When you have a brain that just wont shut off
It's Sunday just past noon. I have been up since 3am. Tired as hell, but yet, have spent the last 8 hours mostly in front of my computer working out a bunch of projects that have popped into my head the past couple weeks.
I will most likely be here another 8 hours today. 🤪
The past week has been not only brainstorming new projects, but also totally reinventing my home infrastructure. My cable company provided modem/router isn't horrbile, but port forwarding on it is an act of futility. Really. So, I went digging through my boxed up stuff and dug out an old Ubiquious Edge Router-X and a 8-port gigabit TP-link router and put the ISP router in bridge mode and I now have a pretty slick setup for port forwarding to my servers and systems. I had been using Cloudflared and Tailscale, now I can start weening myself off of Cloudflare and handle connections myself without the need for relays and othe junk that certain ports require with Cloudflare. The ER-X as MANY itterations behind on updates (it was in a box for the past 5 or 6 years, but took the update perfectly and is current). It's a rock solid little router that's built like a tank. I figure I'll run it until it cannot run anymore.
My Gamesrv project has been moved, leaving some relays and stuff on a small Digital Ocean droplet. Those are next to get moved and then I decommission the DO droplet. So there is that project.
Then there is RAM coming for one of my Mac Mini servers (Debian 13) to put it at 16GB of RAM (max a 2012 mini can take), but will be enough to host a Nexcloud/OnlyOffice server for my local (or behind Tailscale) use.
Another project has been an idea for a federated/networkd game "server" for terminal ssh type games, similar to BBS door games, called "InterDoor." It is running as a hub with one sample game running on it. As game number two, I found a basically open source game some guy worked on in college in the early 1990's but mostly abandoned it and, in his own words, said,
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim or modified copies of this license document, and changing it is allowed as long as the name is changed. DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO PUBLIC LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION. You just DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO.
🤣 So, that game is coming along. It's basically very similar to the old BBS door game "Barren Realms Elite" in play. It's been an interesting project so far. I really didn't want to ever really be into game design, but some of these older, small web, BBS type games have been interesting and a learning experience in coding. I am considering some others, but only once I have some connections to InterDoor and verify that is a sound service.
I also have a new novel in the works that I am writing, which leads into a few other projects like my Independent Web Almanac (semi-on hold), a forum for pro AI-Assisted writers as a subdomain of IWA, my own website for my novels, short stories and some future resources, including designing my own AI assisted publishing site called "Rook & Rune Press" https://rookrune.iwebalmanac.net/
The downside of this insanely active brain is that some projects get started and get pushed aside because new ideas keep pushing the old ones out. I had a project called Verja.net that I thought was going to be an alternative to big social networks. The planning looked great in my notes. Implementation started off well enough, until I realized that creating communities in 2026 is almost an act of futility. THey are almsot impossible to get off the ground unless you have a solid user base already. Even with the idea of keeping it small, it looks more and more like it will just kind of fade away. I am learning that communities, as I have already said, are not even worth the time and effort, in the traditional sense. Small web (Gemini, Gopher, and even Federated social sites like Mastodon and Lemmy) are a different story, but still are a challenge. I think as much as I want to start a kick-ass community, it will most likely never happen.
But as I said, other projects get sort of forgotton or put on the back burner. My DOS/9 project is idle. Not dead, but idle. So is my Waystone Browser and Waystone Help projects. An idea for a history related Minecraft server that was supposed to be,
A small adult Minecraft community for historical building, research, and storytelling. Recreate places, compare sources, and turn each build into something visitors can learn from.
is pretty much idle. Again, not dead, just idle.
Then there is Offgrid Holdout (where this journal is hosted at), my personal pubnix. The goal is to learn the administration of a small pubnix, build a small community (I know, I said that is nigh impossible in 2026), and provide a small, simple corner of the internet for people want to learn, take thing slow, and carve out their own corner of the internet. So far, two users besides myself, neither of which are very active (in fact I think both have logged on once or twice and that is about it.) But, thats OK... the plan is not be big (5 user, maybe 10, then I'd call it a success) but more of a learning process and home to try things out and learn from doing.
There are other projects in the research/planning stages - a music label that "is a creative music project exploring what happens when human direction and modern AI tools are used together to build an independent record label from the ground up." A local live music hub/social site for bands, venues and lcal music lovers to find, support, and be a part of the local music scene. And honestly, some just random ideas and wasys to make them come to life.
Add on top of that that I have a full-time day job and perform in four different local, live music groups, that require rehearsals, travel time, and actual gigging, it's not like I don't have enough to do.
I know this journal is really for me. I don't think anyone reads (or has ever read?) it. But thats OK. The hour it took me to gather my thoughts to write this is good for me. Especially with this brain of mine. Writing things down (or in this case typing) helps bring focus and clarity to all of it.
But if you are reading it, thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to do that!