another conference, and ah fuck cohost is shutting down
(This post was originally posted on Cohost.)
I've been in Milan for the past few days at Haskell'24 (part of ICFP) to present my paper Functional Reactive Programming, Rearranged. The talk went well and Kirby was again there for me, although not in my dungarees pocket like last time because it was way too hot for dungarees.
Getting here was a bit stressful as I was juggling my PhD thesis at the same time (and still am - my theoretical deadline is the end of the month), but I took a few days off after the conference to spend time with @alpha-krys, my new girlfriend. It was our first time hanging out without our respective partners (woo poly stuff!) and it was absolutely amazing, and so destressing after a stressful week. I'm going to miss em so fucking much, and it became incredibly clear that this relationship was way more than just a spark at a Netrunner tournament.
That trip is the reason I'm reacting slightly late to the news that cohost is shutting down, and while I totally understand why it's going, I am definitely sad about it. This is the first social network I've felt comfortable posting to, a place for my successes which lines up with the community here. I posted about things like accepting myself as a woman, deep dives into games I've written for and reports on silly talks I've given. They were a joy to write!
I'm not sure where I'll end up going now. Cohost is a very special place and community, and I'm not sure any other social network will replicate that success. I've got until the end of the month to decide, at least. To those reading: let me know where you end up, if anywhere!
Thank you for reading, interacting, and getting excited about my posts. And thank you to staff, in the unlikely event that they're reading this, for making something so special. I'll post an update if and when I've found somewhere new.