Captain’s Log 2026.03

Poster strewn wall and paint splattered bench bathed in red light — La Chinesa is always such a vibe.

WTF jess

Ugh, okay. So maybe I suck at this and totally should not have committed myself to a monthly log but I knew if I didn’t I wouldn’t so I did and now ugh. Okay, fine.

In 03 I decided that I can not, in fact, do it all. Even more troublesome, I’ve decided that the fun technical bits which I so enjoy are not, in fact, my most important priorities right now.

Bugger. But not wrong. I did great to get out, but oy I left a mess.

So, for a little while anyway, these logs may grow somewhat sparse while I’m out there in the world playing grown up with the other grown ups, talking through the unpleasant end of a long, grown up relationship. It’s stressful, so I’m trying to set aside more time for more space and more quiet, more grace. And that means less time poking at the 'puters and projects.

(deep breath)

Nothing for it now but straight on through the chompers; see what’s left on the other side.

I didn’t not do anything.

Now that I have a local Jellyfin instance up and running, I’ve started poking at its API, learnomg how to do webby API stuff in Rust. I’ve managed to authenticate and get a user session, now I’m working through fetching the list of libraries. That’s a disappointing report after an entire month.

It’s just a little while. It’s not forever. I’ve already been through worse and look at how good I’m doing. I can do this too.

I discovered Philadelphia has an ethical society.

I accompanied @valsombra to meet with a few members of the Philadelphia Ethical Society (“deed before creed”) to talk Fediverse. It was her show to run and maybe I partly went because I knew there would be a stop at Hi-Lo Taco 🥰 on the way but it was a fun night, and we got a few more people signed on to Mastodon.

Downtime more than ever.

Now that I’m facing the scary life changes head on, I’m really enjoying the downtime when it comes.

I completed the Assetto Corsa N2 career stage at 82% difficulty (80% is the easiest), and I got into the top 50% on all of the Art of Rally Japan tracks, in the Group B “Esky” because it looks the most like a SAAB 99 even though yes I know it’s an Escort. I find racing games meditative: you can’t turn a good lap time if you’re upset and pressing, you have to relax and find the rhythm.
Had a lovely night out: dinner with lovely people at the always delightful La Chinesca followed by Gogol Bordello (gypsy punk) at Union Transfer. So fun, so loud!
Finished the month with a week in the woods outside of New Hope, PA. There was a hot tub! 🥰 Lots of lovely dinners out, and lovely nights in playing co-op Slay the Spire 2.

Insights & Advice

What’s a solution? When things don’t feel good, want to feel better. What can I change? What’s one really simple thing that I can do?

Random Links

Secret Mall Apartment. “Life is art, art is life” was a reminder I needed to hear (and see).
Robyn, Body Talk. Late to the game, but so good.
url.town, a proper old school web directory! Prepare to lose the rest of your day.