7. shedding old skin
November notes
The past months felt like preparation for what’s to come, like a snake shedding its old skin to reveal something new beneath. A renewal. Some notes:
Being perceived:
Many of my old patterns stem from the fear of being seen differently if I changed. Many things I did were probably “performances” of who I want to be seen as. When I consider changing direction, I worry: If people know me as XYZ but I became ABC instead, would they see me as a try-hard? Cringe?
But these old fears are slowly peeling away to reveal what truly matters to me. I credit this shift to filtering my choices and finding clarify in asking my younger self. What would she think? Would she proud of me? This includes saying no to things that brought me “joy” in the past, which might have been masked, less about genuine interest and more about wanting to be perceived in a certain way.
For example, truthfully, I like going to galleries, but only the ones I’m truly interested in. Now I can finally admit that I don’t like them enough to attend many and be perceived as “artsy”.Have more audacity:
They say the universe rewards audacity. Not in terms of morality, but you do sometimes see “bad” people getting what they want while “good” people who stay humble and wait for permission don’t. It doesn’t matter if you’re “good” or “bad” — what matters is the sheer conviction (and even delusion) and audacity to pursue what you want.
In the next month and year ahead, I want to bring more courage and audacity to what I do. The willingness to take up more space, not needing to wait for someone’s permission, or waiting for the “right” time. If this resonates with you, I hope you become a little bolder in going after the things you want as well.
I’m not sure what caused this transformation. Maybe it’s the timing of events (the Snake Year of shedding new skin and renewal, numerology Year 9 ending, retrogrades one after the other and five at once — lol yes, I’m blaming the stars), but the inner conflicts, doubts, and growth I’ve experienced over the past months led me to where I am now: a bit more certain, more confident, more willing to let go of things beyond my control, and trusting that things will fall into place, and trusting myself enough to overcome whatever obstacles that may come my way. It seems like an every year growth, but it’s still growth anyway.
And this clarity has catalysed into action: I want to dedicate more time and energy to making the internet fun again. The connection between my personal growth and this internet project is not accidental. My previous interests for the past months weren’t performative, as I genuinely experimented with them to unpack what’s required. They may still be interesting to me, but they weren’t things I could see myself doing in the long term. The internet is different; it’s something easy for me to care about because I grew up with it. I spent most of my adolescence shaped by it. Now I want to give back by helping to make the internet feel more alive again.
More on what my internet project is in the Snippets section below.
blog posts
I wrote two blog posts about internet things, which crystallised my desire to focus on spreading the good of the internet, and making it more alive again.
Problem with the internet
Life on the internet was fun, with natural boundaries like a cut-off time. This was before it became portable and pocket-sized, before everything started to be commoditised and optimised. Now the internet is overloaded with information, constantly competing and demanding our already scarce attention. Connection and community have been turned into profit.
Your social feeds aren’t filled with people you follow anymore; it’s what the platform thinks you might like based on the algorithm “crafted” for you. The connection between you and your friends is lost. It’s less social, more bleak, much like a dark forest, crammed with endless streams of passive consumption.
Read full post here.
Why you should have a website
There was a website builder called Piczo back in the 2000s. That’s when I built my first personal website as a child. It felt like a digital scrapbook: I created pages and stuck my favourite things in them. I had pages dedicated to specific anime and other fandoms, decorating them with images and GIFs and sparkles. It gave me freedom to decorate and express myself on my very own website. It may have looked like a “mess” (that chaotic 2000s aesthetic) and lack any formal structure, but it’s made entirely by me, for me.
If we’re spending so much time on the internet anyway, it’s an amazing addition to have our own internet home. We have a physical home with a street address, so it serves the same purpose online with your own internet home (website) with your own URL address (your domain). It’s your very own cosy web corner that you can return to anytime.
Read the full post here.
Note: I plan to repost them on Substack too.
snippet
Started a new Instagram account (tendersignals) about building and talking about internet things
I’m thankful to have the opportunity to explore my many interests and understand and unpack what they require. It’s funny how I still come back to tech, but not the tech most people think of. It’s the internet itself. The internet looks bleak right now. It’s saturated with more AI slop in the already dark forest, unlike the internet in the 2000s where it was more alive and fun, before social media dominated everything.
In my effort to bring more aliveness back to the internet, I want to create and share more about the internet that is fun, that is more alive. I hope it fosters more authentic connection and also help us reclaim back our attention.
Figma beginner course: (Figma)
I used Figma daily at work for minor adjustments and designer feedback, but I didn’t have the necessary skills to build from scratch. I can come up with wireframes and mockups using existing design systems, but I wasn’t able to make it responsive across devices. This course was relatively easy to understand, though absolute beginners may still need some guidance.Vibe-coding:
I’m finally dabbling in vibe-coding tools. So far I’m on Lovable, but I plan to try Replit and Bolt, and perhaps Claude Code and Cursor. For what purpose? For the fun of building fun internet things. Stay tuned.
favourites
Naive Weekly: My new favourite newsletter. A weekly curation of delightful corners of the poetic web.
Radical fun: Having fun is a skill. I thrive to make sure whatever things I do, there is some element of fun in them.
Secrets of the Silent Witch: It’s not your typical fantasy story about a powerful mage going into epic battles. The main character reminds me of myself when I was younger, but she pushed through with the power of friendship.
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