My Dearest Mad-Readers,

This post is a little special, since I am writing it to describe my situation and my current state of mind. I would also like to share my latest video with you, which I am quite happy with. It is not yet perfect, I am well aware of it, but I have made significant progress which I am really proud of. For those of you who usually do not read my tech-related articles, do scroll down because everything here will not be about tech. I will tell you bits and pieces of my trip to Italy too!

YouTube & Me

Before I say anything, I have a request for those of you who have some spare time to dedicate to me : check out this video and give me some feedback. This is the only way I will learn properly. You can do it here, in the comments, or directly on YouTube.

Let’s begin with the beginning. I was absent for an entire month, which doesn’t mean I have stayed idle but it was for different reasons. Shooting videos, unsurprisingly, does not come as naturally to me as writing articles. It requires a lot more work, especially mentally. For a month, I suppose I was paralyzed. I wanted to shoot a new video but I couldn’t just sit down and turn on my camera. I kept doing research but I published no content. I am not unhappy with this situation but I would like to be more active now. I wish to grow this YouTube channel as I did for my blog. Hopefully this should get a lot more readers to come here. Who knows ?

Regarding the video I published this morning, it has some obvious imperfections : it is too long, the sound can still be improved and I could benefit from scripting more.

Regarding the positive side : You can now see my face (I learned how to do it rather recently, about a month ago), the background is pretty good (at least I like it and got one other positive review, aside from me).

My goals are progressively becoming more clear. I know what I want and I am ready to work hard(er) to get it.

My Current Window Manager

I did tell all about it in my video, but I will sum up the basic ideas here. Essentially, I decided last week to move from Qtile & Termite to Dwm & st. I was extremly satisfied with Qtile and Termite but, from now on, I wish to embrace the suckless philosophy. Some of you may not know what it is, so here is another quick summary. Suckless merely means : software that suck less. It’s as simple as that. I want to get away from bloated software as much as possible and use efficient programs (preferably written in C). Since Qtile is written in Python, I chose to put it aside, at least for some time. I need to get much more comfortable with Dwm & st. Plus, I am quite happy with the result I have obtained with just a few patches. There still is a lot of work to do, but look :

Quick disclaimer : Again, this post is not to say that my configuration is better than anyone else’s. I am just having fun with Linux in my own way. If you are more like me, I encourage you to check out suckless software (at suckless.org). Otherwise, desktop environments are great too 😉

My Stay In Italy

It’s official : my first month in Italy is over. I can hardly believe it. Time does fly, it is no joke… I plan to stay the whole year, which may prove long since my job is quite repetitive, but it will truly allow me to grow my presence on the world wide web. I need a lot of time, it appears, especially if I want to get thousands of new people here and on my YouTube channel. My ambition is not huge, but I would love to be able to live from my passion. This is why I am willing to work so hard.

So, what am I doing in Italy then ? Well, I am currently working as an au-pair. Since most of my previous work experience is related to education, I believe this is a good fit. It also is a stable situation, much more stable than backpacking around the world. Wouldn’t you agree ? I haven’t been able to go sight-seeing much yet, but I intend to go to Milan soon, and then to some other locations I have not yet picked… Tell me in the comments if you have any recommendations.

Regarding the Italian language, I can quite confidently say I now have an intermediary level of B1. It is not enough to be confident in all situations but I can have simple conversations, ask for directions easily and read or watch (with subtitles in Italian) most of what I would like, so long as it is as complicated as The Name of Wind, for instance. I signed up on Netflix as well, because I need to have quick access to a lot of TV shows and movies. This allows me to work a lot more efficiently. I will not say more about my working schedule, since I drafted another post about my stay in Italy which I expect to publish very soon.

Signing Off

Thank you all for your friendliness and support. If you are new here, do subscribe via email or wordpress. I publish new content every week; you may also subscribe to my YouTube channel to help me grow. I would deeply appreciate it. As for my Patreon and Goodreads, I am still working on them but any support there would be appreciated too!

Until next time, I wish you all the best !

Phil.