Devin Haska
f23ac26a81
7.7 KiB
| title | date | excerpt | tags | youtube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly Notes #11 | 2025-09-14T22:00 | Let's not talk about how long it's been. |
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I know, I know... it's been a while. I'm not good with keeping up my writing habits. I try.
A lot has happened since my most recent "weekly notes" post. Around October 2024 I started in the exciting world of freelancing! A company I worked for years ago was looking for help, so I figured let's give this thing a shot. It worked! I managed to find contracts through former colleagues and contacts. As it turns out networking is still the most valuable skill when it comes to careers (in my opinion, anyway).
My most recent contract, which has wrapped up as of last week, as lead to full-time, salaried employment. This is a huge relief for me. I've enjoyed the variety of work that comes with freelancing, but I'm ready to settle back down and get stabilized again. I'm starting as a Senior Software Engineer. I feel like I'm actually making some career progress.
From Weekly Notes #10:
I’ll get a job eventually, and for now I’m taking care of myself.
Hey, whaddya know. I did (to both). :)
Outside of work, I've kept busy. Most recently I participated in another game jam (and here's a post if you'd like to learn more). We went on our annual trip to Calgary, Alberta to visit family, and took a sidebar trip to Edmonton (about a 3-ish hour drive from Calgary) to experience a small slice of Edmonton Fringe. When we learned that a sequel to our beloved Rat Academy was happening in Edmonton, we knew we had to be there. And it did not disappoint. I'm hoping they will make a stop in Victoria again soon.
My latest gaming addiction is Abiotic Factor, which is like "what if half-life 1 but a survival crafting game?" and I'm here for it. I adore the aesthetic. It's been great fun playing with a group of friends ("alright, who's ready to do a science?"), and since it's not an early access game (typical for your survival-crafters) there's actually a complete experience here with story and everything. We haven't reached the end yet (in fact I'm not even sure if we're close), but there has been a consistent pace of discoveries (some fun, some horrifying).
And then Silksong practically stealth-dropped out of nowhere on September 4th. I've barely started this one - I'm maybe an hour or two in? Also, Hades II was just announced to be released on September 25th. Then about a month later, Mina the Hollower comes out on October 31st. Can we slow our roll, amazing indie games?
In between everything that's been going on, I've been working with Old School Blue on taking Rumor Mill from game jam to full release. I want to say more, but I'll zip my lips and hope that what we're cooking looks fun to you!
Links
How Tim Cook sold out Steve Jobs
It's beating a dead horse at this point, but the Apple of 2025 is nothing like the Apple of 20 years ago. With the latest version of iOS shaping up to be a design and accessibility nightmare, my faith in my once favourite company is at an all time low. Despite that though, I feel like they are the lesser of two evils (the other being Google/Android) when it comes to mobile phones. I'm ready to jump ship, but I don't see any great alternatives yet.
How Lofi Girl Became a Chill Beats Empire
I do lament the loss of the hip hop influence with recent lofi trends. It feels softer, quieter. It does make for great "focus music", but I find myself searching for more "instrumental hip hop" these days.
Does Silksong Seem Unreasonably Hard? You Probably Took a Wrong Turn
I agree that the difficulty of Silksong feels like quite a step up from the previous game. My aging gamer instincts are nowhere near as sharp as they once were. I can feel the struggle already in my short time spent so far in the world of Silksong.
Yet, it feels a bit funny to me that gamers playing "metroid-vania-likes" are not engaging in the probably the most important part of the genre: exploration. Some sage advice at the end of the article:
But when a truly amazing game comes along that tries to gently steer the player with burly ants and difficult puzzles, they don’t appreciate it and they don’t listen. If you’re really stuck in Silksong, try going somewhere else.
Videos
{% youtube "ylL-SSRDyJc", "Turnstile: Tiny Desk Concert" %}
I love Turnstile. I also love seeing how bands "make it work" in a Tiny Desk setting.
{% youtube "r5Y1I1Zol2k", "I Got So Annoyed with YouTube I Built My Own" %}
I feel both seen and completely nerd-sniped with this one. I am loathe to admit it, but this is an ideal use-case for AI. Feed it your data, with an LLM you control, to create an algorithm that works for you.
Completely reasonable developer behaviour.
Developing
I made some small tweaks to the posts layout and style today. I think it makes it easier to scan. I also had to fix my development pipeline last month. I guess it's been a while since I've posted, so I didn't notice it breaking.
Watching
We recently finished all of The Good Wife, which was rather enthralling! The last season faltered around a bit, but the previous six were great TV through and through. I'm surprised that I hadn't heard of the show during its original run.
We've swiftly moved onto The Good Fight, which takes place a year after the end of The Good Wife. It follows Diane Lockhart, after she is forced out of her previous firm. I'm not so sure about it after the first few episodes of season 1, but I'll let it cook and see what it has to offer. There's also the second spin-off Elsbeth, which follows Elsbeth Tascioni - probably my favourite character of the "Good Wife Universe".
Listening
Been ravenously listening to the new The Beaches album No Hard Feelings, and I'm beyond excited to see them live in October. No skips on this one.
Deftones' newest album private music is stellar. I read on a music review somewhere that said "they are able to play loud music softly" which feels apt. It's aggressive, but thoughtful. It's in your face, but contemplative. I don't know how they do it, but it's good.
Recently discovered the shoegaze band Slow Crush, and have been also devouring their newest album Thirst.
The Metal Gear Solid 3 soundtrack has been on heavy rotation the past 2 weeks as my "focus music". I guess with the recent release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater it's been on my mind lately. I want to play the game, but not bad enough to fork over $90+ for it. I'll wait for a steep sale.
Coming Up
Tomorrow is my first day as a full-time employee. I'm excited. I've been working with the team already for 3 months, so I'm well integrated and "in the work". Plenty of onboarding to do too.
Later on we have a symphony performance of "Broadway & Beyond" which is symphonic renditions of famous broadway tunes. I'm looking forward to it!
Later in the October two good friends of mine are finally getting married! I think the wedding will be a ton of fun. They're both giant nerds and I know they've been cooking up something neat.
Until next time! ✌️