Social Media, Online Friends, 2025
My experience in the last few months and plans for 2025
In the latter months of 2024 I’ve been craving a local friend group. Like many people during COVID, I moved online for a lot of my social interactions, work, etc. And only after a few years is it abundantly clear that it, really sucks, at least if you become too reliant on it. I’ve deleted most of my social media accounts which made me feel like I was stepping away from friends and circles I had been fostering for these past years, but the hope is that it is setting me up to focus on those in person friendships. However, I understand that the internet is a great place to meet people, stay up to date with cool stuff and people, and to connect with people across time and space. I am writing this newsletter so that you, my friends, family, and people who enjoy what I create can stay up to date with what I’m doing. If you have a newsletter for doing the same, let me know!
I quit my job in 2024 and it’s given me a lot of time to reflect on what I think I want and need. My recent hobbies and interests have been centered around working with my hands, building local community, and urbanism. My career is as a software developer and I enjoy working on small fun B2C projects on the side. However, I find great meaning in working on B2B software that solves real world problems.
All this being said, here is what I am working on and intend to work on in 2025.
Freelance: I’m planning on really diving into my freelancer development during this year.
Cronicle: I built an existential life tracker app for myself but you can use it too. I don’t take a lot of picture or post on social media a tonne but there is something extremely satisfying in occassionally looking back at old memories. That being said, I don’t need tens of photos for everything I ever do. In my mind, one great memory for each week of my life is a lot to look back on. On Cronicle, you post one memory for each week of your life. The layout encourages you to accept the passing of time, the brief lives that we have, and to do something you love in every week of it.
Bard: Ahhh Bard, my passionate project since my wee days at university. I’ve started it up again recently with a renewed energy and vision. Bard is a collaborative storytelling platform for visual artists, writers, voice actors, and music creators. Share your work, experience the work of others, and collaborate with them by expressing your interpretation back to them through your own work.
DetourAhead: I’ve been getting more involved in the urbanism communities recently; walkability, more trains, more housing, etc. One of the best things that regular people can do is advocate for change with their local government. While these days many people understand that there is much be desired in our urban environments, many people do not advocate for change. This blog is intended to be a space where I, someone who is not professionally educated on the topic, talk about some things I’ve learned in the urbanism community. If you follow along, it may help you better understand what and why you want change in your community.
Woodworking: Stay tuned on this one. I’ve been whittling a little bit but my passion for organization and my desire to work more with my hands is leading me to really wanting to make furniture in my spare time. I’m starting a 2 month course soon where I learn a bunch of stuff and I’m sure after that I’ll know whether I do want to do it or I don’t at all.
Youtube: Youtube is perhaps my favourite platform and it’s the one I intend to use to create content for other than my newsletter. Stay tuned for some more dev tutorials, maybe some drawing, woodworking, etc.
I also want to draw a bunch, pickle some things, and volunteer more in the urbanism community.