The Meta Blog Post

This is it, the one you’ve all been waiting for, the meta post.

Not that Meta! This meta.

The blog post about the blog itself.

This will go by fast, there will be nothing surprising, but at the end you’ll know.

You’ll know the answer to that burning question of yours. The one gnawing at the edge of your soul…

My my! What a wonderful little blog!

So exquisite, such taste, that lettering, the theme switcher jiggle.

How on God’s green earth was such an achievement of my species even possible?!

Well my dear, beautiful reader, let’s not dally any longer. ⊕ The ”?!” above is called an interrobang. The more you know.
I think about that every time I write it, for the correct order.
Like thinking out “b-e-a-utiful”. Every time.

Inspiration

Let’s start at the very beginning.

I was born on a Thursday

Wait no. Or actually?

Yes, it was Thursday. I was born on a Thursday, and my first thought was:

I need a blog.

I must write. Existence has impressed upon me the futility and ephemerality of life. I must put words upon a medium that exists outside of me.

But by the time I was old enough to do something about it, I had forgotten everything.

You see, no one remembers anything from when they were a baby.

Years later…

Decades even!

I was on vacation in beautiful Colombia.

Taking in the unblemished sights of the beaches of Tayrona.

As the waves calmly bobbed me and my turquoise mermaid floaty up and down, I pondered, nay I introspected

I need a blog.

For yes, how could the world continue spinning without my champagne thoughts written out, almost black on almost white. ⊕ Or almost white on almost black, did you see that jiggle?!

So one evening, awake in bed, the last free evening before resuming gainful employment which started at 3 am because of the time differences and also it was currently 8 pm and I should have been sleeping but revenge is so sweet when served with bedtime procrastination.

I set out to make 2 second old me proud.

I made a blog.

And now, here’s how I made a blog…

ugh fine if you really must know

I read a lot of Hacker News and one day someone shared Tufte CSS.

I immediately loved the style and saved that browser tab in the pile for later.

Then, on that fateful evening, I had the presence of mind to require near 0 Javascript for a static site that serves text. ⊕ Except for that theme switcher, what can you do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So I chose Astro which I’d heard a lot about but never used.

They even have a blog tutorial, fated as it was. For the sake of pragmatism and learning I just went along with it.

Then I did some SVG shenanigans for the favicon.

After that I added the theme switcher, did I mention that already?

Since then, as I write more I’ve edited and expanded the Tufte CSS styles to better suit my style. Which is the coolest thing ever, like a carpenter improving their tools. ⊕ Those style changes, which internally I call “Techward CSS” are here.

You can find the blog’s repo here. ⊕ Do not look at the commits. That’s my own personal screaming void.

That’s about it.

I knew I had to care as little as possible about how the blog is made because the point is what’s written here, not how.

Now I just need to make sure to have another post after this one, lest the “curse of the meta blog” strike me and turn this blog dusty.