I have always considered myself a bit of an extrovert. Always somewhat easy dealing with social situations, always ongoing, and somewhat easy to make friends and such. You know, always around people, with the cool kids, gatherings, events, whatever, always around. This is why, doing the internet thing came, again, somewhat “easy” and super-interesting, an internet extrovert. Or is it a social butterfly? In any case, it all started with the usual suspects, in my case, LatinChat, ICQ, MSN Messenger, later MySpace, and Facebook. The rest, as they say, it’s history. I even ended up blogging and all!

I cannot say I have been around for a long time because clearly there are people much older than me that are still doing the internet thing. Whether they’re still on Twitter, blogging, chatting, the Instagrams, etcetera. We are internet people, playable characters. We do the social media game, the blogging, the chats, all of it. But at some point, it gets exhausting, in many ways, it becomes too much. Too much information, too many social issues, too much to keep track of…

Having a “real” life, can be tough, taxing, and especially if you’ve got a family, kids. And, if we are not careful, our “internet life” can get in the way. I would love to say I have a perfect balance, but that’d be such a majestic bullshit thing to say. It’s too much, again, it becomes exhausting. Keeping with your family, your non-internet friends (if I still have those), then your online friends, on 5 different chats and on 5 different social platforms. It’s hard to keep up!

Lately, I’ve been having this meh feeling about blogging like I don’t feel the need of writing something and sharing it. However, I think there’s more to it than just my blogging, I think is the whole internet thing. I feel like I devote too much of my time to it. To the point that if I were to quit social media and all, I wouldn’t know what to do with my time, or me. That is a very sad and scary feeling if you think about it.

The idea of becoming an NPC, does sounds like a beautiful idea. Little to no social media presence, journaling, and writing for me and me alone and not share a thing. But there’s always the need to do so like blogging is a thing I love to do or sharing my pictures. Like, what is the point of taking a picture or writing something if not to share it?

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

My feeling is that every blogger/online social person goes through this every once in a while. Thus, I presume, it goes away.

Right?

Does it?

Take a social retreat of sorts?

Like a great philosopher once said,

Fuck it all! fuck this world!
Fuck everything that you stand for!
Don't belong! don't exist!
Don't give a shit!
Don't ever judge me!

— Surfacing

😅

In all seriousness, I'm certain that is possible, leaving it all behind, I have seen it. Stepping away and, quietly sipping a drink in the back of the room while everyone else does their thing.

I am not certain, what I should do and focus on at the moment. I am not convinced, I truly have it in me to step away and have no social presence at all, a noninternet person. Not only that, but I am not sure whether I am the internet extrovert/ social butterfly I used to be, even in real life, in fact, as I’ve grown older.

Maybe that’s it, I’m just getting old and grumpy.

René Pérez Joglar, also known as Residente, Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter, activist, some may say philanthropist. One of the major exponents of the urban-music genre, in PR and around the world, released his new single, This is not America, featuring Ibeyi.

This song, in many ways, touches close to my heart. The song has a very strong statement and criticisms as many of his songs do. The lyrics are punchlines are strong and powerful, the bit it's on point, with the use of heavy drums, Ibeyi's voice in the chorus,  I never get bored of listening to it.

worth listening to and watching the video.

Many lines on this song resonate with me, but my favorite,

(translated for your convenience 😉)

America is not just the USA, papá
This is from Tierra del Fuego to Canada
You need to be very dumb, very hollow,
is like saying that Africa is just Morocco
These scoundrels forgot that the calendar they use, the Mayans invented it

Also, just in case, Tierra del Fuego, or "Land of Fire"  is an archipelago at South America’s southernmost tip, shared by Chile and Argentina.

America is not the United States, it is the United States of America.

This is great! I guess the same argument can be made for digital journaling, a.k.a. blogging, which doesn't even has to be 208 characters or more.

I am currently part of the Society of Commercial Seed Technologists (SCST) and it is within my professional goals, to become a Registered Seed Technologist.

Last week, I was in Ames Iowa, where the SCST SuperWorkshop for 2022 was hosted. This is actually the second time, I have participated in this SuperWorkshop, back in 2020, about a month before everything shut down due to COVID-19. For obvious reasons, anything to do with SCST and the path to becoming an RST was put on hold.

Anyways, now in 2022, the plan has resumed. Last week was the SuperWorkshop and the idea, or plan, was/is, to take the exam this coming June. That gives me about two months and a half to study and get ready. Well, as you can imagine, I am yet to start studying for it, and after everything that was talked about in the workshop, even if I dedicate myself and study, I don't feel in my heart that I'll pass it. I graduated college ages ago, there were still dinosaurs roaming the earth (lol). I haven't had to "study" for anything in a long-long time. This makes me nervous and terrified.

Today, I was given a date, place, and an exact time of the exam, Sunday, June 5th at 9 AM in Chicago. This makes it real. I look at the material and I become overwhelmed. The SuperWorkshop was obviously super-helpful, but still...

shit got real!

this one was good

In preparation to my upcoming work trip, I dumped everything from daily carry backpack to, organize and do some

Kind of inventory about my everyday carries.

Here is the state of my pack as of, March 5th, 2022.

The backpack

My backpack of choice — currently —is the 20-liters Everyday Backpack by Peak Design. I have got to be honest, I may have purchased this bag out of FOMO. At the time, this was the backpack all the cool kids were talking about. That being said, this is probably the best backpack I have ever owned. It truly clicked for me and does exactly what I wanted from a backpack.

The contents

1. Work computer, some HP business laptop, I hate it.
2. Work phone – iPhone 8, it’s battery-dead most of the time, rarely ever use it.
3. Work keys, can’t believe I am using keys, for work, in 2022 ¯_(ツ)/¯
4. Apple MagSafe wallet – my favourite wallet currently, only carry 2 things, my debit card and ID
5. Appeel journal – got that from work, it’s nice
6. Insignia USB Type-C Memory Card Reader – crucial, this is how I transfer pictures on the go to my iPad or MacBook Pro.
7. PENTEL Sharp Mechanical Drafting Pencil, 0.9 mm – no idea why I got this for, but it’s nice to have.
8. Parker Jotter Pen – best pen ever!
9. Some fine point sharpie, fine point sharpies elevate your writing skills by 20%
10. Some random pen I got from the last hotel I stayed in.
11. AirPods Pro – the best AirPods I’ve ever owned – so far
12. Camera, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III attached is the mzuiko 25 mm and always carry the 45 mm with me as well.
13. Usb c to lightning cable, some rental cars nowadays have usb c rather than regular usb, gotta be prepared.
14. Nintendo Switch lite – easy to carry with me every day, and everywhere. The regular switch stays docked at home. And of course, its charger, it not only charges my switch but also my iPad Pro.
15. 2018 11-inch iPad Pro with the smart keyboard. Best macintosh computing device ever made.
16. And last but definitely not least, Hello Kitty’s Funko Pop, she’s my travel buddy.

Furthermore, I always carry a small pocket knife with me, but for some reason, it’s been missing… I believe it’s in my satchel, a.k.a. fanny pack, that I use when out in the field.

Not in the picture, I always try to have a beanie with me somewhere in there, at least during the cold months. My sunglasses are sometimes in there, and my car key.

I could say that I have been, somewhat journaling way before I started "blogging". Thinking back, probably my first digital journal was – like it or not – Facebook. Back when it was usable and tolerable, more the latter than the former. Later it was Path. Remember Path?

Then it became more personal when I started using Day One about 10 years ago. Everyone is a while I would share an entry on Facebook but rarely. Then I started to read more blogs and took a lot of interest in personal blogs. And that's where my interest in blogging stems from. To have a digital journal of sorts.

This is how I have been journaling for the past 5 years, in my personal blog and Day One. I have an IFTTT action that anything that gets posted to my blog, gets an entry on Day One.

However, I have been playing with the idea of pen-and-paper journaling. Probably for those things I don't feel like saying out loud. As of now, 95 percent of what's in my head is game and gets published, either here or to my microblog.

And what about that 5 percent?

Yes, I could still probably enter those in Day One as a non-published entry, but there's something about pen and paper that's... I don't know. Perhaps I just miss the physical tangible connection of hand-writing.

About two weeks ago or so, I upgraded from my iPhone 12 mini to the 13 mini. The 12 mini had been my favorite iPhone ever. Loved the size. The only downside, was its battery life; however, I knew that’d be the case, and it wasn’t much of an inconvenience for me.

The one point the 12 mini lacked, the 13 mini definitely makes up for it, battery life. I am sure there are many other things under the hood, but in day-to-day use, I really can’t tell or care.

So, I went for the iPhone 13 mini, 128 GB, in pink.

And man, do I love it! I was a little nervous about how it’d look since I have never seen it in person until it arrived home. I couldn’t be any happier with this color.

When I first picked up the 13 mini, the first thing I noticed was, it felt a little heavier and thicker, and I’m certain that’s because of the “bigger” battery. And it does make a difference. On a regular day, I would leave the house at a 100 percent battery around 6:00 am, and I would make it home around 4:00 pm with 20 to 10 percent. Now, I make it home with 53-63 percent? To me, that’s definitely an improvement.

The notch seems narrower, and the camera lenses are positioned differently. Other than the camera bump and lenses, the battery life, and thickness are, to me, the most noticeable differences.

It is kind of hard to have some sense of normalcy with everything that is going on in Ukraine. Like, how am I supposed to go about my normal life knowing what's going on on the other side of the world? It is hard not to feel powerless. And this is the conflict that made the news, there are many others we just never hear about.

Is like going down a rabbit hole of thoughts and mixed feelings. I reckon that the only way we can all go by with our lives is by ignoring reality. Ignoring the news and social media. We kind of have to, in some way, otherwise, our mental and emotional health will be badly affected. But then ignoring the problem won't solve anything either. Then again, it is a cluster-fuck-rabbit-hole of thoughts and mixed-feelings.

But the main question is...

How can I help?

Worth looking looking into that

Dan Counsell on I Will Not Buy Another iPhone

For me, the phone addiction problem is wrapped up along with consumerism. They are both hard to ignore and hard to break away from. I know there are people and companies out there working tirelessly to get me to buy whatever they are selling. Doing whatever they can to get my attention. The trouble is, I'm a sucker. I've always loved new technology. Always first in line (virtually at least) to buy the next big thing. The next must-have upgrade.

I feel seen a little bit here. For years this has been my predicament.

I gotta upgrade to that new thing, gotta have it!

Uh, a new shiny iPad, don't need it, but I wanted, must have it, my precious!

This predicament of mine has somewhat gotten better over the years, though, I think. I mean, I still have my 11-inch iPad Pro from, I don't remember the year to be honest, whichever the first model was. And I have no intentions of getting a new one anytime soon. I also have a late 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the same thing, until the day it dies, which has been closed to already.

The Phone, well, still to this day I sort of upgrade... It used to be every year now it's more like every year and a half. See? I think that's progress? No? Yes? I currently have the iPhone 12 mini, and this is probably the best macintosh phone I have owned in a few years. Rumors were that they would only come up with a new mini, if at all, every two years, and for the first time in forever, I was okay with that upgrade cycle. Turns out we got an iPhone 13 mini. And guess what? I cannot wait to upgrade to it.

I have some "valid reasons", or so I keep telling myself.  The first one is, battery life, I have heard in my different super-secret nerdy chats that it is much better than the 12's. Second, I have had a few mishaps with this device, and um, it is a little banged up 😅🤫. Third, it comes in pink. Also, I usually go for the mid-model, in terms of storage, that's 128GB for mi 12, and now the cheapest model is 128.

That being said, are these legitimate reasons for an upgrade, or is the old me being a sucker too and coming up with reasons.

😘

Hey, hey, hey
Here I go now
Here I go into new days

Yes, this song does plays in my head every single time, or…

But that’s here nor there. The thing is, I am back at using Hey Mail. Email should be fun, and Hey — for whatever reason — does make it (as my daughter would say) much more funner.

It is overpriced, which might be the one thing against it…

That being said, so far, it is still scheduled for renewal at the end of March.

Tuesday, Marley had a dentist appointment, she was super-stoked btw. I have never seen anybody so excited to go to the dentist — ever.

I mean, can’t blame her, she gets cool headphones and a tv that hangs from the ceiling, and she watches a cartoon movie while they do the thing. Plus, the hygienists are fun and engaging.

She gets her teeth cleaned, a sucker, and two toys as grand prizes lol

At the time of checking out, I needed to make an appointment for Luna. And of course, they ask for her date of birth. Oh, man! I got the month and date right away, but the year, the year escaped me. I had to think long and hard about that one. 2018, Luna was born in 2018. Marley’s it’s usually a lot easier to remember, 2016. Sadly, or unfortunately, some bad things happened in 2016 but Marley was the best that happened that year.

Now I’m thinking if I should get a tattoo with the girls' bday, super-cliché, I know, right on my right wrist. So the next time I can just consult the wrist when I forget.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition

Yup, exploring the wilds again, 5 years later. This game was originally released on February 28, 2017, on the PlayStation 4. It is the year of our lord, 2022, and the game is still bitchin'.

This time around, though, I have been playing the Complete edition, on the PlayStation 5.

Why am I playing this, 5 years later? Well, the game is a masterpiece, in my book, but also Horizon Forbidden West is coming out soon, February 18th. Thus, just like some of us watch previous movies in preparation for the sequel that is about to come out, I am playing this game. Also, back in November of 2017, a DLC for Zero Dawn was released, The Frozen Wilds. I never got around to playing the DLC, so this was also a good incentive to re-play this game.

Not sure if it's the fact that it has been 5 years since, or the fact that I am playing it on the PlayStation 5. but the game feels both like it belongs to the ps5 and like a whole new experience from the one I had 5 years ago.

I am currently about 10 to 12 hours in, I have been doing a lot of grinding though, and having fun while doing it. Also, damn, I had forgotten how massive the world-map is in this game, so much so it can be super-overwhelming if you expand and look at it.

Also, I am playing it in the easiest mode available, which I am not sure this particular mode was in the original release, I could be wrong. This is making the playthrough much faster too, and some of the machines that were a nightmare before, well, they are still a nightmare when you look at them up close but not as much when fighting them (I am looking at you Thunderjaw).

It is interesting when you come back to an old goodie like this and even if you have forgotten some of the sorry, the control mechanics, and such, there are still things you remember dearly. Also, you remember your priorities, don't sell this material, get your fast-travel pack early, and so on.

If you haven't played this game, ever, do yourself a service and play it!

GO!

Social FKN Media, the eternal struggle. The Twitters, the Facebooks (or is it the Metas now?), the Instagrams, the Mastodons, etcetera, etcetera. We all have our own struggles and opinions on the matter. While some have gone on to the No Social Media Club route, some others fully embrace it, and some, like me, struggle in between.

Currently, I am in four social media spaces, mostly, Twitter, Micro.blog, Mastodon, and Instagram. 

I closed Facebook over three years ago, for obvious reasons, and haven’t looked back ever since. Mastodon has always been around, I am not super-active on it other than all my posts from MB do get crossposted to it. Twitter and Instagram are my biggest struggles. Twitter, I have rage-closed my account twice. Instagram, is the same, at least three times I have closed it just to re-open a new one.

At this point, I just need to be honest with myself and accept that I do find some value in these two platforms. As long as I keep them under control, as long as I keep them boring.

Boring?

Yes, boring.

Boring is good. Let us take my Twitter, for example, I try to keep a very low following count, I believe I am following about two hundred accounts and I am sure, I can go even lower. Most of these accounts are normal folks, with which I actually interact, from time to time, maybe one or two “news” websites, mostly gaming, and pixel artists. And I intend to keep it this way.

Instagram. I closed it, early this month, and reopened it just a week or so ago. I unfollowed most people, I am following about one hundred and eighty accounts, only five of those have a blue checkmark. I muted most of the people's stories and I do my best to not even touch the discovery tab. I am always “up-to-date” within two scrolls, thus, no doom-scrolling. I rarely post anything anymore, it is more of a way to still have some contact with some people and that’s about it. The app lives out of sight, tucked into a folder.

As long as I can get these two platforms boring, I get to keep my sanity.

So far it's been good. So far I haven't felt anxiety or the need to rage-quit.

So far...

Jason Schreier:

BREAKING: Sony is buying Bungie, the maker of Destiny — another seismic gaming deal that comes just two weeks after Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard.

Bungie put Xbox on the map. Now it’s part of PlayStation Studios. Filed to Bloomberg Terminal, hitting web soon

Come again?

Both parties did a decent job keeping this secret —several Bungie staff learned it from me this morning as I tried to break the news.

Bungie held an all-hands meeting at 10am PT to tell everyone at the same time as it went public

Earlier today, Annie went off on Marley. I mean, sometimes kiddos get bratty, and it is our job as parents to call their attention. Annie was angry, and for a good reason. Normally, in these situations, I pitch-in.

Today, I didn’t.

Momma Bear was not having it. So, I chose not to partake or intervene. Every so often, it is better to leave mom alone, let it run its course, rather than getting caught in the crossfire. 😅

So, once we arrived home, I volunteered, to take care of the laundy.

Tony “Abolish ICE” Arcieri 🦀🌹:

I don’t follow this guy, in fact I block him, but I just wanted to say that boycotts are a form of protest which is just as important as free speech, and anyone calling them censorship is the real bootlicker. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from criticism or protest

Again,

Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from criticism or protest

Savvy?

Last night, the West Ada School District Board of Trustees approved a motion to remove the notification of Covid-19 positive cases within the school environment to parents. Previously, parents/guardians were notified if a confirmed positive case was present in one or more of their student’s classrooms. Board members discussed the pros and cons of the notifications and in a 3-2 vote approved discontinuing these notification letters. The Board also directed the administration to start the creation of an endemic plan for current and next school year.

Just to add up to the anxiety of sending my kid to school.

And so, 52 hours later, Tales of Arise has been completed.

It’s a pretty extensive story, to me, it felt like I’ve just watched an entire season, or perhaps two, of a good anime show.

There’s more, apparently, other quests, and a New Game + have been unlocked. I am not entirely sure if I want to replay this whole thing again. I might check it out a bit just to see, but, gotta move on to another games.

Some king, royal figure from Spain visited Puerto Rico today. And what did we do? We destroy a statue of Juan Ponce de León as some kind of protest?

Puerto Rico: statue of Spanish explorer toppled before King Felipe’s visit

A statue of the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León has been toppled in Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, hours before a visit to the Caribbean island by Spain’s King Felipe VI.

🎵 Isla benditaaaaaa

Neil Young Pulling Music From Spotify Over Joe Rogan’s Vaccine Misinformation

In an open letter to his management and record label, Neil Young has asked that his music be promptly removed from Spotify, citing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on the platform. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he wrote. “Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”

Yikes!