Friend got me a cool figurine, I think she noticed how much Boulder is wearing me down. Aced the three tests I had this last Monday, even though my last test ended at 9PM, my last bus to my apartment leaves at 8:30, and it was 15F outside. And I finally got my tax return, so I was able to put enough into my savings to hit "I can buy a car HOLY SHIT FINALLY" territory, if I do some looking around, with enough to save over for a PS4 because you know what l'oreal I'm fucking worth it. Edit: Oh yeah, also my professor wants me to take his place for a lecture on representation in Video Games in a few weeks. Not sure if I'm gonna do it.
I was finally able to do my taxes too - did 'em V-Day. I love getting a nice chunk of return. I actually might be able to buy a new laptop this year (on top of my house fund) - my laptop's been dying-dying-dying for a long time and I tried to replace it with an iPad almost exactly a year ago. The transition wasn't smooth and the iPad screen's shattered (thanks cat) which costs $250 to replace which is just...not worth it. So a year after I was like "holy shit I need to prepare for this monster to die" I might actually be able to get a functional replacement! - or do you guys think I should try and eke out another year? :D Had the POS since at least 2012. The disk drive started making a clicking noise constantly and randomly so I just took it out like, last year. Three of the 4 USB hubs work intermittently at best (they might not work at all, tbh). I have Open Office and haven't updated in forever and OO is another POS anyway. Oh, and something's wrong with/stuck onto/dragging on either the mousepad or the mouse nub, because sometimes, randomly, my mouse will start dragging in an upwards diagonal on the screen. It's a real fun laptop!
So you know your funds and how much you care about getting a new laptop than I do But Just hearing you describe that laptop has me cringing like a motherfucker. Especially the USB thing, that's a huge pet peeve of mine. And mousepad moving on its own, gah. So I'm going to say yes, three-ish years is enough time to upgrade imo, especially if it's working for you that poorly. And if you want something that last's a while, I'd get a macbook. Busted my ass a whole summer to get mine, but I also don't think I'll need to buy another laptop for another 3 years - and that's including the two I've already had this thing for. Knocks on every piece of wood in the bar
It's kind of hilarious to me how broken the laptop is, that is, when it's not infuriating. The laptop's slow af too, of course. I started uninstalling programs so they wouldn't automatically start with the laptop (yes, I'm not that technologically advanced, either, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to stop Spotify from doing that. And Spotify made start-up take probably 10 minutes before I could really use the laptop). You're describing my dream, specifically, I really want an Air. I will be able to swing it shortly and I really do think it's time to buy a new laptop because I think one day my current one is going to refuse to start up or something and I'll be left with a brick. I'll let you guys know. If I really feel like treating myself I'll get a mechanical keyboard and plug it into the new laptop (suppose that's not possible with an Air now that I think of it) and be Really Trilly Fancy.
It's possible to plug a mech into an air. Monoprice has a really nice $60 mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Blues.
There are two Airs in this house, primarily because a well-specc'd Air ends up benchmarking higher than a low-end Pro for less money. Are you on OS X currently? 'cuz the Apple Tax is a real thing, but it does buy you a nicer neighborhood in many regards. Gaming is not one of them.
gaming has really improved on Mac since Steam. Have you tried Darkest Dungeon? I've currently got about 30 hours sunk into it.
No, but it looks so awesome! Worth it, you would say? Also: fantastic comment on my post, by the way.. Funny enough, last game I could think of that passed the Bechdal test was Hyperdimension Neptunia.. That's a sure sign were in a bad place gaming wise.
definitely worth the scratch, especially since it's going to have two more areas once it is out of early access. Hard, kind of unforgiving, very playable. If you're on the fence, look at BaerTaffy's youtube let's play to see if you like it. Edit: It also technically passes the Bechdel Test, if you call what the characters do around the fire as "talking".
LAWL My behemoth, possibly-stolen (though not by me), slowly-dying Dell is running what I think is XP. I think I have OS X on my phone. No idea about the iPad, but I either need to shell out $250 to get the front re-glasses, or mostly-brick it. Don't game much, actually. Not at all.
my professor wants me to take his place for a lecture on "representation" in Video Games in a few weeks.
That's fantastic. Huge topic though. Is representation consistent - or does he want you to choose perhaps the top 5 video games. What representation concerns the professor? Race? Gender? Does the professor have a "thesis statement" that the two of you can debate?
He's basically leaving it up to me, since I've broached the subject a couple of times. I'd talk about race and gender, for sure. And probably consistency - or lack thereof, considering that 2 of the top 5 games as defined by Metacritic are GTA games, one is a game about rescuing a princess, 1 has a bunch of girls in sexualized armor, 1 is a Sports game, and 4 out of 5 have no Black characters.
I would be hugely excited so instead I am mega thriller pumped for you and I hope that you get to use this as an opportunity to say many important things you would like to say, and feel deeply about, in regards to this topic. Don't be intimidated. You have a perspective on this subject many of your classmates don't, and may not even have considered. Doooood, totally do it. Put it on your resume or write a blog about the experience. Keep it.
That's a big class. If you accept this mission... you could be helping those 150 students see video games in a new way. It might be interesting to start by asking them what messages they think video games deliver (about the representees or absence of them). What is the actual course called?
Sounds like the Computers and their Impact on Society class everyone had to take when I was an undergraduate. Everyone had to give a lecture. It was at 8 in the morning, and this was a commuter school so everyone had to wake up at wtf in the morning to make it. Because of that and the fact that absolutely no one wanted to take the class, you lost a letter grade every time you were absent. I talked about free software. Someone actually said "but that's communism! That's not how we do things in America!" out loud and I couldn't think of a response other than "that might be the dumbest thing anyone has ever said to me." The professor laughed his ass off and called me 'Comrade bfv' the rest of the semester. Hated that class.
That sounds way worse than my class, haha. Luckily not every student does a lecture in this class, the Prof. just approached me because he saw some of my gaming stuff (I have no idea how he found it, actually). Brb making a Hubskina character named "Comrade." He'll be a pirate.
Have you seen the latest Extra Credits episode? It might be a good leeway into the topic of gender in gaming.
We meet with the accountant next week to do this. I am not looking forward to how much money I owe. Enjoy the car! What kind are ya thinking? Lease? Used car? Super old used car? Craigslist? Good luck!
I think everyone should drive total pieces of shit when they're young. It builds character. My first three cars cost $1850 combined. Not that I don't love driving sweet cars, but there's a je ne sais quoi in being young and not giving a fuck that your mirror could fall off again at any moment.
Bourgeois pig. I bought 3 cars for $350 all in when I was 16. Hell, I got a '72 Ranch Wagon and a '66 Corvair Monza for free for hauling them off; parted out the Ranch Wagon for $500 and sold the Corvair for $600. The first "college car" to replace the fact that the Monster wouldn't drive without a cooling system redesign was a '77 Ford Granada bought at auction for $125. I sold it a month later for $900 in a different city, bought a $350 synthesizer and a '77 Scirocco with a salvage title for $200. It became my all-around off-road beater; I used to flog it up logging roads on weekends. Remember coming around a corner that I didn't know was a corner while I was in mid-air and thinking "I'm going to roll this thing." My next thought was "but I can probably walk to the road from here and I paid $200 for it." Liberating. I didn't actually roll it and spent the rest of my afternoon not pretending to be Colin McRae.
I literally drove one car until it seized up. Why? Because I could. The car was basically $100 and some sweat equity. I had a Plymouth Horizon (replica pictured below) that had holes in the floor that I covered with ply wood. It was referred to as the Flintstone Mobile, because you could see the road below as you drove. It also had no heat and well, this was Michigan. There were times that I would literally hold the car lighter in my hand to keep warm. Also, I would drive for a mile and have to get out and scrape the freezing windows again. It was awful and was essentially a death trap. How my parents ever let me drive that is beyond me. 
bought a '77 skylark for $250 the engine. Ended up fixing it instead. Drove that piece of shit to Ministry in San Diego in back; that vintage Skylark has a water-soluble windshield seal and it snowed the entire 1200 mile journey. Tried to dogleg around some debris and the tires were so bald (and buicks are such shitty handlers) that I spun out and punched out the rear drivers-side door on a parked VW Golf. Golf was fine. Buick was bent. We pulled the door off with a cumalong thinking we'd replace it (I had revolving "have a penny" credit with two local junk yards) only to discover the fucking unibody was bent. So I had a 3-door buick. Drove it that way for another year because money and interest was going elsewhere. It came up in a County Council meeting about the epidemic of "abandoned cars" plaguing my town. A couple people stood up and said "no, the scary kid drives that thing every day."
A couple people stood up and said "no, the scary kid drives that thing every day."
-That is fucking hilarious. The scary kid, -I love it.
The shittiest car I ever drove was a Pontiac Lemans (not the cool muscle car; the shitty 80s garbage bucket of the same name). My guess is you would never let your kids drive cars as terrible as what we drove. I don't blame you. Basic safety seems reasonable. But, hey, we didn't die! And it wasn't for lack of trying.
I think I know what to get you for Christmas this year:
One of my best friends had a Lemans and we loved it. He was a crazy fucking driver. He loved to pass cars on the median and to pass cars on the right that were in the right lane. Crazy guy. He's now a pretty successful actor. We are lucky to be alive.
Among the dumbest things I have ever done in my life is driving like that while riding as dirty as it is possible to ride, and without a license the four of us. We were breaking so many laws I can't even piece together what would have happened to us if we'd been caught.
I was once openly doing lines of cocaine on a barroom table in Honolulu, because... it felt like it should be legal. I mean, it's not really the US. Ah, what a young idiot I was. Now I'm a much older idiot.We were breaking so many laws I can't even piece together what would have happened to us if we'd been caught.
I hear ya.