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About
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░NOX SICUT DIES ILLUMINABITUR░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Vĭgĭlĭa, æ, f. ║▒▒ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │░░ │ In gen.: Wakefulness, sleeplessness, a lying │░░ │ ──────── awake. │░░ │ │░░ │ In partic.: Lit. A keeping awake for the security of a │░░ │ ─────────── ──── place, esp. of a city or camp, a │░░ │ watching, watch, guard. │░░ │ │░░ │ Transf. A watch, i. e. the time of keeping │░░ │ ─────── watch by night, among the Romans a │░░ │ fourth part of the night. │░░ │ │░░ │ The watch, i. e. those standing on │░░ │ guard, watchmen, sentinels. │░░ │ │░░ │ A watching at religious festivals, │░░ │ nightly vigils, devotional watching, │░░ │ vigil. Night office, nocturns, matins. │░░ │ │░░ │ │░░ │ Trop. Watchfulness, vigilance (the figure │░░ │ ───── taken from military sentinels). │░░ │ │░░ │ My post, i. e. my office, duty. │░░ │ │░░ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
👋 A bit about me
I am a Catholic Priest, a dad, a husband, a boxer, and a tinkerer. Originally of European descent, currently living in the United Kingdom, serving in the North of England (the actual North, not 2 miles outside the Watford Gap).
I'm a child of the 80's and had a fascination with computers since a very early age. Some other things I have been interested since early childhood are languages, music, and a fascination with how things work. This meant that my late teenage years were spent in fascination of cyberpunk stuff, later, I was active on the demoscene for a few years.
Then as I started university I increasingly felt interested in people, and I worked with drug addicts for some years, then in disaster relief and international development. This took me to some incredible places around the world, but it always left a gap - increasingly I wanted to explore the way faith shapes people's lives.
Some time after getting married I was accepted for training to become a protestant minister, and was given the opportunity to study in England. I spent some years living alongside a community monks, then served for a number of years in the post-industrial North before I realised that what I feel truly called to is the Catholic priesthood. As a dad, by then, this was not straightforward. But after a period of figuring things out, then leaving, starting afresh, and then hundreds of pages of documentation and a stroke of the pen by the Pope personally, I was allowed to continue in ministry in the Catholic church and was ordained to the priesthood—wife and child and all.
I'm a latecomer to boxing, but I enjoy the sport for all its nobility and sportsmanship. The discipline it needs and the demands it poses are what keep me in it, and the amazing friendships with the broadest variety of people around.
I enjoy tinkering with ESP32's, and other microcomputer related things. I might write up some of my projects.
I also have a tech and faith related blog,
📸 Some photos
✪ Interests
Sports
- Cycling
- Boxing
- Running
- Kayak and Canoe (tho haven't been active in this since teenage years)
Music
See a selection of music I like over at
ℹ️ About this place
The web has become atrocious lately. The all-pervasive and, frankly, frightening amount of tracking, the unusable websites through endless advertising, paywalls, and cookie banners, the deterioration of public speech, and the exploitative practices of gamified and addictive "social" media have lately driven me into becoming a digital hermit of sorts.
I swapped twitter for Mastodon and Secure ScuttleButt, bloated web engines for the sm0lweb, and increasingly, HTTP for Gemini.
I enjoy the personal and direct nature of the web that is around on Gemini, and, as I wanted to retain a degree of privacy online, while also wishing to publish things of public benefit, I chose Gemini as the place I would publish.
I started this capsule originally so that I can publish my homilies somewhere. Of course it turned out to be a very deep rabbit hole - and so a lot of Python code and experimentation later, I now have this little corner of the internet, running off my old Macbook that I turned into a server, and conveniently placed behind ZeroTier because I value my sanity...
I hope that you find some things of value here.
🙏 Acknowledgements
Text-art
Made with Diglet on brainsocks.xzy
ASCII-art
Made with: