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Ik wist niet dat tumbler nog bestond

Ik ook niet, maar hier zijn we dan 🤷‍♂️

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wtf tumblr 😆

I know ... 🤷‍♂️

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The Power of Boredom

I’m bored. Bored bored bored. Last year, I’ve revived my YouTube channel so I’ve been reading up on creativity. Things like; how do people create, what’s their routine, what’s even the point, … And turns out, how to do more, is to do less.

Smart people say boredom is great

After reading up on articles from people that are much smarter than me, turns out that boredom is a great thing for creativity. Sometimes to let your imagination run free, you need to rest your brain. After all, the brain is a muscle, and like any other muscle: it needs to rest from time to time.

This is where the boredom kicks in. Be bored to be creative. Might be an oversimplification but feel free to look up more on that.

My Battle Against Boredom

The articles made me think about my own battles with boredom. Feels like I always have this need to fight against it by scrolling through social media site, watching YouTube videos, reading the most random things on Wikipedia, binging TV shows (that I often barely like), … There’s always something going on.

So for this year, my resolution is going to be: to be more bored. Consciously avoid pointlessly filling up my brain with random bits of information but rather letting it run free by just sitting and thinking. Weird, I know. Especially since I’ve constructed this habit of stopping my own thoughts creeping in my mind. In 2023, I’ll let my mind wander more, stop the daily consuming of clutter of the internet. Getting organized to be bored.

Now I’ve been thinking on how to end this short blog post with a bang or some sort of deep wisdom. But thematically, I think I’ll let it end in this boring fashion. Also just easier for me.

Boring ending. You’re welcome.

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5 Must Have Chrome Extensions for 2023

Look, we all have cool and impressive Chrome extensions. But from time to time, you come accross hidden gems that will leave you thinking “where have you been all my life?!”. I had the pleasure to discover those by reading about them, so now it’s only fair to return the favor and share five extensions that I absolutely adore.

Momentum

Momentum makes your ‘New Tab’ page look calm and pretty. A new beautiful nature picture every day, it greets you personally (or shares some wisdom), tells the time, a small daily mantra and… That’s it. No noise, no links, nothing but calm.

There are more options to add, such as taking notes, include weather updates, a search function, bookmarks, to do lists and more. I prefer to keep it clean and simple. It’s a more enjoyable experience than the standard ‘New Tab’ page from Chrome and something I have been using for years and years now.

Find it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfknpbbblfpciffpaejjkokdgca

Wikiwand

Could be just me but the old design of Wikipedia is disaster. Yes, it’s about the information and not how pretty that information is being delivered, yet a bit of freshing up would be welcome. Introducing: Wikiwand.

The extension basically brings Wikipedia into the modern era of webdesign. It doesn’t do much more than that, but this simple idea is brilliant. A sidebar to easily navigate between the chapters, a cleaner design, modern day fonts and no information gets lost. A must have for anyone who is tired of the old looking Wikipedia and needs a refreshing look for the site.

Find it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wikiwand-wikipedia-modern/emffkefkbkpkgpdeeooapgaicgmcbolj

Simplify Twitter Web UI

I personally used to love Twitter. However, today it’s an absolute mess. I’m not going to go into that side of the topic but will instead give you a way to make it more fun and less exhausting.

See, I find that the trending topics are mostly at the source of my Twitter misery. Solution: A Chrome extension that removes the trending topics list from your feed page. No longer will you see triggering topics that will make you click to see the dumbest takes on certain topics, no. It’s just a feed of the people you follow, nothing more. Simple, but effective!

Find it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/simplify-twitter-web-ui/pobjlebhmdjbgfjhfdhblilmpjkegbfd

Return YouTube Dislike

YouTube dislikes have been removed over a year ago. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of that decision. Admittedly, there were issues with the dislike button being used in online harassment, but it also had the potential to be something useful.

With a quick glance at the like-dislike ratio, you could see if a video had actual content or if it’s a clickbait situation. (Loads of dislikes compared to likes? Don’t waste your time, move on.) So, a Chrome extension that brings that back? Sign me up!

Find it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dislike/gebbhagfogifgggkldgodflihgfeippi

Colorzilla

Ever saw an image and you were like “that’s a wonderful color, I wish I knew the colorcode of it” — Look no further than Colorzilla. It’s basically the Eye Dropper tool from Photoshop, but then in Chrome!

Simply open the tool, click on the color with your Eye Dropper tool and it shows you the colorcode for that color. It’s also immediately copied, so you can easily copy and paste it somewhere. Bonus: there’s a log of all the colors you’ve selected, so you never lose any pretty colors you’ve selected over the years.

Find it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/colorzilla/bhlhnicpbhignbdhedgjhgdocnmhomnp

Your turn!

Got a great Chrome Extension to share? Drop them in the comments!

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22 Things I Learned in 2022

Another year on planet Earth has passed. This one was special as it was my 30th trip around the sun. I thought it would be fun to write a few things down that I have learned in this past year. Some insights of my year are listed below, split up into several categories. Enjoy.

Work

1 — Looking forward to weekends is a red flag on different levels. It shows you’re exhausted, take a proper break.

2 — It’s okay to love going to work. In fact: it’s exciting to be excited for work.

3 — Take at least two weeks holidays to truly disconnect from work.

4 — Find a mentor that allows you to fail forward.

Personal

5 — Don’t create for an audience. Create for yourself, to let it out of your system. Make cool sh*t, as often as possible.

6 — Sleep is a gift. Do it more often. Especially naps; they’re just freakin’ awesome.

7 — No one cares that you’re 30. You’re too old to be young, you’re too young to be old.

8 — It’s okay to make mistakes. Obviously. But this counts on all topics, even difficult and personal ones. Talk, learn, grow.

9 — It’s okay to take selfies. In truth, no one cares.

10 — You can’t really choose what you like and dislike. Don’t be ashamed of your passion; Own it, love it, savour it.

11 — Trust your gut instinct.

12 — Try try try more. Results will come, eventually.

13 — Taking care of your (mental) health early on. It’s never too early to start.

14 — When launching yourself into a new sport, start the habit of going before you focus too much on the sport itself.

15 — Be flexible, in everything. Things rarely go according to plan. The journey is what’s important.

Random

16 — 37% of the world’s population, 2.9 billion people, have never used the Internet. (source)

17 — People who grew up in the era of black and white movies mostly reported dreaming in black and white. (source)

18 — The famous green Matrix Code actually comes from a sushi recipe. (source)

19 — The Eiffel Tower is 15cm taler during the summer. (source)

20 — Australia is wider than the moon. (source)

21 — Psycho is the first movie ever to feature a flushing toilet. (source)

22 — Yoda was modelled after the appearance of Albert Einstein. (source)

On to 2023! - Q