I did. I feel like it overpromised it underdelivered. Mostly, I’m not too thrilled about the character and weapon designs. There’s a lot of UI elements that were taken right from Overwatch. 
It’s certainly not bad. Just not what I crave.
Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament. In my opinion, these are still two of the greatest games of all time. You don’t get better because your character or weapon is better. You get better because you put in the practice. you improve your reflexes. You learn the arena. Every player starts every match on an even playing field. Every frag feels like an accomplishment.
I appreciate that modern shooters are trying to do something different with every iteration. But stuff like call of duty, overwatch, or destiny never captures that magic. In many ways, they felt more like slot machines.
Halo got close, but I always felt it was too slow. And also, I felt Tribes was the better series for online play that felt similar. 
I have a private parking spot off street in a city. I don’t like backing up towards the main road; since it has pedestrians and stuff. It’s a little harder to see.
So I back into the spot. It’s way easier than backing out - and pulling out is even easier. 
My work parking garage is already really tight. It’s another situation where backing in is easier than backing out - and driving forward our is even easier. So just some planning.
Politically, we agree on 90%+ on things. Like - it would be really odd if I married a woman who didn’t believe my friends deserved basic human rights. 
But I will say we handle conflict very differently, loss very differently, anxiety very differently, fear very differently. We’re different people.  The important thing is that were able to communicate with one another. We’re supposed to understand each other’s motives, behaviors, needs. And try to anticipate them.
Ideally, we’re strong in areas the other is weak in.
As far as interests, there’s a lot of crossover. But I have specific hobbies (music production mostly), that she has no interest in. She’ll give feedback from time to time. And also, she plays piano. But we don’t play together.
I like goofy nerd shit, she likes The Bachelor. I like some gaming, she thinks it’s lame and reads in her free time. I mean, no great relationship has ever thrived based on a shared love of Star Trek or something.
So most importantly, we match well in two areas. One, we can make each other laugh. Two, we like the same foods and are adventurous eaters.
For what it’s worth, half of every live-in relationship is trying to decide what to eat next.
There’s nothing wrong with having a preference. At the end of the day, when you adopt a pet - you are saving their life and dramatically changing yours. How you come to that choice is deeply personal. It doesn’t matter if it’s superficial or whatever, least of all to the cat. As long as you give them love, warmth, food and shelter.
 I don’t really have a preference on breed, I just care of they’re sociable and friendly. I do have a preference for girl cats. My dearly departed cat was a girl, and my wife’s cat (very much alive) is a dude. Love him, but it’s not the same.
I’m not particularly into anime either, but I thought that “The Devil Is A Part-Timer” and “One Punch Man” were really funny and clever.
Excel for Dummies 2023
“Ape alone… weak. Apes together…. strong”
So no, it’s baked-in the DNA of how we survive. We group to fight threats. Early days, that threat is protection from hostile wildlife like bears.
You scale that to a modern civilization - and you have groups of people fighting for resources, food, money, opportunities, land, etc. Sometimes they’re gangs. Sometimes they’re entire countries. Sometimes they’re groups of allied countries.
And heck, you see it in stupidly small scales too. “Coke v Pepsi”, “N64 v PlayStation”, “Rock Fans v Disco Fans”.
Sunni and Shia believe 98% of the same stuff. But the bit they don’t agree on pushes fringe lunatics to terrorism, war, ethnic cleansing, etc.
Same deal with Protestants and Catholics.
The only thing could make us drop “us versus them” mentality is a giant alien force more violent and sick than anything you can imagine.
Then maybe, humanity will be the “us” finally.
I’m not making a philosophical or physiological distinction.
I’m making a semantic and etymological one.
Nature, as its defined in the English language, is used to describe things that aren’t human creations.
Sometimes it’s used to describe things that, even if manipulated by humans, is distinct from an artificial, chemical or industrial process. Like “natural remedies”. Sometimes it’s just a marketing term, “natural flavors” in a soda brand.
Humans categorically can’t be nature - because we use the word “nature” specifically to distinguish our own creations from the rest of the world.
A human can choose to live in nature, meaning they’re living in a place that is plurality not man-made. An cabin in an unplanned forest, versus Midtown Manhattan. But even then, the human is the not-nature thing. They’re only surrounded by it.
Nature - by definition, are things found in the physical world that aren’t human creations.
Modern homes require electricity, clean running water, modern insulation, glass, smoke detectors, town governments oversight, corporate resources, insurance, etc. All of these things are human creations.
Man-made is similar to hand-made. Both are distinct from machine-made.
Nature is a bit of a spectrum. Something being handmade is closer to natural than something from a factory. Still, neither are natural.
I mean, I won’t have much leftover after paying off my condo. I live in a very expensive city.
Plus, you never know what you need money for down the line. Maybe my heating will need replacement. Maybe I lose my job. Maybe a family member will need professional care, like a home attendant. Or maybe I’ll take another vacation next year. Who knows.
$500K is not a crazy amount of money. It’s certainly enough to dramatically improve my life. But not enough for me to stop working, or buy stupid things - or anything like that
Probably pay off the condo. Maybe do some upgrades.
Travel with my wife somewhere for a 2 week long vacation.
Throw the rest in savings.
When the quality and cost of labgrown meat matches the real thing - we’ll see the tables turn. Especially if they’re able to produce various *cuts^ and styles.
Columbia House and BMG were record clubs in the 1990s. This was a subscription service that regularly sent music album CDs to your house. They advertised in mailings, TV, radio, etc. It was ubiquitous.
The catalog for available records was quite vast. 
In order to get new customers, these record clubs had a loss leader marketing approach. You would get 5-10 CDs for only a penny for signing up, and you are not charged for the first month. After, there is a hefty cost. The CDs are yours to keep, but you need to cancel the membership before the first payment is due.
Word spread pretty fast that the deal was legit. For many of us kids pre-internet piracy, Columbia House represents the biggest album haul of that era.
Yeah. What’s cool about guitar is that there’s really no wrong way to play it.
I’ve been playing for 15 years, and the way I pick is not going to be the same as the way my friends pick. Or, like - I have one friend whose left handed. But he doesn’t play a lefty guitar, he just plays upside down… without changing stringing (so his high notes are on top now). It’s weird, but he plays incredibly.
Ukelele has some drawbacks. It’s a comparatively thin sound that doesn’t work well as an accompaniment for a lot of singing. It’s also much harder to go from Uke to Guitar than Guitar to Uke. It’s a bigger climb if you feel the range isn’t enough.
A mini acoustic travel guitar could be a better alternative. Small fretboard so your hand doesn’t have to stretch as much.
You have some options.
Firstly, remember that learning music is basically learning a new language. So be patient.
Piano/keyboards are great because of low-cost of entry. You can find second-hand instruments in all sizes (25 key up to 88 keys) on Craigslist or Reverb for as low as $50. If it has MIDI or USB, you can hook it up to your computer and control endless downloadable virtual instruments - and/or record it easily to write songs.
It’s an ideal instrument to learn theory. I recommend getting a roll of masking tape and labeling all the keys until you memorize them.
Guitars are more fun, IMO. They’re portable. You don’t have to learn as much theory to get started and it’s certainly less formal. Some of the best guitarists around don’t really know what they’re doing - they’re just feeling. You don’t get a much of that with piano.
Guitar is all about awkward hand positions and building muscular memory around that. I never know what note I’m playing half the time when I play guitar - I just know the positioning.
The downsides is maintenance. Guitars require tuning before playing, changing strings periodically, etc. There is a higher cost of entry. A lot of new players buy terrible quality cheap guitars with unchanged strings and get discouraged by the poor sound and feel.
Ukeleles are generally cheaper and it’s easier to get a good sound. They work similar to guitar and you can figure out the basics fairly quickly.
In some cases, they never went away. In New England - especially northern parts of Maine and New Hampshire, there are communities that are plurality Francophone, and have been Americans for generations. 
I think one thing that people often don’t understand is that American English is highly influenced by the French language - accounting for 30% of all words. Words like Lieutenant are pronounced differently in British and American because of the French influence. Or the word “herb” - Americans don’t pronounce the H just like the French.
As far as cultural things, of course the US is known for its wine. Napa Valley is one of the best wine regions in the world. Those wines consistently beat French and Italian wines in international competitions. Finger Lakes, as well. American cheeses like cheddar are very popular. There are entire states known for this, like Vermont and Wisconsin. I think in terms of bread, you see more influence from Italian and German breadbakers then French.
That said, French influence is just one of many patches on the rich tapestry that is America. It was impactful, but the influence was definitely overshadowed by groups like Irish, Italian, Polish, Chinese, and African Slaves - whose descendants have created our greatest modern cultural exports.
There’s definitely a market for mobile PC gaming which is why the Steam Deck sells so well, as well as the new market of competitor products (Asus Rog Ally, for example).
That said, the vent location is a bit bizarre. Perhaps the manufacturer intended the laptop to be mounted or something… ?
Perhaps if it’s not too late, you can return the laptop when you get back from traveling.
Ah.
Well in that case…
I used to go fishing with my dad when I was younger, but as an adult I don’t think I have the heart to do it.
I don’t want to be the one to chose who lives and who dies. Even bugs, I have a hard time swatting flies. I try to capture them and let them outside. But some of the time, I kill them - and end up feeling really guilty after - sometimes for days.
When it comes to eating meat, I’d rather live in a world where meat is grown in a lab, rather than raised. I think stuff like Impossible Burgers have gone a long way in terms of reproducing flavor and texture… but not there yet.
I guess I reconcile the fact that the animal is dead before it gets to my plate/kitchen. Someone’s going to eat it. Why not me? Or I make up some funny idea like, “well - if this cow was human, they’d probably be an Andrew Tate listener - so screw ‘em!”
More often, I just try not to think about it and just enjoy what I’m eating.
I don’t know. Maybe my ethics will change one day to a point where I actually change my diet drastically. But knowing myself, it could take a health scare before I do that.
Yeah. I think there’s a lot of room for a Arena FPS Revival, especially for console players who are sick of the monetization and slot-machine point mechanics from games like Call of Duty.
I think the Quake 2 Remaster sales and rave reviews say plenty to that. There’s decent online play too.
Quake 3 Remaster could be perfect for the 25 year anniversary next year.
But who knows.