I first tried out Helix several years ago before I even gave Neovim a real shot. I’ve seen a few posts pop up about Helix this past week, so I had the idea to ditch Neovim and give it another go.

• Julia Evans: Notes on switching to Helix from vim
• Artem Golubin: How I’m using Helix editor

To give some context, my use case for terminal text editors is mostly just writing posts for the blog or editing config files. Nothing too complicated. These days if I’m writing code I’m usually firing up VS Code. It’s just easy to use and is well supported.

So far I’ve written this post and my last one using Helix. I really appreciate that Helix tries to include a lot of modern functionality without relying on plugins. Maintaining my config and plugin list was by far my least favorite thing about Neovim. Helix’s config is much more straightforward and there’s less of it. Not to mention it’s probably a good thing security-wise to not be depending on dozens of plugins.

One thing that concerns me though is that Helix’s keybindings are similar but not at all identical to Vim’s. It’s just enough to mess with your muscle memory. I do get the feeling that Helix’s bindings are technically better, but the thing with Vim is that you can’t escape it. Chances are it’s already installed on any system you’ll need to do work on. Time will tell if my Helix muscle memory will be a problem next time I need to do something with Vim.

I registered for a Blood Bowl tournament

A group of friends is putting on a Blood Bowl tournament (think Warhammer + American Football) so I decided to join in. I’ve only ever played half a game so I expect I’ll be leaning pretty heavily on pure luck. My team of Dwarves will hopefully at least make sure I don’t go down without a fight! I’m hoping to get at least one more practice game in before we officially start.

I finished Breaking Bad

The last season of Breaking Bad went by more quickly than just about any other season of TV I’ve watched. We were watching three episodes some nights and it was hard to even limit it to that. Overall it’s just a great show and it’s been a thrill throughout. Plenty of interesting characters and developments.

We also watched El Camino, a movie that follows one of the main characters immediately after the events of the show. That one’s also great. It leaves things in a good spot and pretty much feels like a long episode of the show which are both things that I was hoping for.

Of course the plan now is to start Better Call Saul pretty soon. Some people I’ve talked with actually like it better than the original show so I’m excited. Of course, I’d be looking forward to it anyway just being familiar now with some of the characters it follows.

— JP

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Learning Typescript with a new project

I started a new web-based fediverse-related programming project recently. It’s nothing too serious right now and is mostly an excuse to have something to work on with my work being pretty unfulfilling these days. Still, I’m enjoying it and hoping I can get far enough along on it to eventually release it.

Very early on into the project I decided to migrate what I had to Typescript and I’m super glad I did. Learning something new is half the fun of a hobby project, and so far I’m really appreciating the ergonomics of working in Typescript. The most obvious improvement I’ve noticed is that my IDE is a lot smarter now and is able to give hints based on types like you’d expect from any typed language.

The guts of the project are pretty much there, so what I have ahead of me now is mostly front-end design and logic. Not my favorite stuff in the world, but I at least like to imagine I’m decent at it. I mean, have you seen what passes as production-ready from billion dollar companies these days? The bar’s not very high.

My new vinyl collection

I got a nice record player for my birthday a few weeks back and have since started a small vinyl collection.

My favorite part of the collection so far is the soundtrack for the Outer Wilds DLC Echoes of the Eye. It’s really neat how much care was put into the entire package, and there’s even a few Easter eggs between the artwork and the vinyl itself. Not to mention of course just how cool of a soundtrack Echoes of the Eye has.

Lord of the Rings is still incredible

I just finished yet another watch of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’ve said it before, but I really do think these are movies that people will still be watching 50 years from now. They’ve barely aged a day since they were made and every re-watch is just as rewarding as the first.

Having fun in a not good game

I started playing a bit of the new game in the Skate series, obnoxiously stylized as “skate.”. And I have some thoughts.

Is it a good game? No. The whole thing reeks of bland corporate appropriation of skate culture, and it seeps into everything from the level design to the voice overs which are so painful that one of the first things you’ll do is turn them off.

But is it a fun game? Actually, yeah. The standout feature right now is the sandbox nature of the game since you’ll see everything the missions have to throw at you within the first couple hours. I’ve been enjoying finding my own crazy lines and stunts to try to perfect, and it’s really neat watching everyone else in the servers do the same and getting ideas from them. Grab a few friends and I think it’s a pretty guaranteed way of making a few hours fly by, and the game is free so there’s not a whole lot to lose.

The future of week notes

I’ve never really tried to stick to a set schedule in the past with week notes. I’ve always looked at it more as a way to record shorter thoughts together that probably don’t deserve their own individual posts, but which are still interesting enough to me that I want to write something about them.

And aside from that, it’s just a format that I really enjoy and want to see more of. Modern social media being what it is, it’s fun to slow down sometimes and take a little longer to catch up with people I follow and chat with.

More of this sort of thing coming soon.

— JP

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Earlier this week I put together a color e-ink picture frame powered by a Raspberry Pi.

It was a pretty easy, fun little project. For the past few days I’ve been having it run a simple script I wrote that chooses a random photo of mine and overlays the current weather conditions every 30 minutes.

I’ll share more about it including photos in a future post. In the meantime, I plan on making a new frame for it. The screen I chose is just barely too small for a standard 5x7 inch frame, so to get it in the frame I used I had to get a little hacky and the end result is a bit sloppier than I would like.

Games

I’m still enjoying my time with Hogwarts Legacy. I’ll say though that I almost think the game suffers a tiny bit from trying to do too much. I mean, how is it that I was still getting introduced to new mechanics 15-20 hours into the game? I also hope some more enemy variety gets introduced soon as combat has been starting to feel a little easy. Overall though, still a great game.

I completed 1000xResist since my last post and really liked it. The gameplay is mostly walking around and talking to people, but it plays so much with different ways to tell a narrative that that’s what keeps you invested rather than the gameplay itself. This one’s definitely worth checking out if that sounds like your thing.

I started playing the 2024 remake of Riven recently and it’s been going great. It’s easy to see where other games I love like Outer Wilds have taken inspiration. It’s one of those puzzle games where the explorable world opens up to you fairly quickly, giving you a lot to uncover and think about at the same time.

Riven’s art style really stands out to me. It feels oddly dream-like in the way I feel games from the 90s often do, and it’s really unique to see that feeling captured so well with modern graphics.

Music

The new Spiritbox album I’ve been looking forward to, Tsunami Sea, came out this week. I’ve only had a chance to listen through it once so far but I can already tell I’m going to be listening to it a lot, just like their previous music. Speaking of their previous music, I think this album left a stronger first impression on me than usual. It’ll take me some more time to get a stronger feeling for which tracks stand out the most to me, but I’m hoping I don’t take too long with it because Sleep Token is rumored to be releasing new music very, very soon.

— JP

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Some of the more exciting news since my last week notes is that I’ve been working on a new web project. The idea is a searchable, curated directory of high quality and user-respecting web apps.

I’m taking a pretty loose definition of “web app”, meaning almost any website that has a function beyond “hey here’s a document”. Basically I’ve found that search engines do a pretty terrible job of helping users find quality tools, so this is hopefully a remedy to that.

I’ve got several dozen sites already in the directory, and I’m hoping to get that built up a lot through user submissions if this gains any traction.

I’ll have more details to share later I’m sure. I’m pretty close to launching it. The main thing left is to clean up the code organization a bit, and there’s not very much so that should go quickly. In the meantime if you have any sites you’d like me to add or know of anywhere I could find more, feel free to let me know.

Games

Hogwarts Legacy hasn’t really been on my radar, but my brother noticed it was on sale and we both grabbed it. I grew up with the Harry Potter books and movies, enjoying them but never really being what I would call a huge fan. That’s why I’d say this game has managed to take me by surprise.

I think the main thing is that it’s just really neat to see Hogwarts and so much of the world around it fleshed out in a way that it really hasn’t been before. I spent quite a bit of the early game just exploring and wandering around for fun. The combat is also more engaging that I expected. You have to react pretty quickly to what’s going on while making sure you’re using the right spells for the situation.

I was also kindly gifted 1000xResist very recently which is the other game I’ve been playing. I’m not very far into it yet but the story and setting are definitely very intriguing so far. Looking forward to seeing where it goes and why I’ve heard so much praise for it.

TV

The last thing I’ll mention is that I’m still very much into Severance right now. Season 2 has been a wild ride so far that I could never have predicted, and it’s only halfway through! Hearing everyone’s thoughts about the new episode every week is half of what I love about the show right now.

— JP

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I’m still making my way through Animal Well because it turns out the post-game is way bigger than I could’ve guessed. I’m somewhere just past halfway in the third “layer”, as the community seems to call it. If you played games as a kid and ever let your imagination run wild about hidden secrets, Animal Well is basically the game that brings all those ideas to life.

My wife and I have also been playing through It Takes Two. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it other than that it’s a very enjoyable co-op puzzle platformer and that we’re both looking forward to playing more of it.

Some family and friends and I all recently got Contractors, a super moddable VR shooter. We’ve been having a great time with the mods that port all of the old Call of Duty World at War and Black Ops zombies maps into the game. Some of us played the original games together years ago, so it’s a real trip having the same experience again, just in VR this time with all the sense of presence that it brings.

HackTheBox

I’ve been continuing working through some of the active machines on HackTheBox, and I think I’m now at the point where I’m starting to notice some measurable improvement in myself. I’m less reliant on hints now and just a little bit faster.

I’ve completed most of the active easy Linux machines, so soon I’ll either be moving onto the easy Windows machines or maybe the medium Linux machines.

New keyboard

I got myself a Keychron V1 Max with brown switches. Coming from the cheap Amazon mechanical keyboard I’ve been using since university, it’s a massive improvement! The best way to explain it is that typing just feels so much more responsive now. For something that I use as often as a keyboard I think it really pays to have a decent one.

I don’t have any plans yet to go very deep into cutomizations, but it’s nice that keyboards like this one really encourage it. If you think there’s anything I should know, send me a message!

TV

Severance started its second season and I think it’s some of the best TV coming out right now. It’s really cool to see all the excitement over it since it’s been a few years now since the first season and people have had time to get into it.

I love that they’re releasing episodes weekly and not just dropping the entire season at once like some streaming services do. It’s the kind of show that’s really fun when you have time to speculate about everything and craft theories.

— JP

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I finished Animal Well this week after a pretty long period of letting it collect dust. I’m sorry it took me so long to finish because it’s a great little game. It’s a Metroidvania, but one that’s about puzzles and experimenting with the game mechanics rather than combat.

I’m sure I have more to explore and uncover even though I “finished” the game, so I’ll probably be coming back to it over the next week or two.

Books

I started a couple new books recently. The first is Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey, the third book in The Expanse. Like the last book, this one has a mostly new cast, most of which I’m really liking.

The other book I’ve begun is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, which I’m absolutely loving so far. It’s completely unlike anything else I’ve read, which won’t come as any surprise if you know about the book or have read it yourself. I went into it mostly blind other than knowing about the general premise. I just kept hearing about it and seeing it referenced in different places, so I figured it’d be worth a go and so far I’ve been right! I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next, since I’ve flipped through some of the later sections and things get… interesting.

HackTheBox

I’ve come back to doing more HackTheBox lately, which I first started back in November. At this point I’m through with most of the guided machines (the free ones, anyway) and I’ve completed two of the active machines which are entirely unguided but reward points.

It’s pretty enjoyable. Each machine is like a puzzle and I get to work out some skills that I don’t usually use. I’ve had to look up a hint or two on the machines I’ve solved so far, but already I’m feeling less and less of a reliance on that.

Something I’ve noticed though is that while the guided machines were spun up specifically for me, the active machines seem to be shared between players. There is some kind of process in place for making sure the machines stay close to their original state, but I’ve still found leftover files from other players and in one case an account I needed had either been removed or had its password changed. It wasn’t a massive deal since the password had been reset the next time I tried, but I guess it’s something to watch out for.

Back to work

The last thing is that I’m back at work after a long-ish break for the holidays. It’s not all bad since I’m on a new team this year. It’s been sort of exciting and I think it’s been going well so far. Good way to start a new year.

— JP

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Enjoying family time and Christmas

Spending Christmas with family has been a great way to end the year. I got a lot of neat gifts, but it was just as fun to watch everyone else open their own. There’s also just the hanging out around Christmas while most people aren’t very busy that I really appreciate.

I got a few Lego sets which I’ve been really excited to complete. The one I’ve already completed is a new set celebrating Bionicle, which was the best thing Lego has ever done and nobody will ever change my mind on that. I still fondly remember getting Bionicle sets for Christmases and birthdays over 20 years ago and poring over every piece of Bionicle media that was coming out back then. This new set they’ve made is a different style from the originals, but it was still a lot of fun to put together and it’s great to see Lego acknowledge the existence of Bionicle again.

I don’t go back to work until after New Year’s so I’ve still got plenty of time left to keep lazing around and eating sweets.

Reading

I finished the second book in The Expanse, Caliban’s War. I’m really looking forward to seeing where the rest of the series goes. Up to this point things haven’t stopped ramping up, and already this series is one of my top sci-fi recommendations. I’ll likely be starting the next book in January.

Games

I’ve been a lot more casual with gaming on account of the holidays which I think is a good sign. But that didn’t stop me from discovering Balatro, with some help from a family member.

If you haven’t heard of it by now, the easiest way to explain it is as a blend of poker and solitaire. You go through rounds of increasing difficulty and need to play poker hands to beat each round’s minimum score. There’s a lot more depth to it than that though. You have jokers you can earn which usually put modifiers on how your cards are scored, and you have lots of other ways you can modify your deck to give yourself an advantage.

I don’t typically enjoy roguelikes, but I’ve still found something incredibly satisfying about Balatro. A big part of that I think is how easy it is to pick up, but still how much depth and strategy there is.

Last week notes of 2024

It’s still unbelievable to me that 2024 is nearly over.

Before the year is through (and likely after given how little is left), I’d like to write a few posts going over some of my favorite things of the year in more depth than I’ve been going into in the week notes. Games, books, personal moments, those sorts of things. It would give me another excuse to gush about Outer Wilds, after all.

Until then, I hope you’ve been having a good holiday season too.

— JP

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New glasses

I got a new pair of glasses along with a new prescription this last week. It was definitely time since the old pair was about five years old and starting to show some wear.

The new frames have really grown on me, and I’m surprised at how much clearer the new prescription is since the old glasses never really felt blurry to me. They took a couple days to get used to though. I was fighting off headaches over the weekend which is part of why I was taking things easy. At this point though I feel well adjusted and out of the “oh no I hope they didn’t get this horribly wrong” phase.

Reading

I’m still reading through Caliban’s War but I’ve managed to fall slightly behind the rest of the group.

Something I’m beginning to appreciate with this book is that I’m starting to really root for one of the characters that I initially disliked. It’s really satisfying when that kind of 180 for a character is well executed.

Games

I’ve got a couple games that I’m pretty early on in, so I should be set for the next little while.

Hollow Knight

A couple friends are also playing through this right now so I decided to join in. I’m way behind where they are, but it’s still fun sharing progress with each other.

Metro: Last Light Redux

I’ve been playing through the Metro franchise and am on the second game right now. This one so far seems a bit more action-oriented, where the first had a slightly more survival horror feel. That’s not a complaint, just something interesting I’ve noticed.

Red Dead Redemption 2

I’ve had this one on my radar since I finished Cyberpunk 2077 towards the beginning of this year, but I held off until recently. Sometimes you need a little breather between massive open world games, you know?

I can already say this is easily the most visually detailed game I’ve played, and I’m enjoying the story so far.

Music

Spotify released their yearly Wrapped summary, so I’ve gotten some insight into my music listening over the past year. Here are my top artists for 2024.

1. Andrew Prahlow
2. Sleep Token
3. Jam2Go
4. Spiritbox
5. Rolo Tomassi

I’m a bit surprised, but also not. Andrew Prahlow is the composer for the amazing Outer Wilds soundtrack which I’ve had on consistently nearly the whole year, so no surprises there.

I would have expected Spiritbox to be higher up on the list, but I think that’s a matter of them not having as much music released as some of these other artists. So while I may have listened to them more often, I might not have spent as much time with them.

Programming

I’ve been taking part in this year’s Advent of Code and it’s been enjoyable. I still can’t bring myself to use something other than Python — it’s just extremely well suited for the types of problems Advent of Code gives you and I’m really efficient with it.

I’m a couple days behind now (are you noticing a theme yet?), but I’m still planning on making some progress. I feel like this year has been easier for me than past years, which is really reassuring. It’s great to have a sort of benchmark for the progress and growth that’s not very visible day to day.

— JP

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It’s been a great week filled with family time and awesome food. Sitting here and reflecting on it makes me realize how much I have to be grateful for.

A couple weeks back, I figured out how to get my blog building with Hugo on my phone using Termux and I’m giving it a test run this week. If you’re reading this, everything worked! The process isn’t that different from how you’d build a Hugo blog normally, but I may still go over the details later.

I hope everyone else has had a great week!

— JP

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I’m about 30% into Caliban’s War and I’m starting to think it’s even more of a page turner than the first book, Leviathan Wakes. I’m reading along with the same group I read Leviathan Wakes with, and it’s still fun sharing thoughts and progress as we go. I’m really looking forward to seeing where the rest of the book and series go.

Games

I finished my playthrough of Half-Life 2 with the new developer commentary a few days ago. It’s awesome to see Valve so engaged with the community these days, especially the Half-Life community of all things. There were actually multiple points in the commentary where they teased the possibility of a new game in the series. For me it’s not hard to remember a time when that would have been unheard of. Between that and the community learning from datamining that a new Half-Life project has seemingly been in development for the past 4-5 years, I think the next year or so will be a really exciting time to be a fan.

I’m also making slow and steady progress again in Metro 2033. Looking forward to finishing it and seeing what the rest of the series has to offer.

Cybersecurity

This is something I got into this week on a total whim. I’ve been working my way through the “starting point” labs on Hack The Box where they give you different challenges to hack into a virtual server that’s been set up for you. The ones I’m going through are still pretty guided and do a good job of walking you through the various tools and approaches you can use to get a foothold on a machine. It’s been a lot of fun to learn about a tech field I’m not as familiar with and I’m looking forward to giving some of the more puzzle-y challenges a try later on.

I obviously haven’t been at it for very long, but going through these kinds of exercises are something that I’d recommend to anyone who self-hosts. You learn a lot about common security mistakes and it gets you thinking about how someone might try to break into one of your machines if they wanted to.

Programming

I tested out Bluesky briefly the other week. I won’t bore you with my poorly informed take on it, but long story short I don’t really think it’s for me. At least right now. I may check it out again later.

One of my annoyances with it was the algorithm, but something really cool is that it supports custom algorithms called feeds. I spent some time this week looking into how to make my own.

It was fun figuring out how to subscribe to the firehose feed and do something interesting with the data coming in, but I quickly realized that a project like this one would take more resources than I was willing to put into it.

I’m thinking that my ideal algorithm would be one that prioritizes accounts which have a roughly proportionate ratio between followers and followings, but other than that it would largely be similar to your typical trending post algorithm. Unfortunately there’s no way to leverage work that has already been put into existing feeds. I’d have to reimplement basic functionality by putting every new post network-wide into my own database, identifying the popular ones, pruning the unpopular ones, and only then could I start doing something interesting with it. It just seems a bit wasteful when much of that work is already being done by the default feed and anyone else making a similar custom feed, especially when I’m not even really committed to Bluesky right now.

It’s still pretty early days for Bluesky though, so I expect a lot of the tooling will improve, and probably on the sooner rather than later side of things. So like the rest of Bluesky, this is something I may keep an eye on and try again in the future.

— JP

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