Birthday message
2026-06-26 19:21:37.417466+02 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Written for Facebook:
In previous years, I've written a little post to try to be a place to anchor all of the birthday wishes, get them in one place rather than a gazillion notifications. I didn't get there this year.
So. 58 orbits. This year feels a lot like recent ones.
Work is kind of in a holding pattern, the LLM frenzy is still going strong and the "AI" bubble is waiting to pop. I'm frustrated by it, it feels like the culmination of extractive business models and a sense that we should be building more addictive slot machines, because the gambling addicts really really like them.
Square dance calling is fun, and I'm coming home from nights calling energized, but my work on my voice is going in directions that extend beyond the calling, and I'm finding myself less intrigued by choreography puzzles. It's fun, but I'm wondering about other directions I might take my vocal skills now that I feel like I'm really developing them.
The community singing is fun. Would like to do more of that, but my calendar already has most nights blocked out.
The community work carries on. Petaluma Urban Chat is starting to really focus on some fantastic local committees that put on great forums, and Charlene is participating in some of those committees in her own right, not just an extension of me, which is fantastic. However, both Charlene and I are feeling a lot like Petaluma as a city may be hobbled from growing in the directions that we'd like the environment around us to become. We've both expressed a desire for a more walkable environment, a community that's actually serious about climate change and equity and inclusion, and we struggle with that. We've put a lot of effort into the house in ways that won't come back if we sell and move, and we love the community of friends we've got, but we also look at what other places are doing and wonder if we'd be better off there.
So, yeah, may this next year be a transition to a new path. Not sure what that means yet, but I'm hoping for more community building and a sense that my work is benefitting the world around me.
And more feeling of connection with people.