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now.md
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layout: corrupt_now
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tabtitle: Now
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author: Bill Niblock
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pub: 2024-08-19
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pub: 2024-09-24
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---
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# Life In Progress, as of {{ page.pub }}
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- Learning [Stan Rogers'
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_Bluenose_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZVpvJsqTMM) on mandolin and voice
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- Building a few games in the [TIC-80 fantasy console](https://tic80.com)
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- Deploying my own ["Pages" server](https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/pages-server/)
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- Building a Forgejo Action for deploying game builds to Itch.io using
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[butler](https://itch.io/docs/butler/)
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- Building a custom WordPress Docker container that uses SQLite
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- Starting my own business
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- New hardware: laptop, phone, and NAS
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- **TWO** game jams!
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- Finishing up Morrowind
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- SEAP/Self-Employment Progress
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## Music
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## New Hardware
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Adam and I continue our semi-weekly jam sessions! We've settled on [Stan Rogers'
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_Bluenose_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZVpvJsqTMM) for our first piece. I
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normally pick up lyrics pretty quick, but this song eludes me. We worked on the
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chord progression last week, and I've been actually practicing!
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### Framework Laptop
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## Game Dev
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This new [Framework](https://frame.work) is great! I've only had it for a few
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weeks, but it is wonderful. I've been slowly sync'ing and migrating workflows
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from my various existing options to it. Being able to work for multiple hours
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without worrying about battery life is nice.
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Still having a blast with [TIC-80](https://tic80.com/). I made a small farming
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experiment game, to learn [Fennel](https://fennel-lang.org) some more and also
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nail-down some basic design principles. Some of the ideas in that experiment,
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namely generating the map with a loop and `mset` instead of using the built-in
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map designer, gave me some insight for solving my darkness troubles in
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Nightgolf. I'm still wrapping my head around it, but I think this will be a
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solution.
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Previously, the Chromebook I have was my go-to remote personal macine.
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Considering its age, and the inherent limitations of a Chromebook, it served me
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better than I ever could have hoped. However, I knew it's time was drawing
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near, and the Dell I got as part of my work severance was not going to cut it.
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Considering I'm starting a business doing technology, I needed a reliable,
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"all-day" machine with Linux. The ARM-based Macs are incredibly tempting, but
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I am not a fan of Mac. I've been eyeing Framework for a bit now, and their
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newest 13-inch model with AMD components checked enough of the boxen for me to
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dive in.
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The farming experiment game lives on
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[Itch.io](https://vagabondazulien.itch.io/farm-experiment-1) and the [TIC-80
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Webzone](https://tic80.com/play?cart=3965).
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### Phone
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## Tech Dev
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For a while I've been eyeing Mint Mobile. In the US, they have a plan offering
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unlimited text and talk, plus 5 GB of data, for $15 per month. I generally use
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less than 1 GB of streaming data, so this seemed like a clearly better option
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than the $30+ I was paying for Google Fi. When I decided to switch, they had an
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incredible deal offering a Google Pixel 9 plus a year's service for a great
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price, so I not only switched carrier, I also snagged a new phone! I had a
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Samsung S21, which was more than sufficient for my needs, so switching isn't
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quite as significant as with the laptop, but it's still a nice new experience.
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The OS and environment on the Pixel is much nicer than Samsung phones, so
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that's quite the plus!
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[Forgejo](https://forgejo.org/) continues to be rewarding, and I'm looking
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forward to expanding my deployment of it by deploying my own ["Pages"
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server](https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/pages-server/). This will allow me to
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deploy my static sites on my own infrastructure. I'm also working on an "Action"
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for leveraging [butler](https://itch.io/docs/butler/) to publish games I publish
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the source code for from my Forge to Itch.io.
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### NAS
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In preparation for both my own use, and my business use, I need to learn more
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about Nextcloud. I'm also working on building a custom WordPress Docker
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container that relies on SQLite instead of MySQL.
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I bought a 2-bay Synology NAS from a friend a few months ago, and with the
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myriad other changes, decided to set it up proper. I setup
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[Navidrome](https://www.navidrome.org/) for audio, and [Jellyfin](
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https://jellyfin.org/) for video. I had previously used Navidrome, then
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switched to Jellyfin for both audio and video, but with the new phone comes a
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return to form. I like [Ultrasonic](https://gitlab.com/ultrasonic/ultrasonic),
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and Navidrome plays nicely with it.
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Hovering about all this is backups and monitoring, both of which I sprinkle into
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my learning voyage. I'm looking forward to writing up some documentation about
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my implementation.
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The other big additions with the NAS is more backup scripts, and also pulling
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down some YouTube series I like for local copies. More details in a full post.
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## Entrepreneurship
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## Game Making
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I'm happy to report I was accepted into New York's Self-Employment Assistance
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Program, [SEAP](https://dol.ny.gov/SEAP). I will be starting a business offering
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managed online services, such as website design and deployment, personal cloud,
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and email. I would like to offer these services to local small businesses and
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not-for-profits. I think of it as "Silicon Valley experience" at reasonable,
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local prices. I'm excited to dive into the parts I'm not very familiar with,
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namely the business side of things. I have extensive technical experience and
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mastery, but I lack any significant business experience.
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Two game jams! One for the entire month of September, [Clone
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Jam](https://itch.io/jam/clone-jam-game-a-month), and a
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[Mini-Jam](https://itch.io/jam/mini-jam-167-cyber). For the Clone Jam, I was
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working on building a ray-casting-based dungeon scavenger, similar to "Legend
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of Grimrock", but with less combat. However, while I have made great progress
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understanding how ray-casting works, and how to implement it, I won't have time
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to finish such a game. That knowledge won't go to waste, though! There's a
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game-jam at the end of October where I intend to make use of it. Instead, I'll
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be touching-up and submitting a clone of Minesweeper I made:
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[TICsweeper](https://vagabondazulien.itch.io/ticsweeper).
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## Gaming
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For the Mini-Jam, I decided to make a "runner" type game: you maneuver your
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sprite to collect and/or avoid certain projectiles. I also made this game in
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the [TIC-80](https://tic80.com). While I didn't pull any all-nighters, focusing
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on a single project for 72-hours with as little down-time as possible is still
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quite exhausting! My submission was called
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[RUNR](https://vagabondazulien.itch.io/runr). It ranked 48th out of 66
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submissions, which is honestly disappointing, but not enough to demotivate me
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from continuing my game-making journey!
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I've started a new playthrough of [Darkest
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Dungeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkest_Dungeon). It's mildly
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frustrating, but mostly fun. I have fun yelling at the game; it's like stress
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relief. I've been generally successful, but the Crimson Court has been very
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rough to me. It is a game about challenges and loss, though, so nothing
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unexpected.
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## Game Playing
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I've continued my play-through of
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[Sundered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundered), though have put it down for
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a bit. I'm playing it on my Steam Deck using [Lutris](https://lutris.net/), and
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it works very well. Lutris continues to impress me, and I want to try writing an
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installer for a game.
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I finally finished my play-through of Morrowind, and one of its two expansions,
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Tribunal. (Note: before "DLC", new game content for existing games was
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distributed like the game itself, on a piece of data-storing media, such as a
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CD. These were called "expansion packs.") I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in
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The Elder Scrolls III, and I definitely understand why many claim it as their
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favorite. I will talk more about my experience in a full post, just like I did
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for my recent Fallout 3 replay (I mean, just like I _will_. I _WILL!_)
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## Business Time
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Alas, while game making and playing are great uses of my time, they do not get
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me the resources I need to pay my bills. I continue to work on starting my own
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business. I've met with two mentors, one business and one technology, to help
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get me started and provide guidance. In fact, this week marks what I would
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consider the proper beginning of my business. With some dedication, I'll have
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more exciting news to share about this next time!
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## That's All For Now!
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I think the original intention of a "Now" page is to be less verbose, but I
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find the monthly cadence of a somewhat comprehensive update to be more
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appealing! Until next month!
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