Life Continues
Hello again! Welcome back everyone - it is great to see you. Believe it or not, it is time to start another week. Another opportunity to do stuff and see things and be alive. Yay!
First, let’s get caught up on the four biggest things I am working on. Here’s the latest exercise table.
I consider this a success. One of the changes from last week was adjusting my daily expectations. I have a history of attempting to fit everything I aspire to do into each and every day, and then burning out. The direction I am heading in lately has more to do with not flaming out. Of game development, exercise, and speedrunning, I am trying to do two each day. With Sunday still slotted as a day off, that means I should end up working on something 6 days * 2 things per day = 12 things per week. 12 Things divided across the 3 areas is 4 days per discipline. You follow?
Running 5ks in the cemetery has been fun lately. The weather is cool but not yet cold. The animals are out in full force; on yesterday’s run I passed a group of 8 deer chilling out on the grass. The day before that I passed a crew of around 10 turkeys doing turkey stuff. I restocked my collection of tights and long sleeved running shirts and other necessities for running though the winter. Let’s keep running!
Second up is game development. Here’s the updated game development table:
It was a good week of game development. While I worked on it for fewer days, the actual output was about the same, which is how I envision this whole ‘doing two of three things a day’ plan tending to go. I want to be fresher for the things I show up to work on in a day.
Last week I mostly worked on graphics. The latest visual is something I shared last week, but I’ll repost it here - the nighttime environment for what I want to be the introductory level.
To start this week, I plan to get away from graphics creation for a little bit. I want to learn more exact details on how the parallax background features of the game engine I use work. For example, it would be cool if the two planets moved across the screen at different rates while you move, making it feel like one is farther away than the other.
I’m not sure how long it will take to get the background to a point where I am happy with it. Maybe that will be the entire week. If not, I plan to continue building out the intro level. I need to make more outer space graphics like moon rocks to stand on. Game dev has some momentum, so let’s keep it up!
Switching gears to the weight loss front, here is the updated weight loss table.
This goal is the odd one out. The exercise, game development and speedrunning are all things in the same ‘pool’, so to speak. I am trying to do two of the three per day. They all kind of rotate amongst each other and play off each other. Weight loss however is on its own island. It’s also not very actionable. How was I supposed to lose weight this past week? I don’t know really…which is part of why it’s not happening. I fasted for a day at one point, I tracked calories a few days, and then I did nothing a few days.
Part of the benefit of consistently documenting the shortcomings of losing weight is it should force me to keep it in focus. To adapt and adjust and tackle the problem in a new way. To that end, this week I will try to make this goal more actionable. So, while weight loss is the main goal, the sub goal for next week is to track calories eaten every day of the week, and to always fall in the 1500 - 1900 range. Being closer to 1500 is like getting an A and being closer to 1900 is like getting a Pass in the pass / fail sense.
This new approach also implies that fasting is not allowed. I like fasting sometimes, but for right now I think keeping my fasting windows shorter than 24 hours is in my best interest. Let’s check in again next week and see if I’ve made any improvements here.
The fourth area is speedrunning - here’ the updated table.
This is good enough for me for now. Unfortunately, learning the very first level of Mega Man 4 has been very difficult. There are 16 total levels to learn, and I am thinking that this first level must be one of the toughest. That’s leaving me feeling like I am not making much progress, but this is how speedrunning goes at times. I just need to stick with it and try to enjoy the process. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
So that’s the week from a goal point of view. I’d say this past week was overall good. I still feel optimistic about these things and am ready for another good week to come. Staying positive is half the battle.
Other Stuff
Television has been tough lately. Erika and I are watching the Great British Baking Show and Rupaul’s Drag Race, the latest UK season. Non-reality television has been less successful though. We tried to watch the Netflix show Wayward, which is about a school in Vermont that is culty and abducting kids, but it didn’t really catch on with us. We bailed after three episodes.
Next we tried out The Paper, the new mockumentary made by the people who made The Office. Erika voted this show down after three episodes. It’s not like I was loving it, but I probably could have sat through the rest of the episodes. Oh well. Erika is out of town this week on a work trip, so maybe we’ll be able to reset and start a new show once she’s back.
I have been scuffling with reading a bit, too. I read about half of The Last House Guest, the third Megan Miranda book I’ve delved into in recent memory. I abandoned it though. The book isn’t that compelling to me, and I also feel like I need a break from the murder mystery genre. I recently read a book called The Last Party, which is basically this exact book. I need to cover some fresh ground.
With that in mind, I started reading a very strange book called Negative Space. It’s horror-ish, and very different. I am enjoying it so far; stay tuned for a recap in a future week.
In casual gaming, I’m still working through Sea of Stars. I’m enjoying it.
One thing I am excelling in right now is getting to things that have been on my to-do list forever. Two of these are purchases - I bought a surround sound system for my main television setup. Erika and I have been talking about upgrading our sound system for a good five years at this point.
I also invested in a sous vide machine, another bit of technology Erika and I have discussed several times over. We’ve already cooked two pork loins with it, and I have to say, I quite like it. It is very hands off. It cooks at low temperatures which tends to be healthier for you than high-temp roasts. I don’t love that you literally cook things in plastic bags, given how much plastic we’re already in contact with, but there’s only so much you can do, you know?
Another thing off the to-do list is setting up a meeting with an estate attorney to make wills for me and Erika. Our intro call is next week. I am glad to have finally started making moves on this.
Lastly, I made an appointment to start the process of permanent laser hair removal. This is another one that has been on my radar for multiple years at this point. Other than the hair on top of my head, I want all hair GONE. Shaving sucks, and I don’t want all this hair. I will feel much happier without it. I am happy I am making moves here as well.
The most recent movie night happened yesterday, and we watched The Surfer, a 2024 movie starring Nicolas Cage. Oh boy. There aren’t that many scenes available on Youtube, but the trailer is pretty solid if you want to get a sense of what the movie was like:
I showed the reviews toward the end of last week’s post, but if you missed it, the Google reviews are not kind
Whether you enjoy this movie or not is largely a matter of perspective. If you want it to be a legitimately good psychological thriller (which is how it’s billed), you might be disappointed. If you want it to be absurd and dramatic Nic Cage scenes, then you’ll love it. I was more in the latter camp. I definitely need to go back and watch more Nic Cage movies. This movie was Erika’s pick, and it was definitely very Erika. We got our copy from the library. Support your library people!
I think that’s about it for the weekly update. I’ll be editing this post throughout the week with some mini updates as has been all the rage lately. Right now it’s Sunday, 10:45am. Sunday is the designated off day, so I am probably about to go play some Sea of Stars. Erika is already gone on her work trip, so it’s just me and the fur bbs here at home.
Have a great week everyone! Life kind of sucks, but you can do it. There are pockets of happiness out there waiting to be uncovered. Go forth. I believe in you.
Monday Update
I decided on a slightly different diet plan yesterday. During the main post I said that this week I would try to calorie track every day, aiming for the space between 1500 and 1900 daily. Here’s the modification - I am going to start the week with a fast, and it’s the only fast that’s allowed to happen for the week. The flow I am picturing is Sunday is a dietary day off or cheat day, Monday is the start of a fast that I do for as long as I can or want to, and then all other days are calorie tracked.
Some background on fast days, I will actually consume around 300 calories on fasting days. Fasting is associated with gallstone issues, and the way to push back against that is to consume 20g of fat, even on days where you are otherwise fasting.
So, I am starting a fast this morning. Let’s see how long it lasts.
In terms of today’s schedule, I am focusing on game dev and speedrunning, with the 5k on the back burner. Happy Monday y’all!
Tuesday Update
It’s Tuesday morning! 9:15am right now - my goal is to start game development work at 10am today. Yesterday I ran a 5k, but did no video game work. I am ready to get back into it today. I hope y’all are doing well - we can do this.
Oh, also - I did successfully fast yesterday. I think that’s part of the reason I only did one thing (the 5k) yesterday instead of the usually planned-for two things (no game dev, no speedrunning). It’s hard to achieve too much in one day. I feel great having fasted for a day, but it’s also true that it takes effort and saps some of your available discipline.
During my fast I had to process some feelings as I slid into junk food withdrawal, and I wound up reading about the state of industrialized food worldwide and the ongoing obesity wave taking over the world. It’s nothing new, and nothing I haven’t read before, but every once in a while you need to re-remember how insanely corrupt our entire food system is. If you’re trying to eat healthier and your willpower feels like it’s not strong enough, maybe try drumming up some well-deserved hatred of our food industry. Fuck Kellogg, fuck Nestle, fuck all of you. My fast is still ongoing.
If you want to watch the video I watched about childhood obesity this morning (including coverage of corporate American junkfood’s burgeoning obliteration of African health) - this was the one. I like this woman’s channel.
Tuesday Night - okay I got totally sucked into rage-learning more and more and more about the horrific state of our food industry. It’s sad. But you know, I think I kind of needed this.
I have been struggling with eating healthy for most of this year in the wake of quitting weed. Of course, I already know that the food industry is all fake horrible food…but so are a lot of things in America, and the world. Everything has become a farce in the name of maximizing profits. But like, since everything in the world is trending that way, it’s hard to get too riled up about any one single thing being like that. It’s easy to look at the thoroughly corrupt world and just give up.
You can’t care about everything, but food is so integral to our life, I am feeling a renewed vigor toward trying to stop spending any money on processed foods. I cannot stand the pathetic state capitalism has reduced our world to. I will be trying to reduce my processed food intake to the lowest levels I possibly can.
In other news, I did run a 5k today, but again didn’t do any other work. That’s okay. I am determined to do game development the second I wake up tomorrow.
I feel like I am always striving to be more disciplined. I value discipline. I admire disciplined people. But the thing is, failure is part of becoming disciplined. You have to just get right back to trying again as soon as you possibly can.
So, we’ll check in tomorrow. I did end my fast today by the way - I made it to 42 hours! That’s the longest successful fast I’ve had in quite some time. I spent one hour eating after the 42 fast, and now the timer is running again. There’s some connection between all these concepts. Fasting, real, non-processed food, and discipline. Fasting makes real food taste better, and helps reveal fake food for the sham it really is. Fasting takes discipline. Discipline involves avoiding getting sucked into the endless traps society has laid out for us, and buying any food other than real food is one of those traps. Using discipline to make a game or to speedrun are the more-benign things I choose to do with my life now that I don’t have to devote myself to capitalism. Discipline is on my mind. Real, valuable things are also on my mind. Anti-capitalism is always on my mind, but like Mitch Hedberg said, I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too. It’s like that.
So, until tomorrow. I will shoot to check in after the morning game dev session. Goals tomorrow - at least a half hour of game development right when I wake up, at least a half hour of speedrunning right after the second dog walk of the day, and let’s fast again. Have a good night.
Wednesday Morning - it is 10:10am so I definitely slept in a bit. I just fed Podo and Pancake their breakfast, and have started working on game dev. Starting by learning more about parallax backgrounds. Happy Wednesday!
1pm update - three hours of game dev are in the books. That was great. The habit to maintain is to work on game dev right when I wake up. Shooting to do that again tomorrow.
Work resulted in a small update. New space rock floor for our outer space level. I also detached the camera from the main character for the time being - I have some camera edits in progress. I don’t solely want the camera to just follow the main character, which is how it has worked to date. I’m still figuring out exactly how I want it to work, but edits are in progress.
Also this is the beginning of the outer space track:
Thursday Morning - 840am and about to start game dev work. Today I want to start by programming in some new screen transition logic.
I decided I would finish watching The Paper this week, since Erika is out of town and she was the primary person who vetoed the show after a few episodes. I finished it last night. I appreciate that there’s only so many plot lines you can feature on a show following coworkers, but The Paper feels very been-there-done-that. Maybe we just don’t need anymore workplace mockumentaries for a while. I even kind of like the people in it. Individually, these seem like relatively funny, likeable people…but it didn’t really mesh into a good show to me. I also think with so many of the prior workplace mockumentaries like this being from the previous era of television with 20+ episode seasons, the 10 episode season at half an hour each felt really short. I give The Paper a 5 / 10 on the unofficial McLepke media rating scale.
Anyway, it’s game dev time. I have a dentist appointment at 2pm and I’m still doing all of the dog care since Erika isn’t back until tomorrow, so we’ll see how much beyond game dev I get done.
Have a great Thursday!
Later update - okay, we can now differentiate between a screen transition that happens automatically, and one that you need to initiate by pressing up (like a door). The first screen transition here happens automatically, while the second one that uses the warp donut requires the player to make an input.
The camera also changes logic between the two screens. In the first screen, it is stationary, so the player can move all the way to the right-hand wall. In the second screen, it follows the player, keeping them centered once you start moving to the right.
Friday Update - okay it is 10am. Yesterday was a great day. Two hours of game dev and an hour and a half of speedrunning. I also strung two good fasts together. I had the 42 hour fast, and then after the eating window that followed, had a 40 hour fast that ended yesterday afternoon.
Fasts of this length seem to be my sweet spot. I feel good on a ~40 hour fast schedule, which essentially amounts to eating every other day, but on the eating day, not starting to consume food until the afternoon or evening. Fasting people would call this “alternate day fasting”, or ADF. There’s a lot involved with changing your relationship with food and your food behaviors - so many different habits and tendencies to change, especially given that you’re trying to change them forever.
I am going to try and keep this fasting behavior up for now. I feel good while fasting, and while eating I find that I am craving healthier foods. It’s like my body has enough time to want fruits and meat and real food. It’s helping me get out of what can become a daily loop of just eating ultra processed food.
Anyway, let’s talk about today’s plan. I really feel like taking a day off. Here’s the thing though: tomorrow is a day filled with leisure activities, so tomorrow is kind of a day off already. Tomorrow morning Podo and I are going to a Pittsburgh Hounds Halloween meetup event. Tomorrow evening Erika and I have plans to carve pumpkins with my brother and his wife in place of our usual movie night.
So, I am going to force myself to sit down and do a little bit of game dev. I think I will focus on artwork today. I have already done more game dev than last week, and I need another 90 minutes of speedrunning to match last week. Let’s get moving.
Oh also I finished the show Wayward on Netflix yesterday. Hmm. Spoilers for Wayward are contained in the rest of this paragraph. I didn’t think it was the best cult show. The episode where the kids are dropped in the woods and competing in a miniature Hunger Games meets Alone moment was weird. The hot seat therapy technique was odd too…once you learn the cult’s greater motives, it seems weird that the hot seat thing is a thing. Why was the whole thing about the door in your mother’s mouth such a mandatory part of the ritual? Didn’t it seem bizarre that Leila would not want to escape with Abby at the end? Idk…the show had moments but it also had a lot of things that didn’t feel air-tight to me. I give Wayward a 5.5 / 10 on the unofficial McLepke media rating scale.
Have a great Friday!
Saturday Morning - we are just about to head off to the Pittsburgh Hounds Halloween party! Pumpkin carving is still lined up for after that, so it’s an action-packed day. I hope you are as excited for this Saturday as I am. Have a great day!