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It’s been a slow week. Basically regrouping from the dificulty of the previous week. But also I put a song up on Spotify/Apple Music and that’s a capital “A” Accomplishment for me. Work Now that the conference/event is over, it’s time to get back to the “foundational” marketing activities of SEO, writing blog posts, creating various templates for SMM and stuff. Music Put up a track on Spotify and Apple Music. I mean, it’s the same song that I put up on Soundcloud the week before, but now that it’s on streaming services it feels “official”. I’m sure you understand what I mean lol. Movies I ordered a cheap projector so now I can watch movies on a “big screen” but at home. It’s great. So far I’ve watched Leave the World Behind and the first half of Saltburn (right up until the bit where it starts to get really weird really quickly) and started watching the BBC Sherlock (despite having a “no tv-show year”, but… with 90-minute episodes it’s almost like a movie? Besides, it’s, like, a mini-serries, technically, right?). It’s a bit blurry (again, cheap projector), but the size of the picture makes up for it. Plus, I get to watch it in bed comfortably instead of the livingroom couch (which I fucking hate). Other Stuff Combinging my current obsession with music and my self-diagnosed ADHD to look for/watch videos like this one: {{< youtube “_-h1tKqKQ34” >}} So yeah… IDK. It’s been a slow week. A bunch of stuff happenned, but nothing to write home about, you know? So, few highlights isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’d rather have a slow week than an intensive week that overwhelms me and fucks me up for an entire weekend. Thanks for tuning in! Toni. ...

Hi! My first song is out on Spotify! Listen here. I’m mostly proud that I somehow gathered enough courage to actually share this. Hopefully as I learn more about music I’ll be putting out better songs. But TBH this one has grown on me.

The first CD I owned was the Shrek OST. I got it to go along with a boombox that I was gifted. A Philips AZ1575 and MAN I listened to a lot of music on that thing. It had that wheel thing for volume control which was a as close to an iPod as I could get at that time. The Shreck OST was a no-skip collection of music. I had my favorites (Reputation, All Star, Stay Home), but there wasn’t a song on there that I’d skip anyway. I don’t know that it influenced my taste in music (like, it wasn’t the “foundation” of my tastes the way Eminem Show or A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out were), but it really set the bar for all the playlists that I would make once I had the ability to burn CD’s and (later) put stuff on my MP3 Player. ...

I recently discovered (literally not five minutes ago) that it’s possible to edit github repositories through a web interface? With all the push/pull/commit bullshit as well? Absolutely incredible.

Changing to a different blogging platform. Again. I’m very sorry.

So, uhm, after buying and spending a couple of weeks using FL Studio I am now back on my bullshit (aka using Ableton Live).This video is an amazing resource. It explains all the stock plugins of Ableton Live and took my understanding of the software from, like, a 50% to close to 80%. youtube.com/watch

First week of the year was a tough one. It started with some pretty serious bombings from russia aka lack of sleep aka the rest of the week was fucked. Shoutout to the US Patriot air defense systems that helped Ukrainian soldiers shoot down 10/10 hypersonic missiles that russia has long claimed are “absolutely undownable”. There’s a post I’m going to write eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) about the need for more US assistance and more pushing for US assistance to Ukraine from people within the US itself. New Year New Year celebrations were noneexistent. We staid up with my girlfriend literally… just scrolling our phones until midnight and then went to bed. There’s no festive mood to speak of. Part of it is, obviously, the situation. But mostly I think it’s because Christmas in Ukraine got moved to the 25th of December, like the rest of the world (as opposed to Jan 7). So, with Christmas out of the way, it’s kinda officially the end of all winter celebrations. The date is new, but the mindset of “Christmas is the last winter holiday” got moved along with it. :D I don’t actually mind. I think focusing on celebrating the New Year is something that became a staple of cullture in many countries that used to be in the USSR. With religious persecution left and right, it made sense that the “main” holiday would be something completely secular. So, shifting focus from New Year to Christmas is all good by me. FL Studio [I got myself FL Studio]({{<ref “fl-studio1.md” >}}) and have been noodling around there. So far it’s going really well. No songs to speak of (yet), but I’m enjoying my little sound experiments greatly. Books I’m slogging my way through Emma and trying to get back on a daily schedule of reading Infinite Jest. New “[art page]({{<ref “2024-art.md”>}}) is up if you want to keep up with the books I’m reading (and the music I’m listening to). I have a feeling there won’t be too many movies that I watch this year. AND I’ll be cutting back on TV in general. I already spend far too much time watching YouTube videos, so I don’t think binging new shows is in the books for at least the first 6 months of 2024. Work Work is moving along, but it’s stressful and there are a lot of looming deadlines, which always stresses me out. I’m trying to learn Apple Motion because motion design seems to be a fundamental skill in a lot of marketing teams these days. Some of my old video-editing and voice-over skills from the previous job have come in handy already, but I really need to boost those skills to really show some good results. We’ve been getting ready for an industry conference for the past couple of weeks and it’s reminded me just how much I hate event planning. Especially when it comes to working with print and getting brochures/postcards/posters printed. So tedious! So many fine details that everyone around seems to miss, even though it’s (supposedly) their job to know how to prepare design files so that they’re ready for print. But it’s not like it’s all sunshine and rainbows on my end either. As I said — looming deadlines. Personal Projects I entered 2024 with the goal of “winding down” activities that aren’t crucial for my survival and “winding up” things that are going to help with that. So, I’ve abandonned my attempt to write a novel (again). That was PROJECT KICK, if you were keeping track. Now it’s all video production and music in terms of “creative work” and reading in terms of “relaxing hobbies”. Hopefully later on in the year I’ll start feeling like I have more energy (as the days get longer) and I’ll be able to add some more to the list (sport/movement being the main thing on the list). Uh… I think that’s kinda it for this week :D Thanks for tuning in! Toni. ...

Disclaimer: The built-in iOS “Emergency” functionality is 100x more likely to actually work when you need it to. At best, this shortcut can remove the stressful experience of having to TYPE a message while you’re stressed. It does not replace the need to call the police/ambulance/fire people if you are in danger. iOS has built-in SOS functionality. Depending on your phone model[note]iPhone 7 and older: press “home” button 5 timesiPhone 8 and newer: Hold “home” + “volume up”[/note] you press a button, it dials emergency services, and then it contacts the emergency contacts that you’ve set up in the Health app. If you live in a country where emergency services are… not likely to show up and check up on you faster than your emergency contacts, here’s an iOS shortcut for you. Read the installation instructions below, then tap here and get the shortcut. I’ll share the link again at the end of the post. If you’ve used Shortcuts before, you can skip straight to Step 4. Installing SOS iOS Shortcut There are some things you’ll have to allow before you can run the shortcut. It’s important that you do this before you install the shortcut. A video demo/walk-throguh is available at the end of this post. ...

This is mostly a “note to self” type of post that I hope somebody else might relate to. I had an idea for a small art project. I checked online to see if someone else has done something similar. “Computer says no.” So, I took that idea and made it happen. And it was shit. But it made me feel better. Like, even though the gap between what I had in my head and what I made could be more accurately described as a “chasm”, it felt so good to have an idea and act on it. ...

Hey! How’s it going?Happy New Year! I mean I know it’s been 11 days by now, but just because the calendar flipped doesn’t mean my procrastination habits suddenly disappeared.I did feel a motivation boost for the first 4 days of the year (which were, coincidentally, mostly weekends). And I didn’t even have any resolutions or goals that I wanted to follow through on. I just felt motivated. If I had the same level of energy and determination for a whole year that I had on that first Monday, I’d probably get more done in a month than I did in the entirety of 2020. But that wave passed, and the only good thing that happened was that I noticed in time and tried my best to avoid the “crash” of motivation withdrawal.I mostly succeeded. ...