~swiftmandolin @swiftmandolin@tilde.zone

Saw Spirited Away today in theaters. Definitely worth going to see it on the big screen if you get a chance

I've been away for a while, and I've written about it in a gemlog:

gemini://rawtext.club/~swiftmandolin/gemlog/2022-07-23-what-ive-done-while-away.gmi

Also, my gemini site is located at rawtext.club now, instead of circumlunar.space!

glad I didn't get sick from COVID booster shot, but the arm pain is super annoying

Been playing chess lately and I think correspondence chess would be perfect for something like rawtext.club

Today was my last day at the university I have worked at since I was a student developer. I started there as a CS student in 2014, got hired on as a student mobile developer in my sophomore year, and then graduated into a full time position in which I worked 3 years.

I feel deep down it has been time to move on, but I must say I am sad to leave. It’s been a part of my life for years now and it’s hard to say goodbye.

But, I’m moving on to a new job in which I expect to grow a lot and focus more on my interest in iOS development.

Watched Black Narcissus last night and the cinematography was absolutely beautiful wow. Wasn’t super into the plot line, but beautiful imagery. Beats a lot of today’s standards.

Watched Mulholland Drive and naturally have now joined Letterboxd and downloaded Criterion Channel. I’m ready to watch more crazy movies.

well I re-downloaded instagram today.

its honestly worse than when I left it. the tab bar buttons keep changing around. They moved the upload and likes tab w/ like shopping tabs. And I notice they change based on which account I'm on. Like they change dynamically. Not w/ each update.

Also its a friendly reminder that targeted ads are gross. I don't think I'll keep it very long, but I do enjoy seeing posts from my friends. But, there has been something special about just finding out stuff from your friends when you hang out instead of from a broadcasted post.

Overall, I feel like I haven't missed much, but I'm giving it another try. Felt great telling Instagram not to track on iOS 14.5 tho. Even though they'll track me a billion other ways.

does the fedi like 100 gecs?

its been so long since I been on the small internet. my poor botany plants have probably died twice by now

It’s pretty sad that a lot of non-KYC crypto exchanges can’t be used by US citizens due to our strict KYC regulations. I’m not trying to evade taxes I just want to swap from lightning Bitcoin to Monero or even XLM.

What’s even worse is that this is tiny in comparison to what others face in other countries.

I'm having a somewhat tough time. I have, not one, but TWO broken teeth; one on each side. I feel lucky as my dentist said they should be keepable, but will require root canals.

It's better than I expected (extraction), but I had to reschedule my first endodontist consultation, which pushed it back like two weeks. THEN, my entire city was shut down for a week due to snow...which pushed it back another week.

It was fine for a while, and its manageable, but I have to clean out two broken teeth every time I eat. Its starting to become very taxing and old, meanwhile the teeth are getting worse and worse. Its hard to keep pain away, and of course infection could strike at any time.

And I'm literally waiting on JUST THE CONSULTATION. I won't even be given relief, I don't think.

I cannot wait until this is resolved and I can eat normally and go back to living a somewhat normal life (as normal as things can be right now).

If you're familiar w/ enneagram (I know its not real science), I'm a type 7 and type 7 "fear" resounds true with me. Its fear of pain or discomfort. And right now my days are filled with constant tooth maintenance and pain and discomfort. And the only solution, is two root canals, the prime example of discomfort, so much so its almost cliche.

Over all its affecting my mental health (its even making me sleep worse) and draining me, and I just needed a place to let it out.

Been exploring other crypto currencies besides BTC and there are some cool ideas out there.

Cardano looks promising as an ETH replacement if ETH 2.0 doesn’t come fast enough. Smart contracts in general are just cool.

Stellar is neat because of how easy it is to create a token on the network.

Nano is cool cause no fees and instant (although it apparently has its problems?)

Last, but not least, Monero is probably my favorite because of its privacy features.

I’m in a weird state of limbo between wanting to invest and wanting to explore cool technology. Unfortunately some of what I think is cool I don’t think will “moon”.

Bonus: about to start exploring the lightning network as it seems to solve some of my main hang ups with BTC.