#and I haven’t even started to learn JavaScript yet ���

[chatdomestique]

How it started:

motherfrogger

How it’s going:

it’s gonna be an online altar (+ more)

[m0r1bund]

"Lore, where have you been?"

In hell, probably. I remade M0R1BUND.com.

“For the love of god, why?”

Short answer: to save time and money.

Long answer: Sharing art was getting burdensome. Neocities hosts static websites built with html, css, and javascript—which is awesome for its mission, to encourage people to create future-proof websites. But this also means that every page is created and maintained by hand. I handle every little link and file and bit of code, and if I want to do site-wide changes, I have to push those by hand, too. This takes time, and so does writing image descriptions and cross-posting art to other websites. It became normal for sharing art to eat up an entire day.

I later created Basedt.net in WordPress, so that I didn’t have to worry about managing link hierarchies, which was a big timewaster on my old webcomic. I liked working in WordPress well enough, and I knew I would benefit from being able to use PHP to manage the sheer amount of stuff that’s on M0R1BUND.com. I was also paying double for webhosting through two different services, when I really didn’t need to…. So… I knew it was inevitable that I would consolidate the two at some point. It was time.

I do really love Neocities and I’m sorry to let it go. I encourage anyone who wants to learn web design and create their own website to start there.

Anyway, that’s how I ended up in hell for 6 months.

“What’s changed?”

Most things. I’m most excited about the quality-of-life stuff, like being able to sort art by character/location/world, or being able to move between individual pieces instead of having to return to the gallery landing page. There are lots of things I want to add, but my soft deadline for this was the new year, so I focused on recreating M0R1BUND.com as it existed before… well… this.

I’ve also edited most of my writing. This site is old, and the art is even older, it felt good to give it some TLC.

There are still a few things missing from the new site:

The Woods and RANSOM. They aren’t really representative of Basedt or Mercasor anymore, and I was not a competent writer in 2018. If I re-share them, it will be in the distant future.  

Some of my Those Who Went Missing stuff. I haven’t been playing TWWM publicly, so this is lower priority right now. It will happen when it happens.  

Some twines. They haven’t adjusted to the new filepath format yet. Killswitch is here, though :)

If you need them urgently for some reason, I can share them with you? but that seems doubtful haha.

Links to pages on the old M0R1BUND.com are broken and will remain broken until I set up redirections to the new M0R1BUND.com. I have no idea how long that will take! … Hopefully not long, given the new semester is here.

And of course... If you see anything weird, tell me! I test as much as I can, but I only have access to so many devices. Break this website within an inch of its miserable life so that I can fix it.

“How’s Basedt going?”

It’s going. Recreating my website took precedence for the above reasons, but I’ve been working concurrently on it in my spare time. We move like a glacier into the new year. ETA: ???

[lompia-sysdev-blog]

Week 2: Late update! Diving into HTML & CSS

Hey everyone!

I was supposed to update my Tumblr last week, but things got pretty hectic, and I completely forgot. Now that it’s the start of Week 3, I still want to share what I worked on last week—better late than never, right?

For Week 2, I focused on learning HTML and CSS. I watched a six-hour-long tutorial (yes, six hours!) and worked on some tasks along the way. I also went through a few online courses on HTML and CSS to reinforce what I was learning. However, I haven’t finished the entire course or the video yet since I had other tasks to do as well.

Even though my progress wasn’t massive, I’m glad that I now understand the basics of front-end coding! It’s a small step, but definitely a step forward. This week, my goal is to master HTML and CSS so I can finally start diving into JavaScript—which is both exciting and a little intimidating.

I've been obsessed with KFC lately! Famous bowl hits diff while making tasks. Aside from my coding journey, we also had a group activity during our class session last week. The interesting part? We were grouped on the spot with temporary group members! Despite that, we actually did really well, which was a great experience.

In case you're wondering why I’m learning all of this, it’s because I’ve been assigned to handle the front-end development of our project. It’s a big challenge, but I’m excited to learn and improve. Wish me luck!

That’s it for my Week 2 update. Hopefully, by the next one, I’ll have even more progress to share. Let’s keep learning! 🚀

[katesprocessblog]

Week #3

Introduction

For this week I knew I needed to spend a little time narrowing down what I wanted my topic to be. Next week I plan on spending most of my time on that task but I still need to do some thinking now because I’m at a point where I’m encountering recurring issues:

Issue #1: I know I want to do something personal relating to finding one’s identity and how hard that can be growing up when you feel othered or like you don’t belong. I just don’t know if I want to use the lens of nostalgia, horror, or both to convey feelings of discomfort? I’ve enjoyed the research I’ve done but I just don’t feel totally set on that yet even though I spent the last two weeks largely looking into it.

Issue #2: I haven’t seen a lot of horror? It’s a genreI stayed away from for so long, and it’s only been a recent thing that I’ve felt like I want to explore more and I feel drawn to, but I'm not knowledgeable on the subject so I need to decide if I want to pivot off of this or not. I think the form of horror I’ve consumed the most is through video games so I could spend a week diving into that.

I am hoping my research this week leads me in the right direction.

Research

I sent out a google form this week asking questions related to horror/thriller genres in media people consumed growing up and how they might have been affected by them. I also wanted to know why people really like these genres or why not.

Do you consume media (games, films, TV, books, videos) containing horror/psychological/thriller elements?

When you were a teen/preteen, what were some of the memorable pieces of media in those genres that you consumed?

Are you drawn to these genres? Why or why not?

Do you remember any media in these genres being particularly nostalgic for you?

Are you easily scared or frightened? Did/do you have a lot of nightmares often now or when you were younger?

I sent this out on monday to some friends and as of writing my blog post I’ve gotten 8 responses. There is a wide variety of answers which I’m very happy about. I found it interesting that I had responses in all 4 quadrants of this table. 

Enjoys horror and gets scared easily

Doesn’t enjoy horror and attributes that to getting scared easily

Enjoys horror and isn’t scared easily

Doesn’t enjoy horror and isn’t scared easily

The question about nightmares led to some interesting thought processes and I might look into that more. Like I had one person say that they are super anxious and got a lot of nightmares as a kid but don’t like horror not because it’s scary but because they find a lot of it to be “cheesy”. Another person said they have to watch horror media during the day which I definitely relate to. It reminded me though how the dark is an extra layer of scariness because of the unknown that comes with not being able to see your surroundings well. 

Overall there’s a lot more that I learned from the responses so far and I think it helps me find some more things to look into as potential points of views surrounding maybe the eyes and identity or nightmares and identity etc.

Creative Research

One of my friends had mentioned I should look into OpenProcessing, which is an online platform that allows people to share and explore creative coding projects made with p5.js and other programming languages. It's like a social network for artists and programmers, where you can find, showcase, and collaborate on interactive artworks and visual experiments. I just started learning JavaScript and using the p5 library this year and the generative art side of the website drew me in.

Some examples of cool things that I was looking into on the website:

https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1270210

https://openprocessing.org/sketch/2065676

https://openprocessing.org/sketch/2095152

Over the week I ended up looking into tutorials on the basics of making sketches. This one guy has a good series on different topics like shapes, loops, color, trig functions, noise. I just spent time learning more about generative art and I think these skills can help me in the future of wherever I head in my project. 

Reflections

This week I think I gained some good insights. I know I want to work with identity and research something related to that pain and discomfort that comes with trying to find your identity, especially growing up in the preteen and teenage years. My creative research was not connected really to my reflection but I do think I will use what I learned in the future of my project. I know for next week I will continue to expand upon what we worked on in class with identifying a point of view and I have some really good ideas I just need to look for gaps in information now.

[queenlua]

hey, i started following you recently and ur bio says ur a hacker? any tips on where to start? hacking seems like a v cool/fun way to learn more abt coding and cybersecurity/infrastructure and i'd like to explore it but there's so much on the internet and like, i'm not trying to get into anything illegal. thanks!

huh, an interesting question, ty!

i can give more tailored advice if you hit me up on chat with more specifics on your background/interests.

given what you've written here, though, i'll just assume you don't have any immediate professional aspirations (e.g. you just want to learn some things, and you aren't necessarily trying to get A Cyber Security Job TM within the next three months or w/e), and that you don't know much about any specific programming/computering domain yet.

(stuff under cut because long)

first i'd probably just try to pick some interesting problem that you think you can solve with tech. this doesn't need to be a "hacking" project at first; i was just messing around with computers for ages before i did anything involving security/exploitation.

if you don't already know how to program, you should ideally pick a problem you can solve via programming. for instance: i learned a lot back in the 2000s, when play-by-post forum RPGs were in vogue.  see, i'd already been messing around, building my own personal sites, first just with HTML & CSS, and later on with Javascript and PHP.   and i knew the forum software everyone used (InvisionPowerBoard) was written in PHP.  so when one of the admins at my RPG complained that they'd like the ability to set multiple profile pictures, i was like, "hey i'm good at programming, want me to create a mod to do that," and then i just... did. so then they asked me to program more features, and i got all the sexy nerd cred for being Forum Mod Queen, and it was a good time, i learned a lot.

(i also got to be the person who was frantically IMed at 2am because wtf the forum is down and there's an inscrutable error, what do??? basically sysadmining! also, much less sexy! still, i learned a lot!)

the key thing is that it's gotta be a problem that's interesting to you: as much as i love making dorky sites in PHP, half the fun was seeing other people using my stuff, and i think the era of forum-based RPGs has passed. but maybe you can apply some programming talents to something that you are interested in—maybe you want to make a silly Chrome extension to make people laugh, a la Cloud to Butt, or maybe you'd like to make a program that converts pixel art into cross-stitching patterns, maybe you want to just make a cool adventure game on those annoying graphing calculators they make you use in class, or make a script for some online game you play, or make something silly with Arduino (i once made a trash can that rolled toward me when i clapped my hands; it was fun, and way easier than you'd think!), whatever.

i know a lot of hacker-types who got their start doing ROM hacking for video games—replacing the character art or animations or whatever in old NES games. that's probably more relevant than the PHP websites, at least, and is probably a solid place to get started; in my experience those communities tend to be reasonably friendly to questions. pick a small thing you want to do & ask how to do it.

also, a somewhat unconventional path, but—once i knew how to program a bit of Python, i started doing goofy junk, like, "hey can i implemented NamedTuple from scratch,” which tends to lead to Python metaprogramming, which leads to surprising shit like "oh, stack frames are literally just Python objects and you can manually edit them in the interpreter to do deliberately horrendous/silly things, my god this language allows too much reflection and i'm having too much fun"... since Python is a lot of folks' first language these days, i thought i'd point that out, since i think this is a pretty accessible start to thinking about How Programs Actually Work under the hood. allison kaptur has some specific recommendations on how to poke around, if you wanna go that route.

it's reasonably likely you'll end up doing something "hackery" in the natural course of just working on stuff. for instance, while i was working on the IPB forum software mods, i became distressed to learn that everyone was using an INSECURE version of the software! no one was patching their shit!! i yelled at the admins about it, and they were like "well we haven't been hacked yet so it's not a problem," so i uh, decided to demonstrate a proof of concept? i downloaded some sketchy perl script, kicked it until it worked, logged in as the admins, and shitposted a bit before i logged out, y'know, to prove my point.

(they responded by banning me for two weeks, and did not patch their software. which, y'know, rip to them; they got hacked by an unrelated Turkish group two months later, and those dudes just straight-up deleted the whole website. i was a merciful god by comparison!)

anyway, even though downloading a perl script and just pointing it at a website isn't really "hacking" (it's the literal definition of script kiddie, heh)—the point is i was just experimenting a lot and trying a lot of stuff, which meant i was getting comfortable with thinking of software as not just some immutable relic, but something you can touch and prod in unexpected ways.

this dovetails into the next thing, which is like, just learn a lot of stuff. a boring conventional computer science degree will teach you a lot (provided you take it seriously and actually try to learn shit); alternatively, just taking the same classes as a boring conventional computer science degree, via edX or whatever free online thingy, will also teach you a lot. ("contributing to open source" also teaches you a lot but... hngh... is a whole can of worms; send a follow-up ask if you want that rant.)

here's where i should note that "hacking" is an impossibly broad category: the kind of person who knows how to fuck with website authentication tokens is very different than someone who writes a fuzzer, who is often quite different than someone who looks at the bug a fuzzer produces and actually writes a program that can exploit that bug... so what you focus on depends on what you're interested in. i imagine classes with names like "compilers," "operating systems," and "networking" will teach you a lot. but, like, idk, all knowledge is god-breathed and good for teaching. hell, i hear some universities these days have actual computer security classes? that's probably a good thing to look at, just to get a sense of what's out there, if you already know how to program.

also be comfortable with not knowing everything, but also, learn as you go. the bulk of my security knowledge came when i got kinda airdropped into a work team that basically hired me entirely on "potential" (lmao), and uh, prior to joining i only had the faintest idea what a hypervisor was? or the whole protection ring concept? or ioctls or sandboxing or threat models or, fuck, anything? i mostly just pestered people with like 800 questions and slowly built up a knowledge base, and remember being surprised & delighted when i went to a security conference a year later and could follow most of the talks, and when i wound up at a bar with a guy on the xbox security team and we compared our security models a bunch, and so on.  there wasn't a magic moment when i "got it", i was just like, "okay huh this dude says he found a ring-0 exploit... what does that mean... okay i think i got that... why is that a big deal though... better ask somebody.." (also: reading an occasional dead tree book is a good idea. i owe my firstborn to Robert Love's Linux Kernel Development, as outdated as it is, and also O'Reilly's kookaburra book gave me a great overview of web programming back in the day, etc.  you can learn a lot by just clicking around random blogs, but you’ll often end up with a lot of random little facts and no good mental scaffolding for holding it together; often, a decent book will give you that scaffolding.)

(also, it's pretty useful if you can find a knowledgable someone to pepper with random questions as you go. finding someone who will actively mentor you is tricky, but most working computery folks are happy to tell you things like "what you're doing is actually impossible, here's why," or "here's a tutorial someone told me was good for learning how to write a linux kernel module," or "here's my vague understanding of this concept you know nothing about," or "here's how you automate something to click on a link on a webpage," which tends to be handier than just google on its own.)

if you're reading this and you're like "ok cool but where's the part where i'm handed a computer and i gotta break in while going all hacker typer”—that's not the bulk of the work, alas! like, for sure, we do have fun pranking each other by trying dumb ways of stealing each other's passwords or whatever (once i stuck a keylogger in a dude's keyboard, fun times). but a lot of my security jobs have involved stuff like, "stare at this disassembly a long fuckin' time to figure out how the program pointer got all fucked up," or, "write a fuzzer that feeds a lot of randomized input to some C++ program, watch the program crash because C++ is a horrible language for writing software, go fix all the bugs," or "think Really Hard TM about all the settings and doohickeys this OS/GPU/whatever has, think about all the awful things someone could do with it, threat model and sandbox accordingly." occasionally i have done cool proof-of-concept hacks but honestly writing exploits can kinda be tedious, lol, so like, i'm only doing that if it's the only way i can get people to believe that Yes This Is Actually A Problem, Fix Your Code

"lua that's cool and all but i wanted, like, actual links and recommendations and stuff" okay, fair. here's some ideas:

microcorruption: very fun embedded security CTF; teaches you everything you need to know as you're doing it.

cryptopals crypto challenges: very fun little programming exercises that teach you a lot of fundamental cryptography concepts as you're going along! you can do these even as a bit of a n00b; i did them in Python for the lulz

the binary bomb lab is hilariously copied by, like, so many CS programs, lol, but for good reason. it's accessible and fun and is the first time most people get to feel like a real hacker! (requires you know a bit of C beforehand)

ctftime is a good way to see when new CTFs ("capture the flag"s; security-focused competitions) are coming up. or, sometimes CTFs post their source code, so you can continue trying them after the CTF is over. i liked Stripe's CTFs when they were going, because they focused on "web stuff", and "web stuff" was all i really knew at the time. if you're more interested in staring at disassembly, there's CTFs focused on that sort of thing too.

azeria has good ARM assembly & exploitation tutorials

also, like, lots of good talks out there; just watching defcon/cansecwest/etc talks until something piques your interest is very fun. i'd die on a battlefield for any of Christopher Domas's talks, but he assumes a lot of specific x86/OS knowledge, lol, so maybe don’t start with that. oh, Julia Evans's blog is honestly probably pretty good for just learning a lot of stuff and really beginner-friendly?

oh and wrt legality... idk, i haven't addressed it here since it hasn't come up in my own work much, tbh. if you're just getting started you're kind of unlikely to Break The Law without, y'know, realizing maybe you're doing something a bit gray-area? and you can cross that bridge when you come to it? Real Hacking TM is way more of a pain-in-the-ass than doing CTFs and such, and you'll learn way more with the latter, so who cares lol just do the fun thing

[resetpermalik]

Mass Music Measurements Survey Form

A freeCodeCampChallenge

Gaining Speed

This marks my second freeCodeCamp challenge. As I mentioned in my after action report from the first FCC challenge (tribute page), it took some time to finally gain traction and fully complete that project. That was a problem with (one) unnecessary complexity of design and (two) a lack of planning (before I began to code.) It was my assumption that if I laced the project with many working parts, I would learn much, much faster; also, that by getting right to the code, I could pick up the syntax, semantics and general knack for writing (code) in less time. And wow, I was very incorrect in thinking so.

As a response to my previous poor start (with my tribute page,) this time I was better able to address some lessons which had only occurred to me when halfway through the last project. So this time, I really dialed in the importance of streamlining my initial paperwork designs, learning how to more proficiently use Figma and some of its tools, how to better approach icon design with Photoshop and vastly improve my entire workflow. This provided (not only) an easier build, but also a more efficient angle by which I was empowered to catch more lessons along the way.

In the next few paragraphs, I will detail just which specific advantages I picked up in terms of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript capability. In addition, I will move through some of the tactics I employed to help me finish this challenge with much more confidence than the last.

Planning Stages

When I set out to hand-write the marked goals (set down by FCC’s challenge,) I do find it tedious. The thing is, I am copying (in my own words) precisely what the challenge is demanding of me. Let me elaborate…

With every line, I am telling myself that I really do not need to do this. I mean, I can pretty easily peer over at the other browser window (when necessary) and see exactly what my marching orders are. Though albeit true, there are a couple of key differences in (one) reading from FCC and (two) writing/reading my own notes.

As I write out every expected step of my project, I can build an image immediately for how I would like my creation to take shape. This falls in line with the visual aspects and design, the color scheme, the functionality of each element and the code itself. It is a powerful method to which I will pay better respect going forward. (I already have plenty of ideas on how to implement more potent procedures — like larger drafting paper, (which will allow for a greater landscape on my pages, maybe using a tablet for notation and perhaps a few voice recordings along the way)). Now, I may be getting ahead of myself! Back to the plans..

And so writing out the objectives is terrific for lots of reasons, but moving to the drawn design itself — this may be the most crucial bit yet. Here’s the deal. When I physically drew the (expected) survey form, I may have well completed the whole project. So what does that mean?

I took so much liberty in imagining what the design should resemble. More specifically, I let my mind wander and allowed thoughts to spill out onto the legal pad before me. This (in combination with my understanding of how everything needed be expressed in code) let me structure my rough draft with such a degree that the next step made the actual coding like an exercise in copy and paste. I’ll expound…

I was drawing parts which were effectively elements of HTML. This was followed by some (more precise) markings of pseudo-code (which amounted to about all of the HTML I required to code for the whole challenge.) So, when I say the planning has proved to be useful, this would be an undestatement. This attention to planning has made it possible for me to avoid the ‘nuts and bolts’ in my code editor. Now, this advancement is massive, because the saved time and effort was a testement to why I was then able to better learn more intricate detail when coding. And now let’s get to those lessons and the code at large.

Within Earshot of Paper and Pencil

My goal is not to elaborate on the use of specific technologies, but more-so the process itself. however, I will briefly touch on Figma and Photoshop…

Using Figma helped me focus on each element and understand how they more literally fit together in the puzzle. I was able to name every piece such that it would show me what my HTML element should be in code and how each need be named. Also, I took those separate entities and grouped them such that I could postion everything exactly as I wished. My next goal with Figma will be to utilize the ‘component’ feature and truly unroll some strong functionality of the software.

Regarding Photoshop, I made a logo for my survey and spun it into a favicon with relative ease. In an attempt to create animations and advertisements for my affiliate site, I have better come to understand Photoshop’s effectiveness. Thereby, building my icon was fairly straightforward. I simply pieced it together with a couple of layers and exported the PNG. I still want to be able to employ SVGs for this application; but until now, I haven’t perfected the craft. I will leave that for the coming FCC challenge. Onward!

Coding the Beast

The first topic to address here is quite obvious for me… SUITE TESTING.

When I began coding this project, I wrote my HTML boilerplate and immediately tied in the FCC testing script so I could begin verifying my code at every turn. I’ll elaborate…

I ran into a few issues with debugging throughout my last project; those were problems which resulted in code errors piling up on me simultaneously. And, while an error (for which you don’t know the remedy) is frustrating…several of those errors (all at once) becomes infuriating. Luckily, I ran into a great solution. Unit testing.

By instantiating the FCC test suite before I began coding the bulk of my project, I was then gifted the opportunity of verifying each of the sixteen goal posts.

In more detail, nearly no problems snuck up on me while coding the breadth of this project because I was adamant on addressing them in real time (as they appeared). What a true life-saver...

Input Text (element, attribute)

I found it repetitive and annoying at first, when the 10th goal of this challenge asked me to give both the input and label elements their own respective and corresponding ids. This was because I (very simply) did not understand the request. Along with that, I definitely didn’t understand why it was being asked (to begin with.) 

That said, I now realize that the goal was to identify the label for the text field, in addition to the field itself. In understanding this distinction, I have now been able to find value in this very feature.

By giving ids to both my labels and input texts, I was then able to style each distinctly and find them with more ease (while peering though my HTML.) Now here’s real solid tip which I will not soon forget.

Don’t Pick More Than One Option!

So, I was writing the code for my radio buttons and what happened next is certainly a rookie mistake. When I navigated to my browser (in order to test the options,) I found that EVERY one of my buttons was clickable. And this, for obvious reasons, is not ideal.

This solution was super easy. All I needed to do was unify (or make each value the same for) the input-radio buttons. After I placed cloned values for each radio button, only one option could then be chosen. Success!

Nitpick the Name and Ids

This is something which should possibly be glossed over. But, when working with various input fields, I was asked to employ many names and ids for each.

While I’m not entirely certain (even now) whether there is a standard for which comes first, I have come to realize that name attributes should possibly supercede id attributes.

Using Visual Studio Code, it seems to like placing names before ids. And in a real life estimation, using name over id seems to be old-fashioned, but admirable.

More seriously, I understand in code, name will be less subjective (while more actionable) and ids will more far more particular and prone to alteration.

Dropdown

I was in a position to use dropdown boxes twice in this project. The problem I came across was that my options continued to begin with the default option as selectable. While I learned the solution quickly and with ease, I believe it should be recorded as vital.

When inserting a placeholder option in a dropdown box, in order to keep it from being a clickable entity, you have to style it as such.

I called the id of the option in my CSS sheet and set its display as none. That easy.

Pseudo Class and Element Selectors

Very little of my experience with this challenge dealt with pseudo class or pseudo element selectors. But, I will cover (in short) what I did learn (with these topics in mind.)

Using a pseudo element selector is the best (or maybe only) way to call an attribute from an HTML element and style with CSS.

This is how I was able to change the appearance of my placeholder text in each input-text.

I know pseudo class selectors are the way to alter elements (in a certain state) like ‘hover’ or ‘before’, but I haven’t used them enough to expand this monologue. That said, I’ll press on…

Attribute Selectors

In confluence with my previous words, I may have provided a misnomer to exactly what was being modified with pseudo-elements. But, I digress (and hopefully you see what I mean).

Using attribute selectors is quite different from other selectors, because you will be placing true brackets in as your selector which house your attribute, followed by an equal sign and a set of quotations (housing your value.)

Looks like this [attribute=“value”]. And that’s that!

Media Queries

While I employed media queries for this project, I have yet to fully grasp exactly how to use them (in reference to appropriation and context.) Therefore, I will not go into detail; but, only mention that I used them to alter my CTA button across pixel-widths. Also, I realized that setting a new media query works better when starting with the immediate values from your last screen size.

A Bit of JavaScript

The big task I pushed for in this project was this: change the client-side font family for a text area as the user types. And by big, I mean, it took me about as long as the rest of the whole challenge to learn this functionality with JavaScript. That said, I now understand much better how JS semantics are employed. And, that’s pretty priceless…

For this goal, I inserted a script with an event listener. First, I started with DOMContentLoaded, which allows for firing without the images or styling need be loaded.

The next bit lets my document be called by its (element) id.

Then, it states that my id will be triggered by any input (via an eventListener) and will force my later instantiated function.

The function declared will let the charCode number equal a string which will be console.log(ed) out as my target.value (of Nunito, sans-serif) with proper style.fontFamily.

Conclusion

Attempting to wrap this project up in a nice bow is difficult, as I have onboarded a great deal of information (from one simple survey page.) After completing this task, I am left with a split-brain. While I have learned so much from something, seemingly straightforward, now I am thrilled to make it to the next project and take on those new expectations.

I suppose my takeaway is that I should fine-tune my HTML and CSS understanding and seriously crack open all that is JavaScript. All which, can wait until tomorrow. Cheers!

[warmonger0]

#100DaysOfCode

Day 1 -

I’ve dabbled in web development on and off for years. I have the basics of html and css down and I can read most javascript but i could really use a formal deep dive into web development.

Even thought I’ve played around for so long, I’ve never successfully built more than a static website or two.  I’ve made the excuses that real life is in the way, that I don’t have the time, or or that it’s too hard. But, the truth is that I haven’t been disciplined enough to devote just a little time to working on it, regularly.

So, I’ve decided to make a commitment to myself to spend time, each day, diving into web development.  The mission is to work for at least 15 minutes a day, each and every day, for 100 days. A successful day is NOT just listening to someone talk about code for 15 minutes.  A successful day IS reading, listening, and then actually applying what I read and heard with actual time typing code.

My goal is to use the knowledge I gain to develop the front end of a web tool for use in my law firm.  That app will need to track my time spent on individual clients and matters, track and manage open tasks, and remind me to follow up on open items.  There are plenty of off the shelf solutions to this but after testing out well over 40, I have yet to find one that suits my practice needs.  That would also defeat the fun of making it myself.

To that end, i’m going to be focusing on vanilla javascript and React to implement the front end design of my web application.  I’ve been halfway into a React course for months and today I finally felt like I needed to take the plunge and commit to myself and my learning. The winter break and wind down of year end legal work mean that I have a few moments each day to focus on programming. 

Today, I ran through some old lessons from react and have started an introductory course on javascript.  The short term goal in doing this is to reinforce basic javascript principles and remind myself of where I left off in my React lessons.  As an added bonus, scrimba.com is running an advent calendar of daily javascript problems.  You can find more about that my going to scrimba.com or by searching the hashtag #javaScriptmas on twitter.

For today’s #javaScriptmas challenge, I was able to complete the solution with a bit of research, but I got through the problem quickly.  Thankfully, logic and math are strong suits for me but I am a bit rusty. Drafting contracts, I rarely have to do math.

Tomorrow, I’ll probably be back to a couple more lessons of vanilla javascript, another lesson on react, and I’m going to tackle setting up my environment in VSCode.  I think that by week end, i’ll try my hand at my first react component for use in my law firm application. 

If you read this, I hope you’ll wish me luck and, if you have the time I hope you’ll encourage me to post more.  Starting a new habit is never easy but encouragement really helps. Thanks in advance.

-p

[rpgmgames]

March’s Featured Game: Abigail Fortune and the Dreams of Azure

DEVELOPER(S): Fusoloid ENGINE: RPG Maker MV GENRE: Adventure, RPG SUMMARY: Abigail Fortune's adventures continue in Paris! As she obtains information about a mysterious treasure called "Azure Dreams", the gentlewoman thief is joined by her old friend, Marguerite "Maria" Montblanc. Together the ladies must discover the true identity of the treasure, find out the truth behind the treasure's owner, and avoid falling permanently into the most wonderful dream...

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! I am Heidi K., also known as Fusoloid. I'm a Finnish university student, and I've been in the RPG Maker community since the early 2010's. I got much more active in following the community after I started developing my own games, however. I love art, studying cultures, and all in all, I'm here to be creative and have a good time!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Fusoloid: The Abigail Fortune series is, essentially, about the eponymous gentlewoman thief and her many adventures. I was inspired to make a story about a thief after binge-watching the first Lupin III anime series in late 2014, and after playing the demo of an RPGM game called Pumpkin Panic! around the same time, I decided to make it a game series on RPG Maker.

How long did you work on your project? *Fusoloid: I've been working on the AF series as a whole since late 2014. Proper work on Dreams of Azure started in 2017, after the release of the first game in the series, The Scarlet Fairy. Of course, even before that, I had outlined the major plot points and many of the characters, and even made some character sketches, though most of my efforts were focused on The Scarlet Fairy until it was released.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Fusoloid: Lupin III is the obvious biggest inspiration behind the series; major characters like Abigail, Marguerite and the Interpol duo of Cynthia and Neil were inspired by the major characters of Lupin III. Games like Persona 5, the Sly Cooper series and even the Uncharted series have inspired me in one way or another. Of course, I've been inspired by other pixel RPGs too, like The Witch's House, Dreaming Mary, Virgo VS the Zodiac and the LiEat series.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Fusoloid: One thing I've had challenges with Dreams of Azure is the more complex battle system I want to implement. Sometimes effects or features I wanted to include in the battle system weren't possible to implement, either due to the restrictions of the engine/plugin, or the complexity of the coding needed for it. Currently I've changed things so that these effects work differently than what I initially intended, but in a similar fashion.

Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Fusoloid: The story has probably changed the most out of all other aspects! The initial story was set in France like the current one, but the characters and story progression were completely different. Some time during 2016, I realized that the story wouldn't work as an RPG-style game too well, so I rewrote it to what it is now. Of course, that original story idea isn't completely abandoned yet...

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Fusoloid: I've worked on the series mostly by myself, but I've had some help from a certain friend of mine. She did the playtesting for The Scarlet Fairy, and also proofread and illustrated The Scarlet Emperor spinoff novella for me. I don't have any regrets about working (mostly) alone on the series, but I sometimes think I should learn a bit more about how Javascript works... a bit.

What was the best part of developing the game? *Fusoloid: Writing the story and making the art! I love writing dialogue and just writing down ideas for interactions that could be either funny or entertaining to the player or myself. Making the various character portraits is something I enjoy most about making the game's art, and I love conveying the different characters' personalities with their expressions and reactions.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Fusoloid: I often play other RPGM games to become inspired or to find new ideas, often times for puzzles and aesthetic stuff. For example, I would play Pocket Mirror or Dreaming Mary to get ideas for the aesthetic of Dreams of Azure's main location, and then play games like Ib or The Witch's House for puzzle ideas. Of course, I don't want to directly rip off anything, and I like doing my own thing and putting in my own twists as well.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Fusoloid: While I do like all of my character in one way or another, my favorite overall character will probably always be Abigail. She's extremely fun to write, and it's interesting to write a character who disguises her true self under a multitude of different personas. However, at the same time, there's the same person at the core of every disguise, and I want to develop that core character with every new entry in the series. And also, I just love charming rogues with a heart of gold... ♥

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Fusoloid: There isn't anything I regret with The Dreams of Azure, but regarding my game development journey in general, I wish I had started with something small instead of jumping straight into a bigger project. The Scarlet Fairy feels really unpolished in retrospect, and had I known more about the engine beforehand, I think I could've probably created much more creative ways of progression, as well as more interesting puzzles.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Fusoloid: Of course! The Abigail Fortune series will certainly continue after Dreams of Azure, and I already have a multitude of ideas on how the series will continue. AF3 will definitely come one day, but there will be a bunch more stuff coming out before that.

With your current project, what do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Fusoloid: The reaction from the fans! I love seeing how people talk about my stuff and what they liked and enjoyed about it. There's also just the incredibly satisfying feeling of being able to complete something and releasing it into the wild.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Fusoloid: The reaction from the fans, surprisingly. While I love seeing people enjoy my stuff, I'm also extremely terrified of releasing any big project due to my fear of being judged or unjustly critiqued. If it's something big and something I spent a lot of time on, having it be called bad or terrible would be the worst thing I could think of. I think this fear stems from years of bad experiences in my youth... I've done my best to work on this, of course, but I still notice myself getting very nervous.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Fusoloid: If you're thinking about getting into game developing, start from small projects. These projects don't have to be any longer than 5 minutes, as long as you finish them and learn new things about the engine you're using. Secondly, when you start your first bigger project, WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. From puzzles to dialogue to how the story advances, write everything down on a document of some kind so you can easily go through the progression of the plot without suffering and having to come up with things on the fly as you're making the game. And thirdly, BACK UP YOUR PROJECT FILES! Save 'em on an external hard drive, send 'em to an online cloud, send 'em to a friend; anything goes as long as your hard work will be preserved in case of disaster!!

Question from last month's featured dev @doc-saturn: What's something you learned while making this game? Is there anything you're trying to learn how to do right now? *Fusoloid: Parallax mapping! I decided to try out parallax mapping for the first time for The Dreams of Azure, and it's a lot of fun! The maps look a lot better than in The Scarlet Fairy, and it's fun to think of set pieces and decorations for the maps. However, making changes into the maps after having completed them can be a bit of a hassle...

We mods would like to thank Fusoloid for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Abigail Fortune and the Dreams of Azureif you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[clairehazelb]

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR OF THE TENTH CUBE

And by Editor I mean, Claire Hazel,

(whom you may know as C.M. Hazel)

Writing my first historical fiction novel was a task of love, but a great endeavor nonetheless.

When we do things we love. we love the things we do. The Tenth Cube was, in essence, my love for romance and history poured onto pages of combined plotlines and historical facts. Coupled with science and a good dose of ritz, it blossomed like a garden flower into the novel it became. I felt, finally, like a writer the moment I wrote “The End.”

Writers, like professionals of other art forms, just are. Mostly, it occurred to me long ago,  we can become it, like the second you write the last sentence of that novel, or publish your book, like there is a glorified ending to calling yourself a member of the elite group of artists who pine at the sight of a lonely blank page.

Or so I felt. 

I read years ago -and my apologies to the person who wrote it for I sincerely do not recall the author- that ‘the moment you call yourself what you esteem yourself to be, is the moment you become it’. Therefore, if you want to be a writer, you call yourself a writer and let others deliberate on whether you are apt to be or not.

I practiced my skill of saying I was a writer in front of a mirror or while waiting for traffic to move in the lane ahead of mine. I yelled it out the window for good measure. “Move the fuck out of the way. I am a writer and can write this into my book!”

The moment somebody asked me and I said it out loud, I embodied it with pride, like the day I stepped with character shoes onto a stage felt for the actress in me. It burgeoned out of me like it was supposed to forever, waiting to be discovered. I beamed with the wine-laced fever of the evening.

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  It was a pivotal moment in my history, redefining where I ended up with my work. I went on a search for myself and found my writing voice. The days were growing longer with the dawn of my ideas and entries, so I had to make use of what I was inspired to do.

Despite my assertion, that I was a writer and not a poser, fear of criticism stalled me. I faced it like stage fright, but it was a sinister face at the end of my journal telling me it was not good enough. Nothing could come out of my penned notes and rhythmic pentameters.

I read about imposter syndrome around the time, looking for ways to face my fears. As it turns out, it can apply to anyone in any career, but it is a disorder that affects writers especially so, the idea that you aren’t good enough is prevalent amongst the inked-fingered-wordsmiths in my profession.

When I finished the Tenth Cube, everything changed.  While editing, I thought about a piece I had never published which explored the elements of fear. From that entry into my journal, came the text I eventually entered into my novel. I felt it appropriate for my second published book and first historical fiction novel. Aspiring writers are usually the best readers and learn best while to reading other writers’ works, taking what they can to heart. Here is part of the text in my book.

  A WRITING INDULGENCE

When I first started writing The Cube (as I lovingly call this novel), I typed without direction and wrote about many topics. I posted most of it on an old website, I would not even dare call a blog at this point. I eventually learned to hold hands with my muse in a better way and supplied my artistic knowledge with my other artistic experience. But, it inevitably always led me toward the same reason for not embarking onto a manuscript fully. Fear.

  My head swam with thoughts and reasons why I would fail miserably at my task. I just knew.

I know everything in stories has already been said and done.

I know I’m not alone when it comes to storytelling and interesting facts about life and circumstance. I know the very principle of storytelling relies on the fact that the narrative is good and characters are interesting. And, then again, I don’t know anything at all.

I personally see the story better in my head than how it reflects on writing.

  Despite knowing and fear, stories ultimately lead you where you need to go. And for sake of argument,

Yes, I believe it’s possible to be a good storyteller, despite everything having been done already.

Rarely am I ever afraid, even rarest is my admission to the fear, but it scares me a little still because nothing has ever worked in my mind better than my stories.

I’ve failed so miserably at so many things it’s hard to start this again. I do not fear telling you this though. I write for a while and the fear disappears. I want to be the bearer of good news for new writers or those having an urge to quit like I have so many times before. Bear with me on this.

The phrase ‘It started with a notebook I once wrote’ jumped into my head a while ago. I wrote a poem about it because of the many notebooks later it took me to create the first personal entry into a public medium. I’d written about theater plays and Language Education with a technical point of view, but storytelling, like acting in stories which came to life through my fingers, became the part of me I most enjoyed writing.

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About eight years ago, I wrote a story –also based on a weird dream- and I went from there. I haven’t really stopped writing since. So, maybe that’s my beginning for this. I’ve scattered ideas and unfinished stories everywhere. My own pending as ever, the satire runneth over my brimming mind, for lack of better understanding sets perfectly in here. But, to make things simple, I will advise you to keep trying new and trying for more.

“Delia became my headstrong voice for writing. Though it was my second novel finished, she paced my thoughts in a way no other story had, and I was hooked to her charms. Delia Donovan became my daily dose of the [her-story] I so hated as a young girl and delight so in my adult years. Instead of writing columns of advice for women as I had planned, I went toward writing about strong, intelligent, resourceful, frightened yet capable women with the same principle in mind.” Claire Hazel

Delia will hopefully continue to inspire stories – I am in research and writing the second novel. There will likely be a third as well.

Aspiring writer and authors, the gist of what I mean in this.

It took me X years to develop the voice I needed to write this book.

It took me lll to research and write the full novel, with periods of off and on to dream and work on other projects.

It has taken me lV between trying to publish on my own and finding a publisher.

  The Tenth Cube became an enduring project because it has a life worth living, I have said that before I think. Most writers live in this world where stories cannot go untold. Therefore my dear thirtysomething-writer who hasn’t started yet, if you are like I was, find the outlet to do so and share the story that has a life worth living.

Take the time to write and sit with confidence to edit. And please, share with me that hard-pressed jewel when you like.

A big box with recycled paper packing and a mug of coffee with enough supply for reading will be the most delicious treat a grown girl could ever get.

  What are then, these so-called Elements

By ways of telling you of the best technique I have used to move my stories and find the hidden information in my characters I need to shape their persona, we will use the What if? technique. What ifs are a way to create possibility. When you have doubts, there are endless What ifs going around in your head like a merry-go-round of incertitude. In essence, The Elements of said turntable of fear could be considered the following:

What if I can’t write like the rest of the authors I read?

This could fall within the impostor syndrome I wrote about before. You are not an impostor of your own game, you feel like a writer, believe it with confidence. It does not mean you have to be like other writers, successful or not.

Writing may or may not take time. For the present me, it is a matter of sitting to the type or jot down notes. But as I mentioned, it took many years to develop a voice I found pleasing and suitable, according to my desired writing style. I guess what is important is that

you don’t imitate but emulate those you love AT FIRST to develop your own voice

write about what you like and not what people like, the audience will find you and relate better

study the greats and accommodate your needs through your learning styles and experiences

nobody is alike and we are all connected, so find what works for your personal style without judging yourself or thinking you will be compared

What if there are things I don’t know or need to include in my novel I know absolutely nothing about?

Researching novels doesn’t have to be grueling work. Annote as you write (for pantsers) or outline the novel as you want it to be (plotter). Your writing style can help or hinder you. So, read carefully,

Research as needed before and fully after finishing your manuscript

Too much research can create difficulty for you and/or your reader, who is probably not in need to sit through, say, a history class instead of understanding through the plot movement

Too little research shows lack of pulchritude and disrespect to your readers, or make you sound nonchalant and ignorant.

Rule of thumb? Be aware, show knowledge, but don’t over inform.

What if I get stuck in my writing process?

Find inspiration wherever you look or take time to be still and OBSERVE

Nature, life, family, etc, show us and teach us. Use its lessons to show you the way, so do not just look and see, WATCH AND LEARN

Don’t overwhelm yourself or stick to a plotline if you feel stuck. Take a break to refresh your ideas and they will hit you when you least expect it, I promise you! An exercise that works for me is jumping the part where I am stuck and either mind mapping or planning the ending first then backtracking to the difficult area

Talk to your characters. they tell you lies at times but help you find the way. Listen carefully!

What if they do not help me publish?

Many writers are still sitting on the sideline of genius, gems of witing prose at their fingertips. Sadly, most give up writing because of this. I have quarried and continue to quarry publishers without much success, but I keep pressing on.

I self-published my first two books with great difficulty and many years of work, but they paid off in a way nothing else has. Take your chances with self-publishing. (I will soon open a platform for other writers to send me manuscripts to publish as an editor. News on this later!)

What if I don’t have time to write?

Write where ever you are able to create a strong writing muscle. Keep pen and pads where ever you can or use phones and tablets, recording apps, and /or your digital cameras

Take every chance you get to exercise the need to write, be it a post-it note or a short phrase inside a journal, a Tweet or a love note, make those words count in your favor

What if I do not feel like I can write my novel (yet)?

Use blogs, submit to magazines, write articles or content, keep journals, or write your family’s newsletter.

Contact your local papers or ask if anybody needs a content writer in your school or local businesses

Start with simpler texts, like magazine entries and restaurant menus

Keep writing your way into the published author you want to be without thinking that you have to have a published book in your hands before you can call your self a writer. There are hundreds of professions where writing is a need and many forms of writing are included in this. Comic book writers, for exa

  Comic book writers, for example, are storytellers, too. It is a matter of how you see your writing come to life to show others your stories. Find where your style fits best and show your best work.

My final writing indulgence was to tell other writers that there are ways, time, and chances to do what you love and ways to do it. The biggest problem most people face is fear, but fear can come with a face, a price tag, a backseat without a window, or an empty stomach and children on your hip.

We may fear different things which hinder our jump into the life we want. Discovering the fear we face is the first step toward the freedom from it. The next is up to you.

  With love,

Claire.

Lovely writer and content creator, take a moment to create your own purpose, and formulate a plan to write your way into the content you like to read. Start by creating your own space and sharing with others the gift of your writing wisdom, comedic genius, romantic side, laughing tales of your youth, or the recipes and secrets your grandmother gave you to keep.

You will get a cool credit for those plugins that make your place shine and sparkle.

It is easy and fast to start. Tell me about it on your way back to my content and happy writing!

Disclaimer: Credit and site themes powered by WordPress

Before the Tenth Cube. I typed without direction and wrote about many topics. With time and practice, I learned to hold hands with my muse, but fear held me back. Learn how to understand it and push past it. A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR OF THE TENTH CUBE And by Editor I mean, Claire Hazel,

[sixstepsaway]

(1/1) So last night my kid was telling me about how she wants to make her own video games. She was pretty excited about it, but then told me she couldn’t because she’s just a kid and some boy told her girls don’t do that. I immediately went to google and found three different apps for my iPad that are for teaching kids the basics of programming. She spent like four hours super excited about learning how to program. I practically had to pry the iPad out of her hand at 10pm.

(2/2) She spent this morning playing with it until we had to leave to get her to school. She is gunna be a badass programmer, and I’m one extremely happy momma! Look out world, if she decides this is what she wants to do, she’ll take the programming world by storm! 😊💞

THIS IS THE BEST ASK SET I COULD HAVE GOTTEN OVERNIGHT. I don’t know if you know this but writing is only like 50% of my life, the other 50% is amateur game dev and game art. 

I am so excited for your kid and I know you didn’t ask BUT I’m going to fling a few links at you now because programming is not the only way to get into game dev anymore and I want to encourage this delightfulness oh my god. 

Did you know that Unity5 is free? You can download it, install it and start putting 3D assets into an environment in however long it takes to install; the only requirement is an account registered. They also have a huge asset store, and this is it, filtered by only the free stuff. With Unity you have to learn C# or JavaScript (always pick C# tbh) to get any game mechanics rolling, but the huge asset store really offsets that, for me.

My personal favourite engine is Unreal Engine 4, which is ALSO free. It has a smaller asset store because it’s more curated and a lot less free stuff BUT UE4 has something called Blueprints, which is a visual scripting language, so instead of having to learn code, you can drop nodes in and create something really fast. I personally love Blueprints because until I started using them I couldn’t get my head around code, but Blueprints made it visual and that really helped click my brain into place.

There’s also something you and your kid might both get a kick out and that’s a free software called Twine! It’s a choose-your-own-adventure creator, basically, but there’s SO MUCH MORE to it than that. It has its own scripting language (I personally like Harlowe, so if you choose to use Twine and use Harlowe I can help out if you need any help - same with Unreal Engine, actually) and once you know what you’re doing you can do pretty much anything with it.

Twine is amazing because you can do something like this, which is a procedurally generated sci-fi game I love, where you play an AI on a ship with human colonists in stasis and you have to find an appropriate planet to land on and colonise for them while protecting them and keeping them alive. 

You can, however, also do something like this which is LocalHost, which I bought although I haven’t played yet (so much to do, so little time). I wouldn’t recommend that one for your kid to play (it’s a little horror-ish?) but as you can see it’s an entire retro-style game built in Twine. It uses a combination of whichever scripting language she chose (I’m guessing she used Sugarcube for LocalHost) and CSS, which is how she created the interfaces and even embedded visuals. 

There are a lot of Twine games on Itch.io. A lot of them are probably porn, but I know some are definitely safe for work etc. 

There’s also ChoiceScript, too. This one is not one of my favourites because you can’t do a lot with it coding-wise (I like that Twine is only limited by my imagination), but I don’t know if you know Choice of Games but, uh, they have a lot of choice games on the app store. The actual ChoiceScript foundation is free, though, is the point, and it uses a simple coding method to create branching narratives. I’d always opt for Twine over ChoiceScript (for many reasons), but I wanted to throw this out there.

Finally, in response to the boys telling your girl that girls don’t do that - LIES. You might want to tell her about Jennifer Scheurle, who is a game dev who is currently WORKING WITH NASA to create an interactive space NASA game. She’s also a chair of IGDA Women in Games. She’s a god damn badass and I want to be half as cool as her one day. 

Anyway, this was a lot and I know you didn’t ask but I wanted to throw some links at you just in case it could help somehow since this is my area of the world. 

I’m so excited for your girl and girls can DEFINITELY make games. Those boys are just jealous they’ll never have her drive or determination. ♥♥

[clevertony]

WOW.

Omg I’m so happy right now.

I’m in the last week of my degree, I’m going for an associate’s in web development (and this program and all the crap they’ve pulled on my class has been a SHIT SHOW but that’s for another post), and we have one class that basically the entire class is one big group project.  We’re supposed to be making some website for the school’s IT classes.

The whole class has been awful, the instructors kept dragging their feet with it to the point that we didn’t even have our first assignment in the class until midterms and didn’t get to the point where we could actually start coding until the 2nd week of April (we were supposed to be able to work on the project all semester long), so it’s been HECTIC and confusing and everything is rushed.

We got divided into 2 groups, one group doing the student side of the website and one group doing the faculty/staff side of the website.  I’m doing the student side with 2 guys, one who literally seems to not know a single thing about web development and one who is decent enough with the backend but has horrible taste when it comes to the front end.  Works fine for me bc I’ve been using html/css since I was 12 so I’m fine with doing the front end stuff, he can do the database, and the other guy can just keep constantly sending us messages about how he doesn’t know what to do and then make a terrible powerpoint that I end up having to re-make anyway.  Works alright.

Well I’ve been freaking out lately about how there just is NOT enough time to get this project done.  It’s due Friday, and we don’t have a single page fully completed (the home page is ALMOST all the way completed now, just need the database connectivity, but we still need to do 2-3 more pages as well).  But omg.  I just stumbled upon the other group’s page and I am now SO FREAKIN HAPPY.  I’m literally elated.  I feel 100x better about our project.   This is what our homepage looks like (I smudged out anything that said the school’s name cuz I’m paranoid):

Not great of course, but it’s not terrible at least.  It follows the style guide provided by the school in terms of font choice and colors.  I used bootstrap so it looks a little more put together.  Not a pro website but good enough for 2 years of barely being taught anything by this joke of a program.  

It’s the only page we have done right now, but the others all use the same style sheet and the header/nav and footer are identical on every page, so even if we can’t get all the content added to the other pages, at least the layout will make it look somewhat done.  But I was still worried about not getting a good grade because of how little time we had to finish and the fact that we couldn’t go in depth (like until 10 mins ago I was sitting here worrying about how the website doesn’t look great on mobile and how I don’t know if I’ll have enough time to make a mobile version). Well I’m not worried about that at ALL now.  Here’s the other group’s pages (all of their pages):

(The links on the documents and edit profile pages don’t work btw).

I am ECSTATIC.  Honestly I really hope for their sake that this was just some crude first attempt and they’ve made tremendous improvements and just haven’t yet uploaded them.  I mean I do feel bad because normally I wouldn’t want to see my classmates do poorly but gods I really needed that confidence boost.  

I’ve learned from past solo projects that with the instructors at this school, if you make something look nice, they’ll generally give you an A even if you don’t do all the requirements, because they’re so impressed at your design skills.  

My first semester web design class I literally waited til the last minute, did the entire page in about 6 hours, forgot to include some required things, TOLD my instructor that I forgot to include those things on my project review and for the question that asked what grade we feel we should get I said a B, and she literally said something along the lines of “yeah I know you didn’t do all the requirements but I’m giving you 100% anyway because it looks like you put a lot of effort into it” (I didn’t.  I could have done WAAAAAY better).

2nd semester we had one big project that was the final project for 3 of our classes.  We needed a C# program that was connected to a database, and then we needed to make a javascript heavy webpage that was along the same theme as our program.  I focused so much on making my C# program perfect that I ran out of time to do my javascript project.  I literally had nothing.  During presentations I saw some of the programs my classmates made, and none of them even bothered to change the default font and window color, let alone use images like I did.  Got an A for all 3 classes.

So I’m hoping the instructors will just continue their pattern of being wowed by basic css skills and a bit of photoshop knowledge and hopefully we’ll get a good grade even if we don’t finish everything.  

God I really feel so much better after seeing that.  I’m a horrible person.  I shouldn’t be feeling better because my classmates aren’t doing well.  But I just can’t help it.

[operationrainfall]

Title Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight Developer Bombservice Publisher DANGEN Entertainment Release Date January 10th, 2019 (Switch) Genre Metroidvania Platform PC, PS4, Switch, XBox One Age Rating T for Teen – Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes Official Website

I first bought Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight when it released on Steam a couple years ago. Though I enjoyed it after starting it up, I found the hassle of allocating time to set up and play on my laptop to be a bit daunting. As such, I didn’t get that far. But then I saw Momodora was headed to the Nintendo Switch, and despite already owning it, I knew this was the perfect fit for the indie Metroidvania. There’s no setup involved in just playing portably, so I bought Momodora: RUtM for a second time. Was it worth the wait, or should I have beat it on Steam?

As a fan of the genre, I was quickly drawn into the world of Momodora. This is a beautiful, gothic world being poisoned by darkness, and only a lone priestess from the village of Lun can stop it. That priestess is named Kaho, and while she is well animated and capable of doing great damage with her trusty maple leaf, I can’t say I knew much about her. That may be due to the fact Reverie Under the Moonlight is my first experience with the world of Momodora. I haven’t played the other 3 games which preceded it, so there’s a very distinct chance I was missing out on some context fans of the series already had. Regardless though, I can’t help but wish the game had given me a more complete portrait of the protagonist. Thankfully, where the game falters a bit in the storytelling, it more than makes up in the gameplay.

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Right from the get go, Momodora gives you almost all of the tools you’ll need at your disposal. Yes, Kaho’s weapon is a leaf, but she wields it like a short sword, doing fierce 3 hit combos effortlessly with a push of the Y button. She is also capable of doing powerful aerial attacks with the leaf. For long distance assaults, she’s armed with a crossbow equipped with infinite arrows, which can be fired with a press of the R button or charged for more powerful attacks. For agility, B provides a double jump and A does a dodge roll, which is utterly crucial since it grants temporary invincibility. Meanwhile, the L button is used to alternate between equipped items (of which you can have 3 in your inventory at a time), and they can be expended with X. I was very fond that each item, once found or bought once, had a set number of uses which were recharged whenever you saved your game. That’s a really nice feature that’s lacking in most Metroidvanias, which require you to either scrounge for or buy copious amounts of items.

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The controls are perfect on the Switch and everything feels natural, which is a good thing, since Momodora is no pushover. Unlike most Metroidvanias, you won’t constantly be leveling up, and though you can increase your starting health, you never really improve your initial stats. What that means is that most every foe in the game can demolish you if you’re not careful. A few well placed hits will put Kaho in the dirt, and that goes double for the powerful and challenging boss fights. Thankfully, the combat in the game never felt overly punishing or unfair. It just quietly pushes you to do the smart thing and learn enemy attack patterns and smartly dodge to survive. I died several times in my first playthrough, and I guzzle Metroidvanias more greedily than coffee.

One of the only ways to get stronger is by collecting Crest Fragments.

Besides the basic combat, you’re also able to mix things up with your inventory. I said earlier that you can equip 3 items in your inventory, but you can also equip up to 2 passive items at a time. These can do anything, from drawing Munny towards you to increasing your resistance to status ailments. If that wasn’t enough, active items in your inventory have a variety of effects, from healing Kaho to summoning eldritch forces to even temporarily increasing your attack power. So while you by no means have to try the various items out, it’s very much in your best interest to experiment. That said, if you’re a purist like me, you’re more than capable of defeating the game just with Kaho’s leaf and bow.

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It’s a little hard to explain the platforming in the game. On the one hand, Momodora feels very minimalistic and linear. Yet at the same time, it somehow feels a bit open ended. Sure, you can go wherever you want most of the time, but you’re also driven in the right direction by smart contextual clues. You also will rarely know when you’re around the corner from a boss fight, since they come upon you unexpectedly. Thankfully, most of the platforming is pretty easy. Sure, there are instant death spikes strewn around pretty liberally, but I found those were rarely a problem so long as I didn’t get overwhelmed and rushed through an area. While you won’t get tons of new skills to traverse your environment, the one you do get is quite fantastic. Kaho will eventually be able to turn into a feline using the Cat Sphere, which allows her to access narrow tunnels. Better yet, she’s more than capable of combat while in kitty form. So if you want to get through part of the game as a cat, you’re able to! Just keep in mind, you can’t use your inventory in that state.

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Visually speaking, Momodora: RUtM is dripping with gorgeous pixel art. Honestly, that’s what first drew me to the game, and it doesn’t disappoint. There’s almost a hand painted quality to it, and everything feels very fluid and organic. That goes double for the action, which is very dynamic. I loved the art for the foes and bosses, ranging from cackling witches with fancy hats to ethereal wolves to tiny thong wearing savages. The bosses especially shone, though perhaps my favorite was the Witch Lubella. Rarely have I seen such a marriage of dark necromancy and pillowy bosoms. The music for the game is a bit hard to describe. Most of the game is actually devoid of music, and features more ambient noise such as the grunts of foes as they attack you or the sound of your leaf swishing through the air. The points where the music always shows up are in boss fights, and there it’s ominous and full of energy. Much like the rest of the game, it’s minimalistic but charming.

As is often the case in real life, evil witches usually have large bosoms.

Most of my experience with Momodora was very positive, with one small proviso – it’s an incredibly short game. My first playthrough took 4 and a half hours, and that was with getting 97% map completion. Granted, I got the bad ending the first time, but that only encouraged me to play again, and then I was able to get the true ending in under 3 hours. I’d wager a true speedrunner could beat the game in less than 2 hours, which isn’t to say the game isn’t worth your time, it very much is. It’s just that, as enjoyable as the experience was, I really wanted more of it. More plot, more character development, and more areas to explore. Hell, if they decide to add content via DLC, I’ll be one of the first people to buy it. I enjoyed the game that much. Having said that, there were a couple of minor niggling issues which bugged me. First, while the controls are mapped brilliantly to the Switch, I wish I didn’t have to pause the game to access the map screen. Map it to the ZL or ZR button instead. And a weird issue I encountered was that when I went to load a game and tried to return to the title screen, it wouldn’t respond. So I would have to load it and select Return to Title instead. Other than those, it was a pretty rosy time.

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All in all, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight was worth the wait. It’s a wonderful experience on Switch that I’d recommend to all fans of Metroidvanias. While it’s true that it is very short, there is a bit of replay value. First, there are two endings to get. Secondly, there are different difficulty settings you can try, if you crave a bit more challenge. There’s also a hidden boss fight and New Game + with added difficulty. Sadly the achievements found in other versions aren’t present here, which is a missed opportunity. While I do wish there was more to do, I can’t deny I had a good time playing it. $14.99 may sound a bit pricey for a short adventure, but I feel it’s worth it. Worst case scenario, you can always pick it up on Switch when the game goes on sale. If you want a short and sweet game to play, you can’t go wrong here.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″]

Review Copy Purchased by Author

REVIEW: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight Title Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

[juliebutcher]

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“Gardening simply does not allow one to be mentally old, because too many hopes and dreams are yet to be realized.” ~ Allan Armitage

  As if you need me to tell you that gardening’s good for you, good for us!

Couple of weeks ago, my friend Annie and I built a little garden for her granddaughter Lola. Annie lives in the San Fernando Valley. It took us two days! We joked about marketing our “business” as Slow Grannies Gardening!

It was heavenly!

Anne & I love the little heart-shaped leaves as they start to twine & twirl up the trellis…

  Who knew that gardening is therapeutic? Everyone! For a long time.

6 Unexpected Health Benefits of Gardening lists many of the wonderful ways:

Stress-relief and self-esteem

Heart health and stroke risk

Hand strength and dexterity

Brain health and Alzheimer’s risk

Researchers found daily gardening to represent the single biggest risk reduction for dementia, reducing incidence by 36%. Another study estimated the risk reduction at 47%! Why does gardening make such a difference? Alzheimer’s is a mysterious disease, and the factors influencing its incidence and progression remain poorly understood. However gardening involves so many of our critical functions, including strength, endurance, dexterity, learning, problem solving, and sensory awareness, that its benefits are likely to represent a synthesis of various aspects.

Immune regulation *

Depression and mental health

Plenty of your friends and neighbors have probably mentioned what a “lift” they get from a morning’s sweat amongst the lettuces and radishes. To add professional legitimacy to anecdotal claims, the growing field of “horticultural therapy” is giving proven results for patients with depression and other mental illnesses. The benefits appear to spring from a combination of physical activity, awareness of natural surroundings, cognitive stimulation and the satisfaction of the work. To build the therapeutic properties of your own garden, aim for a combination of food-producing, scented, and flowering plants to nourish all the senses. Add a comfortable seat so you can continue to bask in the garden while you rest from your labors. Letting your body get a little hot and sweaty might also have hidden benefits: as devotees of hot baths and saunas can attest, elevated body temperatures are also correlated with increased feelings of well-being. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water and know your limits.

Read the whole article; it’s truly delightful!

  “I dig the daylily because it is forgiving, unrelenting, and breathtakingly brief.” ~ Nikki Schmith

Petal Power: Why Is Gardening So Good For Our Mental Health? in Psychology Today explains the science behind the benefits:

Looking after plants gives us a sense of responsibility.

Gardening allows us all to be nurturers.

Gardening keeps us connected to other living things.

It doesn’t matter if we are seven or seventy, male, female or transgender, gardening underlines that we are all nurturers. Horticulture is a great equalizer: plants don’t give a fig who is tending them and for those with mental health problems to be able to contribute to such a transformative activity can help boost self-esteem.

Gardening helps us relax and let go.

Working in nature releases happy hormones.

Being amongst plants and flowers reminds us to live in the present moment.

Gardening reminds us of the cycle of life, and thus come to terms with that most universal of anxieties: death.

Some aspects of gardening allow us to vent anger and aggression…

…whilst others allow us to feel in control.

Last but not least, gardening is easy.

Read this one too! It’s worth it.

  “Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.”  ~ May Sarton  Rosa ‘Frida Kahlo’

Why Gardening Makes You Happy and Cures Depression explains the two gardening “highs”:

Getting down and dirty is the best ‘upper’ – Serotonin

Getting your hands dirty in the garden can increase your serotonin levels – contact with soil and a specific soil bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, triggers the release of serotonin in our brain according to research. Serotonin is a happy chemical, a natural anti-depressant and strengthens the immune system. Lack of serotonin in the brain causes depression.

      Harvest ‘High’ – Dopamine

Another interesting bit of research relates to the release of dopamine in the brain when we harvest products from the garden. The researchers hypothesise that this response evolved over nearly 200,000 years of hunter gathering, that when food was found (gathered or hunted) a flush of dopamine released in the reward centre of brain triggered a state of bliss or mild euphoria. The dopamine release can be triggered by sight (seeing a fruit or berry) and smell as well as by the action of actually plucking the fruit.

Strengthening the Case for Organic ~ Glyphosate residues deplete your Serotonin and Dopamine levels

Of course, for all of the above to work effectively and maintain those happy levels of serotonin and dopamine, there’s another prerequisite according to another interesting bit of research I found. It appears it will all work much better with organic soil and crops that haven’t been contaminated with Roundup or Glyphosate-based herbicides. This proviso also extends to what you eat, so ideally you’ll avoid consuming non-organic foods that have been grown in farmland using glyphosates.

  “I breathe in… the fragrance of love, and moist sand the one his roses left on both my hands I just keep on breathing every moment as much as I can preserving it, in my body for the day it can’t.”

~ Sanober Khan

  *If you’re wondering about the whole dirt, microbes, immune system thing, Dirt has a microbiome, and it may double as an antidepressant offers a thorough, understandable explanation:

There’s now pretty good evidence to draw at least an outline of a conclusion: Breathing in, playing in, and digging in dirt may be good for your health. Our modern, sterilized life in sealed-off office buildings and homes are likely not. Researchers have already found clear evidence that childhood exposure to outdoor microbes is linked to a more robust immune system; for example, Bavarian farm children who spent time in family animal stables and drank farm milk had drastically lower rates of asthma and allergies throughout their lives than their neighbors who did not.

  “Gardening is more than a hobby; it’s a scientifically proven anti-depressant.  No wonder you like to dig in the dirt!”

The writing here in Vegetable Gardening as Therapy is fun and funny; the information is reliable and useful:

*Gardening Gets Us Out of Our Heads.

*Gardening is Exercise.

*“Nature Calms Us.”

That doesn’t happen in nature.  You’re rendered … decisionless.  When’s the last time you went on a walk in the forest or a field and decided it needed a little rearranging.  Maybe a row of Billy bookcases.  It isn’t an option so you don’t even think about it. In nature you completely give up control.  And the need to control things is what causes a LOT of stress. Giving up that control is incredibly calming.

Of course in vegetable gardening you’re constantly trying to control everything from bugs to blight but that ruins my point so let’s ignore that.

*Gardening is Nurturing.

I’ve shared my gardening opinions and advice here before, as I write to figure out this little blog:

Stop! Smell this Rose! (includes a resource list which is still relevant, perhaps useful)

I Moved a Garden … and More Unsolicited Gardening Advice

In my never-ending quest to best use all of the little space, I’m planning on using these guys everywhere!

Annie & I included a garden “tee-pee” for peas and beans to climb. It’s another great way to “grow up,” especially in smallish spaces. Three easy samples here:

How to Make A Bamboo Tepee in a Minute

Kids Gardening: Build a Bean Teepee

How To Make An Easy DIY Bean Teepee

And a final nod to the butterflies. Plant Milkweed! If you only plant one plant, plant Milkweed! The Monarchs will thank you!

Project Milkweed and the Xerces Society’s new Managing Monarchs in the West are a great place to start.

Gardening is cheaper than therapy ... and you get tomatoes! “Gardening simply does not allow one to be mentally old, because too many hopes and dreams are yet to be realized.”

[douchebagbrainwaves]

STARTUPS AND FAILURE

In our advice about getting traffic from search engines I don't think there's an answer. One of the great advantages of being an outsider may be to think about what they plan to do, make something. For example, if you admire two kinds of work. Wozniak's work was a classic example: he did everything himself, hardware and software, and the people running the test really care about is the team. You have to keep pushing, keep selling, all the top five words here would be neutral and would not contribute to the spam probability will hinge on the url, and someone sending you mail for the first time. They usually know other founders, and others where it would just be a distraction. The kind of filters I'm optimistic about are ones that calculate probabilities based on the actual mail he receives. If we wanted to experience what our users did. In filtering, this translates to: look at the origins of successful startups have had that happen.

Planning is often just a weakness forced on those who delegate. 01 graham 0. You don't have to persecute nerds, the very best VCs don't have to read so many spams. Why? Then you want to avoid failure, it would be Fred. Less fortunate startups just end up hiring armies of people to supply each startup with what they need most. Unless you know that free with just two exclamation points has a probability of. You can't expect employers to have some kind of job. I scan the entire text, including headers and embedded html and javascript, of each message in each corpus. I got a little carried away with this is that filtering based on single words to an approach like this. If you wait long enough five years, say you're likely to hit an up cycle where some acquirer is hot to buy you for $10 million, you won't get a share in the excitement, but if so this is a list of US cities sorted by population, the number of successful startups per capita is probably a 20th of what it is in Silicon Valley would feel part of an exalted tradition, like the foundation of a house. Remove them and most people have no idea how much better you can do than the traditional employer-employee relationship, and replacing it with a wireless mouse, but the Internet got me because it became addictive while I was writing about spam filtering.

In the Plan for Spam uses a very simple definition of a token. Two possible theories: a Your housemate did it deliberately to upset you. The main reason they never considered this was that they never imagined we could be had so cheap.1 Then you could, in effect, that if you start scanning people with no symptoms, you'll get into the habit of so many years my idea of work finally broke free from the idea of going on the medical equivalent of what lawyers call a fishing expedition, where you had to be prepared to explain how it's recession-proof is to do exactly what you should do anyway: run it as cheaply as possible. Judging from his books, he was often in doubt. I spent worrying about, but not his charisma, and he suffered proportionally. If you raised five million and ran out of money and b they don't understand, you're hosed. They don't have time to work.2 I thought that I could keep up.

He's probably the nicest VC I know. Some angels are, or were, hackers. Another thing that keeps people away from starting startups is just like everything else. Which is exactly what they're supposed to help or supervise. 01491078 guarantee 0. But I remember thinking his company's name was odd. So most people pre-emptively lower their expectations. But the reason reporters ended up writing stories about this particular truth, rather than working on the product after a funding round. But VCs also share deals a lot. 9998 otherwise. But anyone willing to falsify headers or use open relays, presumably including most porn spammers, should be the highest goal for the marginal. Teaching hackers how to deal with these guys was in high school.

Otherwise we don't care. If you take VC money, you have to make their mails indistinguishable from your ordinary mail. But it's not enough just to tell people that. Don't say, for a while at least, if they could find one who was away half the time it's easier just to do stuff yourself than to get someone else to do as you're doing it wrong.3 They want enough money that a they don't have to persecute nerds, the very best VC funds. Another advantage of bad times is that there's less demand for them among founders.4 No one does that kind of work the recipe is more to be actively curious. About a year ago I noticed a pattern in the least successful startups we'd funded: they all seemed hard to talk to. The obvious solution is to have a cooperatively maintained list of urls promoted by spammers. This is extremely risky, and takes months even if you don't have to work on your projects, he can work wherever he wants on projects of their own are enormously more productive. Founders seem to have been the same kind of aberration, just spread over a longer period, like a nuclear chain reaction. We'll need to do this.

What the people who think they don't need investors to start most companies; they just make it easier. Maybe that's possible, but I haven't seen it. And yet even he had to share it with 6 shrieking tower servers. The reason startups work so well is that everyone with power also has equity. In any purely economic relationship you're free to do what they want. And yet all the adults claim to like what they learn about diet. But he's also their man: these newly installed CEOs always play something of the old Moore's Law back, by writing the smallest subset of it, and we invest so early that investors sometimes need a lot of catches as an eight year old son decides to climb a tall tree, or your daughter gets pregnant, you'll have to deal with this phenomenon. Another thing I may try in the future when you hear people say that you shouldn't major in business in college, but this is actually an instance of a more general rule: don't learn things from teachers who are bad at them. Whatever you make will have to be a startup.5 That may be the greatest effect, in the long run, of the company becoming really big. But most young hackers have neither.6

Notes

Dropbox, or can launch during YC. He had such a brutally simple word is that promising ideas are not merely blurry versions of great ones. Because we want to invest but tried to be closing, not economic inequality—that economic inequality was really only useful for one another directly through the founders of Hewlett Packard said it first, to the World Bank, the fatigue hits you like the difference between being judged as a constituency. Except text editors and compilers.

There is not a big chunk of this type of thinking. That's one of his first acts as president, and an haughty spirit before a dream. Some are merely ugly ducklings in the right thing to do that. You should take more than that.

They say to most people than subsequent millions. Without the prospect of publication, the better. 25.

Wolter, Allan trans, Duns Scotus ca.

Though in fact they were just ordinary guys.

You're going to have done and try selling it. Doh.

[sharifs]

6 Basic Ways To Make Money Online

The following is a list of methods that I have seen time and time again employed or suggested for the net

Over the years, as I’ve wanted to learn how to become an entrepreneur who can run his own business, I have done research and observed what online companies have been doing to make money. The following is a list of methods that I have seen time and time again employed or suggested for the net.

1. Ecommerce

Make your own product, setup your own service, put physical products you own on sale or a salable package on freelance or perhour website. In any case the core is the same, setting up your own salable good or value for the customer to be purchasable online, then attracting traffic to your website or host that sells your product or service. This is the same as any business, even when not online, as you will learn, if you haven’t already, that the best way to run an online business is with the principles of traditional businesses but with the flexibility of the modern world.

Although this is the first option, it’s not always easy for busy people starting a side business, people who want to be an entrepreneur but don’t have a solid idea/plan or those who have an idea but don’t know how to get it together and want to practice with someone else’s platform or guidance first. In that case I would look to my next suggestion.

2. Affiliate

This is similar to the first suggestion except instead of selling your own product, you would sell someone else’s products. Many companies large and small offer an affiliate program allowing you to post unique links to purchasable products or services on that company’s website. When a potential customer accesses the purchasable item through your unique affiliate link, when purchasing the item, you will recieve a substantial (often 30%) commission on the sale of that item. For potentially popular yet high priced items, with the proper SEO, website and daily work, the sale could account for a decent side business income which could eventually allow you to transition to full time.

If you are already running an ecommerce business yourself and are ahead of the game, then you should consider setting up your own affiliate program to get more support from salespeople on the ground who are starting side businesses and will work regularly to sell your products and boost your business even further, with you not having to worry about pay until you are paid from the sale of each product.

3. Contract

This method is the method I employed most in my early days of discovering how to make money online. I had found sites like guru.com, peopleperhour.com and even fiverr.com to start hitting the ground running with earning some real money from my work online. This is not my first suggestion but is very doable by anyone who’s willing to give it an honest shot. My first tip would be to learn how to pitch yourself for a job online, and how to properly deal with clients, both for their satisfaction and your sanity.

You have to ensure you have real examples of exactly the same thing (or close) to what the client is looking for already in your portfolio to show when making your pitch. You want to exude confidence like you’ve done it a million times before, yet show care like this potential work is exciting and your willing to do the best job to satisfy the client. At the same time you want to be sure the client doesn’t take advantage of you. I would use peopleperhour where there was an escroll which ensured the client made a portion of their payment upfront.

Besides the above tips, I would suggest pricing what the client expects or is average for that job, or even a bit higher. If you charge too little you will be doubted for quality, if you charge too high it might be hard to sell, but if you charge average, the lcient might have trouble distinguishing you from others, so slightly higher than that says you are going to deliver quality without breaking the bank.

Once accepted for a job you should also be clear in the communication exactly what is being expected of you and exactly what you agree to deliver, when, and how many revisions you’re willing to accept. Get this all in writing, most freelance sites allow you to converse on the site itself, recording all your messages back and forth. Do not allow yourself or the client to take these parts of the discussion off the site, so that if there is a disagreement, you have the convenience of 3rd-party staff from that site to review your communications and decide how payments or cancellations should be handled.

My personal issue with this method of getting an online income isn’t in pitching, getting jobs or doing the work, but in dealing with difficult clients, who can sometimes change their minds on a dime, be very fussy or continuously increase their demands before increasing what they’re willing to pay. This kind of abuse shouldn’t be tolerated, but it can be a difficult balance to see where you yourself may be unfair. One proven way to smooth out this issue is to create a company brand and to work as that brand instead of yourself so that the client feels he is dealing with an establishment which will not easily take abuse. This is a tricky choice however since clients may lean towards individuals over companies in the freelance market because of the added personal touch of such freelancers, but these may not be the clients you want so you need to pick your battles.

4. Advertising

You will find that if you do any of the above methods, there is likely in some respect, going to be involved the work of advertising. As an ecommerce professional you may employ advertising or groundwork marketing camapaigns to raise awareness of your product through mainstream channels, online forums, social media, or even out on the street. As an affiliate partner, you would want to advertise your base or yourself as a trusted source for opinions on products in order to get more affiliate customers. You may, on your affiliate driving website or media also want to host ads from other companies to support on per-click basis. Finally as a freelancer or contracter, you very likely to find work in the fields of online marketing or advertising, in any of the respects from writing copy, graphic design, video production, web development, programming, campaign management and more; so the field of advertising is a competitively lucrative place to work either way.

5. Subscription model

As a subset of ecommerce, I thought I should give a mention to the subscription model which you can either setup from scratch on your website or employ the services of available platforms. Patreon is a very popular example for media creators who want to monetize their content, offering early access, exclusive content, credits, personalized items or gestures, etc to their monthly paying subscribers at different levels of payment and rewards. You could also set something up like a monthly membership to your website allowing for access to products which are usually paid-for to be free, and so on, depending on the nature and status of your business.

6. Crowdfunding

My final suggestion for this shortlist would be crowdfunding. Unlike you might think, Kickstarter is not the only way to do this. Indiegogo and other platforms are also available, while you could always develop your own custom crowd funding campaign from your own website so that you’re in control of when the money is distributed for the product and under what conditions. Using a trusted platform like Kickstarter however may make it easier for adopters to buy in, but regardless you are going to need to properly research and plan in advance both the production of your project and the campaign to raise awareness on the crowd funding launch as well as the continuous campaign to get funded after launch on top of delivering on your promises once your campaign is over.

I would suggest looking into all the success and some of the fail stories that you can in the field of crowd funding using the most popular platforms and apply the same principles fitting to your own situation on your campaign either using those services or via your own platform. Your own platform doesn’t have to be setup by you alone, it could always be setup in collaboration with others or even by hiring freelancers.

Closing Notes

I really hope I was able to give you some of the most important methods and concept to work from and get started on your online money making journey. I wish great success on you and your world to truly improve the lives of everyone you can.

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[defunctblogtobedeleted]

05/27/2021, 05:58 am - new ends, new beginnings

I’m approaching the precipice of departure.

In 4 short weeks my time in North Carolina will finally be coming to an end. I suppose it’s only appropriate that this blog is coming to an end as well.

I always meant to catch up with what quarantine was doing. but getting back together with jill and watching a million shows and playing games weren’t exactly noteworthy writings. Even still it almost seemed like it’d be a cool time piece, since it was a pretty historic event, the year we spent indoors.

Instead I found the inspiration to take weilin up on learning how to code. I quit my job in february, and I’m spending the next year bouncing around friends and families houses hoping to practice hard enough that I can get a good job next year. switch careers. get out of healthcare and into a new field where I can actually take advantage of the potential I have. 

It’s kind of sad to be wrapping this blog up. I never really expected to end it. But to be honest I’m kind of afraid of its continued existence. Not for the personal shame or anything, but for the first time I’m seeking out work in a field where they might try to pore over this content and deem me unfit. 

Pretty weak and fearful a reason. Maybe I am a little embarrassed. Partially of my obsession with andi at the end, moreso my potential objectification and degradation of the physical form. We all need to grow up from our mistakes, but I’d rather my growth continue to be personal and not corporate, I suppose. I just am so afraid of it being tied to my online personas and divulging more personal content than I’m comfortable with. Even more afraid than my fetlife for some reason. It’s weird, my fet is so much more explicit, and yet I feel like it’s so much less compromising lmao. Maybe that’s foolhardy logic though.

I’m really sad. Goodbyes are always the hardest. And the worst part is every time I get sappy and start to cry a little I think of that time at Brown summer camp when I cried in my dorm with the door open and two more popular kids saw me and laughed. I could have been crying about anything, though. Maybe they’re just assholes. But I get embarrassed nonetheless. 

The relationships I’ve built up here in NC I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. I really hope I manage to keep them going long distance. Unfortunately I know many of my smash friends are fallen to the wayside already... bar friends from greensboro forgotten... raleigh friends soon to be departed... but there are the few from each avenue of life that will stay in touch, I’m sure.

It’s sad that many of my thoughts these days are plagued by how frustrated I get with my roommates’ behavior, and moreso how they’re similar to my own and how I regret how I once acted. I wish I had spent more time with Aaron and Ash instead of trying to start those weird streaming ambitions. I wish I had been quieter when playing league and hadn’t kept my downstairs neighbors and jstu up all night when I lived in brewer. I wish I had been a better person when speaking of the opposite sex when I was drunk in gboro. I wish I had been more tolerant and understanding of andi’s mental health issues, and less of a bitch about money all the time. I wish I hadn’t been so shitty to Kailey when things were over and I was resentful and angry, and I wish I had been more vocal and deliberate about the boundaries that I had set, and more understanding when they were crossed because they were so arbitrarily and lackadaisically set. I wish I had done my goddamn dishes the same night I made them dirty at literally ANY other point in my life prior to now. God, I’m such an excuse making lazy fuck lmao. But here we are. And I own all my mistakes and there’s no way to make amends than to continue to become a better person every day. 

It’s too hard to end things. I meant to split things off with Jill at the end of March. and April. and now may. But as excited as I am to move on to independent living and focusing on myself and my work, I really haven’t been able to bring myself to tell her I can’t see her anymore. Why can’t I just be stronger and work harder on myself AND spend time watching shows with her? well poor self control, for sure. Why can’t we continue to see each other long distance or something? mmph. I don’t know. Jill’s character has developed a lot and she really has authentically taken an interest in many of the things I love, and it’s brought us closer together. We put 420 hours into the witcher 3 and it was one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had in my life. But I still don’t see us compatible long term, and our sex life has faltered from month to month. I guess I am excited for something new. Will I always? I still wonder if I’m destined to be alone, like my father or (maternal) grandfather. Get it from both sides, I suppose.

To be honest I still daydream that one of my last days here I can hang out with MJ and have a one night stand. I don’t even know why anymore. We’ve sort of stayed in touch through quarantine. The only bar friend who really has, I suppose. But with quarantine that’s as much my fault as anyones. for the first time in my life I’m not seeking people out and checking in, pursuing friendship or time together. But I don’t know MJ still kind of fascinates me. I always wonder what would’ve happened if I had tried to make out with her the first time we met... but alas.

I kind of see this year of being 29 as a redemption arc for myself, academically. See if I can really be successful and actually try, put aside all the social ambitions and dedicate myself to something better. Staying with my friends and family makes it easier, I think. I’ll get to catch up and live with some of the people I’ve cared most about in my life. Sad that I never really felt comfortable asking if I could stay with manu maya and christina though... with their new baby on the way I’m just worried it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to crash on one of their couches. I don’t want to be a burden on them or anything, and I know as good as a houseguest as I intend on being at everywhere I stay I’m just... not... that good. I’m so much better than I was a decade ago, even half a decade ago. I’m finally an adult lmao. But it seems like only in the rearview mirror am I able to see how frustrating a person I am to deal with on a long term scale.

Maybe I’m not as bad as I think... Jill seems to enjoy my company now... But now that I’m unemployed I feel myself starting to fall into annoying greedy money behavior. She offered to pay for me to get sushi a couple weeks ago and really nearly started bawling. I cant afford to reciprocate anymore and it had felt so freeing to actually have a shred of money to throw around with my old job. and it’s so touching that she understands how I feel and really just wants to help me how she can. I’ve finally gotten over feeling like I can’t take anything from her and over my savior complex of trying to help her, but it still feels pretty sad to be the one that needs help again. 

But I guess I did pay for our vacation to lake week, which was a blast as usual. It’s not as one sided as I imagine, it just always feels worse than it is.

Soon things will be better, though. I have confidence in myself that I’ll be successful, and this will be one of the best undertakings I’ve ever done. I’ll find a new path for myself, and reach a new height in this silly capitalist conventional life, and all the happy little tidings that come with it.

Also random thought, but my DUI finally worked out, but I’m not gonna publish that story anyway due to laziness. Just cost another $1000 having to go through trial. Fuck the legal system, fuck capitalism, fuck the government. I’m ready for the singularity to occur and for machines to take over the earth and I’ll just be a little housepet for them, communicating in my scraps of javascript lmfao.

There’s so much more potential than I ever had. Even with my RPSGT and knowing I could go to work anywhere, there was too much inertia here to actually want to move away. Now, I can really go wherever opportunity takes me. And once I find a career somewhere maybe I’ll find new romance and friendship and excitement. But with google moving down here I wonder if I’m just destined to come back, eventually. Who knows.

But for the first time in a long time I’m ready to break free and put my all into becoming something new. 

Wish me luck 💕💕 I’m gonna need it.