Spring came and went, and summer is on it’s way out really soon. These past few months we enjoyed a few very nice trips. Most notably, we spent a few weeks in Sardinia, which was quite a surreal experience. When you are surrounded by beauty and good friends on a daily basis it’s quite easy to forget all the troubles we may have on our regular lives.

For this trip, I took my Canon 6D with a 40mm pancake lens, an old 100-300mm zoom and a tiny but robust desk tripod. I really enjoyed practicing my photography on this trip, and I witnessed some of the most colorful sunrises and sunsets I’ve ever seen.

The tiny prime lens served me well, and I spent many days after coming back working through the large number of pictures I shot. One of the things I enjoy the most about photography as a hobby, apart from being an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy nature or just walking around the city, is that the post-processing can also be quite a nice and low-commitment experience. If I just have a couple of hours available to do some after-work editing, I can get a few pictures edited and have a little something I can share with the world. Compared to music making or my programming projects, it requires a much lower level of investment. Really having a lot of fun with this, and it’s giving me much needed joy in these times.

The past couple of months, I’ve also been exercising quite a bit. They finally opened a gym close to where I live, and coming back to lifting weights is also doing wonders for my mental health. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy calisthenics, but there is something about weightlifting that feels quite meditative to me. I enjoy resting between sets, just focused on breathing, drinking water and getting ready for the next effort. Even though I have my phone with me to track my progress and to use as a timer, I don’t feel the need to constantly check social media or get distracted in other ways.

We’ve also started working on the community garden of the neighbourhood. We are 12 or so families working on a small piece of land, taking care of the plants and compost, cleaning weeds and other sorts of gardening tasks. We try to invest a couple of hours each week on it, and still it looks like there is always something to do. The veggies we gather are not that numerous, given the amount of produce we have and the number of families working there, but it’s less about that and more about the experience of getting your hands dirty and being with like minded folks (though the veg we get are really delicious, no doubt!).

Another fun thing that happened recently is that my interview with my friend metasyn was released on their website. It was a lot of fun to answer these questions and reminisce about my initial experiences with computers, music and other such things. We’ve talked about doing this since the end of last year but for some reason I got distracted and forgot about it for a while, it’s pretty embarrassing to be honest but brains sometimes are silly like that. I’m looking forward to see if any other mervellians and fedi-friends get interviewed, it would be nice to see a peek behind the avatars of our little online space.

Overall, it’s been a nice summer, and despite the incredibly oppressing heat, I’m feeling happy overall. There are still a lot of things in the world that are quite a bummer, and the internet sometimes feels like it’s only getting worse, but I’m trying to stay positive and bring a bit of radical optimism. Take care of yourself and stay hydrated!

– Bad Diode, 2026-08-06

Reading

This is a compilation of books I’ve read, I’m reading or want to read. In no way is this a recommendation or endorsement of books or authors, but simply a way for me to track and remember them through time. This is not a complete list but just a snapshot of where I’m at. In the past few years I’ve read a lot of technical books, papers and articles and been wanting to get back into the groove of reading for pleasure, so most of these are novels and short stories, but will try make sure to record particularly relevant or insightful technical texts I find.

Current

• The Cyberiad – Stanisłav Lem
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
• Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie

2026

• Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (Omnibus Vol. 1) - Mike Mignola
• Hellboy: Strange Places (Omnibus Vol. 2) - Mike Mignola
• Hellboy: The Wild Hunt (Omnibus Vol. 3) - Mike Mignola & Duncan Fegredo
• Hellboy in Hell (Omnibus Vol. 4) - Mike Mignola
• How To - Randall Munroe
• The Expanse: Nemesis Games - James S.A. Corey
• The Expanse: Babylon’s Ashes - James S.A. Corey
• The Vegetarian - Han Kang
• This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
• How to Blow Up a Pipeline - Andreas Malm

2025

• Urth of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
• Burning Chrome - William Gibson
• Transmetropolitan - Warren Ellis & Darick Robertson

Want to read

These are some books that I want to read or re-read. In no particular order, and included here by a combination of recommendations, nostalgia and my own curiosity. For my own reference to help me choose something to read.

Playing

• Sekiro
• Slay the Spire II

2026

• The Drifter
• Disco Elysium
• Bloodborne
• Spelunky 2
• Signalis
• Hollow Knight
• Silksong
• Nine Sols
• Control
• Dishonored
• Hades