One Quest

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lifedesign

  • View Post: Spain Chat

    I had a meeting this morning with a Spanish immigration consultant, and it went really well! I still feel like the Digital Nomad Visa that I tried to get last year would probably be the most stable and strategic option I could take. But it’s a bit more challenging to setup since I need another job. 😂

    There’s other things to figure out as well, and I’m not sure how I’ll decide. There’s so many fantastic reasons I want to permanently relocate to Europe, and I feel like it would be a much better future for me.

    #, #
  • View Post: European Citizenship

    I’ve been looking into moving to Spain again and trying to get citizenship, but it’s still pretty challenging. I’m wondering if maybe there’s a different country in Europe that I would enjoy more or that I would be able to stay longer or get citizenship faster. But not sure yet. 🤔🤔

    Either way I’m hoping to meet with a consultant that can help me with all the paperwork and legal challenges. 😵‍💫

    #, #
  • View Post: What Is Runes?

    What if I could have a space that holds all pieces of the stuff I create? Not just the final polished creations, but the rougher drafts and pieces that are created along the way, and anything else that’s on my mind. It’s like a showcase for the “polished” stuff, but also the process and it makes it so I don’t have to keep a working file of things just sitting around in a spot that doesn’t do much, but they have a purpose. They connect to the broader narrative and story of my life. They help inform the beauty of the things I create by enriching them and giving them more depth and context.

    These are some of the questions and concepts that motivated me to create One Quest. A space that more accurately reflects who I am. This new section I’m calling “Runes” for now is meant to be the space for more of the drafts and concepts. Smaller snippets of info and less polish.

    I’ve been wanting this for such a long time and it’s one of the original reasons I wanted to rebrand and create a different kind of design portfolio. It will be fun to explore more!

    #
  • View Post: /e/OS

    Got eOS running on a spare Android I had put LineageOS on last year. The web installer was SO much better than how I had to install Lineage with the terminal. Still some work to improve the user experience of it, but nicely done overall!

    I like a lot of the things eOS is doing, but they’re leaning more into iOS patterns more than I thought as well which is disappointing and frustrating. Things like swipe down on home to bring up search, the app grid not being flexible (this is such a basic thing Android has had for so long, and I think even iOS changed their’s now?), and the swipe-left-on-home panel that looks suspiciously too much like iOS control center. Plus, only letting widgets be there instead of anywhere?

    I hope they can keep differentiating their visual design language, UX interactions and other things to feel more open and customizable. I do like the personalizable font, icon, and other customization options that core Android removed a few years ago though, so props for that!

    #, #
  • View Post: Nutrition Systems

    If I’m gonna cook, I really want it to be systemized and simple. I want to be a one pot master and find the best dishes that are done with one pot cuz I don’t like tons of dishes and pans all over. I don’t know if this is possible, but it’s what I’m feeling. I also want to have core dishes that I really enjoy and can make any time. That I enjoy and that have lot of different nutrition.

    If this type of life isn’t possible then I want to lean in more to the life of getting meals prepared by an expert everyday. I want to redesign my home space to work without a kitchen. Without a fridge without the expenses and energy put into cooking cuz I’m not going to do it. I’ve been thinking about and experimenting with a lot of things in these realms for a long time and this is where it’s at right now.

    #, #
  • View Post: Ghost

    Testing out Ghost to see if it can become a replacement for what I’ve built here on WordPress. So far, it’s hard to say. The lack of a visual editor like Gutenberg is definitely throwing me off, but I like how much more simple a lot of it is and the ActivityPub integration sounds like it might be more promising and well thought out which I’m very excited about.

    #, #
  • View Post: Is it worth it?

    I’ve been feeling super stuck lately, and not just in one area or in small things, but tons of places and areas of my life. My last post highlights some of this, and I hope to continue that conversation here.

    I’ve just been frustrated recently with feeling like there’s too many conflicting systems in tech. Not enough of the pieces fit together. Like, why do I need a subscription to every news source, app, tv/movie provider, different audio sources, etc? And why don’t they talk with each other? I don’t want 5 apps to read content and 5 more to watch content and 5 others to post my ideas/content. I don’t want to follow people in multiple apps and keep up with tons of feeds. I understand it’s very complex and that many incredible things are in the works to change some of these things, but it feels like it’s so far away and I can’t really enjoy improved systems and better tech right now.

    It’s also frustrating cuz it feels like there’s only so much I can do to get where I want to be. For example, I could build my own apps, create my own system of tech. That way I would be in control of the features, the integrations, the branding, and all the cool things I was to impact. But then, would I be able to connect with other people? And can I honestly replace all the necessary parts of my life with my own apps? It sounds like a huge burden to try and solve.

    Is the Fediverse the answer to many of these things? How about AI? How about web3? Is there even an answer at all or am I focusing on questions that won’t go anywhere? I’m not sure.

    Sometimes I really wanna give up on tech and design and try a totally different life, but I don’t even know what that looks like or what I would build and create then. I still love a lot of the systems and concepts I’ve built and I want to try to keep making them happen, but it’s also incredibly exhausting. 😮‍💨🫠

    #, #
  • View Post: Feeling Stuck

    I want to do so many things and I have a lot of ideas started, but I’m not quite sure what steps to take. I haven’t posted in a while cuz I’ve been experimenting with other options like YouTube posts as well. Plus, idk I just kinda got burnt out in general. Even though I often feel energized by sharing my ideas and questions, sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming. Communicating things has also been a lot at work recently and so that’s probably part of why I don’t feel like communicating other ideas and questions.

    I’ve been testing alternate apps and experiences for so many things this year. I tested a new tasks app, calendar, contacts, email. It was all using my own branded digital identity, but I couldn’t figure out how to do super basic things like share a calendar invite with someone else in a really seamless way. All of the things I explored helped me learn and see my digital life from different angles. It was really valuable. It was also fun to explore a lot of the open source world. I tried out alternate Android app stores and that was different. I’m still experimenting with some things like THunderbird for email, but I’ve decided to pause an alternate calendar, tasks, and contacts that aren’t the default apps Google provides. Cuz honestly, even if they’re lacking some things that the open source apps have, they integrate with the Android OS so much better and have all the core pieces I need. Do I still want a more open world of digital things? You bet! But, right now that world doesn’t exist in the way I want. If the Android OS could open up, or if alternate OS’s would be refined to the level that Android has been built to, then I think we would have something really valuable to play with. It needs to be simple, seamless, and remove as many levels of friction as possible for me to want to fully embrace it.

    It’s confusing cuz I still don’t like a lot of the things that Google is doing. I don’t like how restrictive and trashy the Chrome browser is with the ads experience. I don’t mind ads and I even like them if they’re well designed and match my interests. Google is pretty decent at the matching interests part, but not the well designed part. Because there’s no guidelines or expectations for how ads need to be designed, how many can appear on a web experience at one time, and things like that, my web experience is turned into a trash heap of banners, videos, images, and so many other ads. I put up with it for about 8 years on my Android computers, but didn’t want to anymore. So, I switched to Firefox. Overall, I really like it. Firefox is making solid progress with the Android version too, but there’s still quite a few areas where I can feel or see the cracks. Their password manager for example isn’t near the beautiful and seamless experience that Google has refined over the years. The overall experience though is miles ahead because I can block all the ads I want, making my web experience a beautiful haven once more. 😌

    Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in a limbo though with some of my digital life in one area, and some of it in another. I want a more customizable and personalized digital experience, but I’m not sure how to get there and everything seems to move so incredibly slow that it’s painful for me.🫠I basically want full control over the OS, design, and features for all the apps and digital experiences I have access to. Cuz I could build my own OS, but that would be super difficult and I miss out on all the benefits and features that Android has that are genuinely useful and really well built. I like the core of it all, I just want more flexibility and customization. I want more control over my digital experience. I want it to respect me more and be better designed. I want the fediverse to succeed and become really refined so that I can more easily create an interconnected digital identity and experience and hopefully everyone else can too. They just launched a mobile app for Peertube for example, but I’m hesitant to open up a Peertube account when I already have a Mastodon account. I want one space for all my content that’s tied to my digital identity, I don’t want fragmentation. Maybe it does work like that and I haven’t explored it yet.]

    Another thing I’m thinking about is gaming. I enjoy gaming on my Android a lot, but the gaming library is pretty terrible on mobile devices right now. Basically all games are designed for casual players who want free games that you have to log in every day to get content and I’m okay with a couple games like that, but if every game has daily quests and things to bring you back everyday, that’s not feasible for me to support long term for more than a few games. It’s not enjoyable for me. I think it might be cool if Steam was natively supported on ARM and Android in the future, but that’s probably a long shot (although less so with the potential breakup from the Epic lawsuit).

    I’m very excited that Android seems to be heading towards a much more robust computing experience so that I can use my pocket computer as my main/only computer for both at home and on the go. The upcoming desktop experience could be an absolute dream if they implement it well and it supports “phones” with display out. I’ve been testing it out for a few days with a janky dev flag turned on and it’s fun, but definitely still very restrictive and weird. It’s given me a glimpse of how awesome it would be to have one computer for at home and on the go though. And the new charging optimization feature on Android that lets you pull power from AC after it charges up to 80% is so freaking amazing for this future that I’m trying to build!!! 🤩

    #, #
  • View Post: Passthrough Charging Android

    The new passthrough charging feature for Android is such a dream come true that I didn’t expect would ever come!! It’s the perfect addition for building my future computer setup with my favorite Android computer. 😁😍 I’m still in the early stages of testing, but things are coming along really well, and once Android’s full desktop experience launches the passthrough charging will be the perfect way to use my Android as a home computer without every worrying that the battery is getting overused or worn down!! I’ve been trying it on my Espresso display and it’s such a dream! Thank you Google!

    #, #, #
  • View Post: Spain Chat

    I had a meeting this morning with a Spanish immigration consultant, and it went really well! I still feel like the Digital Nomad Visa that I tried to get last year would probably be the most stable and strategic option I could take. But it’s a bit more challenging to setup since I need another job. 😂

    There’s other things to figure out as well, and I’m not sure how I’ll decide. There’s so many fantastic reasons I want to permanently relocate to Europe, and I feel like it would be a much better future for me.

    #, #
  • View Post: European Citizenship

    I’ve been looking into moving to Spain again and trying to get citizenship, but it’s still pretty challenging. I’m wondering if maybe there’s a different country in Europe that I would enjoy more or that I would be able to stay longer or get citizenship faster. But not sure yet. 🤔🤔

    Either way I’m hoping to meet with a consultant that can help me with all the paperwork and legal challenges. 😵‍💫

    #, #
  • View Post: What Is Runes?

    What if I could have a space that holds all pieces of the stuff I create? Not just the final polished creations, but the rougher drafts and pieces that are created along the way, and anything else that’s on my mind. It’s like a showcase for the “polished” stuff, but also the process and it makes it so I don’t have to keep a working file of things just sitting around in a spot that doesn’t do much, but they have a purpose. They connect to the broader narrative and story of my life. They help inform the beauty of the things I create by enriching them and giving them more depth and context.

    These are some of the questions and concepts that motivated me to create One Quest. A space that more accurately reflects who I am. This new section I’m calling “Runes” for now is meant to be the space for more of the drafts and concepts. Smaller snippets of info and less polish.

    I’ve been wanting this for such a long time and it’s one of the original reasons I wanted to rebrand and create a different kind of design portfolio. It will be fun to explore more!

    #
  • View Post: /e/OS

    Got eOS running on a spare Android I had put LineageOS on last year. The web installer was SO much better than how I had to install Lineage with the terminal. Still some work to improve the user experience of it, but nicely done overall!

    I like a lot of the things eOS is doing, but they’re leaning more into iOS patterns more than I thought as well which is disappointing and frustrating. Things like swipe down on home to bring up search, the app grid not being flexible (this is such a basic thing Android has had for so long, and I think even iOS changed their’s now?), and the swipe-left-on-home panel that looks suspiciously too much like iOS control center. Plus, only letting widgets be there instead of anywhere?

    I hope they can keep differentiating their visual design language, UX interactions and other things to feel more open and customizable. I do like the personalizable font, icon, and other customization options that core Android removed a few years ago though, so props for that!

    #, #
  • View Post: Nutrition Systems

    If I’m gonna cook, I really want it to be systemized and simple. I want to be a one pot master and find the best dishes that are done with one pot cuz I don’t like tons of dishes and pans all over. I don’t know if this is possible, but it’s what I’m feeling. I also want to have core dishes that I really enjoy and can make any time. That I enjoy and that have lot of different nutrition.

    If this type of life isn’t possible then I want to lean in more to the life of getting meals prepared by an expert everyday. I want to redesign my home space to work without a kitchen. Without a fridge without the expenses and energy put into cooking cuz I’m not going to do it. I’ve been thinking about and experimenting with a lot of things in these realms for a long time and this is where it’s at right now.

    #, #
  • View Post: Ghost

    Testing out Ghost to see if it can become a replacement for what I’ve built here on WordPress. So far, it’s hard to say. The lack of a visual editor like Gutenberg is definitely throwing me off, but I like how much more simple a lot of it is and the ActivityPub integration sounds like it might be more promising and well thought out which I’m very excited about.

    #, #
  • View Post: Is it worth it?

    I’ve been feeling super stuck lately, and not just in one area or in small things, but tons of places and areas of my life. My last post highlights some of this, and I hope to continue that conversation here.

    I’ve just been frustrated recently with feeling like there’s too many conflicting systems in tech. Not enough of the pieces fit together. Like, why do I need a subscription to every news source, app, tv/movie provider, different audio sources, etc? And why don’t they talk with each other? I don’t want 5 apps to read content and 5 more to watch content and 5 others to post my ideas/content. I don’t want to follow people in multiple apps and keep up with tons of feeds. I understand it’s very complex and that many incredible things are in the works to change some of these things, but it feels like it’s so far away and I can’t really enjoy improved systems and better tech right now.

    It’s also frustrating cuz it feels like there’s only so much I can do to get where I want to be. For example, I could build my own apps, create my own system of tech. That way I would be in control of the features, the integrations, the branding, and all the cool things I was to impact. But then, would I be able to connect with other people? And can I honestly replace all the necessary parts of my life with my own apps? It sounds like a huge burden to try and solve.

    Is the Fediverse the answer to many of these things? How about AI? How about web3? Is there even an answer at all or am I focusing on questions that won’t go anywhere? I’m not sure.

    Sometimes I really wanna give up on tech and design and try a totally different life, but I don’t even know what that looks like or what I would build and create then. I still love a lot of the systems and concepts I’ve built and I want to try to keep making them happen, but it’s also incredibly exhausting. 😮‍💨🫠

    #, #
  • View Post: Feeling Stuck

    I want to do so many things and I have a lot of ideas started, but I’m not quite sure what steps to take. I haven’t posted in a while cuz I’ve been experimenting with other options like YouTube posts as well. Plus, idk I just kinda got burnt out in general. Even though I often feel energized by sharing my ideas and questions, sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming. Communicating things has also been a lot at work recently and so that’s probably part of why I don’t feel like communicating other ideas and questions.

    I’ve been testing alternate apps and experiences for so many things this year. I tested a new tasks app, calendar, contacts, email. It was all using my own branded digital identity, but I couldn’t figure out how to do super basic things like share a calendar invite with someone else in a really seamless way. All of the things I explored helped me learn and see my digital life from different angles. It was really valuable. It was also fun to explore a lot of the open source world. I tried out alternate Android app stores and that was different. I’m still experimenting with some things like THunderbird for email, but I’ve decided to pause an alternate calendar, tasks, and contacts that aren’t the default apps Google provides. Cuz honestly, even if they’re lacking some things that the open source apps have, they integrate with the Android OS so much better and have all the core pieces I need. Do I still want a more open world of digital things? You bet! But, right now that world doesn’t exist in the way I want. If the Android OS could open up, or if alternate OS’s would be refined to the level that Android has been built to, then I think we would have something really valuable to play with. It needs to be simple, seamless, and remove as many levels of friction as possible for me to want to fully embrace it.

    It’s confusing cuz I still don’t like a lot of the things that Google is doing. I don’t like how restrictive and trashy the Chrome browser is with the ads experience. I don’t mind ads and I even like them if they’re well designed and match my interests. Google is pretty decent at the matching interests part, but not the well designed part. Because there’s no guidelines or expectations for how ads need to be designed, how many can appear on a web experience at one time, and things like that, my web experience is turned into a trash heap of banners, videos, images, and so many other ads. I put up with it for about 8 years on my Android computers, but didn’t want to anymore. So, I switched to Firefox. Overall, I really like it. Firefox is making solid progress with the Android version too, but there’s still quite a few areas where I can feel or see the cracks. Their password manager for example isn’t near the beautiful and seamless experience that Google has refined over the years. The overall experience though is miles ahead because I can block all the ads I want, making my web experience a beautiful haven once more. 😌

    Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in a limbo though with some of my digital life in one area, and some of it in another. I want a more customizable and personalized digital experience, but I’m not sure how to get there and everything seems to move so incredibly slow that it’s painful for me.🫠I basically want full control over the OS, design, and features for all the apps and digital experiences I have access to. Cuz I could build my own OS, but that would be super difficult and I miss out on all the benefits and features that Android has that are genuinely useful and really well built. I like the core of it all, I just want more flexibility and customization. I want more control over my digital experience. I want it to respect me more and be better designed. I want the fediverse to succeed and become really refined so that I can more easily create an interconnected digital identity and experience and hopefully everyone else can too. They just launched a mobile app for Peertube for example, but I’m hesitant to open up a Peertube account when I already have a Mastodon account. I want one space for all my content that’s tied to my digital identity, I don’t want fragmentation. Maybe it does work like that and I haven’t explored it yet.]

    Another thing I’m thinking about is gaming. I enjoy gaming on my Android a lot, but the gaming library is pretty terrible on mobile devices right now. Basically all games are designed for casual players who want free games that you have to log in every day to get content and I’m okay with a couple games like that, but if every game has daily quests and things to bring you back everyday, that’s not feasible for me to support long term for more than a few games. It’s not enjoyable for me. I think it might be cool if Steam was natively supported on ARM and Android in the future, but that’s probably a long shot (although less so with the potential breakup from the Epic lawsuit).

    I’m very excited that Android seems to be heading towards a much more robust computing experience so that I can use my pocket computer as my main/only computer for both at home and on the go. The upcoming desktop experience could be an absolute dream if they implement it well and it supports “phones” with display out. I’ve been testing it out for a few days with a janky dev flag turned on and it’s fun, but definitely still very restrictive and weird. It’s given me a glimpse of how awesome it would be to have one computer for at home and on the go though. And the new charging optimization feature on Android that lets you pull power from AC after it charges up to 80% is so freaking amazing for this future that I’m trying to build!!! 🤩

    #, #
  • View Post: Passthrough Charging Android

    The new passthrough charging feature for Android is such a dream come true that I didn’t expect would ever come!! It’s the perfect addition for building my future computer setup with my favorite Android computer. 😁😍 I’m still in the early stages of testing, but things are coming along really well, and once Android’s full desktop experience launches the passthrough charging will be the perfect way to use my Android as a home computer without every worrying that the battery is getting overused or worn down!! I’ve been trying it on my Espresso display and it’s such a dream! Thank you Google!

    #, #, #
Tenets

Form supports function

Curiosity is essential

Space for anyone

Most Formidable Strengths

Curiosity
Driven

Critical
Thinking

Detail
Oriented

Most Dire Flaws

Analysis
Paralysis

Foolish Idealism

Variant Maelstrom

What happens next on your magical adventure?

Simulacra

The illusory design system and brand guide of One Quest.

Teleport
The Wizard

Meet the Wizard and connect across digital realms.

Teleport

Designed & built with pocket computers

Proudly powered by WordPress Gutenberg

Tenets

Form supports function

Curiosity is essential

Space for anyone

Most Formidable Strengths

Curiosity
Driven

Critical
Thinking

Detail
Oriented

Most Dire Flaws

Analysis
Paralysis

Foolish Idealism

Variant Maelstrom

Design

What happens next on your magical adventure?

Simulacra

The illusory design system and brand guide of One Quest.

Teleport
The Wizard

Meet the Wizard and connect across digital realms.

Teleport

Designed & built with pocket computers

Proudly powered by WordPress Gutenberg