And Now for Something Completely Different

It’s been 30 years since I first started computing, and I now realize that after a never ending cycle of learning, investigating, implementing, trial and error, successes and failures, I am just done with it all.

This realization took me a couple of years to fully understand and accept, but after starting and abandoning the learning, or updating my knowledge of, current technologies, like Swift, modern CSS, and the WordPress block editor, I know I’m fully burnt out by my constant churning on the Web wheel.

I first thought I was just done with the organizational/corporate aspect of it all, but it’s clear that it’s time for me to move on and begin a new phase of my life.

It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of stress, and I’m very glad and proud that I managed to teach myself so much and to learn so much from so many others, and to somehow hack together an actual professional career doing something I started primarily out of a long-standing curiosity and personal enjoyment.

So yeah, it’s gonna be weird, I think, not being the guy who fixes people’s general tech problems, even though I was only ever just a web worker, not a technician. Ultimately, I feel that not being “the guy” anymore is going to be liberating and allow me to explore more of my other long denied interests, like writing.

Now that I’ve been suddenly retired two years after refusing to allow myself to be disrespected by my final employer (owned by a hedge fund), and with a body full of all the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines available and an A1C level finally back down into the normal range (thanks to medication and an extremely restricted diet), I’m ready to try new things, cautiously and masked.

My first step out of the very isolated existence I’ve settled into the past two years (my 2022 car just passed 2,500 miles) is to do some volunteer work, probably at a food bank and with cat rescue (I like most dogs ok, but I love cats).

Getting directly involved in activism and other community-building work is also a goal, but I am not comfortable being on the public end of such things, talking to strangers. I’ll probably start by attending public government meetings and determine if that’s a good way for me to connect with organizations that need behind the scenes assistance. Part of me wants to volunteer for poll work, but…

Deciding to go with hosted wordpress.com rather than a self-hosted installation of the WordPress software is a major decision for me, and could be the start of a beautiful new me.

I’m interested in discovering where I go now.