Focus.txt
Deep Focus, For Once
i'm busier than when i had a job.
i've been giving myself deadlines for personal projects that, frankly, just don't make sense and are completely unnecessary. this time is meant to allow me to feel like myself again, not crunch and crank out code. i'm having to remind myself of that.
the focus feels very good, though. (might mean the meds are working.)
i've been working on two projects i'm particularly excited about: one for fun and another that might have legs and a long-term project.
good internet is a physical and digital magazine about website-building, blogging, and using the web and code as an art form. i'm almost done laying out the stories that will be in the spring 2025 issue, and i'm quite excited. i get to flex my journalism muscles that haven't quite been stretched in a while, and i get to design pages again.
riverton is a browser-based farm, ranch, and horse simulation game. i like to remind folks to think of neopets, but with horses and other adoptables you can put on your website or as a forum signature, like flightrising. i've been working on it since november and, though i've had to push back the official launch from april 1 to june 1, it has a full gameplay loop that folks can play now. one of my biggest qualms with adoptable browser games is often you have to rely on others, but i want my game to be able to be played entirely solo. however, it's a fun project to help me learn PHP. i do much better learning while making a finished product that i genuinely like, so that's how i'm trying to take this stuff in. so far, it seems like i'm really getting it.
between these two, i've had to be mindful about taking time off so i'm not smothering myself in work. i'm glad i had these projects to sustain me during the winter, though. it's still quite cold here in the pacific northwest, so having something to do inside has been imperative. i'm expecting that, when it warms up, i'll emerge from my oasis and be able to finally explore the town we moved to.
i've been able to balance my headspace much easier this go around. i'm giving myself time off. i'm handling what i need to do. i'm actually doing okay.