This is a NOW page, a neat idea cooked up by the rather clever Derek Sivers.
It’s a way to get an overview of what I’m slogging through focused on at the moment.
In continuing a recent theme of connecting with complete strangers on the internet, I’ve had a few lovely chats with new friends who I found by way of the FediRoulette bot.
Someone described my constantly shifting sleep schedule as “Timezone Parkour”. The fact that long covid has messed up so many of my rhythms is a constant point of frustration, and this adds a little delight to thinking about it.
I have played many games of Jenga in the past. Recently I played my first ever remote version of the game, using photos in Delta Chat and a wooden set of blocks which were on the opposite side of the world from my location. It was fun.
I’ve been thinking a lot about doomscrolling and otherwise unhappy/unproductive time I waste staring at my phone. I used to have really strict habits in place about keeping this to a minimum, and I’m starting to lean back into them. There’s been immediate improvements to my overall mood and desire to actually do things.
I’ve been watching everything get caught up in the hype surrounding AI/LLMs. I’m not a tech person professionally, and despite such things only affecting my “toys” it still makes me sad. I’ve taken some small stances against this, with projects like the Filthy Human Hands License and my own obscure/bespoke/nonsensical computing choices.
Most recently, the current maintainers of the vim project joined the ai bandwagon. They started pushing code through one of the slop machines, and it appears they think this is acceptable for a project which has existed since 1992. The previous maintainer passed a few years ago, and had been acting as a guardian and custodian of the project for decades.
Watching someone’s life work get mulched by bots was appalling.
After nearly a decade of happily using this tool, I’m genuinely worried about what might happen to it. As a result, I’m back to poking at text editors. For those who don’t understand this doomsday technobabbling, please assume I just told you that the inventor of the piano started using some industry-standard, socially acceptable cocaine, and has exciting new plans to forcibly upgrade all pianos have pointy barbs on the keys.
Building on the unexpected frustration of the entire ‘vimiverse’ deciding to go slop flavored, I’ve been poking at other options for text mangling chores. I recently started playing around with the kakoune editor.
I have nearly a decade of using vim in my muscle memory, so the experience has been a bit rattling. That said, I really like what I’m seeing. It feels closer to the shell, and being able to solve my own problems with poorly thought out bits of shell scripting appeals to me.
Having a thirty-four year old editor get sucked into the ai-pocalypse was not on my bingo card. Ever the plucky optimist, I’m using this as an opportunity to build on my belief that I should avoid being locked into any particular tool.
This website is was built using vimwiki’s built in site generator. It was handy, fit into my workflow nicely, and got me started putting words on the internet which weren’t explicitly project or work related.
As part of converting my frustrations with technology into something productive, I’ve recently rebuilt this site using a combination of text files, a simple markdown parser, and some absolutely wretched shell scripting. It’s a bit like having a puppy so ugly that it comes around the other side and you fall in love with it.
I’ll be tinkering on things further, but for now I’m happy that I can use any tool to maintain this little corner of the internet in the future. For now, check the menu at the top of the page for a shiny new RSS feed.
This project now has its own page.
We’ve been doing a bit of knowledge sharing, as everyone in This Old Clown House is learning to use some basic command line tools to make playlists because it’s easier and more fun than poking at frustrating GUIs.
This also led me to upping my own computer touching game, and as a result I wrote my first completely horrible perl script. It does the job of keeping the playlist filled with interesting music when no else adds anything. Like all terribly written code, it’s being tested “in production”.
I enjoyed poking at perl, and I suspect I’ll try do more with it in the future.
I recently dug out my accordion, which I’ve not touched in years. It’s like reconnecting with an old friend, and I’m slowly learning how to “type” on its many buttons again. One of my fellow clowns in incredibly musical, and they’ve joined me in making weird noises in the theater.
A fedi friend challenged me to record the Valse des Idiotes. Some of the weird noises I’ve been making have technically been practice for this.
The workbenches are currently covered in bits of household repair, unicycle lights, and bits of trim for the Delrita Reading Room. As soon as they are clear, I plan to get back to some more creative making.
I have a sketch for a new mask, and I hope to sit down with it and some clay soon.
I’ve also had an idea for a puppet! I’ve long associated puppetry with circus performers who have gotten injured, and as a result I’ve foolishly stayed away from a form of expression I adore. I think I’ll be prodding at this false idea (gently) soon, and using it as an excuse to try the paper mache clay that’s been itching at my brain.
While doing some initial work on this puppet I realized some really gnarly things about my creative process. I’m now gently poking at both some clay and my own mind.
We’ve released a new episode of our podcast!
After chatting with Robert Kingett, who granted me permission to create a ‘zine from of his incredible short story, The Colonization of Confidence. It’s one of the most powerful things I’ve read in a while, and it seems fitting for it to exist in some sort of edition crafted by human hands. Currently it’s halfway converted into Typst’s markup, and I’m slowly making decisions about how the final booklet might look.
I’ve set up a page to link to various creative experiments we’re exploring. I didn’t like the term “projects” or “portfolio” for exploring these sorts of things.
Doing this has made me really think about how much of what I do is slow moving and iterative in nature.
The never-ending adventure of transforming a hundred-and-someodd year old hotel into a clown school, artists residency, and theatrical playspace.
We’ve made big progress on the library (aka the Delrita Reading Room) recently.
The skirting/baseboards and trim are now painted and installed. Aside from window dressings and the bench, this room is ready to decorate and enjoy!
The temporary front panels of the library bench have been removed in preparation for making some new covers. We’ve pulled some truly lovely fabric out of storage for this. The rich velvet was originally used on a human-sized jack in the box prop in the show PlayThings. We’ll make the covers from this material, which will both look fantastic and continue our reinventing bits of history in this new place.
There’s some rewiring coming up on our to-do list now that the freezing temperatures are letting up. We’ll be heading back into the attic to wrestle with Wattsworth, the electric tentacle monster who lives in our walls, soon.
This project now has its own page.
We’ve written a creative license for this (and future) projects. It’s called the Filthy Human Hands License, and you can make a copy for your own use.
One of my clown partners made some breakthroughs on juggling recently. I’ve been excited to wear the coach hat and encourage them to keep throwing things at me, themselves, and the floor.
My battle with trauma and Handstands is still a focus at the moment. I’ve recently made some progress, and I’m excited about it.
I’ve also been itching to dig through some boxes to find my juggling hats.
I was interviewed about my work as a clown teacher: BoldJourney.com
After unpacking our velocipedes, we added some lights to a 20” unicycle. Video here.
I’ve updated my Recommended Reading List For Clowns.
Things I’ve either eaten, or am in the process of eating:
Weird corners of our music collection streamed at random via Rhino Radio!
Schall und Stille - Strategies Against Algorithms
The Mask Handbook - A Practical Guide by Toby Wilsher
Useful Not True by Derek Sivers
The Colonization of Confidence by Robert Kingett
It’s rude to show ai output to people by Alex Martsinovich
Last Updated: 2026-03-18