naftaliro.dev
naftali · writing · things i love · notes from the margins
welcome
this is naftali's
quiet corner.
Not the alias. Not the resume. Just writing, things I love, and notes from a mind that thinks too much and doesn't mind it. The more technical version of me lives at 3hz.dev. This one is softer.
writing
philosophy · short fiction · completed
Beating The Game
On nihilism, grief, and whether the game was ever worth playing. Written for myself. Shared for whoever it finds. This one started as a thought I couldn't shake and ended as something I needed to finish.
The Hastur Protocol
lovecraftian horror · WIP — excerpt coming when it's ready
dispatches from the terminal
blog · informal · no schedule · no SEO · launching soon
reading log
philosophy · stoicism
Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
Read it more than once. Each time it lands differently. The stoic discipline of not catastrophising is something I actively practice.
on permanent rotation
philosophy · taoism
Tao Te Ching — Laozi
81 short chapters. Somehow inexhaustible. The concept of wu wei — effortless action — keeps showing up in how I want to move through the world.
on permanent rotation
watching log
anime · completed
Vinland Saga
One of the rare ones that earns its philosophy rather than just gesturing at it. Thorfinn's arc is about as honest a meditation on violence and peace as I've seen animated.
anime · completed
Steins;Gate
The slow burn pays off in a way almost nothing else does. I think about the convergence theory more than I should.
anime · completed
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
Quietly devastating. A story about what it means to grieve slowly and love people whose lives pass faster than yours.
anime · watching
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
A good wind-down show. Lighter than my usual picks but genuinely fun. Rimuru is a great protagonist.
currently watching
hobbies
meditation
The practice of sitting with what's there without trying to fix it immediately. I've found it's less about emptying the mind and more about learning to watch it — the way you'd watch weather passing through. Some days it's hard. Most days it's worth it.
birdwatching
Something about standing still and paying attention to small things resets something in me that nothing else does. I keep a life list — not competitively, just as proof I was present somewhere.
american kestrel
red-tailed hawk
great blue heron
cedar waxwing
baltimore oriole
+ more
piano
Still learning. Probably always will be. There's something honest about an instrument that immediately tells you when you're wrong. I'm okay with that.
about this place
who is naftali?▾
Naftali is my Hebrew name — the one people who actually know me use. Online I go by kestrel or 3hz. This site exists in between: not quite public-facing, not quite private. Just honest. The professional version of me is at mitchellberg.org.
why a separate site from 3hz.dev?▾
3hz.dev is outward-facing — the alias, the security work, the technical identity. This site is for the things that don't fit there: writing, what I'm reading, what I'm thinking about. Softer. Less structured. More me.
what does "naftaliro" mean?▾
Naftali is a Hebrew name meaning "my struggle" or "one who wrestles." The "ro" is just what made the handle unique enough to register. I like that the root word implies effort — like the wrestling isn't failure, it's the point.