Nearly died (again). Spent four months recovering, thinking, and realising that I wanted more out of life than bug fixes, a corrupt industry and the unrealistic client expectations that came out of that corruption.
The thing I loved more than anything else had turned its back on me, and burned me out. I’d spent 15 years trying to fight for the internet they promised us. But, after nearly three decades of naively believing that the internet was the place to be free and create, but spending most days fighting crooks and fraud and, increasingly, a bunch of extremely serious unintended consequences, I realised I just couldn’t keep taking part and had to fight this stuff from the outside.
It stopped being fun. So I quit. Well, kinda. Still gotta eat, ya know.
Terrified of video, but also feeling I had to talk about this, I started a podcast. Then started YouTube channel. Realised I was quite shit at both those things, so spent two years trying to get better at those things. It’s still something I hesitate with.
Started another Masters in Internet Studies, with a view to getting my PhD. Hummed and harred over whether Internet Studies is my home. Still haven’t decided.