Merry Crisis

Yoooooo, how are you?

I am writing you while sitting in an indoor playground called MonkeyTown. Such a humbling experience. The French philosopher Blaise Pascal once said "All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone." Well... Blaise... not sure if they had indoor playgrounds back then, but you're invited to join a midday at MonkeyTown and you'd revisit your whole perspective on society at large.

I hear you thinking... "Nalden, aren't your kids too old for those places? Don't you have a nanny? Shouldn't you be skiing? What about work? Yes, my kids are too old for this crap. I am the nanny, should mos definitely be skiing, and I’m grinding through my emails to get to inbox zero. It's just that life takes unexpected turns and 2025 was more unexpected than records from Perquisite.

I've discussed the midlife crisis before, and whilst many hinted on a burn out, I would rather call it a bore out. Sometimes you think that you want to disappear but all you really want is to be found. Too much consideration becomes doubt and before you know it your mind is spiralling. Better take a hot shower and force yourself to stay curious. Curiosity is everything you need to make sure life is coming from you, not at you.

Not sure if I am becoming someone new or returning to myself, but fuck all that inward looking. I'm okay. You are probably too. Now it's time for act II aka de volgende ronde. 2026 is around the corner so let's fucking go! Fuck MonkeyTown, I've now got my own playground! Best described as a startup studio, where software is our love language. With Rumicat purring and Boomerang flying, I'm hype to create more. And I suggest you do the same.

To create is to live twice. Make art, make love, make software, make yourself happy. This is such a short and precious life that it’s really important that you don’t spend it being unhappy. Be the majority shareholder of your own life. At least 51% of the dividends need to go to making yourself happy. If this random peptalk isn't working then I'll just wish you a merry crisis and happy new tears.

Anyway, before I spiral into more philosophical rambling, here's some interesting stuff I found on the internet.

I was serious about making love. This article got me thinking about declining fertility rates around the world. Kinda looks like we're going to extinct. Fuck!
TechCrunch wrote an article about Boomerang. Remember TechCrunch was a thing? Might still be a thing. All good if it's still your thing. Do the thing.
If you're stuck these days it simply means that you didn't explain something well enough to an AI model and need to try again. Try CTO alongside Cursor.
Anjan released Daylight Kids. A computer that's less about addictive consumption and more about uhh... healthier digital habits?
Wanna create icons & illustrations in seconds? Look no further! Robert made Luxo which allows you to generated images as 1024×1024 PNG files. Perfect for app icons, UI assets, or brand visuals.
Apparently the dream of a free and open Internet isn't dead, but it's definitely more complicated. Hence the Mozilla Foundation launched Nothing Personal. Like Pharell said; "Don’t take it personal. Take note, take it serious and take care of it."
Lol. Wealthy folks are looking for new aesthetics and willing to fund artists, architects, and designers who are working to define "new aesthetics". I mean... why not? Everything, everyone, everywhere looks the same.
Affinity started as an alternative for Adobe's creative bende with all the design and photo editing tools in one app. They got acquired by Canva who then made it free, forever. Such a baller move!
Intertapes is a weirdly cool collection of found cassette tapes from different locations, with audio fragments like voice memos, field recordings and obviously mixtapes.
Hahaha this app helps you to turn your camera roll into memes and other random brainrot situations. Go on and make your kids say cringe or whatever. Tralalero tralala!

That's all folks. Turns out Blaise was wrong. Humanity's problems don't stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone. They stem from sitting too long at MonkeyTown waiting for permission to leave. So leave. Go make something.

See ya next year!

Sent with Rumicat - Meow!

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