I took a time-out and called in sick at work. I need some rest, and possibly support from a psychologist. Looking back through my older posts, I noticed a pattern; I've needed a lot of self-care for my well-being. I guess I overworked myself for various reasons, and now I'm trying to prevent a burn-out.

Recently, I've also been skipping quite a few evening online classes, and more often than not I left an hour or a bit earlier. I didn't feel that I was able to stay focused for hours. So I'm trying to catch up through self-study but it's going slower than I'd like, but I still have time before the upcoming exam.

One of the evenings I skipped entirely, I went to the nearest public sauna, SpaSense, to relax and disconnect from everything and everyone. It did me good, as usual.

I also had a great date. To my surprise, I didn't cancel it despite my low energy and I'm glad I didn't, because it felt lovely. We walked part of the Glow event route and then went to the Douwe Egberts Café to hang out and chill. It was so nice that we nearly lost track of time; we both caught the last possible bus/train back home.

Games

• Just Dying - A Rogue-lite survivor starring streamers.

After a two-week holiday, I returned to work. It surprised me when several colleagues asked if I was doing okay. Apparently, I was so quiet that it sparked their concern. This is a big contrast to how I was before the self-care holiday, when I carried a lot of internal tension and easily got triggered - signs that I was heading towards a burn-out? I guess the self-care did wonders for me; I am a much more zen person now, protecting my peace.

I have visited the spa quite frequently lately, yet I couldn't resist going to Thermen Berendonck one more time. I made an exception because they were hosting special WM Aufguss '26 experiences, such as "Honey I'm Home" performed by sauna master Sigrid van Rijswijk and her partner Job Verheijen. She is the Aufguss world champion singles '25.

Speaking of self-care, I recently switched up my skincare routine. I always thought I had dry skin due to a diagnosis from a beauty specialist years ago, but apparently, it is a bit more complicated. I have dehydrated oily skin; my face lacks water, not oil. I noticed that my skin is always very dry early in the day, only to become extremely oily later on. The skincare I previously used only made the oily part worse, leaving me completely shiny. I have now set aside the Korean skincare and use products from Facetheory.

Another aspect of self-care is that ever since I moved, I have consistently practiced my calisthenics skills at my local gym Fit Factory. At 42, the results are finally showing. I feel much stronger and physically fit. I started doing strict pull-ups with 10 kg of added weight.

Games

Started playing a few casual games again; bullet-heaven/hell types:

• R.I.P. Reincarnation Insurance Program
• Monsters are Coming!

Movies

Since there are quite a few interesting movies coming out in the following months, I decided to subscribe to Pathé Unlimited. This allows me to go to the cinema an unlimited number of times for only €23 per month.

• Street Fighter (2026) rating 2/5 - there is no depth in this movie.

Reading

• Nothing, on hold.
• Ordered: Dungeon Crawler Carl: 1

Selfies of Yuna, my 9.5 years old cat <3

Aloha! It’s been 16 weeks since my last update. A lot has happened in my life recently, so I didn’t feel the need to write about it. But I am alive!!

Actually, I haven’t been on my computer or laptop at all, which is where I write my posts, among other things. I somehow disconnected myself, well, not entirely, since I still use my phone to keep in contact with people.

But in the last two weeks, I have been practicing a lot of self-care, finding my peace, and taking a lot of rest. I had booked myself a full-body relaxing massage and went to the spa three times. What also helps is being free of work until next week. It felt like I have been at some wellness camp.

One of the spas I went to was Thermen Berendonck in Wijchen, near Nijmegen in the Netherlands. I haven't been there for years; this last visit made me remember why it is my favorite spa to go to.

Also recently, I’m open to dating again. I’m on the Hinge dating app.

For the past week, I’ve been staying home full-time to recover from being sick with flu-like symptoms. Despite my asthma symptoms, which I always experience after being sick, I plan to return to work on Monday. I intend to contact my doctor to prescribe me “Flixotide Diskus” and hope it helps alleviate my symptoms.

The exciting news of the week is that I’ve been selected as one of the seven people for a maisonette. Since I’m the second person selected, I hope the first person drops off, and I’ll get to decide whether I want the maisonette or not. There’s a group sighting soon, so we can take a look inside the building and decide if I’m truly interested. Afterward, they review my documents to verify that I have the appropriate financials and maintained a good rental history over the past three years.

I’ve decided to schedule an appointment for some mental therapy. I’ve also started reading books related to psychology. Mental well-being is the key to good overall health, not just physical fitness or a healthy diet.

Movies

• Shelter 1.5/5
• Over Your Dead Body 3.5/5

TV Series

• Spider-Noir
• • Enjoying it, it wasn't what I expected.

Reading

• Emotionele Gezondheid - Mohammed Boulahrir

Links

• Enable Low Latency Profile on Windows 11 (boosts overall speed)

I’ve added a new page to the website called /carry. This page lists my everyday carry items, also known as EDC.

I was just looking around the Privacyguides forums and found a mention of Uruky. It’s a 100% EU-based, simpler private search engine. Setting up an account is pretty similar to signing up at Mullvad; you’ll get a random number.

Uruky is also more affordable. I’m a subscriber to Kagi Professional, which comes to 12,10 USD (including tax) each month. Uruky is only 5 Euro each month. Since I’m not using Kagi to its full potential, I’m going to give Uruky a try and save some money while supporting EU-based software/services.

This past week has been surprising. I never thought a simple note blog post would attract so many visitors. Perhaps it’s because of the title. It wasn’t meant to be clickbait. Also, many bloggers have linked or mentioned me on their blogs. I feel honored, as I’m new to blogging and still have much to learn, especially writing.

Perhaps I should also create a blogroll page.

Living

I’ve been searching for a new place to live, to save money. After my last breakup two years ago, I stayed alone in the house, and the rent has increased yearly. Now, I pay 1420 Euro monthly, up from 1200 Euro. This is too much for someone living alone. I hope to find a social housing unit through a housing association for a maximum of 900 Euro with energy-saving features like a heat pump, good insulation, solar panels, and no gas.

Health

My week (more like lately) has been mentally exhausting, which likely caused my flu-like symptoms which started on Saturday evening. Mental health and physical health are closely linked.

Movies

I’m a bit picky about movies, as you can see from the average ratings.

• Crime 101 3/5
• Office Romance 3.5/5
  • Started bad, but ended up liking it more, so gave it a 0.5 score more. :)
• Micky 17 3/5

A movie with a truly good story will earn a 4 or more for me, I suppose.

Software

Planning a write-up about my move to European software alternatives or self-hosting software. I’ll cover both Mac and Windows since I use both. Keep an eye out for it soon.

I prioritized rest and recovery. Apparently, after my holiday in Valencia, I was completely drained. I was glad that work wasn’t overly demanding, allowing me to gradually regain my energy; reached a readiness score of 86 in the weekend. This was also the day I resumed practicing calisthenics.

Movies

• Ladies First 4/5
• Cold Storage 2/5

Software

I am looking into moving completely from US tech (software) and trying out alternatives for software that I am already using.

I recently tried Vivaldi browser and noticed my website’s colors looked wrong. Vivaldi’s (or any Chrome-based browser) aggressive color management adjusts CSS colors based on your monitor’s color profile (ICC) to optimize it for your display. I fixed this by changing Force color profile to sRGB in vivaldi://flags or chrome://flags.

To enhance privacy, I've moved the DNS management, caching, and security for my domain from Cloudflare to Bunny.net (affiliate link), a European company that's not under US jurisdiction; EU data sovereignty. This decision was inspired by an article from Follow the Money.

Holiday

Recently returned from my holiday in Valencia. I didn't get to see or do everything I wanted during those six days, but there's always a next time. Due to my mom's age (75) and health, we couldn't do everything, but it was still wonderful quality time together. We walked a total of around 55 km which is an impressive feat for my mom! We did make use of public transport, though.

I accidentally dropped my Ricoh GR III HDF camera, but to my great surprise, nothing was broken! Perhaps it's thanks to the camera's lightweight design; 257 grams.

Public Dancing Event in Valencia

Reading

• The Gift of not Belonging

Gaming

• Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred

Software

• Obscura VPN (referral link)
  • As a long-time Mullvad VPN user, I decided to give Obscura VPN a try, since it makes use of Mullvad VPN exit servers.
• Signal Proxy
  • I am planning to host a public Signal proxy to help out against censorship.

Camera: Ricoh GR III HDF

At Oceanogràfic in Valencia.

Camera: Ricoh GR III HDF

Everyday life in Valencia?

Camera: Ricoh GR III HDF