After dragging this blog framework upgrade out for half a year, it is finally, finally, finally done 🎉
A six-month (well, actually seven-month) hiatus
At the end of my previous post (June 30, 2024), I wrote:
My May Monthly Log got pushed to the end of June
as usual. The plan was to start migrating the blog right after finishing the May Monthly Log, but I still managed to delay it by another month.
I can’t keep dragging this out. I’ll just push out something rough first.
Next time you see me, it will be a new style. お楽しみに〜 (or… maybe do not get your hopes up?)
Predictably, that “just ship something” turned into seven whole months.
A lot happened in between, and somehow nothing happened at all. Time passed quickly, but in the least memorable way possible: just dull, repetitive everyday life.
Big dreams, clumsy hands
The original plan was simple enough: get something decent online first, then polish it slowly afterward.
But the moment I actually started, I realized I had no idea where to begin.
I had plenty of ideas, but none of them were sorted out. Every time I took one step forward, three other things jammed up immediately.
This is probably what people mean by being all ambition and no execution.
And so:
Finish the new blog before writing posts -> But the new blog takes forever to finish -> Then I will not write either, because I am waiting for the new blog to be done
An almost flawless excuse for disappearing from the blog, really. A tiny, elegant infinite loop.
AI, empowering every unskilled pair of hands
But then, finally, in February 2026, right before Lunar New Year,
the new blog actually showed up.
おめでとう🥳
Here, I want to thank every hard-working
slaveAI, including but not limited to OpenCode, Codex, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude (in that order).
Thanks to your paid devotion (meaning: my subscription fees), it became possible to slap together a blog in two weeks.
A grateful heart, thank you for being here (all of you).
You are all my wings.jpg
So yes: with AI doing a very large share of the heavy lifting, I finished in two weeks the blog migration plan I had managed to postpone for half a year.
The biggest changes are the move from Hexo to Astro, and the fact that I didn’t use an off-the-shelf theme this time. Instead, I went with a fully custom one, or rather, a fully custom one that I bullied AI into helping me build.
The current visual style is still pretty far from what I imagined at the beginning, but overall I am satisfied. It finally feels like something I can show people without embarrassment.
Roadmap
The blog is not completely “done” yet. Then again, maybe a blog is never completely done, because there is always one more thing to tweak.
Things I have not decided on, or simply do not have the energy for yet:
- banner image
I have not figured out a comfortable layout yet, so it is hidden for now. I will adjust it later. - tags
Same story: I have not decided how to present them. - open graph
This would make shared links look a lot nicer. Useful, but not urgent. - CSS animations
Maybe I’ll add a few simple CSS touches later. Also in the “nice if I ever get around to it” bucket. - comments
I’m still undecided. There are good arguments both for and against it, so for now I’ll continue avoiding the decision.
Closing
Alright, that’s enough for this first hello from the new blog.
See you in the next post: 2025 Annual Review . If I can get it written before the Spring Festival break ends, I’ll count that as a victory.
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