mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Making @aphera@mastodon.social, a photo editor for Mac. Designer, writer, photographer, traveler. Malaysian-American, third culture kid. Founded Weightshift, formerly VSCO.
Yesterday was 19 years married. 19 years of @jenschuetz@mastodon.social being down for the ride of camping in unknown places, waking up early so we can hike and see places like this, and communing with nature, and people from all over.
Also: Mt. Rainier is a big one.
RE: https://neighborhood.11ty.dev/@11ty/116992313722304911
Every time I create something with 11ty/Build Awesome, I learn so much, and I appreciate that every site I’ve made with it is different, unique, and allows for so much flexibility and leeway. Make something dead simple or go full out with whatever needs you have. It’s been working out great for us.
“1. Things that are worth doing are worth doing well.
2. Things that are done well require time and effort.
3. You make meaning through the doing.
4. Ideas are common; effort is not.
5. There are no shortcuts."
— Ky Decker.
Once a grunge kid, always a grunge kid.
A moment of reflection on @aphera@mastodon.social 1.0, written high in the woods overlooking a lake in Washington.
I used to spend a lot of time riding bikes and taking photos while riding bikes.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@aphera/117004342849111243
Having a brief Seattle interlude currently, but a few days ago, at the end of the road, at the top of a small mountain.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@aphera/116999315058449566
I heard you like Fujifilm LUTs and simulations.
You’re four days deep in the backcountry, get skunked out (not literally) from a very remote mountain top spot, and end up at a campground on the Oregon coast. I walk into the bathroom and am confronted by two kids with home air mattresses. The older kid is using the electrical outlet to pump his. I ask, “Do you need help?” The younger who is trying to inflate his with the hand dryer says to me, “I don’t have this cord.”
I did not bring all of my cords to the bathroom this evening young gents.
In a different timeline, I'd be a session drummer, or succeed Matt Cameron in Pearl Jam.
Building software from scratch, on hard mode (i.e. with care and intention) feels like the hardest thing, but also feels like a big fuck you to mass software.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@aphera/117010156999828516
Lots of really good updates in this one. Some great work from @rcarver@mastodon.social and @jpzambrano@mastodon.social.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@aphera/116457544035889891
Hawai’i holds a very deep and special place in my heart. At one point, we almost moved there. I believe in their independence, and the rise of mainlanders moving there and buying land and property, displacing native Hawaiians is something we felt very conflicted about. Hawai’i feels very much like Malaysia at times, and I’ve personally felt at home there. It is also charming, that when there, I often get mistaken for a local.
Taken January 2025, after a long absence of regularity.
Thing on my shit list:
People who say an approximation of “the future (AI) is coming regardless, so we may as well be the ones controlling it.”
I’ve been piloting the Aphera accounts on Threads and Instagram, and wow. After being away for two years, those platforms feel like alien planets. The slop is so evident in pursuit of engagement bait, and people can’t write paragraphs. Give me a run-on sentence that’s fucked up.
If I never see this again for the rest of my life, I'd be FINE.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@aphera/116440246827807368
I often revisit this specific image to look at it. One of my personal favorites as it gives me a sense of calm, but also wonder at how life continues in the harshest of conditions.
@jonhicks@mastodon.social wrote about Albums, the Apple Music player app and I’m digging it thus far. I’m using the free features for now to see how I get along, but a lot of these album-centric players are interesting. For the most part, serendipity + perusal are the two things missing the most from streaming apps. A way to be at a virtual record store or as if you were picking something off your own shelf. Less surprise, more intention.
I think Barb would approve.
Dictating a blog post draft into Bear.app while you're fixing something on your car… works?
(it is quite rambling and disjointed, but i kinda love the spirit)
This is a bumper of an article and it’s great that @jenschuetz@mastodon.social wrote about her long experience with an affliction that happens to women: Bartholin’s cysts. I’ve seen her deal with it numerous times with grace and ultimately getting a fairly invasive procedure. I love that she wrote this so more women can find this information.
When I go too deep in researching shovels.
Rooster is such a sharp and good comedy show. The cast is great. Lots of heart (a Bill Lawrence joint: Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Scrubs). I’ve watched this scene too many times.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@aphera/116410912974467309
This is how I edit now once I develop a Look (an aesthetic treatment of an image independent of its tonal needs). Very quick to apply my aesthetic preferences, then balance images together or in this example, split off independently to adjust exposure to bring it close to the other, then balance the two together again with the same controls.
There’s been a lot of Privacy Policy and ToS updates lately in my inbox. They all seem pretty iffy, but Netlify’s today seems to be good! (Comparatively).
