#I haven't done even a small comic in ages so this is huge for me

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Chapter 4: Isolation

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2022-12-19

Winding down

Listening: I have no idea why but this song has been open in a tab on my desktop for ages and I finally got around to listening to it. And then I listened to it like a dozen more times. Here's Expert in a Dying Field by The Beths

Reading: Finished What If? 2, the xkcd What If book. A fair number of these are reruns from the site, but lots of good originals, and as always includes some comic panels that are extremely funny out of context, such as:

Also started Africa Risen, an afrofantasy/afrofuturist spec fic short story collection. I have a soft spot for afrofuturism even though I find a lot of it either unbearably optimistic or distressingly pessimistic. That's true of a lot of sci-fi though I guess. I think I saw an ad for this go by on Tumblr Blaze, so good job whatever was in that ad.

I have more to say about this collection but what I have to say will probably change by the time I finish more of it.

Watching: Umbrella Academy Season 3, first few episodes. The dance number in E1 is so good, runs just long enough that you go "wow that's a really long dance number."

Playing: Dorf Fort, started a fort on my desktop and then restarted on my laptop because I don't have power most nights and it's a good way to kill time. The new GUI is fantastic, I don't t think any of the DF players I know are using the original version anymore, it's so much more flexible. Honestly just dragging to designate is such a huge change on its own, forget even having sprites.

Have a fortress up a mountain by a huge volcano, I've done some experimental digging to create lava channels for magma forges and so on. Successfully did not kill any dwarves horribly.

Also went to a game day at a nearby board game store, played a few games but noteworthy ones were:

Photosynthesis, a strategy game about growing trees in a forest without getting overshadowed by your opponents or yourself.

Inis, a Celtic themed strategy game about controlling territory that uses a clever card draft to distribute abilities between players.

Junk Art, a dexterity game about building towers of inconveniently shaped blocks. Not in print anymore, unfortunately.

Canvas, a really cute art-themed card draft game where you try to meet scoring criteria by stacking transparent cards to build up a painting.

Making: More quilt, I haven't touched it in a couple weeks so it was nice to get back. Every now and again you hit a patch of nice easy seams without complex corners and it's a nice break from trying to cinch together seven patches.

Digging into Linux internals to try and figure out what the hell is wrong with the sensor hub in my new laptop led me down a perplexing rabbit hole, the plan is now to try and sniff or otherwise inspect the Windows driver and figure out what it does that the Linux one doesn't.

Tools and Equipment: Gonna make a pitch for Small Laptops. My new 13-inch laptop is a godsend, small enough to chuck in basically any bag, light enough that you won't even know it's there, but big enough that it's way better for watching YouTube videos on in bed than a phone.

I've been doing all those power metric tests so I know it's good but also just using it, it's a real improvement over my old laptop, which I really only ever moved if it couldn't be avoided. The tenting and easel modes are really good for using on couches and in bed because they avoid choking the intakes.