We started a new puzzle this week! This one is 1,000 pieces and it’s called the “Magician’s Study”. I love that I will be searching for candles, glass jars, a skull, a magician’s staff and lots of books.
This puzzle is not as hard as the previous one because it has fewer abstract images, which makes it easier to spot patterns. The pieces are oddly shaped and vary in size more than other puzzles I have done. I’m having fun with it 😃.
Day 01 Progress: we are still missing some border sneaky border pieces.
There is nothing like a good book. And by that I mean a book that I can’t put down, not some old classics or a book that won fancy awards like the Pulitzer or the Hugo awards. Just a book that is good for me.
Now, don't get me wrong. The classics and those award-winners have their place in the literary hall of fame, but there's something magical about stumbling upon a book that feels like a perfect fit.
Just read anything that you enjoy, whatever you want to read. Don’t read to show off as an intellectual, read to have fun!
“Reading isn’t important because it helps to get you a job. It’s important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given. It is how humans merge. How minds connect. Dreams. Empathy. Understanding. Escape. Reading is love in action.” ― Matt Haig, Notes on a Nervous Planet
After 5 months, me and my partner finally finished the Dragon de Jade puzzle. It was definitely the hardest puzzle I've ever done! It is very dark, with imperceptible colour nuances in the pieces. Shades of blacks, greys, and blues, with hints of oranges/reds.
And it was the first time we had to redo the border pieces multiple times in a puzzle! Usually the border is the first thing we finish, and it kinda stays unchanged till the end. On this one the border was the last item to be finished! Some pieces seemed to go well together judging by their shape, but then other surrounding pieces wouldn't match. So we had to constantly rearrange these borders pieces.
But the first photo sharing social network I ever used was MOLOME. It was around 2007-2008, if I'm not mistaken. => Edit: It was around 2011, most probably. I would upload photos from my digital camera, a Fujifilm FinePix S5000, and apply the filters to publish my photos. It was like Instagram, before Instagram. There were no ads, only likes, comments section and stickers. I remember I had a Nokia N8 phone running Symbian for a while then I upgraded to a Nokia Lumia 820.
I don't think MOLOME is still around but I have a backup of the photos I published there, a total of 103 photos. Some photos from that time:
I think I joined Instagram in 2012 or 2013. It was okay at the beginning. Then advertisements started to get more and more ubiquitous. Then a more powerful algorithm was introduced and made horrible decisions of what to show me on my timeline. And they introduced Instagram stories. It quickly became very annoying to use the platform and I was getting stressed out by it. As part of my bigger social media declutter project, I deleted my account in 2018.
I don't miss it at all. It was the first big social media service I got rid of. I knew I was addicted to it and that it was negatively affecting my mood.
Life went on, I felt less distracted and I was spending less time on my phone. I stopped seeking artificial digital approval from others online. It started my process of slowly distancing myself from all the attention economy based social media.
I've created a music playlist called “Folk Metal, Viking & Celtic” to group my new favorite discoveries.
I don't remember how exactly I discovered these bands, but it could have been by launching a track mix based on other bands I like (like these ones) and also from friends recommendations. All the songs I've listed here give me some sort of calmness but also this powerful energy boost, stirring something inside me, giving me literal goosebumps.
There are still 144 days left in 2023 as of today.
I feel like I'm game for a challenge: write and publish 100 posts until the end of 2023.
Edit: write and publish 100 posts in 6 months (until end of February 2024).
It's going to do my version of the 100 Days To Offload or the 100Days challenge. The goal is to publish 100 new posts in the space of a year. I'll start my count today (August 10, 2023). This is my first post! 🙌
I've published around 20 posts so far this year. In 2022 I wrote 37 posts. I've always wanted to write more regularly. That means I'll start publishing some personal entries that I write during my free writing sessions. I might do some edits to protect my privacy, but the idea is to expose my ideas and thoughts more.
It's going to be challenging! I've never done this before, but I think it will be a nice experience. It will push my limits and get me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes it will be short posts, with a picture, a link to something I enjoyed, thoughts on something or a journal update.
