What I'm Doing Now
Hello from a sunny 34º in Bangkok.
34º in December is a little weird for me. The city has really Xmas'ified over the past few weeks, with decorations, music and festivities all over.
It's definitely going to be a different Xmas, but different is good – different is the point of living on the other side of the world.
Staying in Bangkok
It has been 283 days since I left the UK. Not that I have been counting.
I spent most of that time in Đà Nẵng, Việt Nam. Great times, amazing people. I plan to head back once the rainy season ends there.
Right now I'm living in Thailand. Bangkok has been an incredible experience so far. I'm 3 months into life in this city, and I can confidently say that there's no place like it in the world.
I could write far too much about my experience here, but let me just say: it's an amazing place to meet ambitious people doing cool things. The city is an endless source of motivation and energy.
From the food to the people, the gyms, co-working spaces, coffee scene, culture and everything else, life here is very good. PS: I've not been this productive since I left the UK.
So, I am staying longer than originally planned. I want more, Bangkok! I’m looking forward to being lost in this mega city for a few months more.
Working on a new thing
In 2024 I launched Yakk – an app I've been building for a little over 2 years.
It's for language learners, and takes a unique approach to what a "language learning book" could really be.
Yakk is complex product, and I'm proud of the work that's gone into it.
The big challenge right now is that it needs much more content. Writing new Yakk books takes time (and money). Currently there are two books: one for Vietnamese and another for Esperanto.
My long-term plan is to keep bringing new Yakk books (and languages) to the app.
In parallel I'm working on a new idea: LangSesh.
LangSesh is also aimed at helping language learners do what they do best.
It creates on-the-fly language exercises for people who have a spare 3 minutes and want to improve their target language.
I'm going to launch an early version before Santa comes. But, only if you're good!
Advent of Code
If you have coders in your family, you may have noticed that they recently disappeared and stopped eating regular meals.
That's because Advent of Code started on the 1st.
For the uninitiated: AoC is an annual set of coding challenges. A new challenges comes out each day leading up to the 25th.
AoC is a fun way to practise your problem solving skills, or a helpful excuse to write code in that language you've been wanting to play with.
I normally don't do AoC, but this year I decided to challenge myself by recording my solutions live. There's nothing like a bit of live coding to get the heart rate up. If you want to follow along, I'm uploading my videos to YouTube.
Bluesky
The quality of discourse and general behaviour on Twitter has really fallen through the floor in recent years. It's sad to see, as I used to have a great network of people I highly respected there. However, they've all but left, realising the same thing.
So, when I see a potential alternative, I figure it's worth checking it out.
I've spent the past few weeks being more acitve on Bluesky, and I have to say, it's giving me strong 2012 Twitter energy. I'm having lots of great interactions and chats with people there.
I'm especially enjoying that, unlike most of the rest of the internet, Bluesky isn't just a constant stream of people engagement farming, playing the algorithm at any cost to gather attention.
I really hope it stays that way. Let's see.
If you're a fellow Bluesky'er, let's be friends: @martinrue.bsky.social
Esperanto
Du menciindajn aferojn mi havas rilate al Esperanto!
Unue: ĉi-jare mi partoprenos lokan, Bankokan feston okaze de Zamenhofa Tago la 15an. Lokanoj organizas eventon, en kiu estos rondtabla babilado pri la lingvo kaj la komunumo.
Poste alvenos infanoj de loka lernejo, kiuj iomete studis Esperanton. Estos mojose renkonti ilin, kaj babili iomete pri Esperanto, lerni kion ili opinias pri la lingvo, ktp.
Due: mi tre ĝojis pro la malkovro, ke la 2025a IJK okazos en Cisarua, Indonezio. Se mi estus en Britio, mi plejverŝajne ne ĝin partoprenus pro la distanco. Tamen, kiom oportune, ke Indonezio ne estas tiom for de kie mi planas esti venontjare. Mi jam antaŭĝojas vidi karajn amikojn kaj ĝui la semajnon… kaj des pli pro mia maltrafo de la pasinta IJK en Litovio.
PS: If Esperanto seems cool (spoiler: it is), I spent 6 weeks writing an amazing Yakk book to teach you the basics of the language. If my entirely unbiased review isn't enough to tempt you, it's also free!