2026: The year so far

Happy, sorry, unhappy 2026! If you are somehow having a good year, you must either not have access to the news, are a sociopath or psychopath, and/or you're super rich. Or maybe you're a species I'm unfamiliar with? Anyway, for the rest of us, I'm sure, it's been a pretty shitty year so far if not directly, observationally. The war in Ukraine is still going on, and the US is still trying to find a way to get out of it without losing face. <- And that's one part, even VS Code is attempting to write the rest of this post for me, but it's getting the war in Ukraine confused with the new war in Iran.

Besides the pointless wars, people (pets and street animals) senselessly suffering/getting hurt/killed, those that argue about sides (when innocent people are getting killed, there can't be a "side"), here in Australia, the interest rates started going up again (we don't have those one-rate forever deals in Australia); the fuel is crazy expensive and sparse, limiting how often I'm willing to drive to a place that kinda resembles a beach; now that I'm continuing an IT Master at a different uni as a refresher and to avoid becoming obsolete, all I hear everyday is how dumb LLMs are "AI" is going to replace all desk workers starting with programmers; and finally, autumn is upon us here in the Southern Hemisphere, which - red autumn leaves aside - sucks in Melbourne.

Alas, life must go on. I vowed on Bluesky to release 2-3 tracks this year, and if it wasn't for some painful assignments x painful headaches and migraines, I would have released the first track by now. It's something that falls between the original mid-90s hard trance and late 90s cheesy trance. For clarity:

90s hard trance example,
Amphetamine, by Drax

Late 90s cheesy trance example,
Silence (Tiesto's In Search Of Sunrise Remix), by Delerium

Hear the difference? Admittedly, I do like both, but the former more than the latter. Also, right now, a similar thing is happening with what is essentially Kirmes techno, otherwise known as hard dance. I don't mind some of the new schranz/"hard techno" that sometimes gets played alongside hard dance, but I'm guessing the fast BPM and sillyness as a spring chicken could be fun, but I just can't imagine it being something you listen to 24/7 or an enduring, long-term music taste.

In terms of my non-SERASON project life, to head in the complete other direction to AI, I'm reviewing C++, learning more about embedded systems and IoT (even though there are some privacy issues with IoT), as well some small, fun web projects in my personal projects, while getting up to speed in some data stuff and continuing with native mobile development for work. I'm not going to let the US oligarchy and wannabe tech bros who are so good they now can't live without vibe coding, take away flow opportunities and reduce developers to poor minions. Don't believe the hype and don't let it become a reality. Just because the AI CEOs present their sales pitches as workforce predictions that are aimed at brainwashing CEOs into literally buying into "AI" doesn't make it true. And yes, "AI", with quotes. Also don't forget the energy and water at risk that people will only complain about when it affects them firsthand, either because they live near a huge hum impacting their health in who knows what ways, or because electricity and water prices and availability make life super hard, all because you hated writing emails or were too lazy to search/read/type/code/think? How about some dementia with your candle and dehydration?

'Nuff controversy, but it's not crazy talk. I recently read an article about one of those green activists who ties themselves to bridges and so on, causes traffic, mayhem and makes people grumpy. She was asked why she's willing to go to prison for her message about climate change (note, I'm not ready for prison just yet) and she simply answered that someone has to tell the people. It's as simple as that. Even if you don't want to be seen as the crazy one, if one day it all turns to shit, and according to some assholes with too much power out there right now, it's gonna be very soon, you don't, I don't, wanna be sitting here going "I knew it" and "I should've tried even just a tad". If you're feeling the same because you're a programmer, musician, artist, graphic designer or any other creator or professional that's getting tired of the BS and also isn't happy about the environmental risks, intellectual property theft, a handful of weirdos wanting to rule the world, CEOs that only care about slashing jobs to pretend they're profitable, don't forget to say something when you can.

So, I leave this post with the friendly reminder :D that Friday is new Listening Bar day on Spotify and if you're in Melbourne, you might wanna check out a Spotify playlist featuring Melbourne artists of different genres, including me this month. Link below. And happy birthday to my late, but bestest, grandmother ever, who happens to be the "-SON" in SERASON. <3 <3 <3 :(

Melbourne Music now: APRIL

#life