Redirection
Social media → Indie web → Personal life → Goals → Waiting
"You are being redirected..."
That one sentence has been a common sight around the Internet world. Whenever I click on an outdated link, I would either encounter a dead realm or a simple redirect to another page. The latter happens when a webmaster replaces the old link to their desired page (or even their entire website) for a new one.
This process does not only happen with URLs and websites, but also with personal life and goals. If I feel like something does not go well, I would just go to a more suitable path like I would on a file explorer.
Social media → Indie web
As someone who grew up with social media, I was curious with the idea of making user-generated content on mainstream platforms. Back when I experienced a less enshittified Internet world, I considered those realms to be fun playgrounds for text and multimedia. I remembered using my ninja teleportation powers in The Sims Social on Facebook, following random Instagram accounts who post cat photos in different tongues, and even making a language learning blog in Filipino via Tumblr. I even followed and role-played with Facebook users whose names resemble fictional characters.1 (Not gonna lie... Childhood me was pretty embarrassing.)
Now that I recoil and feel restrained with social media nowadays, I would just go to my personal domains to relive those amusing yet cringeworthy moments. On my personal website, I collect a bunch of online trinkets (like quiz results, dress-up dolls, and 88x31 buttons, etc.) and experiment with different things (like photography, pixel art, and programming). On my blogs, I write about my personal discoveries and experiences while trying not to blog about blogging.2 On both domains, I stroll around the indie web for some creative inspiration.
Indie web → Personal life
Well, this is more of an overlap than a redirect, but this counts anyway. Although I can freely share my life on my personal realmlets, I do not want to reveal too much about myself (as well as my family, friends, and whereabouts).
When I get tired from my online explorations, I can just lock or turn off my Internet-powered devices. Maybe I can read a physical book, do some housekeeping, play with my neighborhood's cats, walk at least 8,000 steps, or travel somewhere else. I can talk privately about work and life stuff with family and friends. I can gather Wooloo's white wool or let a different singer cover my favorite songs in my daydreams. I can even shut up and take a quiet break for a while...
Personal life → Goals
Forget it. Moving on to my goals in life instead...
Sometimes, everything does not go as planned for different reasons (such as financial, health, and family issues). For example: I was supposed to finish my bachelor's degree in computer science at my local university, but I shifted to office administration because I could not afford the former's tuition fees. Also, I had to take care of LorePapa3 at that time.
Of course, I regretted the lost opportunities that I could have had upon graduating from that first course. But then, I applied for a national scholarship grant and took two online programming courses: web design (through HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) and Python. I managed to get certifications for those courses, though I am yet to find a suitable job that involves a lot of coding.
Speaking of the job search, I feel a bit dejected about the current state of the job market. I am quite disappointed about the sloppification of the modern workplace and society. (My goodness, what is happening in this world lately?!) I hope that I can lessen my chances of being ghosted or rejected in my job applications. Maybe I should refine my resume and portfolio at some point. I can probably learn another online course or two depending on my schedule and mental energy.
Goals → Waiting
Speed is a major factor for reaching my desired goals. It does not matter if it goes like a 28 kbps dial-up modem (abysmally slow) or a 1 Gbps fiber router (profoundly fast). As long as I do something to lessen my life's roadblocks, I can move forward like I would on my Web surfing.
Of course, I should not have too many redirects... Or else, I would end up in a dodgy site where I could catch viruses and notice any dark patterns. Or worse, I could get stuck in an endless loop of online and offline distractions.
"Please wait for n seconds."
n = any positive number
Yeah... That would do for now.