June 2022 Update
I always like reading about what media other people are enjoying, so I thought I’d give it a try myself! These are some things that come to mind from the first half of 2022.
Watching
In terms of TV shows, the two that really stuck out recently were Severance S1 and the first part of Better Call Saul S6. Both of them are incredibly well-made and I can’t describe a whole lot about them without spoilers. I recommend both very highly, though.
I’ve been thinking recently about how I haven’t watched many movies for a while. I tend to get pretty indecisive when trying to pick something to watch on a streaming service and doubly-so for movies, but now that Dune is available, maybe I’ll start there.
Reading
- Designing Data-Intensive Applications. I’m just getting to the part where they start discussing consensus and I’m interested to see what kind of depth the book goes into. I haven’t had to learn the fundamental ideas behind database replication or consensus before, so I am curious to find out if it’s as intimidating as it seems it could be.
- Who Not How - A book recommended by our leadership at work. Still in the process of reading it, so I don’t have a fully-formed opinion on it yet, but the central concept is that you can accomplish bigger goals by working with others (eg. through delegation) rather than trying to take on all of the work yourself.
- Oathbringer - I’ve sort of fallen off of reading this regularly, but I do want to keep going with the series. The Way of Kings was incredible, but it had a big push forward toward the end of the book that held my attention and implored me to keep turning pages. I haven’t found that same feeling in this book, though I’m nearing the close.
- Gergely Orosz - A fantastic resource for any software developers out there interested in growth or hiring. The tweets alone are worth a follow.
Music
I often listen to playlists during the day because they take less effort to find something adequate but every now and then I will go flip through some digital albums that have been released recently. Fortunately, I’ve found quite a bit that I’ve enjoyed in the last few months! Some of these aren’t new, but they are “new to me”.
- Metal / Hard Rock
- Ghost - IMPERA. It’s Ghost and it’s great.
- Keldian - We Are Rebellion. One of my favourite bands is not only not dead, they dropped an incredible single out of nowhere!! Do you like the idea of sci-fi power metal? Albums that could be a Warhammer 40k soundtrack? Just listen to their whole back catalogue – it’s good.
- Various ambient/chill electronic albums and playlists
As you can imagine, my Spotify recommendations are kind of confused with the above genres being my top two at the moment.
Games
I’m playing a few more games now that I have an actual video card again.
- Microsoft Flight Simulator - This is a technical tour de force and the graphics are great in this game. Bringing in real satellite data is a huge leap forward to making the environments realistic. Some of the aircraft behaviour and control inputs have some issues here and there, but for the most part this is fun for me to fly around in again. Would still be fun to completely nerd out with HOTAS, rudder pedals, and a VR headset, but I’m not all the way there yet.
- PowerWash Simulator - This sounds stupid. Clean up a virtual object (sometimes “object” is “an entire full-sized ferris wheel that moves”) with a power washing wand and various attachments? Why don’t I go clean my own place instead? I don’t know, but I am addicted.
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker - Zoom around and zap and cut apart old space ships for material reclamation and pop those pieces into the proper recyling hole, thank you! Oh yeah, you have to pay off the billions (trillions?) you owe your employer. Don’t mind that part, I’m sure it’s fine.
- The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge - When I heard they’re making a new Monkey Island game, I thought I should refresh myself on the older ones!
Coding
- I made a little utility to load bundle data from Itch.io into Notion so that I could more easily work through a massive bundle of games. Yes, this is extremely nerdy.