The Neon Kiosk

2026-01-29 Tempest in a Teacup - a

Most of December was very rainy, and stormy. I don't mind getting wet usually, but I draw the line at hail and torrential rain. January has been much nicer, but cold. I wrote my yearly review, and made a few changes to this website. I moved books for children to stories, and re-worked the layout for projects, games, notes and how-to — now all of the pages have images representing them.
My mind has felt cluttered of late, in part because I've accepted too many projects and was struggling to see past them. I am grateful for the extra work though, because Dev & I are having a new headsail made for pino and it is not a cheap affair. I've also made a few clumsy mistakes lately that have weighed on me, unrelated to my art or projects, which I deeply regret. I sometimes forget that the clutter is only inside of me, that it is not visible to others, that it involves no one else, and that life is actually really calm, beautiful and organized out there.

HEALTH. Devine & I picked up some old wooden tennis racquets for 5$ at a local thrift store to play squash with. Yes, we know that it is not the right type of racquet to play this sport, people at the gym keep telling us so, but it is difficult to find good secondhand squash rackets. Playing with them is fine, but because they are heavier we need to swing harder. I've really enjoyed playing, we try and go twice a week.
While in Ucluelet a few days ago, we met up with Tamara who has invited us to go climbing. I've always wanted to try it, but never got the chance. I look forward to it. She also suggested surfing on the west coast of Van Island, but I fear that I will lose my fingers (I have Raynauld's Syndrome).

TRAVEL. As I mentioned, I went to Ucluelet for 3 days with Devine and PVH by car. On the ride there, we stopped by Port Alberni, and in Coombs on the way back(although Goats on the Roof was closed for the season). We also stopped at a store selling dutch candy. I don't like candy much, but I do like salty licorice(salmiakki) and brought some back home. Only I will eat it because Devine hates it. While in Ucluelet, we stayed at The Black Rock Resort, a very nice hotel, courtesy of our friend Avi(thank you). We attended meetings as advisors for the conception of the upcoming Rising Tide Boatworks boatyard project. We visited the site, and went for a ride aboard a 42-foot whale watching boat that will soon be converted to electric. The project is coming along nicely, the site is much cleaner than it was, and the main hangar has been hollowed out.

ART. I completed the punk rabbits drawing series, ending it with 102 rabbits. Woohoo! I improved my hand a lot while doing this series, I may continue to draw some rabbits casually, but I won't keep count.
I made a simple image feed so I could show recent art and photos I've made, it's possible to follow updates via RSS. I've been adding goblins for Goblin Week 2026(still in progress).

SEWING. After reading Make, Sew and Mend by Bernadette Banner, Devine & I decided to take our old hats apart to use them as patterns, and to try and remake them again ourselves. We went to pick up 12oz black canvas at a local fabrics store, as well as some double-sided tape. The work went well, and I am very pleased with the result. See sewing for more photos and details.

MOVIE. I went to see One Battle After Another at the local Imax theater. I really enjoyed this film, it is rare to watch a film in which the main character, the supposed male hero, efumbles ceaselessly, and only succeeds because of the help of others(who operate in the shadows for the well-being of people, not because they want to be thanked). I look forward to seeing it again.

CALL FOR ACTION. Aleph, a good friend, is currently looking for work(looking for a full-time or contract work in SRE / DevOps / IT Operations, contact them if you know of any openings), but until they secure a job they need help to cover essential living costs for February. If you can spare a few dollars it'd be great! Another good friend, Cathos, is also looking for support, throw some love her way.

GREAT FINDS OF THE MONTH

• AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage, an article by Cory Doctorow.
• Lessons in connoisseurship from the Golden Globes, an article by Ellen McGirt
• Why I Write, a good text by George Orwell.
• Nicholas Kole, beautiful art portfolio.

2026-01-27 - Apropos of nothing

Silence. Blessed silence. That's the best thing after the holidays.

Despite what I wrote last time, small updates still happen around here. Like publishing a new minor version of AntiWiki, or updating my webcomic list. Most other activity has moved to my new site on Nekoweb. But that one still struggles to take shape.

It's winter in Bucharest. District heating is spotty again, so the floors are cold. Getting sick was a matter of time. Not sure where from, but the home situation hasn't helped.

At least my dentist checkup went well. One less worry to deal with these days.

Otherwise, these days I'm idly reading about Scheme again, for no good reason. I'm able to read small samples now, but not feeling inspired or confident to actually build anything. Everything is terrible and scary, and none of this computer stuff makes the world better.

At least learning about the freedesktop.org specifications will allow me to make my little scripts better. That's something. Some people seem to like them. And frankly? I still care about my craft. It's one of the few things no-one can take away from me.

2026-01-26 Sewing Machine - Devine Lu Linvega's journal

Isn't just wonderful that clothes come with their sources? If you slice the different parts off with a seamripper, lay them all down, trace them on new fabric, cut them out, and stitch them back together, you can effectively clone and fork garments. I realize that this is probably real obvious to most people, but it only dawned on me recently.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to, most nights my laptop is stowed away to make room for the sewing machine on the nav table. It all began when the store that made the patrol cap that Rek and I wear stopped carrying it. The seams of the old worn-out cap were cut, new 14oz canvas was bought and the cap was cloned, twice! I enjoyed the process so much, I made a new messenger backpack, fixed ripped panels on my winter jacket, sown tartan wool arm warmers and some other things. At one point, I realized that I was wearing six items of clothing I had made or mended.

• Created an Instagram account.
• Drawn dailies during Goblin Week.
• Implemented Soundex.
• Wrote a page for the backpack.
• Enjoyed playing squash on rainy days.

2026-01-22 - Marshlog

Backslide. Into the mode where time becomes sand, fingers spread. Slip slip slip. Work becomes all I do. But I'm catching it this time - we just have a lot going on to start the year and I'm trying to do what I can to pitch in. The problem is I like the technical stuff so much that I become obsessed (maybe addicted, I'm realizing) and I happily work into the wee hours after Meadow is asleep.

Then it gets late, I don't journal, don't do life things. Who suffers? The chunkypups mailing list - that's who. Going to bed early tonight so that I can wake up tomorrow to tackle some things.

Everyone is abuzz here about the winter storm headed our way. Forecasts at the start of the week laughably said "maybe 20+ inches of snow!" which is guffaw-worthy. Now they're saying it's going to be a whole lot of freezing rain. Who knows! Malcolm had a live show in Cookesville though, which was sadly a casualty of the uncertainty. Postponed.

I set up a VM tonight with such a crazy GPU that it costs more than most people's mortgage to use. It's for some high-memory Alden is going to do tomorrow. I called it moneymachine and now the song is stuck in my head.

Let's see what tomorrow evening brings. Weather-wise. I've got the XC skis ready for action and wouldn't mind a bit of sledding with Meadow.

2026-01-06 New Logo - Devine Lu Linvega's journal

Back in 2006, when the XXIIVV logo was created, web 2.0 aesthetics were in full swing, outer glows and shiny vertical gradients were everywhere. As a reaction to that trend, I tried to design it as stark as possible, without decoration and without texture. The goal was for it to be representable using only a handful of Bézier control points which aligned with my style at the time.

In 2026, the era of gradients and extrusion blendings has long passed, minimalism reigns supreme, logos are reduced to simple black shapes with not a single line that couldn't be justified to a board-meeting. So, I felt the urge to move away from all that, and get something closer to the works I do today, and at the same time, find a way to express my love for cursive and analog practices.

In other words, the change was to go from a logo that can be written in a single stroke by a computer, to one that can be written in a single stroke by a person.

• Started a new version of Donsol.
• Created a live playground for Neur.
• Added volume controls to m291.
• Enjoyed Aer Vacuum's Snake In Orca.