Finding our Nerdy Happy Place

I’d like to take a step back from my regular Mega-Nerdy (tm) articles for just a moment… To talk about things from a more personal point of view.

Today was a rough day in the news.

I won’t go into the details here, but things were happening out there in the world that made me pretty sad. And frustrated. And afraid. Things that hit close to home.

When things like that happen, I can get caught up in it. Really worked up. Emotional.

Which I can maintain for a while. For however many hours (or days), I can be all worked up about something like that (especially when it, like today, has real world consequences that can impact my family and community). But, eventually, it can become just… too much.

When that point hits… I need to take a break. To escape to my happy place.

The things you read about here on The Lunduke Journal? That, right there, is my happy place.

Retro computing. Alternative operating systems. Computer history. Video games that run in the terminal. Stuff like that.

It all brings me tremendous joy.

But, even more than that, I find that it brings me to a place of… peace. It centers me and… well… it makes me smile.

Oh. Oh! And dad jokes. Nerdy, computer-y dad jokes. I just love those.

When I started The Lunduke Journal, I made a conscious decision that the content I would focus on… would bring me (and people like me) to our happy place. If you read an article (or listen to a show) here on The Lunduke Journal… good odds it made me smile. And I hope it makes you smile too.

I believe that computers should make us happy.

Each and every one of us deserves exactly that. To be… happy. To spend some time, every day, in our happy place.

Not everyone will be brought joy by using a computer made 40 years ago.

Not everyone will be centered and calmed by tinkering with a Linux terminal.

But, obviously, that works great for me. And, if you’re enjoying the goofy, nerdy stuff I put out into the world… my guess is your Happy Place might not be all that different from mine.

I don’t really have a point to all of this. No real conclusion to reach. Simply something I wanted to talk about today.

… I suppose if there is a point to these words I just wrote, it would be this: I hope that the articles, comics, or shows I create have helped even just one of you to find your Happy Place.

Because, if so, that’s pretty stinkin’ awesome.

And thank you… for helping me to spend more time in mine.