when every duty of mine is taken care of—or when there’s nobody at home to stop me.

I rarely read at home using my Kobo or my XTEINK, if I’m honest, as I would rather spend my time doing things like playing longer games with a narrative that may end up too disjointed when split into short bursts.

This is also the one moment where I actually don’t mind reading a physical book as well, something different from my sci-fi novels or Manga. It’s where I get to read or study the bible, rather than entertainment.

Podcasts also win a lot of ground especially during chores here, great background noise when doing dishes or mopping the floor.

All in all, the form factor matters less when there’s no real limit to what I can do, I guess.

Finishing thoughts

Josh’s final paragraphs focused on the intentionality of choosing a specific device for a specific moment, for a specific use. Every gadget having a certain meaning, a form factor that makes it ideal for a time, a place, or a state of mind.

Especially so when so much out there is trying to convinced of how encompassing everything into a single point—the smartphone—is the ideal. In the end, it’s all too overwhelming, and overdependence on it only ends up hurting us, being a distraction to what matters in the moment.

That was some pretty good stuff, and I feel I sort of wandered off into what use every device of mine has in many situations. There’s a couple of other things I could have talked about, such as going out shopping or similar, but it’s clear that the tiniest devices are often great when they are meant to fill up empty spaces rather than being the focus.

At last, this is enough for a post, I’d say! I am also going to continue playing some Fire Emblem Awakening on my 3DS after I’m done with this.

This is day 92 of #100DaysToOffload.

So there’s this girl I invited to watch a movie, and I do kind of like her, and I do know that my parents are already okay with it (which isn’t a must but it’s appreciated because I generally trust their judgement), so we’ll go tomorrow, and see how it goes from there.

But here’s the thing, my family will be there, my parents, my sibling, everyone will go to the movies.

Now, I don’t intend to be romantic, I simply invited her as a friend, should I be intentional and say I’d like something serious already? There is nothing wrong with that. I also know she likes my parents, and would happily chat with my mom forever. I get kinda embarrased about it.

Basically, she’s kind of a childhood friend I only met for like a month before she moved elsewhere more than a decade ago, and somehow we live relatively close now, and it’s kind of like everything has been served on a silver plate.

Due to the internet I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many people, many women included there who I’m happy to have as friends! I have some great connections but never really tried like, dating through this medium, or in any medium. Still, some of those friends have told me how dating is hard and such, and I won’t deny I have been interested on pursuing a long distance thing. But at the same time, I don’t really know how anything is supposed to be done.

When my dad met my mom, he was direct, he told her his intentions and that he wasn’t playing any games. But me? How can I be sure? Is the fact that I’m insecure about this a good or bad sign?

And now, just like it happened when I got my job, things seem to fit together like a puzzle, and, just like my job, I am not sure I’m comfortable with how it could go.

Maybe I am overthinking it? Maybe I am just blind and she already just sees me as a good friend and we will go nowhere anyway? I think her life is way better structured than mine, from what I’ve seen, so perhaps she will think I’m still like an adult kid and a good friend and leave it there.

Another problem is that she lives a city away, and I don’t drive. So if things actually go somewhere from here and we actually start something more than this sort-of-date-with-my-family-there. Would I have to get a car or just take a bus whenever, ask her to pick me up? That feels a bit too much.

Another thing, should I tell her I’m serious from the start? I want to be serious, I don’t really feel like getting into the “dating” people thing like some seem to be about. I have a feeling she’s serious about it too, like, whenever she dates she will not mess around either.

But I don’t know, I’m just a little worried and a bit excited, and also conflicted. I like her, perhaps, but I can’t deny I’ve liked others too, and there are so many things that I’m not sure I’ll be able to be without.

Like, I want someone to share my hobbies with, and while I feel like we will get along with anime and movies and the like, I’m not sure what her feelings are on videogames. Am I already thinking too far ahead, I guess I wouldn’t mind keeping those for myself.

Oh right, but my parents will be there. Is that good or bad?

Like, I know my mom will cause a lot of conversations to spark (she is super talkative) and I will technically get to know her through that. But should there be a moment where we just part ways for a bit just to talk between us? Or should I just not force that? Talk it out with my parents that I’d like to be left along? that I don’t want them to interfere? But also, what if I do? What if I can’t say enough by myself?

For some reason I also act like I don’t want my parents to realize I like her even when it’s kinda obvious. I actually messaged her out of nowhere last Monday, and we got to a call from there. It was after work, I stepped off the bus early and literally walked from downtown all the way to my house, for more than an hour, and we talked the whole time! So I can hold a conversation, yay!

But! I also did it, because I didn’t want to be in a phone call with her while at home. I didn’t want my parents to be like “tell her hi for us!”

During our conversation, I had to hang up for a bit, and when we returned she actually talked about how she was so surprised I reached out, that she told her mom about it. She told her mom I called her! Like, was it in a casual way?, was she so happy she had to let her know? I have no idea.

Why am I kind of ashamed of this? Oh right… I also feel like I could hurt someone else.

Yep, there’s another girl, and even though I only see her like once a year during some big church events, we are cool! We don’t really chat or anything, I’ve been shy to pursue anymore because she’s even farther away, but I’ve known her longer and feel like she likes me, maybe I do too. But still, we are just friends, maybe it’s all me. Also, they know each other, and they are good friends too, what am I even doing aargh.

The drama continues I guess. I won’t be posting this to my big account, an exclusive for avid readers of my RSS or my blog or those who may see it shared in a smaller account, feel free to reach out in private if you have some advice or thoughts. I have been told to not trust the internet when it comes to things like this though, so whatever.

Now, if you are someone who maybe has somehow developed a crush on me because of my blog and the posts I’ve shared, and you are interested on videogames and share a lot of the same hobbies and thoughts I’ve expressed here, and you were hoping to someday confess your feelings and that I would share the same interest on you. This is probably your last chance, who knows!!?? I don’t.

Until later. This post doesn’t count for #100DaysToOffload.

Anyway, I haven’t really gone to a lot of new places lately, but I have done and seen some cool things nonetheless.

Last weekend was the first time I put some air on my tires. They were already feeling low on my previous trip—I think that’s one of the reasons I couldn’t catch up to other commuters before—so I decided to check them today. In my country, there are quite a lot of vulcanizadoras. They are small workshops where cars can patch wheels, put air on them and some other basic car maintenance. They really can be super simple. The one I went to is literally just a roof, no walls, no nothing, just a couple of guys sitting on top of some wheels by the side of the road.

Something I realized about my bike is that the valves are different, and they have different stems. (I had to look that up, that’s the name of the hole through which you inflate them). I wasn’t sure if the place would have an adaptor, but things worked out in the end and it wasn’t even expensive, they let me pay whatever I wanted. I probably went beyond their expectations by at least a dollar or two, everything happened in just a couple minutes, and riding away felt so awesome with my wheels gripping much better and feeling swifter than before.

The streets were full of puddles and some mud too, but I went carefully—no fenders, remember?—and avoided most damage. There was another commuter there and I followed him up for a while, this time I managed to surpass them eventually.

I went through some big puddles rather slowly and got to stay balanced despite the slow spin, it was rather fun, to be able to do all that. I hope getting fenders gives me even more confidence in the future to just ride through it.

The ride was fun, went downtown again and even visited the shop where I got my bike from. I wanted to check right then and there if I could get the hardware I wanted, but they were closed. No big deal, I rode back home, following the same path I took the first time I got on this thing.

The bicycle culture I’ve gotten to see in my city has been rather pleasant. A week before inflating my tires, I wanted to go to the park downtown again. On the way there, I was among a cluster of commuters, three going my way, another two going in the opposite direction. It felt cool to be among so many bicycles for a brief moment, in the same street!

When I got to the park, I actually saw another bunch of bicyles parked together—none of them were locked. Even if they hadd been, they were leaning on the weakest possible fence ever, pretty much just wires. There was nobody around, nobody seemed to be worried at all.

I kept riding and saw the park was rather filled with people this time. Some were doing excercise, some people were jogging around the same road I cycled through, and there were a few other parked bikes inside.

I’m shameless and made sure to ride along every bicycle I see, I love to know, how many of them are fixies, how many of them have disc brakes, what brands are common, which ones are less known. My bike continues to be the only Fuji around. I have seen two Specialized, one looked like a mountain bike, the other was a city bike with a retro look. I have seen a bunch of Giant bikes too, with quite basic designs. There’s also Mercurio, Alubike, and some Green Plus—all of these seem to be Mexican bicycle brands. The latter is a bit of a higher tier, judging by the prices online.

After so many videos from Europe and the US, or about my own country, from Guadalajara or Mexico City and how bike theft is so abundant. Seeing my city be so non-chalant about it was a bit of a relief. I already had my suspicions this would be the case, as it feels like everyone here knows each other well.

As of now, I am yet to leave my bike parked for a significant amount of time without a direct line of sight, I don’t know if I’ll ever need to do that either way, but I feel confident knowing things are likely to go just fine.

After this many trips, I continue to be pleased by the culture in my city, the cars have been pretty respectful, although I’ve had a few close calls at slow speeds when I get careless. Nothing serious would have happened, other than the scare either way. Being aware of surroundings is still important, slowing down and looking at both sides of the road, stuff like that.

Still, the freedom of just going wherever I want by powering this machine, the spin of the wheels, the force of my legs multiplied and turning into motion. It’s all awesome, I love this. I want to do it more. I need to try that commute to work, I just fear getting sweaty at work.

Perhaps a change of clothes is all I need.

This is day 86 of #100DaysToOffload

These writings force me to write in a certain way, and I enjoy doing so, but it’s not the only way I like to write.

Some of my favorite artices here have been prompted by the most random things, I really appreciate getting to that state. Like sharing actual thoughts on things happening or on the message of a book or a series of videogames that go beyond what a review often has.

A part of me was going to reminisce on some of my favorite posts of that type, but that would just end up being another listicle, another task that would require me to do extra work. Like how game reviews need screenshots or categorizing critiques, or how weeknotes require me to check my gallery to see what I did.

I guess I just want to ramble again without any sort of defined path.

This post is just a short—future me here, not that short—acknowledgment of that. It has been happening for the whole month, so things don’t feel as fruitful as I’d like. It feels like I’m going through chores. Don’t get me wrong, those reviews are 2K words each because I had a lot to say about those videogames I loved, and because I am very happy when people put those games in their radar.

Writing those reviews and notes gives me joy, but it can feel daunting sometimes. I just want to write about writing for once, I get to do it every once in a while. I get to do it on my blog.

How have you been? What have you enjoyed? When was the last time you were in silence and contemplated the way you went through the motions of some task without any extra thing going on?

I keep reaching for podcasts, or some video in the background, or music, many times, but absolute silence while doing the dishes? Embracing boredom? It can be difficult today to do so.

As I write this though, I am in complete silence. A rare ocurrence for me lately, and it has been awesome. This paragraph is written on top of another five paragraphs I had already written, interestingly enough. I don’t always skip and write all over the place! I guess I really needed to ramble.

Yesterday I watched Rocky, one of those classic movies everyone should see some day, and I was surprised at how simple it is. There were a few scenes that happened in silence, with only some background noise and the characters doing things without saying anything. That morning scene where Rocky just swallows five raw eggs and goes to run actually hit hard, not joking! what a movie.

Reading reviews, I agreed with one of them saying it’s not really a boxing movie but a slice-of-life, that of a nobody who gets the chance of his life at challenging the champion. A lot of things happen just because Rocky decided to, he was not just going along either, but building himself up to train for this fight. Even then, he doesn’t think he can win, but he just wants to stay up for the whole 15 rounds.

And he went from a nobody, to the one guy who managed to resist Apollo Creed. He didn’t get the win, but he prevailed, and despite the fame and glory, he just went looking for Adrian, his girlfriend. Rocky didn’t care about winning or losing, he was conscious enough to call her name, and so he did, reunited with her again when credits rolled. What a finale, what a simple thing, simple storytelling is beautiful and rare, they don’t make movies like this anymore, do they?

Perhaps I am also tired of saving up spoilers on my reviews—sorry if I ruined the finale of Rocky just now, it’s still worth a watch—because it is through those bold choices in media, where I get to think the most, where I get to awe at what’s happening before my eyes. Maybe I should just do that from now on? A spoiler section where I get to gush about how unbelievable and awesome the art humans create can be?

Maybe that’s on order, not a list of things, not a top 5 or a favorites, just write about whatever things have gotten me to think just a bit more about this world, about hope, about how to keep moving forward.

There’s this sense of sadness when I begin to write about what I wish I could write about, but I am overall happy, because I’ve already written this much in the first place and writing is what matters to me, and for the most part, I love it.

This is all a ramble, but those are the kinds of posts I enjoy the most. Looking back, I think part of this was inspired by a post by isa where she talks about her personality affecting what she writes about, unable to write about what she likes because… idk? that’s just how it is sometimes? But she will try to do it in the future (maybe).

Funnily enough, I have the same problem sometimes. I already wrote about drafts that just don’t quite feel like something I want to publish. Part of that is the superficiality of it all.

Like, how I disallow myself from writing of some topics because of the sort of image of me it may create on a vacuum. When I shared my full physical Nintendo Switch collection, I kept thinking about how it probably makes me look like a guy with money to spare and a privileged life, meanwhile it’s just me with a stable job, still single and living with my parents. Even saying that feels like I am being a show off, I guess it’s true in a sense.

A long while ago I read about how X or Y is a privilege, and it feels wrong because privilege feels like a bad word nowadays. I have enough time to spend it writing here saying nothing, and I have done this dozens of times in the year, across more than 600 posts, and I keep going. Not many get to write like I do. I was about to go on a tangent on AI, but I won’t, moving on.

If you are still here, you may be about to say the same thing I’m already thinking: just write.

So, I am doing so, I am writing and considering where to go from here. To be honest, I’m already quite satisfied, I am just letting my thoughts flow and my fingers type and it’s working out pretty well. I wonder if I should add some breaks between these paragraphs, although there’s not so much of a theme between them, I wasn’t going to say more about LLMs, but they don’t get to top this raw aimless river of words, yay!

No need to remember what the book was about, no need to look for graphics or pictures to represent a theme. This is all just text, and there’s no point to it, and I love it so much.

Perhaps I should make a Junited post too, just for good measure. Or shut up, let you simmer these words in silence, get drifted away by something else, something worth your attention, or mine, and move on.

Enough, for now?

This is day 85 of #100DaysToOffload

I actually write most of these posts in a single big text file that I then copy paste to a final post.

So, by looking at this text file, I have an idea of a few drafts that have been around for a very long time. Some are super long, and I decided to just talk about these ideas for once. Some are still definitely works I want to complete, but it may be months until that happens, I may as well share some of these.

The post right above this one was about apps I wanted to share, three apps—maybe more in the future—that well, I am currently using and liking. These apps are cool and all, and a lot of my earlier blogposts were about app recommendations! But it just felt like I was writing filler and that just leaving links to those apps would be better.

So yeah, the three apps I was mentioning were:

• Image Toolbox, a super complete… image toolbox, which I use for my weekly collages.
• Buran, a great client/browser for gemini capsules (whenever I check one of those links).
• Screen Time, a neat app that tracks the time you spend on each app of your phone.

The next post was about the Max Steel franchise of toys, and its movies that were part of my childhood. This one is a bit more complete and it’s about a topic I am passionate about, so I’m definitely going to keep going.

What stopped me on my tracks here was the research I started to do. I learned about a lot of things such as other toylines from Mattel that influenced Max Steel, such as Big Jim, as well as competitors like Action Man. It kind of overwhelmed me and I lost the focus which should have been on my personal experience with the franchise.

I’ll definitely return to this, and I also want to watch the movies I still have pending, before I continue.

Another of my uncompleted drafts was a response to Dom Corriveau’s post about letting go of old hobbies, a theme that really struck me, given the amount of hobbies I have had over the years.

I was going to talk about yo-yoing, card magic, origami and some other things that have ended up abandoned when compared to my reading and gaming. I used to spend hours with a pile of paper sheets and watching endless tutorials on YouTube, sharing pictures taken with a 480p webcam on Flickr, where every cool origamists uploaded their work circa 2011, I guess.

I should revisit that post, it’s literally a single paragraph right now.

The next incomplete work was an entry for The IndieWeb Carnival March 2026: Museum memories. One of my favorite ever trips in my life was a visit to Houston TX, where we visited the NASA museum, and it was a once in a lifetime experience for young me. We also went to another more regular museum with bones and paintings and the like, but I can’t recall the name of that one and I’m too lazy to check right now.

I was going to do (and I can still do) a fourth entry on my series on Videogame Franchises, but I should probably start with a tag to compile all of them first. I won’t spoil the series I was going to mention there just yet. It’s not a difficult post to start over after all.

One of my favorite drafts that I started back when I was absolutely focused on Breath of the Wild. I had a pretty fun adventure where I went up a huge hill, and I tried to turn it into a complete narrative journey, talking about what I found and did to reach the summit.

This was fun and all, but I couldn’t bring myself to post it, it felt a bit childish to talk about it especially because I was describing it as if it actually happened, and then do a fun reveal where I was like surprise! it’s all Zelda

Now that I wrote it, it makes even less sense to do so, but if I ever return to finish that game, I might try it anyway. Or post a different thing.

One of the longest posts I’ve written and haven’t published yet is a huge ramble on block puzzles in videgames. This was actually caused by my love for the level and world design found on Soul Reaver, one of my favorite games I completed last year.

I talked about the first puzzle designs games and also focused on the latest game with block puzzle elements I’ve been playing: CrossCode. It was a bit of an extra ode for my love for Soul Reaver, seeing the shortcomings present on a lot of modern titles (CrossCode included) that lack some of the nice mechanics included on that game from 1999—like moving a cube from side to side instead of always having to push it.

It was already about 1400 words and would include screenshots of plenty of games, but I felt it would work better as a video essay for some reason.

I am yet to do a yearly recap for 2025, no comment.

This is day 78 of #100DaysToOffload

I don’t like to think of myself as someone with “brand loyalty”, but it’s undeniable that I have preferences for the tools I use hardware and software-wise.

When it comes to brands for any product, I like to think that I do my research and often go for the most budget-friendly options. I used Xiaomi devices for a long time because they were easy to jailbreak and install custom Android versions on them that allowed me to customize my device however I wanted.

I chose my Kobo Clara 2E because it’s not Kindle and it was easy to install KOReader on it. If it were any other brand, if it lacked a built-in store and if its default OS were bad. I wouldn’t mind, the hardware allowed me to do what I wanted, it was the most practical choice. The XTEINK X4 showed up much later to fill a different niche, but I still would have gone Kobo for a proper-sized reader, Amazon is just evil.

I went with Anbernic and Miyoo handhelds since they simply had the most community support around them and I knew the hardware was plenty for my needs. I could have gone with even cheaper no-brand options too but the amount of information available would not have been as big.

Built-in features are almost never what I care about, a pretty logo does not matter to me, I don’t need some comfy walled garden either, when it costs me my freedom.

However, I am weak when it comes to one brand: Nothing

Or at least, that design language of theirs.

Yep, the title had a double meaning, I apologize

I don’t think this warrants a super long blogpost, you can just look up what they sell and you’ll clearly see how incredibly unique they are.

I own one of their phones—Nothing Phone (3a)—one of their wireless earphones—Nothing Ear (a)—and I just purchased their of open earphones too—Nothing Ear (open)—that I’ve been testing for a couple of days and plan to use while cycling around my city.

For the price, the brand is well placed, offering affordable devices with some compromises that I don’t really care about. But when I purchased these earbuds (and the ones I already had, to be honest) I realized that I completely ignored my “budget-friendly” ideals of before. I would usually go for something like SoundCore or Haylou back in the day.

I got them because they were competitive, sure—any more expensive and I would not have bothered—but the design is what won me over. They look unique, they say something about you. And as much as I don’t want a brand to represent me or seem superficial, I just can’t help but love it.

There are better products for better prices, but the creativity just won me over, their phones’ bootloader is also unlockable so that’s a plus for the day I finally decide to get into rooting and installing a rom on my phone again.

Now, if it’s not obvious. Nothing (the brand) doesn’t actually deserve brand loyalty. They have done some sketchy moves too. I am not a fan of the pathetic AI button on my phone that can’t be reprogrammed by default. There are also some updates that have shown some notifications with ads for app recommendations and the like. Definitely not perfect at all.

I just love that their phones and products are more than just boring rectangles and Apple clones, okay?

Oh, actually, I am also weak to Nintendo, they suck, they do terrible stuff sometimes, but those games are just so goood…

Sorry, I am just a hypocrite. Enough.

This is day 68 of #100DaysToOffload)

All of my Nothing products, very aesthetic!

Photo from Unsplash

Don’t worry, I am not going to expose anyone but myself here.

A few weeks ago I saw a YouTube video: The Performative Epidemic (Invidious) by chon digital, that was about something I think everyone has heard about in one way or another.

Basically, people that pretend to do or engage in a certain activity and post about it online. All with the hopes of getting engagement and make themselves known or internet famous, although sometimes they genuinely want to form connections with people but end up looking like attention-seekers anyway.

I will be honest. I do like to be known and to have some fame. I am not going to pretend otherwise, but I have also tried my best to write about whatever I am feeling like writing, and to do so without worrying much about what is trending or popular.

However, I’ve been very, very tempted lately, to go ahead and copy whatever is going on in the online circles around me.

Seriously though, I look at what’s on the top of the Bubbles frontpage every couple of days and often think “how did I not write about that sooner?” Even more so when there’s a trending post that caused a lot of public responses—such as Hey you, start communicating! by David, and many others before it!—that I could have contributed to—and I may do so even after they are not trendy anyway.

I just need to admit it. I am a little jealous, because a lot of the posts are kind of obvious. They are meta-posts about blogging, about being yourself, about the indie web, about socializing in the internet, a rant against AI, someone who switched to Linux, or whatever in between!

And you know? Writing this, I think it has been holding me back. A part of me wants to write about the next big thing that will get a lot of clicks, and that has stopped me on my tracks from writing about what my brain would usually come up with.

Look at my weeknotes that mention what I actually do and engage with, and you can see a lot of themes that would usually be expanded upon from a paragraph to a whole blog!

Maybe about my return to Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, a guide on how to get started through the early stages of the game or set up online multiplayer rooms for it via emulation! I’ve even been asked for this by a friend already!

It could be a tour through the Miis and experiences I’ve had on Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, sharing some funny screenshots and recordings of the game that I’ve saved with hilarious moments, and some thoughts about it.

Or it could be that post about cycling through my city! I experienced a lot of things as I’ve gotten started on this hobby/transportation method, and I could even do a tour through some neat places I’ve seen on my rides, although I prefer to keep where I live private for the most part.

Perhaps a nostalgia trip through Max Steel, the toy franchise that heavily influenced my life through its movies—which I’ve been bingewatching for a few days—and their action figures I wanted as a kid

But like, who wants to read a young adult rambling about a toy from the early 2000s and its low budget movies with PS2 quality graphics? Why would one care about the early beginnings of yet another hobby of mine when there’s a dozen I’ve written about already? How trendy can a blogpost about an old PSP game with terrible controls and lots of grinding really get? Tomodachi Life is the one somewhat trendy topic, but whatever.

Funnily enough, some of those themes are things friends have already asked me about a couple times, I am just being deaf here for no reason—nobody cared about Max Steel though unfortunately.

Of course there are readers for everything, and I’ve been reassured by many of my online friends about how they like that I write about whatever all the time.

And yet here I am, writing my own meta-blogpost, with a title that is likely to make it to the top for once.

Is this the ultimate move of “performative” blogging? Am I being as hypocritical and desperate as it can get while writing about the fact that I should not write about trendy topics just to get attention for it?

Perhaps I am, but I will write about my little niches soon enough too. Now click that upvote button in the comments section for me okay? Or just send me an email, I love them very much too. 😁

To make it clear again, a lot of the people who have blogposts that get to the top are actually awesome. They, like me, have plenty of variety and themes and shenanigans they share online. I am definitely not saying they are being performative and it’s something that is hard to judge anyway. If anything, I’m the one being a little childish about it. But hey, that’s just my brain sometimes.

Now I just need to share this post at the perfect time to get the largest amount of readers as possible…

NO, STOP IT, END OF LINE.

This is day 67 of #100DaysToOffload

I decided I would get a used bike from a local bike shop.

I talked to one of the employees there and he offered me some interesting options. I felt a bit more sure of myself, I had watched a lot of bike videos and at least knew what mechanical disc brakes were, for example.

I was still undecided about it, and I kept asking random stuff, what are the types of bikes they sell, what are the price ranges they have, what sizing would fit me better, etc.

The guy was very patient with me. I spent a long while standing there saying absolutely nothing, just looking at the options, researching whatever models I could recognize on my phone while they just waited for me to make my choice. I even asked to the guy for opinions on the online-only brands I mentioned in my last post.

During my decision paralysis, plenty of clients showed up, some adults who wanted a basic service check, others showed up with their kids, with a flat tire or faulty brakes.

When I looked at videos online, I saw a lot of mixed experiences. Videos of bike shop owners, who want to help their customers, warning them that Walmart bikes are bad and difficult to service, but they buy it anyway and now are doomed to struggle with them constantly because their components aren’t as replaceable or repairable. And I saw the opposite side. Customers complaining about small local businesses being disrespectful and elitists, refusing to provide service to them because they didn’t buy a bike from their shop or because the work per hour is more expensive than the whole bicycle.

With the rise of the internet and AI and all of what happened during the pandemic, it seems to me like a lot of people simply don’t trust anymore on the opinion of the experts, even those you can see right in front of you, who constantly work and operate in their are of expertise.

But of course, what if the expert will only lead you to buy something with a big markup for them to get more money, when something cheaper could have been enough? What if they sell me a bad bicycle and I’m ignorant and happy about it and I could have found the same thing elsewhere at half the price?

And online, most videos from content creators and influencers online will also be sponsored by some companies offering dubious services, and one can’t help but wonder if people only care about money instead of being decent with each other, but also that’s just how the system seems to be over in the mainstream web.

But well, in the end, I watched videos from European and American channels, where people ride to work in bikes worth $5,000 and a training wheel installation can cost 50 or 70 bucks.

Most of the bikes I saw people riding are just tools more than recreation, and as such, bike repair and maintenance is common. Honestly, most of the clients seemed pretty humble to me. One of them was a street entertainer who seemed a little drunk, he showed up and said “Hey this isn’t working for me bro… please give it a maintenance for me… thank you by the way, I will pay you later… I’ll be right back! Don’t worry, but fix it, and check the brakes too, okay? all good, I’ll return in an hour” and left the bike there and went elsewhere just like that. No money exchanged, just a loyal clientelle of regular customers. All the other interactions were just as simple and chill. That is what the culture in my country often is like.

So I decided to trust the shop the shop, I got a bike from them. All in all, they were very understanding, and I guess they want to sell stuff after all.

I chose my bike, a Fuji Traverse 1.6, a hybrid bike ideal for city commute and some light dirt paths, I got it used for 432 bucks, and paid an extra 10 bucks to add a kickstand—no installation fee!

I traveled all the way from the bike shop to my house, about 7.5 kilometers or so, which took me about 25 minutes. It was a great ride with just some down and uphills. None of it was a problem at all!

And well, I’ve already gone on a couple of rides and had some more experiences and thoughts to share, which I’ll write for an upcoming post.

TL;DR: I am very happy with my purchase, good stuff!

This is day 65 of #100DaysToOffload

Around 10 years ago I used to have a pretty neat bike, it was a bit big for me but I could use it no problem. It was gifted to me by my uncle and I really liked it. However, we moved, and my dad told me he had to sell it to a friend.

I was very, very upset, but we couldn’t bring it with us, and eventually had to come to terms with it.

A couple years later, my dad gave me another bike, but I kind of neglected it for many years, I don’t know if it felt like betrayal or what but I only really used it twice and it never felt right. The bike was smaller too, with 24” wheels, and I was already (barely) an adult, so I felt too slow with it.

When I had the day off on Monday I decided I’d try and get that old bike up and running. It didn’t work out.

The tires were deflated and had some cracks, so I carried it with me and walked to a workshop to see if they could fix them—it was closed. I walked back and left the bike home, and took a bus to Walmart to buy a pump and inflate the wheels myself—it didn’t work. The bike was in a garage/storage room, a hand-made one with an aluminum ceiling and plenty of gaps, it was easy for moisture, dust and other elements to set in, so there’s that.

Anyway, I figured it wasn’t worth it, and decided that it was too small for me, so I’d get a used bike from a workshop instead.

Yesterday I went back to work, but after my shift was over I went to a bike shop nearby and saw a few options.

Unfortunately I was feeling kinda introverted and could only ask something like “a bike with different speeds that can go uphill and through dirt roads and stuff”, which was as generic as it gets. Anyway I was still offerend a few options, some were way out of my budget (which is around 450 bucks), but some others seemed pretty decent.

I didn’t take note of the brands for this post, I could only remember a Giant which was in reparations and would cost around 290 USD once fixed. I may return today once work is over and try and make some more questions. I literally walked to four other bike workshops from there all over the city—maybe just walking is fine—but most were closed or had a very small catalog.

Once I returned home I checked online for some reviews of affordable bikes in my country. I saw a few interesting options from brands such as Alubike, Gravel and Mercurio that seem to be popular in México and with prices to match the economy here. I’ve been looking at the Gravel Everest and the Mercurio Ranger, for the most part, with the Alubike Sierra as a more expensive option which may be worth the extra.

There are some pros and cons to consider here, I made a list with some more random thoughts:

• Buying online will require me to some assemble the bike, but learning how to do it might be fun.
• I could still assemble it wrong and ruin some part, but I am pretty confident in myself to figure it out.
• For the price of a new budget-friendly bike, I could buy a used one that’s higher quality.
• I am not super sure the bikes available will be higher quality, but it may not matter that much anyway.
• Buying used on a bike shop will let me try it immediately and check how it performs too.
• I could also buy and assemble a new and more known brand bike online, get it serviced, and call it a day.
• A bike shop will guarantee that it’s well assembled and maintained, I can get more equipment there.
• Supporting a small business that brings old bikes to life sounds kinda cool.
• I should still fix my older bike, maybe I could resell it after all.

Anyway, I am still on the fence on all of this, I am trying to figure out where does a bike fits in my current lifestyle. I don’t know if I’d use it to commute to work, since I need to go through a highway with a lot of trailers and trucks and it just seems super scary. By the time I get home it’s already kind of dark too.

So would I only use it during the weekends? Or I should learn how to be safe on the bigger roads? I also really enjoy just taking the bus and having an hour to spend there without worries.

Decisions must be made once again…

This is day 62 of #100DaysToOffload.

I often call myself an introvert, and due to yesterday’s post, I got some helpful feedback, advice and opinions about it, which I appreciate a bunch! Some got me thinking about how introverted I really am, and the sort of behaviours I often adopt when facing different situations.

Maybe I could make a quiz or something—but nowadays most of those websites are just AI slop. I’ll just write and describe what goes through my head, and I’ll let you judge what you think of me in this regard. Obviously, as I’m the source of these descriptions there’s a bias here, but anyway, my interactions in real life and online differ a bit, depending on the context.

First of all, I consider myself to be much more active and outgoing online. After 6 or so years on Mastodon, I am somehow close to 3K followers. There are a lot of duplicates and people who migrated and follow me from multiple accounts, or are no longer active, but the point is that there’s people who have found me interesting and worth talking with, which is cool! Number go up, brain happy.

I love to get comments and (usually) reply to them, I like when my posts get some attention—unless that translates into toxic Hacker News replies—and people are inspired by me or reach out to me about many topics. I have made online friends and I can name many of them, they are real persons and I’ve had some honest chats, some that are only technical or superficial, but many have been really significant and valuable to me too.

As for online gaming, when I was a teenager I would happily spend hours on Monster Hunter Freedom Unite with strangers all over the world, many times I used voice chat and had a lot of fun. There is a YouTube stream archive out there from some small Spanish YouTuber where I played with him for a couple of hours straight! It was epic. A while back I wrote about the Guild Cards I had which contain information of fellow hunters I played with, including a column with the date we last interacted. Thinking about how it’s been almost ten years since then makes me feel very old…

More recently, I haven’t had a lot of issues playing Peak with some friends from the Fediverse and also the TWG Discord server. The game has proximity voice chat, and it’s an essential part of the gameplay to cooperate with each other, I’m rather active, constantly seeking to help (or be helped) by the people I teamed up with, joking and bantering about random stuff. Some of the people I had never even met, but there was always someone I knew, which brought me confidence to be myself. The goofy nature of the game helped to build a chill atmosphere, everyone was super friendly. I did not fear joking around with my teammates a bit nor trolling them a bit (and helping them out afterwards). I died plenty of times myself and got to be a little ghost haunting the surviving players. Haven’t played this game in weeks though but whatever.

Be it Discord, Signal, Threema or XMPP, I don’t have a lot of trouble interacting with groups of people I know, and I am often the one who will try and start a conversation there, by sharing a blogpost I wrote, or something I’m currently doing (right now that means sharing videos of my Tomodachi Life island). The same goes for messaging specific people, I have plenty of chats on Signal that have been going for a long while and that have helped me develop some true friendships I appreciate a lot.

However, I don’t have interest on long-running online threads where I keep being mentioned about things I have nothing to do with. My friends in the Polymaths’ instance often get into “hellthreads” talking about rather deep stuff, or some TV show I don’t know anything about, or politics; and I rarely engage after the first three or four replies—which turn into dozens and dozens by the end of the day—even worse when more random people get involved and things end up blowing out of proportion. It’s usually harmless banter, but the notifications do build up.

I don’t interact much when I don’t care about a topic, and I try to not switch themes on a chatroom until it’s been a while since the last message on Discord. I often stick to one or two channels, and get familiar with a few active users there. A common practice of mine which you may already notice, is that I love to share my blogposts everywhere, and to spark conversations about them. I can’t help it, I do like to have some attention after all, I’ve even been called out on it by the mods of some communities a couple of times, especially when I am constantly sharing progress updates on a game and such (sorry TWG). I’ll often share and photos of books or manga I’m reading, and stuff like that.

Online group calls are very varied and heavily dependent on the group, but the latest ones I joined were for the Homebrew Website Club. The circumstances there have been rather dire for me though, as I am often on a busy place, only able to listen. At the same time sometimes the topic goes to places where I don’t have anything to add. There’s a bit of technical chatter sometimes and I can’t add a lot since I’m unfamiliar with it.

It’s one of those times where I feel kinda out of my league. Even when blogging and playing around with my website is one of the things I do the most, I am really terrible at talking about it. I feel like everything I say is pretty obvious, but I’m sure if any one of them reads this they’d say the opposite. Either way, I’ve not had the chance to talk many times, I enjoy being a listener though.

Where it goes a bit different is in the TWC Discord’s voice chats. There is a reading club and a gaming club, and both hold meetings where there are discussions and everyone gets to share their thoughts! I’ve participated on these for Soul Reaver and Resident Evil 2, and talked quite without many issues. However, there was not a lot of exchange required from me, I said what I had to say during my turn, and then I didn’t provide much feedback, simply listening. There’s also the podcast episode I participated in, which was I still can’t believe I did, I am told it was pretty good, but I am yet to relisten to my own voice, I remember saying my piece and nerviously laughing at whatever my cohosts said during their turn, again, I just enjoy listening.

One-on-one calls with online people have been rather nice. I rarely do these, but it has happened on Discord, with random conversations here and there. I recall one where we just rambled about the PSP for almost an hour, it was quite a fun time though, and I even learned about a couple games that are now on my backlog, like Black Rock Shooter. There was also that one time I watched a movie with a friend I randomly met on some app where you meet random people, and then we talked about manga, anime and videogames for a long while. Tt was one of the few times where I could give all sorts of recommendations, ramblings and suggestions to someone who was pretty new on all of it and had a lot to learn and experience in those hobbies yet.

Perhaps talking comes easy to me when a) It’s about something I’m interested on and b) I don’t need to look at anybody’s face while chatting. These voice calls do have one deterrent though: The language barrier.

I am a bit iffy on my pronunciation and self-conscious about structuring spoken sentences in English. It’s not that I don’t know how, I write these paragraphs without any problem, but the process of saying the words continuously in conversation makes things weird for me. It’s not the main factor anymore though, just something that lingers from time to time.

The more I write this the more I feel it’s just a simple matter of being familiar with the people I talk with. A single common interest or goal is enough for me to hold a conversation and go from there.

But the problem is I don’t like to reach out to someone for the first time. I don’t know how to start conversations in person. I can write something here but I don’t get to just recite it in some public place until someone stops to listen and wants to talk, after all.

Once I am with friends in real life, I have no issue being loud and joking about things and suggesting we play some card game or setup my Switch for some multiplayer fun. But what gets me to actually talk or make friends in the first place? Well, being in a situation where it’s better to interact than not, perhaps?

I think I’ve mentioned before how I’m one of the more senior members in my friend group at church. I live closest to the building, within walking distance, so my house often hosts extra activities: Nintendo Switch gaming, tabletop games and, every once in a while, a session of Land of Eem. Not too long ago my “social battery” ran out rather quickly, I’d even escape home from everyone as soon as we were done, although my friends would walk there too and visit anyway. I rarely said no, but I knew that when I did they would get it, it’s just how we are lol

I don’t really mind having guests, I let my friends use my Switch or play while I am just using my phone, when I don’t really feel like socializing. My home is theirs and I’m happy to have some background noise and sometimes just watch what they do without feeling forced to say a thing.

Honestly that’s just the best for me, to be around people who are happy to have you among them but don’t expect you to force yourself into whatever’s going on. It’s a little weird after all since it makes me a bit of an “outcast” but it’s still cool. Sometimes, I am being grumpy for no reason they will tease and annoy me, but that’s often because I’m at fault and way too unfocused. For example when I agree that I’ll play with them but I keep scrolling and getting distracted on my phone and the like. It’s okay when things are made clear from the start instead of ruining what we had planned, after all.

Either way, I’ve made an effort not to be as grumpy anymore, and switching to more active board games that I bring to church instead of going back home where I can escape to my room and turn into a hermit has helped too.

Of course, I am also a complete hypocrite. When someone in the friend group pulls out their phones, I will very much be annoyed when they use it during a game and. Some times, since I’m the one in charge in my house I get to ban phones out during visits where everyone agrees to play together, except for mine of course.

At work most of the interactions happen during lunch, it’s the same group every day and I don’t really feel like I belong, nor do I feel that I want to. The chatter there is full of gossip, drama, complaining about workmates or the boss or some other topic. Sometimes they’ll talk about current events and things like that, but the focus is never where I’d like it to be. There’s also a lot of teasing and dirty jokes. These are often part of my culture, the kind of thing that gets one cancelled on social media especially in a place like the fediverse, but that’s just how things are here. I don’t feed those conversations, hence why I stick to reading or using my phone, even though I come off as quiet and shy, which I guess I am.

A few times some device I have or thing I do comes into conversation, and even then I’m like “this is going to lead nowhere, I’m only going to look like a show-off”, for example, as cool as the XTEINK X4 is and how I keep boosting posts about it and recommending it online, someone saw me using it at work and I just summed it all up as “it’s an e-reader” and said nothing more.

Basically, when a conversation at work focuses on me or requires my input, I try to make it die down as soon as possible… I don’t like to stand out, I’d rather they keep talking about whatever they saw on Facebook and such.

As an aside, I keep noticing how I do these sorts of dismissive remarks about normal people sometimes so I should make it clear, this is mostly for hyperbole and maybe comedic effect and I know—or want to believe—that most people have plenty of goals, activities and hobbies that bring them joy, and they are obviously not two-dimensional caricatures. Alas, they rarely bring those topics to conversations at work. I am not superior to anyone just because I have niche devices or hobbies, I am not better because I play single-player indie games instead of FIFA or Call of Duty or because of whatever hobby or craft I’m good at, and similar dumb comparisons I make sometimes. Maybe I feel guilty because a part of me does feel some pride about “not being like them” but I know it’s just a silly thing to think okay sorry bye.

In many situations I could have gone on and on about me and my interests—I mean just look at this post’s word count—but at work all I’d get is “ah so you use it to read during work hours”—which yes I totally do—but the teasing is just annoying to me, and I am sure at least one of the people there dislikes me or is jealous of me for some reason. Maybe I should just change my friend group, but I am not that bothered by it. I am used to how things are and I don’t hate the people I’m with, I laugh way too much at some of the random complaints and stories told there, I just don’t really say much myself nor do I want to spend any more time with them outside of work hours.

Then there’s the friends I’ve made ages ago, from high school or from previous places where I used to live. I don’t speak with the vast majority of them, but every once in a while a status update on WhatsApp (yes that’s what I have to use to communicate in my country) will spark a conversation. I don’t share links to my blog to people I know in real life, but I share photos of the games I play or the books I complete. The latest for example was a short chat of 4 or 5 messages with my best friend from University, when I shared the latest Lego I built. We haven’t seen each other in ages, but I did convince him to buy a Miyoo Mini Plus back in the day.

Also, if I know your birthday and I have you on my phone contacts it is very likely that I’ll send you a Happy Birthday message even after years without talking to you, for no reason whatsoever. Fine, maybe if you are a highschool crush of mine there’s a bit of a reason but I’ll shut up about that.

There have been times where I met those friends in real life, and I don’t have a problem talking as if we’ve never stopped! It has always been fun to catch up and see where we are at in life. Sometimes our interests and hobbies have completely drifted off, but I still manage to find common ground most of the time. I can’t recall an old friendship of mine that I would want to avoid nowadays.

Same goes for cousins and family members. I am extremely grateful about how nice my extended family is. There seem to be some issues between brothers here and there, but me and all of my cousins (there are dozens) get along extremely well. The age difference between us all is rather big, but small groups with similar ages are easily made and it’s always fun when we get to reunite during Christmas and the like.

I still don’t really come up with talking topics or anything, but I am happy to go along with what they talk about, and more than pleased when I bring my Switch and my cousins brings it too and we get to do some epic Mario Kart tournament. I happily annoy and tease and play around with my extended family all the time, which is fun.

Almost nobody in my family and real life people I know are aware of my blog. There’s only like five people who know it exists, but nobody is actively keeping in touch with whatever I share here that I know of.

Look at me, writing another blogpost about myself and putting you all through such a ramble. Perhaps I wrote this all for me more than you, but I appreciate if you made it this far. I am shy and introverted, but I also try and interact with the people around me, I am pretty outspoken online and even a bit of a troublemaker, I will barely be able to look at someone in the eyes, and I won’t even notice you if we find each other on the streets. I guess I could keep going on and on, but I don’t want to spend any more of your time. Introvert or no, I’m just another person trying to get by, living on this pale blue dot.

This is day 59 of #100DaysToOffload.

A few weeks ago my mom had a talk with me, when she discovered my videogame collection. To be clear, it was not even hidden, you only have to enter my bedroom and look to the right, something she has done before, my guess is she never stopped to count them or she didn’t think those boxes were all games, whoops.

She was worried about me, and talked about how I need to focus on the right things and stop getting distracted by the internet and videogames, and that I should not be spending so much money of it. She doesn’t know how much I actually spent, but well let’s just agree that it’s not insignificant.

I do also agree with the time investment/getting distracted part. I do waste time on YouTube, and even if I mostly stick with the fediverse for social media, it still can be a bit of a timesink. I definitely could do without some of the impulse purchases I’ve made before.

But calling videogames a distraction doesn’t sit right with me. They have plenty of positives, but I don’t think I need to talk about that here.

One of her questions was about what do I even do sitting in front of a computer most of the time, once I arrive home from work, especially when it’s been a while since I’ve gone to the gym too. Yes it’s YouTube, and scrolling on social media, maybe some PC games here and there or some graphic design on Inkscape. I’ve never been clear about it, “I’m just using it”, I say, whenever I am working on my blog, writing or editing a post. I use a window manager on Linux, so it’s always easy to switch my screen to a browser or whatever. Sometimes I don’t mind to show the editor though, they don’t read that closely.

I don’t have to hide the stuff, to be honest, if my parents stumbled upon any post from my archive, they wouldn’t find anything new about me or something that would change the way they see me, the only difference is they’d know I share it online, when I don’t talk much in person about things that interest me. That reminds me of another post I wrote a while ago about how terrible I am at explaining my hobbies. Either way, the face I show to the people in real life is not too different to here. I try to be honest.

Writing for me is a hobby and a bit of a ritual by now, no matter how fancy I try to explain why I write on a blog post, I don’t know how I would say it in real life. I feel that spending time typing out words that are not a novel or something that makes money doesn’t make sense to most people, it’s not productive I guess? Even less so when I don’t even care for ads and sponsored content—I wouldn’t mind reviewing a handheld or getting a steam code every once in a while though ;)

Back to videogames for a bit, it’s true that there are plenty of experiences more important than them, sometimes they can become an escape, and while that isn’t wrong, acknowledging reality matters, I don’t want to trick myself otherwise. I should be looking forward and actively work towards achieving something more. Perhaps it’s kind of a cliche but I do want to save up for a home, I do want to find a partner to share my life with, get married, and form my own family, I want to go through the good and the bad moments all of that entails, so many questions and things to experience. I want to live a good life, and that shouldn’t just be on the web, or just videogames or writing, but people, community, life.

But even then, videogames are awesome, I love to play them and to experience them, the variety of stories I get to live through, the challenges I manage to overcome, the mechanics and puzzles and gameplay I learn and even master sometimes. I think it’s possible to have both things so I don’t see myself ever leaving them completely.

I look at my dad who didn’t grow up with games and refuses to play them nowadays, and like, yes, he’s cool and he does read a lot and other things, but I want to also show my kids how to appreciate videogames from the ground up. There’s some pretty cool dads out there which are also a model for me, but nobody is perfect, so I parse through the examples of those that come before me and that I’ve met during my life, to grow myself according to some ideal. I may never reach it, but getting close is enough.

Yep, my kids will be playing SNES and GBA games before they learn what polygon-based graphics are, they’ll be getting stories from JRPGs and get used to waiting for their turn to move while the enemies still attack you, they’ll get used to a couple buttons and a d-pad before they need to use dual analog sticks. Eventually we’ll get to Halo and they will understand that you don’t need a run button to have fun in first-person shooters.

Reading and writing too, they spark so much, they inspire so much. Before bed I will read for them, stories from Jules Verne and C.S Lewis, like I did. They’ll learn how to solve the Rubik’s cube and all of that. They will have their own pens and learn cursive writing and know a world before whatever the future is. At least that’s what I’d like, but it doesn’t have to be any of that, I think I just want them to love learning.

Woah look at me, talking about what’s yet to come. It’s so weird, but I guess it’s something I’d like. If they want to do something else or lack any interest on anything of what I have to show and teach them, I will still try to guide them, but I’ll have to accept their choices, and love them regardless, it’s okay too. Maybe this is one of those posts I wouldn’t want my parents to read, why am I typing all of this out anyway?

I remember, I was looking for ideas online and just saw the way Robert starts a writing session and thought I may as well do the same, just another ramble of thoughts flowing one after another without any particular structure, and well now I am revealing a bit of what my hopes are.

I guess there’s a bit of a barrier to express myself fully in person. I am, after all, an introvert. I still barely talk during lunch with my coworkers, preferring to scroll on my phone instead or read some manga. I still don’t go out that much and if I do, it’s just to go by myself to some public space and read there instead of talking or meeting people. It’s not like I’m about to change who I am just yet though… I guess I could say I’ll try but not even sure how to start I guess.

Are videogames a deterrent on my progress? Is writing the same? I’ll spend less money on videogames sure, I already have a big backlog anyway so. Should I write a little less and experience more? Should I spend my free time in other things? I don’t particularly feel the need to. I eventually want to make a trip somewhere, like Japan, or Canada or some European country, Spain could be fun too I don’t know.

What’s this post about? How will I even title it? I talked about so many things from gaming being a good thing for me, to blogging and writing being things I don’t mention much and how I don’t want people around me to know I do it even if I don’t care that much, to building a family in the future and raising mini versions of me who will get into my hobbies and my wife’s too of course but ideally we’ll share some of them and…. I’ll just stop rambling about it all for now.

I’ve been working for two years now doing the same thing, and I guess that’s a totally normal thing too, I get good money, I don’t get overworked, I am building up on vacation days and the like. It’s all good, do I want more? Would that help? I don’t really want to rattle things that much, but I wonder if I’m stuck in a bit of a cycle. I have been thinking about the next step for a while, I don’t know which is it, or maybe I do and I just don’t want to take it yet, I like how things are, even though I feel something should change.

This is day 58 of #100DaysToOffload.

Apple and affordability

A €700 laptop is not cheap, a €700 phone is not cheap. My iPhone SE from 2022 cost €500 and it wasn't cheap either given what it had to offer. The price may be lower in comparison with other products from the brand and the prices of modern technology—which are madness. They may offer a good value for the money. That seems to be the case for this laptop. But it is not cheap.

Read the Full Post by Adrián Perales on adrianperales.com

I saw this post (originally in Spanish, title and quote translated by me) which dealt with something that I used to think a lot more, and even if I sort of accepted it as a part of life, I still hate it.

Back in the day, I used to watch phone reviews that recommended budget friendly devices. Stuff like the Redmi 4A and 5A were the kings of low-budget gadgets, at a price around $100 bucks. That was the first phone I ever paid for, and 18-year-old me only had half of that money, my dad paid the rest, and even that was too much for him. He wasn’t being greedy, but my previous phone still worked, so it was not a necessary purchase.

The flagship smartphones at the time? $500 bucks or so, the base iPhone 7? $650 USD, the one with 256 GB of storage? $969 USD. We all know storage wasn’t worth that much—even then the Apple markup was acting up. The high tier was expensive, and it still is. Like Adrian, I am extremely surprised when I see people saying the Macbook Neo is “budget-friendly.”

I’ve said before how I am often disconnected from my own culture, as a Latino who mostly interacts with American/English-speaking communities online and watches video reviews from people in those regions.

The people in my country who buy a Macbook Neo seem to me like part of the upper class—or in debt. After all, owning an Apple device is a status symbol for some reason, and even those who can’t afford it want those bragging rights.

The average person where I live has a two or three year old device that they got used from Facebook Marketplace, a chinese device from Oppo, Poco, Honor, Xiaomi or maybe Motorola. People will buy the flagship devices from these brands and think they are expensive and great quality. And yeah, they often have much better feature than Apple or Samsung products, even if riddled with tracking and advertising.

Alas, such brands are at a price people are actually willing to pay, as much as I don’t like it.

I have purchased devices and things from China and chinese online shops before. Let’s talk the Miyoo Mini Plus, the Anbernic RG35XX SP, The Miyoo Mini Flip and the XTEINK X4, and all of them have been at under $70 USD. All of them are extremely affordable and found for even cheaper during sales. That’s the kinda tech that still is actually budget-friendly.

Some of that price may be lowered because Chinese companies overwork people or do shady business practices, but reality is that the markup of most modern tech sold from more popular brands on this side of the globe are simply off the charts. A clear middle ground with a sensible approach can’t be that hard, right? But no, just look at the “minimalist” devices out there, all above 300, 400, 600 bucks and they are hardly worth that much, the marketing is more expensive than the hardware itself, I suspect.

I guess most big tech review channels seem to just take this for granted, 700 bucks for an Apple laptop? Very cheap, sure, you’ll finally have a Mac, yay!

The worst is that they barely mention actually cheap stuff. I think they realized that people who watch phone reviews for a living like to see expensive stuff—that they won’t buy—more than cheap stuff—that they won’t buy anyway, so they go and make that kind of content to appease the algorithm and get more revenue. Also cheap stuff has compromises which are often negative, so brands don’t like those to be brought up, even if at the price they are justified.

The people who genuinely look for reviews for actually affordable devices are usually confined to videos from smaller channels or from creators from India where those devices are more popular. Nothing wrong with that, of course, it’s a similar situation to Latin America, the concept of “budget friendly” is more akin to reality, and those reviews tend to be more honest anyway.

Right now I’m thankful for my current situation, which is rather privileged—single and without any debts—allowing me the purchasing power to consider expensive tech (as long as it isn’t Apple) among my options (although I would still probably go for whatever is cheaper or has better design). Still, I’d love if we recalibrated what “value for money” actually means, and what sort of hardware is actually enough, so we can stop allowing these companies to raise prices for no reason.

This is day 56 of #100DaysToOffload

Some are on hold but still worth bringing up, and some I started over—after abandoning them for years—all of a sudden, and continued to play because they’re fun!

I am not sure what gets me to abandon games or put them on hiatus and just start new things instead. But it’s okay, I don’t really care that much.

New games on hold

The definition of new here is a little strange, I basically mean new to me, games that I started and played a bunch and now they’re abandoned, only temporarily, I hope.

I guess I have to talk about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That’s the first modern open world game that I’ve played on my Switch, for more than 60 hours by now. It still is very little compared to the playtimes other people have shared out there and I can see why.

Breath of the Wild has brought me so much joy, at the time I even purchased the DLC expansion, just to have more things to do. I must admit though, that some steam was lost. Not because the game is bad, but because ever since the Switch 2 came out I’ve been interested on playing the game with the improved performance that come with the new device. I pay for Switch Online + Expansion Pack so I wouldn’t have to pay any extra to enjoy them.

Perhaps, since I’ve decided not to buy a Switch 2 yet—unless the Ocarina of Time remake becomes a reality—I probably should give a spin to exploring Hyrule once more. There was not much story left, but alas, my procrastination is stronger.

Hollow Knight Silksong is another big game that I’ve been meaning to return to lately. The size of Pharloom is a sight to behold. More than once I’ve thought the map was completed only for new areas to keep showing up again and again. You’ve heard about this game, it’s challenging, it’s intense, it’s beautiful, it’s among the best.

By now, I only have a few side quests to complete, and after those I should be able to unlock the last part of the game, which I’m still, thankfully, very much blind on.

It has been a few months since I’ve played this one, I think I need to get used to the controls again, but I will manage somehow.

Another game worth bringing up here is Outer Wilds, which I started playing alongside the new year, catching me by complete surprise and sucking me into its universe for many days in a row, as I explored through the vastness of the solar system.

It has given me so much joy, the discoveries and mechanics were so mind-blowing that I could only stare with my jaw dropped as the game kept breaking what I thought I knew every single time. I am still not sure what got me to stop on my tracks.

I will blame my own laziness, as I got stuck in one section and couldn’t bother to find my way there again. I really should get over it though, it wasn’t a big deal. And of course, I can always just go elsewhere and keept uncovering other secrets, because it’s just that kind of game.

Old games I started over

And here, it’s old games as in “games I played a lot, a long time ago and decided to start them over because of it”, or something like that.

The first one I need to mention here is Terranigma, an old title for the Super Nintendo that I learned about maybe seven or so years ago. It was a game that caught my attention since it never made it to the Americas, and was considered to be a hidden gem of the platform.

When I first played it, I remember very well convincing a few streamers and YouTubers to give it a go, it was one of my proudest achievements at the time, but I never finished the game myself, abandoning it for now reason after13 hours or so.

This year, I returned to it when I say some people started it this year, and it has been a joy! The combat in this game is great for the time, I love how I can almost always be on the move, dashing through enemies and completing dungeons. Definitely plan to keep going with it.

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, however, is a title that I really didn’t expect to return, I was interested during the PSP season last year, but never bothered, I was plenty happy playing Ys, I guess.

Last time I played it, 8 years ago or so, I got stuck on a boss fight against an AI-powered vehicle after four hours or so of gameplay. I couldn’t figure it out and I have no idea why I didn’t look up a guide. The game was a joy, I actually thought I played it for at least ten hours, but nope, I gave up so quick on it, pathetic.

This time, much more accustomed to gaming as a whole, I’ve managed to surpass that battle, and even double Mr playtime by now. I am enjoying this game a lot, and I’m glad I gave it another shot, as it’s perfect for my work commutes right now.

Finally, one of the recent games I beat, Resident Evil 2 has to belong here as well, I tried it out on my PSP first, at some point in 2018. I made little progress on it, reaching the Police Station and being a bit too scared to keep playing it.

I believe that I was also rather invested on Suikoden 2 at the time, which was more appealing to me, I must say. But well that one’s on hold too,

And I also have the remake for Switch, but that’s a other story.

But now? I have completed Leon A and Claire B, and I can see myself doing so much more. The game has more modes and difficulties and all of that, I’m actually kind of looking forward to it, but, maybe I’ll need to return to RE3 first.

Finishing thoughts

As I stated when I started, I just wanted to write about some videogames, I guess, and hopefully inspire someone to play along, or check the backlog and pick something already.

What are some of the titles that you haven’t returned to in a long time? What is the game you are currently obsessed with?

Perhaps I should not ask, I already have so many games on my list, and I already endangered my playthrough of Peace Walker because I purchased Vampire Crawlers this morning, so, send help…

This is day 55 of #100DaysToOffload

Well, it’s been about a year since my last round of confessions as a FOSS enthusiast and I do have a few more things that I thought I’d share!

This was in part tangentially inspired by a post by Adrian Perales on controversies around FOSS programs (in Spanish).

Well, controversial decisions happen on an individual level as well so, whatever, I’ll just share some more of those. Make sure to check the first one though, most of them are still valid…

📱 My phone is even less de-googled

Last time I still had a phone with a custom-ROM on it, and I rarely used the Google services on it, which were just a minimal set of GAPPS for my banking apps and similar. I didn’t have the Play Store or anything, and even then it felt wrong.

Well, now that I am using the stock ROM that came with my Nothing (3a), I just have the usual Google experience. I even logged in to my main account to access my paid apps, and I’ve purchased more apps since then! Back in the day I bought Play Store gift cards to get credit without giving them my credit banking info, but now that has changed too.

What have I become?

But hey, I have Balatro on my phone!

🔍 Sill using Google Search

For a while now DuckDuckGo has been my go-to for web search, and it has served me quite well. However, more than once, I end up appending the !Bang syntax for Google: !g, to get those results instead.

And of course, I’d often stick to the quick summarized answer instead of looking for an article or diving deeper. I simply don’t care that much, and for the stuff I need, the results are serviceable.

Besides, nowadays a lot of the big search engines have turned to a life of crime, not just Google. DuckDuckGo has AI-assisted quick answers too. Brave Search has the same plus all the crypto stuff of the brower itself. Kagi Search is paid and also has some AI stuff on it.

I will still find what I need from a regular search sometimes, clicking on a result that leads me to a website and in the proper way, but that rarely happens nowadays, and a lot of top results are slop anyway. Not sure what to do here to be honest.

Perhaps it’s better to stick to independent search engines like Marginalia or Clew.se when possible.

🤖 FOSS with AI on it…

As much as I hate it, there are a lot of FOSS programs openly embracing code not generated by humans. I appreciate those that are honest about it, even if it annoys me.

The truth is that a lot of these programs are just pretty good at what they do, so I still use KeepassXC, I still use Calibre, and I still use Firefox…

And there are also programs that don’t say anything, or that don’t even think twice about it. It’s weird to see how some have just accepted it, sometimes I wonder if the opinion of the fediverse affects me too much.

LLMs are being used in so much stuff now, I am kind of scared to look at the GitHub repositories, I don’t want to end up dissapointed by it, I don’t want to have to switch from even more.

Like, CrossPoint Reader—the beloved community firmware for the XTEINK X4—or Smolfedi—a lovely PHP-based fediverse client, both of those are new and young projects, both have a degree of vibecode on them.

How many new exciting ideas will develop that will be stained by AI in upcoming years? Too many…

💾 Self-hosting? Backups? What is that?

My Raspberry Pi is literally collecting dust, unplugged in exactly the same place where it has been for 3 or 4 years. I am absolutely serious, no exaggeration. I haven’t even bothered to store it somewhere safe, or to check if it still works. I see it on the bottom level of a corner shelf at the dining room next to the Wi-Fi router, every single day.

I’m not doing anything with any sort of private hosting either. This website is using Vercel’s free tier, I pay my email with a custom domain via Zoho, I use a publicly available FreshRSS instance. Jellyfin and Navidrome and whatever else simply vanished from my needs.

Now, it’s not all lost, I prefer to keep stuff local, but if I’m going to do that I should at least keep everything safe right?

Nope, no backups whatsoever.

There are some duplicate files on my phone and my laptop with Syncthing, there is a 2TB hard drive I got which contains some movies and some other things, sure.

But if I’m honest, if in this very second my laptop died, I would lose all of my data there, if the micro SD card of my Anbernic RG35XX SP died, I would lose all of my saves and games in it. Same for whatever is on my PSP. I am sorry y’all, but I’ve gotten lazy.

Finishing thoughts

It’s important to remember that practically speaking, none of these are actually that serious. I am not truly that ashamed or guilty by doing any of this. Sure I feel kinda bad, sure it is annoying sometimes, and there will be some people who become very judgy and point fingers at me for not sticking to an arbitrary measure.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s an ideal I seek to pursue as well, there are things I can do to align better with my goals, and perhaps I’ll take some time to do it. I will look for AI-free alternatives, I may end up hosting my own custom search engine, or at least disabling all the summaries and slop from whatever search engine I use. Maybe I’ll finally get a custom ROM for my phone and actually stick to a degoogled life again. Perhaps I’ll setup a NAS and host my own stuff once more. I still have an old laptop that I could turn into a server, after all.

I’ve done it before, I used to have backups, I’ve lived free of AI slop for many years, I’ve lived with subpar search results for ages. We’ll see what happens.

But I don’t really let things like this stay too much in my head. I have a lot of other things to focus on, maybe some are not as important, I still support and love FOSS. I still support and love software that is human-made, I still care about security practices and ownership of my data, but well, it’s all work in progress.

I’ve been cleaning up my bedroom again—and this post is definitely not a way to procrastinate doing that—so I’ve found a lot of things that I don’t really use or need anymore, but at the same time, I don’t feel comfortable just throwing them away.

Some are pieces of nostalgia that simply mean a lot to me—others are simply outdated and unnecessary. I keep hoarding them though, and they take up space in my drawers.

When it comes to phones, my Poco F4 and my Mi 12T Pro have power buttons that aren’t working properly. I don’t know what to do with them, I could look into a repair shop to see if they can replace or clean up the hardware in some way, but for now they are still there gathering dust.

Another phone I got here is a Redmi Note 7 my mom owned but the display died after it got ruined by water—the display turns out but it is extremely dim—and the repair technician said he couldn’t do anything to it without replacing the whole motherboard, which seemed not worth the effort and the money for us. Another phone, this one with a broken display and a dead battery, would be a HiSense brand budget phone my sister used to have, that phone is more than 10 years old and not even working, why is it there?

Not to mention, all the cases, unused screen protectors and cables generated by these, to think about the ewaste kind of hurts, but alas.

How can I forget about my HTC Status—or the ChaChaCha in some other countries—one of my first devices that came with a keyboard included, and pretty sick design for its time. This one actually still boots super well! I remember installing emulators on it and mapping the buttons to the keys in the keyboard itself with a GBA layout, it made for a terrible dpad…

Speaking of which, I also have an original red Game Boy Advance SP. A lovely handheld console that I got around 2011 and that I only have 4 cartridges of. I have no reason to really use it over my current emulator and gaming devices, unless I wanted to play something straight from the cartridge itself, I guess, which I find highly unlikely.

I also have two desktop computers that are both more than 10 years old—one of them is probably 20 years old—in a corner of my bedroom, I can’t really bother myself to try and get them running, I think they have power supply issues, and extremely outdated hardware. I removed the hard drives from both of them to recover the data, but I don’t really have a purpose for them anymore.

I still have my old laptop around, the Lenovo Ideapad 510, and it works wonderfully well whenever I test to see if it still boots, I think I could turn that one into a pretty functional server, since it should offer me enough power to perform quite a bit of what I need it to. A while back I even updated my Fedora install on it like 5 versions in a day.

The Raspberry Pi 4 that I used for so many projects during my last semesters at University is also there, and that one is actually super dusty, I went to pick it up—it was still in the same place it has been since I was still using it as a local server—and yeah, it’s a complete mess with dust in every crevice…

Honestly, this is pretty much a collection at this point, even though I don’t display them neatly or anything, I can’t deny the amount of things I have unused, some of which even still works! I’ve been considering getting back into selfhosting, maybe this time using my old laptop, to have some extra juice and speed!

This makes me think about all the devices I still use, what is going to happen to them in 3 or 4 years, or 10, or 20? I still live with my parents, for example, how many of my things will they get rid of without me knowing, how much of it will I carry with me whenever I leave the house and go my own way? And when I move? When I have to make space for a bigger family of my own?

Some of these things I may be attached to today and forget about in a year, some I don’t care about right now may be around for a decade, but one thing is for sure: my PSP still lives, and I still can’t find my Hollow Knight map, what a tragedy…

In any case, I would love to know if you also have old devices and peripherals taking up space in your houses too! It should be kind of fun to have a conversation about it.

This is day 20 of #100DaysToOffload

It was a long one, I couldn’t really read the title of it from where I was. All seats occupied, I was standing five or so seats away and the title was written in a cursive font that was not legible from afar.

She was reading the last twenty or so pages, by the art style of the cover, I assume it was some sort of romance YA novel, she seemed to be rather emotional about whatever was going on. I noticed the back and forth of her eyes as she was flying through every line, paragraph, and page.

After a couple minutes a seat freed up right in front of her, I glanced at her general direction, although she was so glued to the book to notice, although I wasn’t being obvious, I think. I still couldn’t make up what the title was, so I gave it up, sat down, rested my backpack on my lap, took my Kobo reader out, and continued my sci-fi novel.

I didn’t notice when she got down from the bus.

Sorry if you expected some sort of romantic twist, or any kind of interaction at all, oh well.

Anyway, that little event really made me think about books read in public.

Today, most people are looking at their phones, tiny screens, each person using different apps, social media platforms, or ad-ridden mobile games, and all of it is for the same thing, feeding from quick entertainment, slop and domapine, in the best case maybe having a chat with someone, although it’s usually a bubble—yes, Facebook Messenger here rules 🤢—left on a corner, replying when needed as one continues to consume.

So, I wonder how it would be if we just carried a book around instead?

Wouldn’t it be a sight to behold? Every person sitting at the bus, with a book on hand, or in ther pockets, reading something and engaging in a whole unique world for themselves. Some guy would be carrying one of those pocket-sized editions of some timeless classic, holding it at their eye level, another wouldn’t mind the full-sized 900 pages long romance novel, half-way hidden by the open bag its leaning on. Some other person would be standing, one hand firm on handle, the book held with the other in an awkward position, flipping a page with their some weird maneuver, the next guy just tapping on an e-ink device enjoying some sports manga.

Imagine, a never-ending book club, during lunch breaks, after the gym, or on a video-call, conversations sparking when two people notice they are reading the same one, heated discussions when the finale of a long-running series comes out at last. Best-sellers only lasting a few days as the fans catch up on them and the rest just borrow from their friends or libraries, which are fully functional buildings providing easy access to everyone in town, as ids aren’t needed, just pick what you want and leave it anytime, nobody really worries because there is plenty of supply for the demand.

Who needs “BookTok”, when your circle of friends will have suggestions and a backlog to share? when everyone is out there displaying their book cover as they read something?—instead of watching reels with monotone AI voices at full volume. Approaching people and making friends with shared interests would be much easier too!

I wonder if historians know of a period like this, a time where this was a common thing. I must admit I am completely unaware of a period where this was the case.

Did books ever get widely popular, as to be read in public or be carried around in pockets? I feel most people were too busy trying to get by with whatever working conditions there were at the time, and of course, knowing how to write or read was a privilege that not many people got to have for centuries.

If there’s something that I know, is that today we are more “connected” than ever before, and we have more access to information than any previous age, and more books widely available in both physical and digital format, and yet, it seems like books remain a niche, something rarely talked about in public, because you are seen as a snob or a geek when you mention it to someone, somehow.

In any case, just imagine that picture again, that bus, filled with people, wobbling their heads with their books on hand as the driver avoids the potholes on the roadway. The only noise inside? the fluttering of pages turning over, such a pleasant breeze.

Now that I think about it, some people can’t handle reading while on the move. I guess that’s how you can tell it’s just a dream.

It would be nice though.

Reassess time spent enjoying luxury

Every time my wife is away for business travel, I take the opportunity to do things I don't have time for when we're together: video games, movies and TV shows my wife won't watch, that sort of thing. Inevitably I wind up spending too much time with these luxuries. Just last night (Monday), when I had all day to play with a vacation day, I didn't go to sleep until 12:50 AM.

Read the Full Post by Steve on An Almost Anonymous Blog

I recently saw this post by Steve and found it kinda relatable.

Every once in a while, I get to have the house for myself too, and the options for me are similar. While hobbies like books, manga or certain games I can do at any time—even during my commute to work—or when others are present. Some activities are simply more enjoyable when there’s nobody around that may require my attention, or that may send me to clean up my bedroom instead. Living with parents has its perks, but it’s a double-edged sword.

Even if staying up late is not ideal when I have to wake up early to work, I personally have no issues with my sleep schedule. I wake up on the first beep of my alarm and continue the morning like nothing happened. I am not sure this power will last forever, but I’ll take advantage of it when I can. Obviously, this is not a daily thing, but a few times a year aren’t too bad.

Because of this, my reassessment is not because I stay up late or watch too much anime at once. It comes from the number one reason I end up actually wasting my time: YouTube, YouTube Shorts.

I find value in videogames, anime, movies or other media, I enjoy my time with them. However, every once in a while, I’ll just do nothing but watch random stuff from the YouTube algorithm. I know I just said a few posts ago that I don’t have an issue with algorithms, and that is the case most of the time, but when I literally have nothing else to do, and I can choose between a gaming session, bingewatching a show or a movie marathon, for some reason, my brain will default to sitting on my laptop (I don’t use the YouTube app at least) and scrolling through random videos.

All that time to be spent on things that I can only do at moments like this, like solving some dungeon on CrossCode or defeating a boss on Silksong, you know? finish a book or at least try a new anime. But no, endless scrolling.

Like, it could be great. It has been great before, I have managed to accomplish a lot of stuff some times after all.

Like that time I binged all the 70+ episodes of Hajime No Ippo, or when I watched almost all of the Alien movies, or played through The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy for the first time. All of that was rather awesome, stuff that I can’t afford to do at such a pace on a regular basis.

I think I just need to set my priorities properly, I am consciously making the wrong choice, which means I can consciously not do it. Right?

I really envy the people who can actually get things done using time-blocking or to-do lists, calendars and all that mumbo jumbo sometimes, I mostly go by feel, and unfortunately I feel like being lazy and consuming “content” way more often than putting some effort on enjoying the creative output of artists who pour so much passion into their work.

One of the details that struck me when I read the original post, was the choice for the word “luxury”. Sometimes I don’t appreciate it that much, and take things for granted, but yeah, a couple of evenings after work just to relax by yourself and not worry until tomorrow’s workday comes is a luxury, so I shouldn’t let it go to waste.

And of course, it’s at moment like this when I not only get to digest all of that media, I also get to work on my own stuff!

From writing longer blog posts (I always write my reviews at home where I can quickly access screenshots and the like), to spending time on a different project (like the Rockbox theme for the Innioasis Y1 which I just published).

However, those things are something I can do when others are around the house, I just gotta work on my desk. So I’m going off-topic.

In the end, the main thing is that I get to use the big TV in the living room for whatever I want.

Freedom!

So, how do you spend time when you get to be by yourself for a bit?

It became a thing with my Android phones, from 3rd party launchers, icon packs, widgets, or wallpapers, to the good old XPosed or Magisk modules, power apps, and custom ROMs. All that with the purpose of making it mine.

Modding my PSP also opened a different can of worms, I put custom themes and icon sets, changed the wallpaper accordingly, put some plugins to organize my games, quick launchers and whole custom GUIs too. Not to mention all the homebrew, emulators and backed up games I could run on it.

This obsession grew some more after I put Linux on my computer, I remember starting with Pop_OS. I figured out GNOME extensions, I got into GTK themes, terminal color schemes, and everything in between. I explored other distros like MX Linux, Void Linux or Fedora, which came with XFCE or KDE. I tweaked every setting to my liking.

Eventually I became aware of the world of window managers, where I learned to customize everything further more, I stuck with AwesomeWM for months, one of the all-timers with the most features, settings and scripting capabilities. At some point I switched to SpectrWM, more bare-bones, but easy to customize, I even shared my config at the time in case you care to check it out.

After a few jumps to other places, I finally landed on dwm.

Since then, my config went through a lot of patches and settings until it was perfect (for me), and it has remained virtually unchanged since then, just some keybinding or start program every once in a while.

However, I think something changed when I started to learn Inkscape. I was not just applying some icon pack to my phone, I was putting my own work on my phone.

That flipped the script and gave me a whole new way to make a device my own.

So, when I started to get into Linux-powered emulation devices such as my Miyoo Mini Plus, I couldn’t help but get obsessed with it. I put OnionOS on it, I created my own theme for it based on Arcticons, I created my own videogame art because I didn’t like the existing ones, among many other customizations.

I did the same thing with the Anbernic RG35XX SP! And that was a crazy ordeal as well since the theming is much deeper and powerful on muOS. I even had to update it and remake it couple of times because themes kept breaking after every update.

Now that I acquired yet another single-purpose device, the Innioasis Y1—a cheap music player device that happens to have Rockbox support—it was time yet again to make it mine, although I ended up going for a new approach this time.

I have zero idea of how Rockbox theming works, so I initially went with one of the themes available, thinking that’d be good enough.

However, I noticed the themes were simply upscaled to 360p (the resolution of the Innioasis Y1) from the original 240p versions (which is the resolution of most iPods that run Rockbox). So, when I noticed this issue, I decided to try and fix it, and it would be an interesting learning experience as well.

I figured out where all the assets are located, a set of folders filled with BMP image files. I remade most of them on Inkscape or GIMP, I reformatted them to a specific BMP version with ImageMagick. Not to mention messing around with converting font files to an appropiate format.

I ended up having to edit some theme files, so I also had to learn a little bit about how themes actually work, and now I have a pretty perfect theme based on AdwaitaPod. Same colors and shapes, just some icons remade in the Arcticons style.

All of this to say, I think I am getting an idea about how all of this works under the courtains, so I may end up creating, or at least heavily modifying, my own theme in the future. It seems rather inevitable at this point.

Gotta theme them all!