As you can read in my previous post, the type of writing I naturally go for is a personal essay. I do it all the time, be it on social media or just in a personal obsidian vault. The problem is, I was trying to also figure out how to manage my life recently because I have been made aware that I can be unreliable due to my forgetful nature. The thing is, I still struggle trying to figure out how to best do it.

I have been trying multiple ways to organize my thoughts and document my process for self-reflection. I think I'm too easily overwhelmed when I realize there is a big mess. And there's always a big mess. Especially when you're going through life depending on your mental prowess alone like I've been doing. So I tried to develop a personal system to organize my life.

The thing is, I am not used to the idea of iterating on a system. Even now, whenever the topic comes up, my immediate instinct is to start over. Because I believe that if there is a better system, the previous one need to be abandoned cleanly. I don't like debts, especially the technical kind. This makes it incredibly difficult for me to decide on my own system for taking and organizing notes for both my professional and personal life. I keep restarting instead of progressing, and that frustration builds up even if I'm mostly unaware of it. But I can't seem to get over the messiness of the previous iterations.

I guess all I'm saying is I'm getting more frustrated because I'm more aware that I have a very messy life to the point of hindering me from doing things I want to do in life. I hope I can figure this out better in the future.

Farewell for now and safe travels, traveler.

Yours Truly, Singodimejo

My mind is filled with debilitating conflict of ideas. I enjoy the act of writing but once I try to write, I find it hard to find an idea to write about. Finding inspiration feels like grasping at clouds. But that first video opened up a new avenue of writing by putting a name to my seemingly aimless rants which was essays. The creator of the first video points out that an essay is an attempt to make sense of the world around. That single statement puts into perspective unto most things I write and my particular pseudo-conversational style of writing. I am trying to make sense of the world by talking to an imaginary listener. No, more accurately, talking to a separate instance of myself which sometimes corrects me midway through a sentence. It comes to a point where whenever I write in micro blogs you can sometimes find orphaned words from one of those versions of myself left behind. One of the my favorite mechanism of magic in fiction is the metaphysical power behind words, borderline divine concept of speaking phenomena into being by uttering them. It felt like that creator cast a spell on me, validating my ramblings by giving it a proper name. It was electrifying.

With this newfound love for writing, I came across the next amazing concept. The idea of independent research. Independent in regards to academic institutions, and thus encompasses professionals and amateurs alike. Hearing anecdotes of people wildly varying and equally interesting researches not really bound to the confines of a formal institution was extraordinary. From the witch trials of Salem to the history of ancient Egypt, curiosity filled the minds of many. Curiosity so pure it is bewildering, to the point of inviting envy. The creator of the video suggests that independent research is generally conducted in 3 steps. Firstly, the researcher collects resources and chooses a subject matter to research. Secondly, they would organize a syllabus to dive into those resources, allocating time and designing the path of reading to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Thirdly, an optional step for amateurs, is to compile their findings into a piece of organized literature that can be shared or even reviewed by peers. I still feel like research, independent as they may be, is still a luxury I can't afford right now. But I am glad to discover that it is only because of my personal circumstances and immediate goal instead of other external factors.

And so I write this so that maybe I can remind myself in the future (whenever I find this essay again) that writing and learning is not something so rigid, but can be used as an intellectual exercise and a free form of expression as one makes their way in this erratic world and society. As always, safe travels and be well my friend.

Yours Truly, Singodimejo

The origin story of my Bindery name is nothing remarkable. You might even have already guessed it. So I will not bother explaining it. However, the name de3pwater was created when I was twelve-years-old. I'm thirty-two now. I've never changed it. It originates from the phrase “still waters run deep”, which was a phrase my sixth grade teacher had used to describe me. He then gave a short little lesson about the old proverb to the class. While I don't have many fond memories of my elementary school days, that phrase stuck with me. I was moved that someone had even taken notice of me enough to think that something so poetic (or at least it seemed very poetic to my childhood brain at the time) could apply to a person like me. I had really low-self-esteem back then. As a result, I've held on to this thoughtfulness with me ever since. I would have named all my internet handles as “deepwater” if it were not for the fact that it was often already taken by someone else (thus the the inclusion of the “3” in the name).

If you are wondering what a bindery is, put simply it is the equivalent of an art studio, but specifically for making books. That is what I do. I don't actually have a proper studio. I make books from a little kitchen table in my overly expensive one-bedroom apartment. But unless you know me, or you're a reader of my blog, you wouldn't be able to guess that from the finished products. I post pictures of all the books I've bound across several platforms (links to them all can be found at the bottom of this post) and I'm quite proud to say they look quite professional. I'm very fond of my creations.

I've made rebinds (essentially removing the covers of paperback books and giving them a new custom hardcover), I've bound public domain stories, and I've also bound fanfiction. It was actually the fanfic binding (abbreviated as “fanbinding”) community who freely shared their knowledge and taught me many of the skills I've developed in this hobby. I wouldn't be the binder I am without this incredible community.

ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴀɴ ʙᴇ ꜱᴀᴠᴇᴅ

I recently read a post from a fellow amateur bookbinder who goes by the name Starblight Bindery. She wrote the following in an instagram post:

“Fanfiction binding is the creation of physical objects that otherwise would not exist—transformative works pulled into existence by fans' sheer force of will. Think about how revolutionary that is—we are ARCHIVISTS. Our generation is able to access the tools of this centuries-long craft from our own homes.

Paralleling what is to come, corporate-owned IPs are moving away from diversity (i.e. Star Wars) or outright embracing bigotry (i.e. Harry Potter). We can't count on IPs to tell stories important to minoritized fans. We've never been able to count on them, and it's become increasingly clear we don't need to. As home bookbinders, we are empowered to decide what can become a book.

Save what can be saved. Look around us, see what we can save in our immediate vicinity, and save it. Save it. Grieve what we cannot reach and protect what we can.

We already do that as archivist fanfiction bookbinders, and we can also do it in other aspects of our lives.”

—– Starblight Bindery —-

Being called an archivist was surprisingly meaningful to me. As a bookbinder, I had not considered myself as an archivist before reading her post. But there has been discourse online about the growing importance of physical media, and I could be convinced that this little hobby of mine is another form of resistance. Similar to those who are still keeping their old books, their cassette tapes, their CDs and DVDs, and printed photos, it's meant to serve as a way of preventing corporations or governments from taking it all away from us. I have my own collection of vinyl discs too.

Even more interesting was how Starblight calls for us bookbinders to “see what we can save in our immediate vicinity” and “do it in other aspects of our lives.” For fanbinders, the focus will always be on preserving the fan stories they love. Websites like Archive of Our Own or Fanfiction.net could disappear at any time. All those beloved stories could vanish into smoke, never to be recovered. So I can completely understand how fanbinders are archivists. But personally, while I have bound some fanfiction, it has never been my primary interest as a bookbinder. I usually just want to create beautiful things, and I typically choose whatever stories I love, fanfic or not, or stories that are meaningful to other people.

As a gift to my best friend, at his request, I bound a copy of the book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano. Published in 1971, the book is an analysis of the impact of European settlement, imperialism, and slavery in Latin America. I have not read it. But I think that in this time in history, while books like these might not disappear easily, they are nonetheless unwelcome or even outright threatening in the eyes of the white colonial supremacist fascist powers that currently influence and control so many systems in our lives. Could I have considered it an act of resistance against these powers when I bound it? I will think on it more. For now, I feel galvanized by the idea, and it makes me eager to find more things that I could bring into physical existence. If you, reader, have any ideas for something that I could preserve that the Empire seeks to destroy, let me know. I'll see what I can do.

So I've been toiling away, studying Japanese and trying to absorb more knowledge so that I can seem more employable while I toil away at my “temporary” work. It's a year-long contract which may or may not get renewed each time it ends.

My weird place and situation within this company makes it feel like I'm in a limbo. I'm at a place where I barely have any directives or goals, basically left to manage myself without really clear guidance on how to set targets or deadlines or even how to communicate them.

I feel like I'm missing something here. I don't think this is how you're supposed to work, but it's not like I want to ask for more work. So I'm applying for this internship in Japan hoping to broaden my horizon and level up my skills. Or maybe I'll just keep playing catch up because I can't start conversations properly, only keep it going somewhat.

Until then, at least a few weeks of this limbo until I hear back from that internship. Wish me luck!

Yours Truly, Singodimejo

Of course, now I'm hearing all the discourse. Most of which is folks gushing over how good it is. Not really for the sake of the show itself, it seems. Rather as a parasocial exercise in propelling a low budget indie creator up the ranks of the oft-forgotten Prime Video platform to get one over on the networks suits with all the gusto of a middle schooler flipping off a mailperson for clout.

Thats not to say the show is bad. Clearly it's no one's first production rodeo and merits some recognition. The actors fulfilled their roles to the point I was idly contemplating how the dialogue could have been retooled to make me care more about the characters. Scenes were competently shot and edited well enough that I spent an inordinate amount of time saying “I get it, what's next?”

While efficient with setting the stage for the viewer to be invested, the story gets stuck reiterating its premise “Don't go to sleep” while doing jazz hands compelling you to believe there's some thrilling, mind blowing explanation on the way.

Then each episode just sort of...ends. Sure, there's a teasing reveal that does build on previous tidbits to paint something of a compelling picture about where the story began but does little to guide where it's going next. Which is mostly nowhere.

Each episode becomes a flurry of emotional stick waving driven by characters acting like they are functionally moving the plot forward. Meaningful character connections and any hint of plot resolutions, however, are scarcely more than the slowly fermenting carrot I can only imagine was dug from the leftovers of LOST.

I can sympathize with the reality of ambitious projects like this being launched on monolythic platforms like Prime where nothing is gaurenteed. As a result, the show feels caught between wanting to be a multi-season epic of slowly unveiling plot hooks and memorable character moments; or a one-off mini series exploring a a primal fear through a trippy metaphysical conspiracy. As a result, the mystery is largely suffocated trying to get the viewer to care about characters whom we barely have time, or reason, to connect with as they ambitiously hustle to do the heroic act of avoiding sleep.

In the end, it's a sophomoric outing arguably punching above its weight for the low budget allotted, at least in its technical aspects. Most of the hype is really around Mark and much of the discussion bypasses criticism to support the indie millionaire artist achieve his dreams by leveraging his own not-insignifigant platform as a short cut to the #6 spot in less than 12 hours. With that said, I'll probably still watch whatever he launches next.

!! CONTENT WARNING: Cursing !!

==========

In the title, I use “advice” as a stretch of the definition. RTFM, or “Read the Friendly/Fucking Manual” is an unfortunately common response to many Linux newbies asking questions anywhere from forums to a friend on Discord. This “advice” sucks, as newbies will often expect a good explanation as to what the hell to do; maybe even a part of the solution and a link to where to find that advice commonly. I personally have begun a practice wherein if someone asks me for advice that could be responded to with an “RTFM”, I will instead give a small sentence and a reference link/file to the requested advice if I can find it.

Additionally, most Linux commands posses a '-h', '—help', or (not common) '–?' flag for a help page.

I'd be lying if I said I was shocked, but I also can't say I am deeply lamenting my situation right now. I've got a number of borrowed weeks to stretch and maybe even breathe while chasing a few obligations and projects I have been struggling to get to for months. That's quite a luxurious opportunity most folks don't get.

So what now?

Well, I have a TON of projects to pursue as we cruise through this fall season practically head first into winter. So many, in fact, it leaves my head spinning trying to consider getting them all done in the few weeks of “freedom” I have while actively considering what my next big life moves are gonna be.

To that end, this blog. In a bit of serendipity, we are right into the Campgrounds' National Write Literally Anything Month. I figure it would be a good exercise to take advantage and organize some thoughts here in this blog for the next {however many} weeks.

What's that going to cover?

Honestly, I don't even know yet. Judging by a few hastily scratched out notes, I suspect A LOT of unpacking feelings about this sudden upheaval in life. But I can also imagine recapping the various things I'm working on and, if there's time, some hopes about what the future brings.

I guess grab some popcorn or something? I think I'm already a day behind on this writing, let alone all the other projects I mean to get out there, so I better hustle. Cheers to reading tea leaves dumped at my feet.

Arch Linux is notoriously the most difficult distro (barring Gentoo's entire existence) to use, since the base installation just gives a command line and almost no further explanation. The wiki is there, and enough guides will give you a mediocre to decent system, however when you customize it solely, it becomes the best. I say this because Arch is a perfectly customizable distro, allowing you to cherry-pick what you want on there (barring the base Linux and any libraries required by programs) and perfectly tailor the experience.

I have seen hundreds of Arch rices on r/unixp**n, but nothing looks better than what one makes for themselves, as the things you like depend on how you make them or even have them.

And to extend the stereotype: I use arch btw

Lungs releasing a languishing sigh Figures past crossing a closed eye Transported, moment unbound Coveted feelings again found

Music and comradery Unspoken creeds Never relived again Save for paper and pen

A vocal experiment: https://soundcloud.com/kryptonite803/moonlight-memories

I love Lua. It's the main language I know. That is, when it comes to the Minecraft mod ComputerCraft:Tweaked's CraftOS 1.8. For those unaware, ComputerCraft, and by extentsion ComputerCraft:Tweaked (Here on out referred to as CC and CC:T respectively) is a Minecraft mod that adds computers to the game, programmable with the Lua scripting language.

The reason it's a love-hate relationship is because sometimes the errors make no sense at all. When trying to loop over what should be a table, and getting the error “Expected table: got nil”, but when I print the ““nil”” value, it says it's a table outright. It's so confusing all the time. Thankfully I have Jeremy- my debugging ducky friend- to help sometimes.

But when Jeremy fails to help, I still pay him with a few little cracker crumbs and go to the CC:T wiki to look at the documentation, but it ends up making no sense at all. It's like trying to decipher assembly code, virtually impossible unless you can memorize assembly perfectly.

All in all, Lua and CC:T is a love-hate relationship, and make docs human-readable, dammit!

I have a little rubber duck with a christmas hat and antlers on my desk at all times. Whenever I code, and I come across an issue, I explain my code to the duck line by line. His name is Jerry by the way. Jerry is the best listener, in fact his listen-only method of debug assistance helps me listen to myself explain my bad code.

For example, in Lua, when trying to figure out why I kept getting an “Expected EOF” error, I read my code, line by line, in human explanation, to Jerry; which ended up helping me realize I missed a single end in an else statement.

If you code, get a rubber duck, name that duck whatever you want, and if you need to debug, rely on the duck and not a program.

Topics: Red Hat Enterprise Linux going virtually closed source? Ubuntu immutable desktop option in future? My takes on the matters; with definitions

Did anyone ask for my takes? No. Will I give them? Absolutely. +=============+ Definitions:

“RHEL” and other capitalizations refers to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

“SRC” and other capitalizations refers to the concept of “source code”.

“License” or “The License” and other capitalizations refers to the GNU GPL 3.0 +=============+

Topic 1: RHEL going closed source?

In a blog post by Red Hat, and the VP's follow-up blog post in response to backlash, it's clear that it isn't actually going closed source. However, one may argue that the license may still be violated in some way, as it could potentially violate the GPL's requirement for src to be available publicly in all forms.

Red Hat stated in the post that, A; CentOS Stream will now be the sole repository for public RHEL-related source code releases, and B; source code will remain available via the Red Hat Customer Portal for paying customers. What I take from this while also double checking the license, it states that no person(s) distributing software under the GPL can force you to pay to see the src.

By restricting part of the src to paying customers, this could be viewed as a violation of the license. This does not mean that Red Hat is so suddenly all evil and such, because in the VP's follow-up blog post, Red Hat VP Mike McGrath states; “We don’t simply take upstream packages and rebuild them. At Red Hat, thousands of people spend their time writing code to enable new features, fixing bugs, integrating different packages and then supporting that work for a long time – something that our customers and partners need.”

My take on this situation is that closing off a good amount of the src to only paying customers, if left unchecked or open-source somehow topples, could lead to disaster for Red Hat and RHEL users. While I don't see that happening anytime soon, some people are speculating that it may very well happen.

+=============+

Immutable, snap-based Ubuntu desktop

In the near future, Ubuntu will have a snap-based immutable desktop environment for those who really want it. The goal is to be able to have a containerized system so everything can be updated automatically when they need to be.

Now this is just an idea for Ubuntu Core, as stated in the post, but part of an immutable desktop include:

1 Read-only: The primary characteristic of an immutable OS is that the running system cannot be directly modified by users or applications.

2 Atomic updates: Updates are applied atomically; meaning they’re successfully applied all at once or not at all.

3 Predictable: Because the core operating system doesn’t change, its behaviour is predictable across devices.

4 Isolated Applications: Applications are isolated from the core operating system and from each other, usually through containerisation. This ensures that changes made by an application don’t affect the core system or other applications.

While this does seem like a good idea, in my opinion it could have a few issues. For starters, what about things like a custom .bashrc? Will those be affected? Will the terminal be unable to access the .bashrc file? Also, some of the drawbacks are listed;

1 Reduced Flexibility: An immutable OS is less flexible than a traditional OS. Users cannot modify system files or customise their system to the same degree.

2 Limited Compatibility: Not all applications and services are compatible with the containerised or isolated environments provided by an immutable OS.

3 Storage Requirements: Update mechanisms often require image snapshot storage. Isolated applications can lead to redundancy in the storage of application dependencies.

4 Developer Experience: While containerised development environments provide benefits (such as improved isolation and reproducibility) they may also introduce additional complexity and limit the use of familiar tools and workflows.

For me, the reason I daily drive Linux is for flexibility. I want to have everything tweaked just how I like it. I don't want just one desktop environment, I want options. That is why I personally will not be using the immutable Ubuntu Core when it comes out, however I would recommend it for someone who is new to Linux but wants a windows-like experience, such as grandmas.

+=============+

-Dusk 6/29/23

+=============+

Cited for RHEL SRC Stuff: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/furthering-evolution-centos-stream https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hats-commitment-open-source-response-gitcentosorg-changes

Cited for Ubuntu stuff: https://ubuntu.com/blog/ubuntu-core-an-immutable-linux-desktop

GNU GPL 3.0 Cites: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#DoesTheGPLAllowRequireFee

A limerick?

Some Words

The hour grows late I contemplate I outta clean some plates

When I hear the fearful tune A drip, drip, drip Of a pipe that's lost it's grip

Peering undertow, curious It surely can't be serious

A loosened screw can be fixed Good as new! Oh, if only I knew What problem had brewed

A clog big as a log Soap and grease now seized Snaked, raked, awkwardly pleased

Here a broken joint needs solder What else could be the bother? Cullet with missing threads At least it's not made of lead Now I find a tattered gasket It all belongs in a battered casket!

Cussing, groaning in song Toolbox proning before long Wrench and hammer join my venture Bring out the torch for good measure

A sigh and wipe the sweat from my eye Last week's dinner: fried fish on rye

Resignation sets in A job I just can't win The hour is late And plates need scrubbed Reduced to this fate Scouring in the tub

However, every time I struck gold on a particular title, it is pure ecstasy. The rush I felt whenever a new story begins to catch my intrigue? It is simply addictive. I recently found an amazing manhwa title that helps me see what is it that I like to read the most. The title of the manhwa is Infinite Mage. The story itself isn't doing anything new, being about a baby abandoned in the woods who's adopted by a commoner couple that later in life discovers an immense talent in magic. But the magic system in the story itself and how it is presented is so graceful that it got me excited. The last time I was this excited about magic in fiction was when I started reading Witch Hat Atelier. But then again, every peak has valleys, the title is fairly new and only has about 20-something chapters translated online, which was my second problem with reading manhwas and mangas. I am still grateful though.

Now, let's talk about what I realized while reading that title. One of my preferences when reading works of fiction was apparently about magic itself. Specifically, the kind of mainstream magic which enables you to do extraordinary things with your mind. I feel like I am drawn the most to magic as a concept. Though I can still enjoy them, one of my gripes with the Isekai genre or just fantasy manhwas is how most of them never properly try to confront magic and instead cheaply explain away magic with those game screen stats. I love a good game status window fantasy, but often times they feel cheap and clunky with no added value to the story. I always find myself laughing excitedly whenever I find the rare ones that really try to work with magic a little more seriously. Such as the two titles I have mentioned previously along with other titles such as Reincarnated as a Slime if you're going for a more Isekai-like title with a “gamified” feel or Faraway Paladin which captured the atmospheric experience of your typical TTRPGs like D&D. I just want to be immersed in a world where magic exists and it's this amazing thing, probably because the world we live in currently is a bit too exhausting to live in.

Anyways, it's been a while since I wrote this much and I kind of miss it. I just like ranting to the void of the internet about stuff. Especially stuff that I'm passionate about. If you have any title recommendations that has more of what I described just now, please reach out to me through my socials such as emailing me or find me on mastodon @singodimejo@astral.camp. That's all for today and until next time, be well my friend

Yours Truly, Singodimejo

There needs to be a change in the winds of the tech industry. I'm exhausted. Everyone I have worked with in the past 10 or so years is exhausted.

I know a lot of this is just “normal corporate stuff” but we have less and less agency within this industry while facing more demands for infinite growth.

Although I know people are trying—really trying—to make good products, ultimately the goal is “have more monthly active users”. Always. That's top priority. Its exhausting. It means that for any product, the end result is a diluted buggy mess, as the company cycles through heads of product who all think they have “the answer” to make the company turn around.

Somehow, that answer is never “Do the thing that we do, but do it really well“

I often see people bemoaning “needless changes” to products they like. I used to roll my eyes at that and say that's just progress! But increasingly, its really, very much not. Everything is just flatter now. And probably has a custom font. Always has a custom font, really. Because BRAND AWARENESS. Because top of funnel. Because monthly active users.

And then we have an all-hands. And oh! Wonderful! The executive staff takes live questions! Someone will ask a question along the lines of “how do we plan to execute on our new growth strategy without ruining the product?” and the answer will always be a sidestepping placation; because we do not matter. Their numbers and promotions matter.

I'm tired of wrestling with random people's pet projects that they did to score a promotion and brings no actual value to anything. I'm tired of pretending to be excited about upcoming “product strategies” that will win us big this year. And I'm extremely tired of seeing that we fell short of our projected goals, only to learn that we did jaw-droppingly huge numbers, and our goals were just that much more. But triple digit millions is not enough.

Again, I know this is not totally blanket. But it is how it goes at the vast majority of the most known firms. Because its a self-fulfilling prophecy. And individual choice doesn't make much of a difference here, because this isn't a problem with the workers in this industry, its a problem with what is rewarded by our economic system.

But infinite growth is totally a good idea and totally doable. I mean its just the internet, right? It's digital; there's no limits, so its the perfect place to grow infinitely! Right??

I wanted to write up a quick post to formalize a few things. Recently, I've been leaning into a more structured (if you can call it that) content cycle; posting a mid-morning news recap show alongside a blog with similar content. I've been really enjoying this format, and I've been getting a lot of positive feedback about it. My intent is to continue to improve and grow this format while still posting a bit more laid back content like gaming and random skits.

However, I have recently found myself stretched far too thin. I definitely have over-committed, and it has been taking a toll. It's honestly disappointing and irritating more than anything else. All I want to do is make fun stuff for y'all, but I have many other obligations at this time. I've mentioned before that this is not my full time gig, and while my north star currently is to move towards a world where that is possible, I still need to keep the lights on.

So in the immediate term, I plan to make a few changes to help make my content schedule more manageable in the long term.

Podcast from a Desk in the Astral Realm

I've been really enjoying having some great discussions with folks on Podcast from a Desk in the Astral Realm, and I am overjoyed with the number of folks who have reached out to come on the show. It's truly humbling. However, managing scheduling and setting aside time to conduct the interviews themselves has proven to be just a bit too much for my schedule at this time.

So for the time being, I will be hitting pause on the podcast. My hope is to keep meeting up with interesting folks here and there—in which case I will post our discussions to the podcast—but I can not commit to a release schedule for the time being.

But Perhaps another?

Though I plan to hit pause on one podcast, I am in the early stages of “launching” another. As I have been working on this new daily update format, I have noted that it could be additionally released as its own podcast. This would take relatively minimal effort, as I would likey be posting the audio from the daily video posts with a few alterations. So if you're more of a listener type, perhaps that would be the best way to get your morning hysteria- I mean uh, news.

No formal date or announcement there yet though. But will alert when I do.

Moving to Ko-fi

I have mentioned this elsewhere, but I have moved over to Ko-fi back from Patreon. Patreon is just too poor of an experience these days, and the company is uh… not super wonderful to begin with. Ko-fi is far more flexible and enjoyable to use, and I'm hoping to post new and interesting content there. If you want to help me on my journey to becoming independent and making great stuff for folks, that is the most direct way to support me! And thank you!

Eternal thanks for the support so far. As I settle in to my new content schedule, I am hoping that things will normalize a bit. For now, I am getting a handle on things, and hope to continue to improve.

Thanks, and be well. Endeavorance

While most mobile CYOA I've seen in the fantasy genre centers more on the game-like mechanics of TTRPGs, making the app more of a decorated turn-based fighting game, Magium feels more like a digitalized CYOA book akin to R.L. Stine's famous “Goosebumps” franchise. The only “game mechanic” you have is some sort of status point system that will determine the success of certain actions, dictating your playstyle and the vibe of the story you get to read. However, due to this project being more similar to novels, there are a lot of constraints on the reader's influence on the story's plot. I do believe those constraints are tolerable as the story itself is quite fun to read.

I am writing about it to show my support for the wonderful game and to expose it to all of you, good people of the interwebs. If you are interested in things like fantasy and would like to try a weird new type of content, I'd recommend this to you. I hope you enjoy them at least as much as I had. Until next time, be well my friend.

The Pots and Pans Problem

It happens every time I move somewhere

Every. Time

The place feels so big and expensive, there must be room for all my stuff, and then some! That is, until I'm actually staring at the mountains of boxes in the space.

Especially kitchen stuff.

And through physical exhaustion moving piles of stuff and decision fatigue trying to think through the collosal Tetris puzzle that is 'Moving in', it always comes down to just shoving things into drawers and cabinets just to have it out of the way. “If I don't like it this way, I can just move it somewhere else later,” I always say. Famous last words (unless they're not? I suppose not, I've had plenty of words since then. Oh well.)

So life carries on. Weeks, months, even years of daily life pass by. And if you're anything like me, some things begin to irk you. Maybe it's an inconvenient cabinet to pull out some pans, or the pots don't quite fit the way you want, or general flow around the space is clumsy, whatever. It might be a good idea to reorganize.

Buuut, all the other kitchen implements already take up all the other spaces. Trying to optimize the space to improve quality of life would require a tremendous amount of time and effort, so everything continues to sit and be irksome.

The same could be true for other aspects of our lives. Maybe it's little behaviors we picked up to get through a hard time. Or dream projects that keep trying to spill out of the mental cabinet. It could be just daily junk from news and media making it really inconvenient to reach that pot of ambition or pan of relaxation.

All I know is I've got a lot of decluttering and organizing to work on. How's your kitchen faring?

The Celebration of Bad

“Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink.” An oft repeated nugget of wisdom from my uncle, or maybe the internet. Who knows at this point. It pairs well with another classic expression, “Everyone's a critic.”

Criticism isn't entirely a new idea, though some casual googling suggests the term and practice came about sometime in the 17th century, which coincides with the rise of printed works rising in popularity that were not the Bible. As a result, it became a newspaper feature to inform folks of a newly available title and maybe some thoughts if it's worth the investment. Today we refer to it as “Journalistic Criticism”.

It wasn't too long before literary enthusiasts began publishing more pointed opinions, seeking to raise or destroy the profile of local authors they deemed worthy. Fast forward a couple centuries and it was easy to slot those fancy new talking pictures into the same format. A lot of coverage focused simply on the release of a new title and a few impressions. But a new generation of nerds came about becoming the latest taste makers of cinema.

Fundamentally, these critics certainly had a deep love of their chosen media. At the end of the day, however, they were always concerned with what is “Good”, by whatever arbitrary metrics and standards they devised.

Enter Mystery Science Theatre 3000, brain child of Joel Hodgson. Inspired by the likes of “The Golden Turkey Awards”, which nominated and awarded the worst movies, MST3K took to commentating and joking over old B-tier films. The kind of parody may be older, but it was the first time I was made aware that just because something is maybe “Not Good” does not mean it has no value. Even if the only value might be poking fun at it.

Speeding through history again, we see the rapid explosion of video games hitting worldwide markets. And again, a cottage industry of reviewers informed the public of what was worth a substantial price tag. The best were put on pedestals while the rest were tossed to the gutters of history. At least, until the internet popped up.

Much nostalgia was waxed for arcades and past generations of home consoles. Aggravations were shared for money wasted on bad rentals or squandered gift opportunities with regrettable titles. Until comedy found its way round again to make light of bad video games with the likes of James Rolph his creation: The Angry Video Game Nerd (formerly The Angry Nintendo Nerd).

This video series took early video sites by storm. A novel mix of nostalgia exploration and foul mouthed lamentations infected my adolescent mind as I watched them on repeat alternating between nodding in agreement and howling with laughter. It was such a wildly successful format, many speculate it single handedly paved the way for most (if not all) video game content on YouTube. Personally, nearly everything I consumed on YouTube from the late oughts through the mid 10's got their start doing largely the same thing: find an off beat “bad” game, poke fun at it, add a review spin to it, maybe even validate some elements of it.

Thankfully, there's been evolutions in content creation. Not everything needs to be presented with an over the top aire of vitriol. Many creators now make deep dive documentaries on technology and specific titles. Others simply take an honest look at a game and comment on what works and what makes it a worthwhile visit today. And still others just show off playing them for the simple joy of playing.

And that's a beautiful thing. Taking movies or games that may have been lambasted or pushed aside when it came out and giving it a sort of second chance. Not necessarily to defend a specific title, but for the pure love of a medium and just wanting to celebrate all of it, good or bad.

(Disclaimer: These rambling thoughts were at one time part of a larger piece taking up space in the cluttered attic of my mind. Maybe someday I'll come back to this and rework it into a more polished full piece.)

Google is working on ways to make it easier for folks to switch audio playback to another device when they listen to music or podcasts via Android. The company says it's collaborating with Spotify to let you swiftly move what you're listening to from one Spotify Connect-supported device to another, all from the Android media player.

I mean cool, I guess? But we need industry-wide standards driven by policy to allow for dynamic handoff and cross compatibility between all devices.

AirPods offer an incredible experience when compared to standard Bluetooth headphones. The handoff feature, ease of pairing and general approach to “you just kinda put them on and unlock your phone and it does the thing.” But AirPods pull that off by being incredibly proprietary. Imagine a world where we actually have policy in place to ensure that level of user convenience and enabled actual competition?

Its frustrating. I spent a while trying to help my mother get set up with some generic bluetooth headphones with her iPhone and iPad, and the difference in finnickiness is just staggering.

#replies #technology

Want to get a “text” from your dog when he’s hungry, wants to go outside, or wants to play? The dream of being able to communicate with your dog is coming closer to reality with the launch of FluentPet’s new app-connected talking button system.

OKAY I mean, bluetooth connected dogs was not on my 2023 bingo list but it makes sense.

Unfortunately, my dog would likely just smash this button nonstop asking to go outside, then would just stand at the door and stare at me instead of actually going outside.

#replies #technology

However.

I understand that there is a not insignificant ethical issue when it comes to things like that. For one, there's the whole stolen art thing. I would be using AI to create portraits, and then using those for my own vanity, without any means of crediting the people actually responsible for the art behind it.

There's the issue of feeding pictures into AI for facial recognition, which just feels kind of icky, just in general.

It all feels kind of cold. Yes the pictures are beautiful, and it's impressive, and from a technology standpoint this is really cool. But the beauty of art is the humanity in it. And while out of vanity I would really like to have the pretty pictures, it just feels wrong to me.

So I'll probably just stick to enjoying the ones that other people make.

My metaphor fell apart very, very quickly.

But my point remains: The fact that just the concept of “posting” is a thing. And we can just... do that.

We just do that now, I guess.

aaaannd post!

#jot

The whole Lenore thing I pulled from a few different places. Edger Allen Poe of course, but not exactly for a straight forward reason. Like how in Ever After, Danielle's father gives her Utopia, and it's the last book he gives her before he dies, the Complete Works of Edger Allen Poe was the last book my father gave me before he died.

Also, I really enjoy Roman Dirge's Lenore comic.

As for a theme for this fun little blog... There probably won't be one. I've tried writing a blog following a theme, and it doesn't seem to work out too terribly well for me. So we'll see where this goes.

It'll be a fun little adventure.

Waking to bacon sizzling Brisk mornings spent splitting logs Returning to the warm cabin’s embrace Oh, how I miss those morning in the cabin Always being a comforting face

Afternoons and nights spent talking Dinners of fried chicken and potato salad Oh, how I miss those nights in the cabin The birds singing their ballad

A visit once a year, never enough Oh, how I miss the cabin in the woods Losing it will always be rough