Life

[undermind9]

they live in my office.  and do everything listed above; including the barking, occasional crabbing, constant wheel running, jumping, gliding.

 

ive had these girls for a few years now so the night time barking doesnt necessarily bother me.  sometimes ill wake up...but it happens all night anyways between the cats running around and trains outside.  

 

lucy on the left is much friendlier, frequently comes out to meet visitors, Lola is crabby...and only barely tolerates me and my wife touching her

 

we dont let them out normally, REF: Cats, but sometimes on a weekend we'll take them into the bathroom to have free roam w/the door closed.  

 

they really do bring me much joy and love, its unfortunate you were exposed in adverse conditions

[syntheticgerbil]

As I was watching TV last night, I saw what I thought was a cricket scuttle across the floor in front of me. So I went to grab something to crush the life out of it and when I turned the light on to try to see where it was, I saw a big 3 inch scorpion sitting on the floor a few inches away from where my foot was. Luckily, that bastard is somewhere in the Phoenix sewer system now but the damage has been done and I don't think I want to live in my house any more.

You were so close to death.

[namman siggins]

This week was a fucking mess, practically schizophrenic.

Started the week off with a deep depression--which is still lasting--and having small things go wrong which added to the depression. Throughout the week I would have moments where I felt great and did some neat things with friends but then it would only last for a few and I would go back again.

Yesterday my car got towed and I cracked my iPhone screen; $420 I had to spend to get it back.

Now I'm going into somewhat hermit mood this weekend so I can wallow and get my shit straight. Tomorrow I'm going to the beach with a couple of my very close friends; so there's that and I have some movies to watch.

Just fuck life right now.

[Blambo]

Long time relationship turned into a long distance one today, with an 8 hour difference and spotty internet connection. Feels weird.

[Jay Tholen]

I haven't really shared this anywhere for fear of the scrutiny I'd receive, but what the heck. 
Edit: Whoops, looks like I wrote an entire dadgummed blog post. 

 

I’ve always wanted to be a game developer. My time as a lad playing NES games sparked that passion in me, but a simple game-making program called Klik & Play solidified it. I joined the Klik community in ~1998, and started releasing my paltry little games into the wild. I’ve always been a decent artist, so while my games weren't the worst looking, they were still largely unplayable monstrosities.

I grew up in a middle class home that slowly drifted into ‘poor’ territory, with my parents’ divorce being the catalyst that drove us all to ‘really really poor’ territory. In school I struggled with ADHD-PI, culminating in my having to drop out of. I was already in my second year of 12th grade, so it was more than a little embarrassing. I received my General Education Diploma a few months later and found work at a call center. My crowning achievement since then was holding on to a factory job for four years. 

  

Shortly after high school, I gave up on the idea of being a game developer and plunged myself into other mediums. The Klik community, my only anchor to that world, seemed to fade from existence, leaving game development looking like a distant hazy childish dream. Games moved away from the low res art that I had become adept at, and I didn’t have any skills in industry standard programs. Music and sound became my focus until about ~2011, at which point I’d already released 25 albums and EPs worth of music. I couldn’t sell any copies of anything, and my live show was routinely pretty bad, but it was lots of fun.

   

I did putz around with pixel art still, creating Dropsy, a Choose Your Own Adventure game about a horrifying-looking-but-good-natured clown on the Something Awful Forums. The initial thread was posted in 2008, followed by another in 2010. Dropsy achieved mild popularity there and generated some interest in seeing an actual game. So, in 2011 I ran a small successful Kickstarter and game development was back in the picture. 

 

My original plan was to use Multimedia Fusion (Klik & Play’s descendant) - but its porting limitations gave me guff, and I promised backers that they’d have a Mac and Linux version. This, combined with improvements in my artistic skill, led to a re-design in 2013. The time I was spending on Dropsy absolutely destroyed my productivity at work, resulting in my being fired. 

   

Taking advantage of my new-found free time, I pumped out a fancy intro cinematic and launched a second Kickstarter in the summer of 2013. I enlisted my long-time friend Justin (or DarklordJW as I knew him in the Klik Community) to program the game in Unity, and jazz maestro Chris Schlarb to compose the soundtrack. Unfortunately, it failed, but I made tons of new friends in the process. At this point I have to mention my dad being rad for STILL believing in my dumb clown game and allowing me to stick around the house a while longer.

   

I worked feverishly on refining the game and launched another campaign in October. It worked! Devolver picked me up towards the end of the Kickstarter’s run, and I was completely blown away. My life did a crazybutt 180 on me, and it was the best feeling in the world. It’s still the best feeling in the world. I have a chance that I never thought I’d have, and I can’t feel anything other than thankfulness - even during a few of our recent bumps in the road.

 

I’m still living with the ol’ dad, still dealing with ghetto-rigged plumbing that works infrequently, and still driving the same 

 that stalls out if you turn on the air conditioner - but I’m doing what I love, with people I love, for a cause that I love - and I may even be able to keep doing it as a career. Feels good man. Really really really good.

   
If Dropsy sells a lot, I’m gonna relieve my pops of his house payments until he finds a decent job and put something towards my sister’s car fund. She’s almost 24 and hasn’t owned one. They’ve been rad and need some tangible reimbursement. 
 

It’s probably a dumb idea to see one single project as your big chance, but I’m so deeply committed to making this game incredible that I’m not too worried about it floundering. Also, I’m already planning a sequel. 

[osmosisch]

Hi Jay, thanks for writing that story. I followed your threads and kickstarters so it's very cool to see you get so far. Fingers crossed!

For those interested, there's also a goldmine post for dropsy's latest adventure:

http://www.somethingawful.com/comedy-goldmine/dropsy-clown-game/1/

[Justin Leego]

Good life post Jay! The soundtrack is amazing.

 

 

Also the keyboard player's blue jeans contrast nicely with the warm orange tone of the lighting upon his instruments and score sheets.

[Merus]

Oh man, I've heard about Dropsy and kept going 'oh that sounds pretty cool' but I don't have a lot of money for Kickstarters these days. Good luck, man.

[Bjorn]

That's a great story Jay, hope it all keeps working out now that things are looking up!

[syntheticgerbil]

I wish you great success Jay, also your clown is really creeping me the fuck out.

[namman siggins]

Where is that clown from?

[Merus]

From the game that he made that stars a very disturbing-looking clown with a heart of gold.

[Justin Leego]

There's this YouTuber whose schtick was reeling off a vast amount of conspiracy theory babble. I had assumed that the whole thing was a massive satire and he was a drama student or out-of-work actor or something. He had a good video about how to cut your own hair.

 

Then this morning I discover that a couple of months ago he was shot and killed by a police officer having approached a member of University staff and stabbed them in the neck (report).

 

Today I'm experiencing increased difficulty in telling the difference between sincerity and straight-faced satire.

[JonCole]

Of course he was a Florida Man. 

[Jay Tholen]

There's this YouTuber whose schtick was reeling off a vast amount of conspiracy theory babble. I had assumed that the whole thing was a massive satire and he was a drama student or out-of-work actor or something. He had a good video about how to cut your own hair.

 

Then this morning I discover that a couple of months ago he was shot and killed by a police officer having approached a member of University staff and stabbed them in the neck (report).

 

Today I'm experiencing increased difficulty in telling the difference between sincerity and straight-faced satire.

My state is awful. Also:

vvv - I know, I just love it so much that I'll take any excuse to post it again.

[Justin Leego]

That one is definitely satire.

[Spenny]

Of course he was a Florida Man. 

http://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaMan

[JonCole]

http://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaMan

 

Yeah, that's why I typed "Florida Man" instead of Florida man. Also the Twitter account.

[Justin Leego]

Florida is like the Nazareth of the United States.

Figuratively, not literally. That would be Nazareth, Texas, of course.

[Bjorn]

Florida is the Florida of Florida.

 

Edited to add: Florida is kind of a weird word to say a bunch of times in a row out load. 

[ihavefivehat]

So I'm thinking of buying a TV for the first time. I don't really watch actual live TV ever, but I just want a larger screen to watch streaming video on when I have friends over. All I have right now is a laptop. I plan on just getting an HDMI adapter and plugging my laptop into the screen. Any buying advice?

[JonCole]

http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/tvs/

[Bjorn]

I've become a proponent of just buying a projector (I put one in last year), but it's not a perfect fit for every home/room.  If you usually have your room dark while gaming and watching stuff, it's great though.  And the prices and quality have both improved a bunch in the last few years, to the point where a quality entry level 80"-100" projector and screen is comparable to a good 40"-50" TV.  If you think you're interested, I can give some pointers. 

[namman siggins]

Projectors are amazing!

My best friend has one and when I'm over we do film marathons. We've see Sorcerer, All is Lost, Snowpiercer, Goodbye Dragon Inn and all these emotionally intense crime/thriller/action/noir/barebones films; my god how they overwhelm and envelope you. It's as close as to being in a theater.

[ihavefivehat]

A projector sounds awesome! Would it work it a room that's gets pretty sunny during the day though? I don't really want to buy heavy curtains.