If you’re on this page, you likely either knew me already or clicked on a link I left stranded somewhere on the interwebs.

If you know me in real life, you probably know most of the things I’m going to put here. You might, however, pick up some tidbits here and there and be able to construct a “fuller picture” of me. We may have a shared interest I haven’t told you about yet!

If you don’t know me, that’s a whole lot more interesting, not least because you might have known me at some point in the past. Feel free to write to me if this is the case! I’ll be very glad to respond.

But if you don’t know me at all, now that’s something special. Most “about-me” pages are written with an intended audience of an internaut – somebody who, browsing the internet at random, happened to come across one’s blog.

Not many people browse the internet like that nowadays, overrun as it is with spam, spyware, spam, monopolies and, you guessed it, more spam. Those that would, they’ve all moved to Gemini or been caught in the vortex of social media.

There’s just too much content and too few people to read it.

So why even bother?

I happen to be actively worsening this problem by producing more content. Even if it’s high-quality (which, spoiler alert, it won’t be) it’ll still form a part of the same insurmountable tower that makes the internet the scary, abandoned Mondlandschaft it is today.

But perhaps somebody will come across what I write here and be inspired somehow. Decide to do something good for themselves, perhaps. Perhaps it’ll distract someone from self-hatred for some time. I mean, it could happen. 8 billion people live on earth, of which around 5 billion have internet access (as of 2021, according to a quick internet search). This is a good space for the law of very large numbers to hold. So even if it’s unlikely, it will happen at some point.

Additionally, creating not necessarily good but honest content is certainly a good for the world. Nobody really has any need, not even a latent one, for the AI slop they’re fed on the daily by advertising algorithms. By writing these words, I’m helping to expand the human web.

So in the end, the things I write here must be different from the algorithmically curated “for you” tabs that dominate the web 2.0. Thus, I must write not for any specifically designed “you”, I must not appeal to any specific audience at all. Honesty is what matters. So if I write, I have to write for me. But, since this is still on the web, it must at least be comprehensible to the random, drifting internaut.

The last person to read this blog will be my future self. In the end, this is who I’m writing for, this is the only possible concrete “target audience”. So, Bruno, enjoy! You’re probably the reader I know the least about – even less than the anonymous internaut, because I do have assumptions about you and, the future being what it is, they’re probably mostly false. I just hope that you’re happy and that your life is good.

Anyway, with all that out of the way, who am I now? I’ll try to answer as well as I can.

My name is Bruno Wetton. My birth date is the 6th of July 2006. I was born in Southend-on-Sea in England, but my family moved to Switzerland when I was four years old. We’ve lived here ever since. I have dual citizenship.

On the 16. of September, I begin studying Physics at the ETH Zürich. Mathematics has always been an interest of mine and I find the application of the ideas in physics to be very elegant. In addition, I’m pretty good at physics – I was at the European Physics Olympiad and received an honorable mention (just about). In addition, I’ve won silver twice domestically.

Another interest of mine is computer science. I tried to learn to code a few times when I was younger, but didn’t really do any projects or anything of the sort, so I never learnt properly. Well, it’s never too late to start!

In my free time, I enjoy travelling — by plane, rail, ski and sail. I’m going interrailing next week (and the week after). I like seeing new places and meeting other travellers. I usually don’t take many pictures, though.

As for individual transport: I’d call myself a good skier, a mediocre windsurfer and an awful skateboarder. And otherwise, concerning sports, I was in the scouts for 7 years and am picking up ultimate frisbee.

The scouts was lifesaving for me throughout high school. I was a cub scout leader for 2 years, which was fun, but also a pretty big challenge at times. For a semester in my final year, I had school, was attending uni (in a special program), had to do my Maturarbeit, participated in the Physics Olympiad and also had to devote time for scouting. I can only hope that the ETH won’t be more stressful than that – if it’s any less, I’m ready.

Back to scouts: I have replaced it in my life with frisbee. It’s less commitment and less responsibility. Certainly less fulfilling but a lot more fun and exhilaration. I love everything about the game. If it’s Thursday (and there isn’t a party going on later that evening), I guarantee you can meet me on the pitch.

I look up to my brother, Henry. I described him as my idol at one point. He performed well at school and had a close group of friends. He also always has an air of calmness about him. He’s just an all-around good person.

I try to be like Henry. Sometimes I try to surpass him. I’m a massive overachiever. Matter of fact, I’m going to brag about my achievements now (and I’ll try and make this the only time I do):

• Had 24.5 plus points at Matur
• Achieved a 6 in two UZH courses that I did at the same time as my last year of high school (“Computer Networks and Distributed Systems” and “Scientific Computing”).
• Got to EuPhO. Got Honorable Mention. Sang Wonderwall on stage at a Biergarten with the other participants watching me (completely improvised).
• Got awarded for my Maturarbeit. (They gave me a book voucher – any recommendations?)
• Got my interview published in two district newspapers (Limmattaler Zeitung and Affolter Anzeiger)
• Managed to meet some very nice people along the way.

By this list, perhaps you can guess where my sights are set: I’m going for the Abschluss mit Auszeichnung – 5.75 average or better. I guess my future self probably knows if I got it or not. I hope I did. If not, I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. My other two goals are to have a good social life and to get enough sleep. I’ll really have to give 100% to manage all three of these goals. For the sake of my health, if I do have to prioritise, sleep and socials come before the Auszeichnung. In the end, a BSc is a BSc. You can only experience university once. But still, giving 100% is in my nature.

Otherwise in the way of goals: I am going to write things for this blog once every week. I don’t know how many words I should set as a lower limit. I guess 1000, that should fit it. I believe Cory Doctorow describes this (or something similar) as the memex method. I’m going to write about things I’ve thought about, things I’ve seen, heard, tasted, felt. Sometimes I might write in English, sometimes in German. Maybe, if I want to really be out there, in French, who knows.

I’ll write even if it’s stupid or pretentious. I’ll write things that I find interesting, which is probably not what a random internaut may find interesting. I am going to try and make it comprehensible to them too. Hey, writing’s a good way to keep all the things I learnt at school in my head. Of course, to write well, I’ll have to read a lot too. Good thing I don’t actually need to write well.

To quote George Marsh, sampled on DJ Shadow’s Building Steam with a Grain of Salt: “I would like to able to continue to let what is inside of me […] come out. And […] it’s not really me that’s coming; the music’s coming through me.”

One last thing: I enjoy music a lot. I like to sing, but don’t do it very often (sorry, Mrs. Okada!). As a side note, I made a song for high school this year, write to me if you want a link. It’s not very good. But back to music in general: I listen to a lot of it. I think I’ll make a separate blog for albums I find cool. Thus, music as a topic is banned from this blog. I might mention it, but I’ll never make whole posts about songs, bands or albums.

To close: You may notice I have a lot of big ideas here. This is deliberate – I’m not going to follow all of these rules all the time. It’s the thought that counts, it’s the trying.

Thanks for sticking with me, dear internaut. If you’re at the ETH any time soon, tell me how long I was in the scouts for and I’ll buy you a beer.