WebLog

Hi, and welcome to my blog!

This is the place to read my mind... Really! I'm going to write my thoughts down and you can read them! Comments are hard to code in not yet implemented* so feel free to reach out to me at webmaster@potatomatrix.com if you would like to talk about anything on the site. Newest entries will be at the bottom of the list on the left.

Hope you enjoy your stay!



1782349253 Epoch

There have been a few times in life where I've needed to start something big or talk about something heavy and felt apprehensive.

This is one of those times..

I'm not really the type of person to open up or have more than a surface level conversation with people. I hope this blog will be a good exercise in putting myself out there a little bit.

For all of these pages I've wanted to create a vibe / feeling when poking around and reading. This page is no exception.

Hopefully the theming, unix timestamps and floating green text create a feeling of uncovering some kind of long lost space archive, only known by the long gone writer and now you..

There is a big secret I have that I'll let you in on eventually in these logs. It's life changing and so exciting but I cant say anything about it right now. I know that I said I should be more open but this involves more than just me. So for now it's a secret! *until all parties are ready to share the news.

Something I can let you in on is that my favorite color is blue, my favorite song is probably Clair de lune by Debussy, or Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne.. I'm not sure which had more impact on society.. For real though if I had to choose, it would most likely be something by Daft Punk. My favorite food would be apples. I'm simple lol. I do also like a good steak 🥩. That's most of the surface level stuff out of the way.. On to the more real stuff..


Here are my pleas to the void..


My biggest fear is..

Open Not being able to provide for my family one day.

A insecurity I have is..

Open Not being enough for the people who love me.

Something I would never tell anyone..

Open I struggle trying to cope with the stress.

Sorry if that got too real. It feels uncomfortable to share but good to let out. At the same time it feels one sided. If you want to chat about anything going on, or just scream into the void my inbox is open.

I started keeping a journal a while back but it became a daily reminder about things causing a lot of stress in my life. That was not the goal but it turned into that. I don't want this to end up like that did but I do want to have a personal connection with anyone reading. I do joke around a lot so it's necessary to set the tone here that it's a little more serious.

I still want to joke around, but I also want to be authentic.

I hope to add more about what's going on in my life here soon. I think that's going to be it for now. END LOG...

1782526853 Epoch

June is almost over. Truly a life changing month.

I hope to make a book review page or some kind of bookshelf page at some point. I think that would be a fun addition to the site.

For a while I've been on a horror kick reading everything by Junji Ito. A few years ago I read Uzumaki and I've been hooked ever since. I think that was my favorite of his works. Tomie is a close second IMHO.

Recently I started reading "There is no antimemetics division" by ONTM. It's pretty good so far and I look forward to finishing it. If you like SCP Foundation or the Severance TV show It's a must read!

It's almost an escape to read horror for me. To see something bigger and scarier than what I'm dealing with in life makes things more tolerable I guess, ha.

I need to work on making a less stressful environment in general. Stress can cause all kinds of future health problems from what I hear. Interesting that nobody makes a horror based on daily stresses of life..

Could resonate with a lot of people.. END LOG...

1783048213

I've spent the last few nights and weekends working on a new bookshelf page. When it comes to making something that others will see I'm a little bit of a perfectionist.

I want to make sure every T is crossed and i dotted before releasing something out in the wild. With this site it's hard sometimes to find a balance between "good enough" and "too professional". I want to keep things hand made and looking organic but at the same time I have a urge to make everything super pro looking and perfect.

A review page for books requires some attention to detail to make sure everything is covered under fair use. Finding the balance between legal and organic is hard though lol. It almost feels like I'm not able to use the artistic vision if you could call it that... when I have to source every image and make every review known that it's of a copyrighted work..

I am not trying to steal anything from anyone*

I know, I know.. But you have a copyright on your page!?! I do. I was not sure if I wanted one or not but in the end I decided that I'd like to keep my ugly code to myself. I really don't care too much if you use it but I'd encourage you to learn as much as you can for yourself and make something you want! It's great to copy a tutorial but understanding something is way more valuable in the long run.

Even just in making this site I feel like it's been an adventure, finding people who just want to help others learn how to code, or share their projects with others just because they can.

I encourage you to check out the Credits page and give everyone a look. They are all great resources and helped me so much to make something that I'm happy with.


I'm probably still a week or two away from finishing my first review for the new page but I didn't want to leave you hanging.

To the right is an image of my progress with the new page. A devlog of sorts I guess lol.

You will be able to click on a book in the shelf, then the review opens for that book! It's using similar code to this blog site to work.

I plan on rereading some of the books I'm going to review, as some time has passed since the last time I've picked them up.

Before doing that though I wanted to make absolutely certain that no "rules" were being broken.

We are getting closer to the secret! END LOG...

1784168501

Apple pallet

We got to develop our first rolls of black and white film at home this month! There were some nice frames in the rolls.

This was taken at an apple orchard in October of '25 --â–º

It was a fun experience for my wife and I to develop everything. I definitely wanted her to be there because she works in a lab every day for her job. She's a real pro! I really just helped ha.


Old fence with barbed wire twisting around it

This frame was taken at a park near our house. I think it turned out alright.
â—„--

For that shot I used the 70mm to 210mm lens on my Canon AE-1 Program. See my photography page for more info on the cameras/lenses I use!

The next shot was taken at great falls in VA. I really wanted to play with the camera some here and I think this frame turned out alright too. â–¼

Great falls in VA

It's very relaxing to take photos outside. This shot makes me feel that peace I have when I'm out there taking pictures.

These shots are some of my first black and white photos that I've taken. I look forward to taking more now that I've got some experience developing film at home.

I was definitely able to learn more about my cameras using this film. While shooting with the black AE-1, after developing I found it had a pretty bad light leak. At least I think/hope it's a light leak.

â–¼

Great falls in VA

It's a vibe but not really the vibe I'm going for lol. I think it's the light seals near the hinge on the black AE-1.

Or this tractor is about to be beamed up...

Unfortunately I loaded that camera back up with some Kodak gold after this roll of black and white, not knowing of this issue 0.o

I'm expecting some interesting color negatives back after developing that roll of gold lol. To try and save the rest of the roll that's in it I think I'm going to try and tape up around the seals for the remaining frames. We'll see how they turn out I guess.


There are more shots I took and some other black and white photos I plan on sharing via the photography page soon but for now they are a secret!

I also plan on documenting the developing process because I find it so interesting, and really a whole part of photography that gets overlooked.

On another topic I'm still working on the bookshelf page and am re-reading some books to write some "reviews" before publishing anything on this site. I feel like the last two months have been some of the most busy of the past few years.. Always doing something. I'm looking forward to working on this site as I can. END LOG.