Thoughtful Moment

Any creative output you have has a similar trait.

Your programming, your writing, your art, your opinions on life and your old social media status updates.

Your earliest work is nothing short of cringe worthy that you will find intently embarrassing when looked at through the lens of time.

Fortunately for me, the last time I visited my parent’s house I destroyed all the floppy discs with my angst ridden creative writing so that it would never haunt me in my future career.

So during lunch someone picked up a game that sounds like a sort of “dating sim”-style game where you play an intrepid lawyer who has to go around talking to people, solving quests, and building up a case for your client.

A logical extension of this would be one for other professions, such as for chartered accountants.

And a logical extension to that would be a “sim” game for a software developer.

And a logical extension to that would be a “sim” game where you play the part of an intrepid QA/tester working at a large game development company who you have to track down bugs in games that you are testing, enter comprehensive bug reports, hold meetings and talk to the other employees.

If someone ever did find a real bug in the game you could deny that it was a bug and claim it was actually a quest.

Though I imagine it would be really confusing for the actual QA staff testing the game as they would have a hard time distinguishing real bugs from quests in the game that require you to find bugs in the games you are testing.

Some of the wealthiest and successful people I know are some of the laziest and most procrastinating people I know.

The difference in their laziness and procrastination to the general populace is that they do the things that matter and procrastinate and ignore the things that don’t.

The difference is not their laziness and procrastination but in how they are lazy and what they procrastinate on.

When will the GDC (Game Developers Conference) start handing out awards for “best smell in FPS category?”

Cooking is pretty easy.

You just have to turn off that part of your lizard brain that makes you afraid.

General cooking is mostly art.

But baking?

Baking is where science and art meet.

I’d rather live in the Hell of reality with other people than alone in heavenly dreams.

Life is meant to be challenging.

If you don’t have any real challenges in your life, make some.

And I am not talking about the challenges of the amateur dramatics that your friends and family insist on bringing to your life.

If you could be a god, the only god in fact, a supreme being, in an alternative reality, would you do it?

Let’s assume this reality is just a big simulation on a powerful computer.

You would “live” in that reality for as long as you like, but once you step in, you cannot leave.

If you could be god in a virtual reality and give up this reality, would you?

Why not?

What’s the difference?

What part of you is you?

If you could transfer your thoughts, memories and other logical faculties to a virtual world or virtual reality or a robot body, would you do it?

Why not?

What’s the difference?

How much of you must remain for you to identify you are still you?

Don’t count the years, count the adventures you had.

I am more ashamed of my Bash terminal history than my browser history.

Why is everything closed?

Every restaurant, bar and shop.

There’s nobody about on Venice Beach.

I am so lonely.

Cannot reach anybody I know locally on the phone.

Did I make a mistake in coming here?

I have learned that the last thing I ever want to ask one of my end users that play my games or use my applications or make use of the services of my company is “What do you want from this product/service?”

I have found in my 27 years on this planet that it is difficult to win an argument against a person smarter than you.

But I have equally found that it is utterly impossible to win an argument against a person who is dumber than you.

And now I feel bad for all those people who are smarter than me that I have found myself arguing with.

I’m often given a choice of two projects or two paths to take.

And I am of the mind to always take both at the same time.

This usually annoys people who insist I, like they, take only one path at a time.

Why limit yourself to only one success when you can have two?

Never stop reading.

Never stop listening.

Never stop growing.

Never stop learning.

Never stop exploring.

Never stop dreaming.

Never.

Ever.

Stop.

To see the world through the eyes of your younger self?

To draw closer those things that make you afraid?

To embrace those things that make you yearn?

To make you feel alive?

To make you live?

That is the purpose of life.

Financial poverty can be one of two states.

It can be one where your needs exceed supply.

This is true poverty.

The other is where your demand exceeds the supply.

This is the poverty of mind.

The opposite of poverty is dignity.

Dignity is choice.

Choice is having control over the decisions in our life.

And making our own decisions about how to live is freedom.

To be seen.

To count.

To matter.

We should strive to define our freedom not by how much wealth we amass but by how free we are to make our own choices.

Speaking from personal experience, a visit to your tailor is more effective than a visit to your Doctor as a reinforced reminder that you need to lose weight.

“Never attribute to malice that which can be explained away by ignorance” – Various

“Never attribute to ignorance that which can be explained away by sheer bloody laziness” – Justin Lloyd

If you ever thought you could be great at anything if only you gave it a try, you obviously never attempted writing to really give yourself a strong dose of self-doubt.

Deciding not to have children is breaking with family tradition.

Think about it.

I enjoy the happiness of the pursuit than the pursuit of happiness.

One of the biggest lies I ever got told was that there is a permanent record.

“Permanent record.”

Two words to put fear in the heart of any kid.

A system of control to demonstrate to young minds “we’re in control of your life” by people who are clearly not even in control of themselves.

A shorter work week is an ideal that will never happen.

Not because we as humans would like to work less but because other people are unhappy that they have to work more.

People who want more want the economy to be ever bigger.

The greatest freedom you will ever experience is truly not giving a fuck what someone else thinks of you.

Age is a number that other people use to keep score.

It allows them to decide if they are better than you.

Unfortunately age is the only number that increases as time marches on for most people.

Assume that I have woken up from sleep at least 8,000 times in my life so far.

You’d think that after that many attempts I would be used to it by now.

People claim that I trust computers more than I trust people.

It’s true.

Except when I am saving my work.

Then I mash that save key combination (CTRL+S) more times than I care to think about.

Never put off until tomorrow that which you can be persistent with today.

You ain’t shit if you can’t ship.

You cannot demand the loyalty of employees to the company when the company is a sociopath that offers no loyalty to the employees.

I am sorry for how I made you feel.

I am not sorry for how you feel.

Are schizophrenic introverts too shy to talk to themselves?

When you run in to someone telling you “No” repeatedly, no matter your request, you have only one option.

Start over with the same tactics, but at one level further up in the organisation.

Breaking up with your girlfriend lets you know who your friends are, and who just said they were your friend.

P.S. Yes, this is relevant to my life.

Life has taught me that just because you cannot dance it does not by extension mean that you shouldn’t dance.

Just make sure you have an accepting audience.

I always make sure to do things by the book.

But I also make sure I am the author.

You own a lot of books.

You have information.

You have read a lot of those books.

You have knowledge.

You can reason about the content of those books.

You have understanding.

You realise that not all of the world is contained in books.

You have wisdom.

Dr Seuss poems sounds like how Dr Seuss writes.

Does that make them Seusserations?

 

An inexorable progression of technology:

If we can solve the problem in hardware, it will be.

If we cannot solve the problem in hardware…

If we can solve the problem in software, it will be.

If we cannot solve the problem in software…

We don’t understand the problem well enough to solve it.

Once we understand the problem well enough to solve it..

We will solve the problem in software.

And then we’ll move the solution to hardware.

 

I have found over my career that working on multiple projects (either simultaneously or serially) is a huge motivational force in my life.

I try very hard never to let myself get bogged down for endless years on one boring drudge project for someone else.

Launching multiple projects ensures that I see multiple successes in my career.

This is what motivates me to get out of bed every day.

I’m not afraid of a computer program that can successfully pass the Turing Test.

I’m afraid of the computer program that will intentionally fail it.

Measure it to improve it.

Your breakthrough start-up idea today that everyone wants to see was just a crazy idea to everyone you showed it too yesterday.

To be rich is to have a choice.

What you eat.

When you eat.

Where you eat.

Where you live.

What you wear.

What you drive.

What you watch.

Which brand of coffee you drink.

The moment you can make a choice about something, you are a little richer.

The more choices you can make about your life, the richer you are.

What computer you have.

Which Operating System you use.

Who your doctor is.

Where you go to school.

Which job you will take.

What job you can apply for.

The more choices, the richer you are.

If you see yourself winning, does that push you to win?

Pets are animals with Stockholm syndrome.

Except for cats.

They have Schrödinger’s syndrome.

I loved it when he played that little piano.

That which didn’t kill me…

…had it’s chance.