I’ve been on a bit of a spending spree, which I think is finally coming mostly to an end. There’s been a lot of stuff that I’ve spent $ on in the last few months that’s are about home organization or car repair, and those are things that obviously come with having more time to be at home or deal with stuff that usually didn’t fit into a workday + kids.

The two things where I’ve bought stuff recently that don’t have to do with that are both about personal improvement. One is obvious – I got some gear to try out a new hobby, wing foiling. With a new thing like this – like with kitesurfing or snowboarding or almost anything, there’s some up-front gear cost. In this case, a wing and a board. Fortunately, that’s all that you really need. It’s been really fun, trying to pick up a new skill.

I got marginally competent at kiteboarding right before getting my last job, and I could never find a way to fit in going kiteboarding and also working and being a parent. I wanted to pick it up again, but kiteboarding’s always been a challenge, as it’s something you need a lot of space to launch, and usually that also means getting someone else to help. Tons of set up and tear down time, which meant that it was just difficult to find the space to do it. In the midst of the pandemic, the specter of having to go to a populous enough place to make sure someone could help you launch & land wasn’t appealing.

The wing is self-contained. You don’t launch it the way you launch a kite. You hop on the board and then go. No harness, no lines. Very straightforward. Foiling – I’m quite a ways from getting the hang of that. I’m still enjoying flopping around on my knees, and trying to stand up, but the last few times I’ve been out, the wind has … well, sucked. My guess is the end of this season will come and go without me ever getting up on foil, but I’m hoping to at least stand up on the board, though because the foil is what provides stability, and it only really works when you’re moving, without wind that might not even happen in the next month before packing stuff away ’til March.

Still – it’s a great excuse to get out into the water and struggle for a few hours, and it’s been a great amount of physical exertion, and fun, to boot. EW’s hopped on the learning bandwagon, and even though he’s progressing much faster, because he’s got tons more experience, it’s been really fun doing something with someone.

Same goes for a bunch of open water swimming with SB. It’s been ages since I swam regularly, but open-water swimming in Alameda’s been a great way to get some swimming in while keeping properly distant from folks. We haven’t gone for the last week because fires have made the air quality awful, but fortunately it seems to be clearing up a little bit, at least for now.

The last thing I bought, just today, was a new laptop. My previous laptop was a gold MacBook that I got in 2015, and it was struggling with a bunch of things. It took me a while to decide to finally pull the trigger – it still does most of what I want a laptop to do. Web stuff, Keynote stuff. But there were a few things that were the nails in its coffin. It can’t do some of the newer Zoom stuff. It can’t run Ableton without stuttering to death, and the keyboard was fucking awful.

Speaking of which, I’ve been taking notes on a book I wanted to write. Just fiction noodling, but I think it’s got potential to be an interesting story if I can get some of the details right. First time in a few years I’ve been motivated to write something.

There’s also a good chance I can do some Unity development on this laptop, which is something I’m trying to spend some time with, because a year ago I ordered an nReal Light devkit, which is a (relatively) affordable set of AR glasses. IMO, VR has pretty limited utility in its current form, but AR, when someone gets the style & social stigma stuff down, is going to completely blow up. And so while I have relevant VR experience, I feel like I need to make sure I’m prepared to be on the cutting edge when AR comes around. I think when it happens, it’ll be really sudden, and if you’ve kept up your VR chops, or played around with the early AR stuff, you’ll be in the best place to take advantage of the next “new tech” wave. My guess is the first promising AR headset will show up before 2023. We’ll see.

Most of what I’ve been doing, though, has been helping the kids get through school stuff. Some days it doesn’t require much – just a little prodding to get to class on time and snacks. Other days, it’s crystal clear how much the support I am able to provide is needed, and I think one of the interesting things will be over the next year or so what the gap is between having a parent who can focus on the kids full-time, and not, is. I think the current setup is going to be brutal for families who can’t afford to have someone who can focus on the kids, and it’ll be yet another jump in the gap between the haves and have-nots.

I miss people. I miss being able to go places. That said, we have about the best potential setup we can possibly have, and every privilege under the sun. I have nothing to complain about – I just miss hanging out with folks. Playing games, making new memories, watching other peoples’ kids growing up. Stuff like that. Once this is over, let’s hang out.