I’m continuing to use Helix and I really appreciated this quick overview from Felix Knorr, who provides a few new nice configuration options (including binding the immediate favorite gw command to a single key). I remain really happy with how ready-to-go this editor is without plugins or heavy-duty configuration, while still being discoverable and offering a lot of depth.

This feature of [Helix] is so good! Typing gw replaces the first two characters of words with random letters, and then typing those two letters navigates immediately to that word, selecting it for further operation like copy or replacing. In this example, gwcx would take my cursor straight to the word “register.”

Seven years since the last time, I saw Josh Ritter in concert last night. He played from a small stage in a cathedral, flanked by wood and stone and stained glass, giant pillars, and Sam Kassirer at a grand piano. It was a joyful show that made me feel like part of a community in this city where we now live.

Every heart is a package, tied up in knots someone else tied.

This post from Julia Evans about using Helix was just the bump I needed to check it out, after installing it but never really giving it a try some time ago. I really like how quickly it’s immediately useful without much extra work or time. It will take some adjustment from vim navigation and commands, so perhaps won’t stick, but for now I’m appreciating the intentionality of thinking about what I need to do in the editor, and find so far that I’m picking it up pretty quickly.

For what it’s worth, the only additions I’ve made to Julia’s configuration so far are for some cursor differentiation and one hard-to-break vim convention:

"0" = "goto_line_start"

# from https://docs.helix-editor.com/configuration.html
[editor.cursor-shape]
insert = "bar"
normal = "block"
select = "underline"

Happy to confirm that Lightroom continues to work for library management and export after cancelling my Creative Cloud subscription. I’m rarely shooting in raw anymore, so I was mostly paying just for access to my own back catalog. Not anymore! So long, suckers!

Pretty impressed with the Qobuz redesign. The integration of the player with their editorial content is really well done.

I just want people to know how good this tomato from the garden was.

I’ve been experimenting with using Flickr again. There are some innovations of more modern photo sharing that it simply hasn’t kept up with. For example, there’s a guy who spams the largest Seattle photo group with generated images of waify women looking different kinds of plaintive and wispy, and there’s no way for me to tell Flickr, “don’t show me anything from this guy.” It’s frustrating that its model of sociability hasn’t evolved with some of the baseline functions of social media.

I walked a lot when I was back in Flagstaff a couple of weeks ago. Downtown Flag is perfect for the many photo walks I’ve taken there over the years, being full of alleys, shops and restaurants. On this night I had a solo dinner — a big bowl of ramen from Sosoba — and walked past a dozen familiar shopfronts, all busy and warm with people.

Teatro was previously a favorite place named Criollo, where we were regulars for breakfast. The last time we were there was a Valentine’s Day; we came in late, and they were absolutely packed, but the hostess recognized us, welcomed us and squeezed us in at the bar. We’re not yet regulars anywhere in our new hometown, and I miss the easy familiarity and routine of a favorite spot.

I played through Herdling this weekend and exuberantly recommend it. It’s a short, beautiful journey with a growing group of rescued furry beasts, and it’s long enough to make you feel connected to each and every one of them without wearing out its welcome. The mechanics are just right, and it’s punctuated with exhilarating moments and peaceful campfire rests.

At campfires, some of the Calicorns wait away from the fire, providing gentle signals that they need something from the player — one would wait near firewood to make sure I found it, another always wanted a few rounds of fetch with a toy it found, and others need cleaning, a pet, or a bite of fruit before they’re ready for bed. I got invested in making sure they were all taken care of.

The game is mostly about pathfinding, with increasing danger from the environment as you progress. The intensity is really satisfying, with risks and reveals that contribute to the sense of being part of something grand and mysterious. It’s a lovingly crafted adventure.