Hello again.

Exactly two years to this day, I started Makiroll as a meaningful diversion and a space for self-expression. Starting a blog nowadays may seem counterintuitive as social media has proven to be a very effective (if not meaningful) diversion and creative space for most people, but:

1. I wanted my own space, well away from algorithmic overlords and without the clutter of comments and reactions.
2. I’ve had it with Medium and its login walls.
3. Facebook used to have a Notes feature that I used for long-form posts, but they got rid of it long ago.
4. The custom development would make for a good pet project.

Hence the first version of Makiroll, a generic Ghost blog with a ready-made theme, went up in the evening of January 18th, 2020. The site needed a lot more work and I didn’t even have a plan, but it was enough to have the platform up and running. I had yet to write new posts, so I had to make do with old writings I dug up from my archives while I worked on a few drafts.

Then the pandemic hit. I found it difficult to write as lockdown fatigue started to take its toll, so I decided to shut the site down in September. I made three relaunch attempts last year, but it was a struggle to get anything done as I navigated the stress, anxiety, and burnout from the prolonged lockdown and repeated surges. Makiroll remained up, but only as a static copy to save on hosting costs.

And now, here we are. I spent the past week getting Makiroll back to life, or at least working well enough to publish new content. Two years after I started, I’m getting back to work on this site. Everything looks the same, but expect to see changes here and there in the coming months. For now, it’s enough to have the platform up and running and ready to take my musings again.

My first post in years (apart from this one, of course) will be dropping in the coming days. It’s been a while so this will take some getting used to, but it’s good to have you along for the journey.

Welcome to Makiroll.