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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • I used to be an avid reader but as I got older and busier I just couldn’t find the time.

    Then when I did have time there was always distractions, or other things I could be doing.

    So now I read primarily via audiobooks through Libby and my library.

    I read 130 books or so last year that way.

    Mowing the yard? Audiobook.

    Long drive? Audiobook.

    Waiting at the doctors? Audiobook.

    Dishes? Audiobook.

    And then when I’m really invested I’ll relax by playing some mindless game while I listen. Think match 3 or bejeweled.

    Just engaging enough to keep me from getting bored while listening but not so much that I can’t do both.

    Balatro, BABA is you? Bad candidates for playing and listening.

    The last couple of years I burned through the wheel of time series, all of Brandon Sanderson’s books (except skyward which I haven’t gotten to), a lot of Adrian Tchaikovsky, and others.



  • One thing to consider. When the stocks that are part of a mutual fund drop… then your retirement contributions will be buying them on sale.

    Assuming the mutual funds are spread out to minimize risk (1 of the funds companies folds, etc) overall you’ll be better off long term.

    As you age you’ll start moving your investments to more stable options (talk to a financial adviser on the specifics for your plans). This way they that won’t benefit from huge gains but also are a lot less likely to be wiped out by massive drops.

    In the meantime look at how your funds are doing over time. Not even year to year but maybe every 2 or 3 years.













  • I don’t write games but a lot of people that do often say something similar. Do play tests for the concept/mechanics.

    This way you don’t spend time/energy and resources on art and assets that won’t be used, etc.

    Similar to a minimal viable product in regular dev or, perhaps a better analogy, technical demos.

    You want to write a site or app that fetches API data for GPS, calendar and Weather and show them together? You don’t start with the UI. You start with:

    • Can I get the GPS coordinates
    • Can I call another API and get the weather for those coordinates?
    • Can I get the coordinates or other info for some future location?
    • Can I send that to get the weather?

    Once you know you can and that it “works” you build around it.

    So like you said. I have boxes, and this other box (or static PNG of a cat) moves around them and when I move this way it drops the box down on another box.

    Does that work? Does it feel “fun” to arrange them? No, it feels tedious or can’t get the collision right? Then let’s try a different angle or taking the part that did work and iterating on it.

    This also leaves you open to random bugs that end up being “fun” when you lean into them.

    Game Makers Toolkit has some good videos on his journey making “Mind over Magnet”. Here’s the playlist.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc38fcMFcV_uH3OK4sTa4bf-UXGk2NW2n

    There’s also PirateSoftware whose entire stream is devoted to “go and make games”