Three years later.

Well, like last year, I’m still procrastinating about writing this post, so a certain billionaire would put it “Screw it, let’s do it”.

Year Three!

I can copy-paste my previous-year entry line, and it would still make sense. Just see!

So, it’s this blog’s second third birthday! What started as a silly 2017 resolution …is still a mediocre blog of little importance to the general well-being of the planet… During 2018 2019, this small corner of the internet continued to provide a creative outlet for me, something I care about nurturing, and that helps push myself forwards.

What happened here, during the past 365 days?

  • A total of 8 posted were created.
  • My highlight was this one; a great conversation-starter during my latest interview.
  • I got more confident sharing code. Looking back, I feel how did I even share this crap. But I’m leaving it there, so that I can see that I’ve grown, and I’ve got to grow even more in 2020.
  • I heard from Reddit, HN, Twitter and kind stranger emails!

Looking back to the last year’s post…

Again, here’s some things I wished for in the last year’s post

  • I will find a better way to “Send me an email/DM on Twitter about this post”
  • If the posts number grows, I will have a “Best Of/Recent” page, or (finally) implement listing by tags
  • I will try to dive down some subjects I like, instead of the peripheral, sporadic learning I’ve been accustomed to.
  • I will either publish a small game, or a small ‘book’-like thingy.

Blog-related housekeeping tasks again were scrapped; I never implemented the first bullet and the “Best Of/Recent” page was never created. On the other hand, there’s a Reading page.

I did dive down to some subjects, mainly Go, Linux and Algorithms. I’m still trying to find a better way to organize my knowledge and my learning process, but I cannot resist new obsessions.

Finally, I feel sad to admit that the final bullet fell off the radar. I did read and code some raytracing/rendering/gamedev and had some good ideas, but ultimately they all fell apart.

What’s this year goal?

  • I’d love to write a lot more. I initially set of a goal of 52 posts (~one per week), but I already feel slacking off. Now that I’ve written this in public, I hope I can gather the courage to do it.
  • I’d love to improve quality.
  • Until recently, I was pretty confident about my English skills. Working with english-speaking people on a day-to-day basis, made me understand that there’s room for improvement. So a goal is both to proofread and fix past posts, and improve on new ones.
  • I’m thinking about switching to Hugo, and/or switching to another, personal domain. I don’t want to break any links, and if this happens, it will probably need to be early during 2020.
  • vol 2 I will either publish a small game, or a small ‘book’-like thingy

What’s not coming?

Again, I haven’t found any reason to add any kind of analytics. I was so, so happy to receive some emails about a couple of my posts from random readers, so don’t hesitate to reach out!

As for commenting functionality, I’m still thinking about it; seeing a big fat zero on most/all of my posts would be discouraging, so I’m not too eager to do this.

Also, last year, I posted about some half-baked projects (eg. woof). While there was some reception, I feel that a little more polish would go a long way. So the goal is, no more half-assed things; let’s try to improve quality!

Parting words

I wish a happy new year to all of you, and your families. May 2020 bring health, happiness, and smiles to all. Thank any of you for taking the time to be here. :)

See you around, Paschalis

Written on January 22, 2020