This is very significant date in my life. Itβs the founding date of Filmaktiv, a non-profit co-founded in 2004 by Marin LukanoviΔ and Morana KomljenoviΔ, and me. The two of them ran it as a workshop under that name, but the non-profit laws in Croatia required a minimum of three people. They invited me to join, which began a very fruitful and exciting period of my life. I love that the organization is still going strong, that itβs doing amazing work and being an useful resource to many, long after Iβve stopped contributing. The fact that the idea was interesting enough for others to keep carrying it forward is extremely flattering.
Thank you, everyone involved, and Happy 21st Birthday!
(This logo is still one of my favorite designs ever.)
I have been neglecting this place, and so much has happened in the meantime that I feel like I should put some of it into words. For posterity sake and such.
I've been neglecting this space lately as my work took over for a while. Coming back to the blog I realized that it looks a bit hard to navigate without titles. From now on I intend to include them with every post. I'll probably go back and add them to the past posts.
This has so far been a place of personal musings, not focused on tech as I originally intended, but that might change in the future. I don't expect it to stop being deeply personal at times, though.
We've experienced our first COVID infection, which messed up some important plans and family trips, but the fear of it has definitely lessened. I've also changed jobs. I've left the predatory βad-techβ space and the embattled content-farm-backed-by-venture-capital to help a journalism non-profit up their game. It's going to be a challenge, as there is much to be done and I'm the sole engineer at the organization, but the fact that my values closely align with the organization's make it more than worthwhile. βπ»
It seems to be strongly influenced by our well-being and optimism. The last four months have been full of struggle. Events outside of my control conspired to make life hard, which left me with very little time to think about creative work. I wanted a project that will make me excited, something that I can have fun exploring, and something I can return as a sort of a mental sanctuary. I wanted something beyond the daily existence to preoccupy me.
Then, a few of days ago I had an idea for a short film. The idea kept growing and more details emerged as if I was channeling something. I spent the next days scribbling the incoming thoughts and now I have a rough draft. I spent a lot of time musing about details like sound design and production, background movements and their effect on viewers, acceptable and superfluous tropes, etc. The idea has taken a life of its own.
My mother-in-law passed away last week after a protracted illness. She lived a hard but full life, and she was a huge source of inspiration for many people that had the opportunity to meet her. I feel lucky to have known her for a bit over a decade.
From the moment we landed, in a slow evolving sequence, all three of us became sick with stomach flu. And then COVID came into our orbit. We are all relatively well at the moment, though.
The biggest challenge to work has been the lack of established routine. Our tiny one feels insecure at this new place, and we've had many (many) very late nights. Her usual bedtime of ~7 P.M. has shifted to anywhere between 10 P.M. β 4 A.M., and that has rendered any day-planning completely futile. We are at her whim, trying to squeeze in whatever work we can. Relaxing in the sun and reading sounds like a fever dream right now. The vacation part of this vacation can't come soon enough. π
I'm about to test my company's ability to support remote work, as well as my own capacity to execute asynchronously: my family is taking a 2-month trip to Europe in a couple of days, and I'll work with 6-8 hours of difference between me and the rest of the team for the first month. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I'd be lying if I said it was not making me a bit nervous. Though, spending that second month at the beach as a reward should make it worthwhile.
I always found my own words to read too familiar and expected, and therefore likely not interesting to others. On the other hand, when I revisit my older writing, I usually find some draw in the words I've since forgotten.
The Imposter Syndrome looms large, so I'll use this space to create a writing habit to overcome it. In hopes I will not bore you to deathβuntil the next time.
