Oliver Burkeman has a proposal to make:
2026 should be the year that you spend more time doing what you want. The new year should be the moment we commit to dedicating more of our finite hours on the planet to things we genuinely, deeply enjoy doing – to the activities that seize our interest, and that make us feel vibrantly alive. This should be the year you stop trying so hard to turn yourself into a better person, and focus instead on actually leading a more absorbing life.
In the end, though, there is a consideration even more fundamental than any of these, which is that it’s not clear what life is really for at all, if it isn’t for doing more of whatever makes you feel most alive. It’s notoriously easy to slip into the unconscious assumption that any such aliveness is for later: after you’ve sorted your life out; after the current busy phase has passed; after the headlines have stopped being quite so alarming. But the truth for finite humans is that this, right here, is real life. And that if you’re going to do stuff that matters to you – and feel enjoyment or aliveness in doing it – you’re going to have to do it before you’ve got on top of everything, before you’ve solved your procrastination problem or your intimacy issues, before you feel confident that the future of democracy or the climate has been assured. This part of life isn’t just something you have to get through, to get to the bit that really counts. It is the part that really counts.
Read the whole piece: The secret to being happy in 2026? It’s far, far simpler than you think…
Back in 2008, I started Day Zero Project’s 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge. Unfortunately, I only completed 55/101 items. I’ve started putting together a new 1001 challenge list to adopt, but…I’m having trouble coming up with enough items. Is that a good sign? 🤷♂️ Guess I’ll keep at it.
I’ve been slowly manually copying over old facebook posts so that I can finally rid myself of it without losing memories. Today I ran across one of those “tag a friend” questionnaires, one of the rare ones that I filled out.
It’s been fun to look back at Jen’s “On This Day” posts. Today’s post features trips to Sri Lanka, Argentina (en route to Antarctica), and Spain.
💪🍺🌎🌍🌏
Auto Mac vs Auto Bell sounds like a transformers cage match.
La Fortuna needs an HOA—they’re way overdue in taking down their Christmas decorations.
On the road to Beerland
✈️🤿🐠
I’m thinking of putting together a compilation of short video shots (3-10 seconds each) from each day of our trip. Any suggestions on what iOS app to use?
La Vallée des Couleurs Nature Park, Mauritius - OTD during last year’s 100-day adventure
The landing staircase at Aapravasi Ghat, Mauritius, the “birthplace” of indentured servitude - OTD during last year’s 100-day adventure.
After more than a month in Africa, most of it overlanding, arriving to a better-than-expected hotel room in Mauritius was a very pleasant surprise - OTD during last year’s 100-day adventure.
“We’re here in Tanza-NAR” 🤪 - a video update outtake from OTD during last year’s 100-day adventure.
I have a permadomain, and we just re-upped Jen’s for another decade. If you don’t already have one, you should.
I added—and then subscribed to—a weekly digest email newsletter of my own microblog (which I use as my primary “social media” account) just so I could have a nice reminder of my week. It makes for a nice additional backup too.
I came so close 🤏 to winning at Subway today (aka, getting thru an entire transaction without being asked a question). Unfortunately, just as I reached for the glass door—sub in hand—she must have realized and inexplicably asked me if there was anyone waiting outside (obviously not). Foiled again!
The Forkiverse experiment screams for local-only posting in Mastodon
This week we saw the rise of the Forkiverse, a run-of-the-mill Mastodon instance spun up by some podcasters. It’s gone pretty well, and I think it speaks to a feature missing from Mastodon.
From Maho Pacheco’s post:
There is also something quietly genius about the idea itself. Podcasts and other large content creators creating their own social platforms, where their audience can interact not just with the hosts but with each other, feels like a natural evolution. This idea has been discussed for years, but rarely tested. It worked. Within 48 hours of releasing their episode, the Forkiverse had already attracted around 2.5K new accounts. That is not just excitement is some kind of proof of demand. Of course, their audience was mostly techie, and they have thousands of followers, which makes this a low digit % conversion, but still, it is interesting.
I agree, though I’d love to point out YET AGAIN that the best way to help build these communities is to offer local-only posts. It’s an obvious feature that Mastodon has not implemented. Why not? The main answer I’ve seen is that it’d be confusing because they already have some confusing post types.
The idea that I think Mastodon developers are failing to capture is that their software is uniquely positioned as the easiest way to create a small, topic-based community (the very best and most successful type in digital and analogue history) that can also engage with the larger world through federation.
That’s where the real power comes from. It’s having easy access to both worlds—posts intended only for members of your own small group, plus the ability to direct other messages out to the broader world.
Imagine if creators could easily share “members-only” content with their followers on a mastodon instance, but could also direct public posts out to the entire fediverse? Their fans can help promote their own forkiverse-style community through simply using the Mastodon instance, interacting with the creators and others in this “select group” of members, but could also interact with all the other accounts out there? That’s golden.
That’s a model that can get existing clubs to join, or maybe a group of friends, or even a sports fanbase, or any other fandom really. The model here is to bring your own existing group to the fediverse, but the best way to do that is to offer “members-only” posts.
Just posted about that time I had unexplainable hearing loss while my wife was in surgery.
I recently imported my instagram archive to rsjon.es and added an “On This Day” feature. It’s great fun to look back on previous adventures. My goal is to slowly add in facebook posts I want to keep, too. Jen’s been doing something similar, but adding travel-related photos from OTD in new posts.