2026-02-14
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
Right now I am sitting at a cafe. I had dinner, some coffee, and I'm now finally getting to writing today. Earlier, I attended Great Vespers at my local parish. It was a particularly wonderful service. I decided to follow along with the choir for most of the service. It was my first time singing at a service, and it felt empowering. Over the last several occasions I've attended services, I usually would stand there, unsure of what to do. My feet would hurt, my attention would dart all around the cathedral, and overall, I felt nervous. Now that my attendance has been more consistent, I am beginning to feel more comfortable in worship.
I've also been attending hangouts organized by some men in the parish. I've met some kind folks there, which has helped me feel more comfortable when attending services. I am immensely blessed to have the opportunity to leave the house and be as involved as I can in church. It has made life so much better and given me much to look forward to. Of course, I still have reservations. There will be many times where I question whether I should go. Ultimately, I try to get out of persuasions of comfort, and when I do, I know I'm better for it.
My anxiety comes and goes, but there's a lot I deal with throughout the day. However, I have become more zealous in my prayer. It comes and goes too, but I know that as I continue this process bit by bit, my resilience will grow. I hope one day to maybe even forget what life was like without it. I recently purchased a cross for my prayer corner and it puts the whole thing together. I also got some more prayer ropes so that I can keep them in different places like my car and my purse. Overall, I hope to continue my repentance through this essential practice.
I slept in until noon again today. I spent a bit too much time at the cafe last night and didn't end up falling asleep until around 4 AM. I know I needed the rest, but sleeping in that late—especially with this continued streak I've had—throws off important routines. However, I know it's important to not obsess over the variance. The fact that I can still do what I need to do in spite of any variance shows the progress I've made with systems I've put in place.
I recently got back into Bash scripting too. I wrote a short deploy script for my blog and link log, which helps now that I have version control and backups on GitHub. I also wrote a short script to update all of my package managers simultaneously. It updates APT, npm, and pipx. I could get even more into Bash scripting and there are tons of forums out there dedicated to cool scripting ideas, but at this point I feel that my workflow is quite optimized. More than anything, I'm thankful that I have cultivated more knowledge of computers since switching over to Linux.
User empowerment is important to cultivate, especially with all the discourse surrounding surveillance and diminished user freedom. These days, a major lack of empowerment comes from ignorance. Most people want their machines to just work, which is understandable. However, with the ubiquity of computers and the internet, there should be more awareness for tech literacy. Unfortunately, large tech conglomerates profit off ignorance, so there are many efforts being made to control the narrative. It's a complex issue with myriad perspectives and solutions.
I know that, as a Linux user, many in the community push toward the Free Software Movement, but there are many incompatibilities between it and mainstream society. Still, we are empowered to push toward solutions more oriented toward that ethos. Just as it is with prayer and coming to Christ, we simply just have to do what we can with what we're afforded with. On an individual level, what works for one may not work for others. Instead of virtue signaling with dogma, it's more important to meet people where they're at.
That's what Christ does for us every day, so let's return that favor to each other.
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