Update drops on Monday, right?

Vegeta

Walking outside is free! There are free support groups online. Those require time, but just 20 minutes can make a bigger difference.

The CBT workbook I used was maybe $20, I think. It’s worth the investment.

Finally, getting over depression is all about retraining how you think. It’s going to take time, practice, and effort. Depression wants to show you how you don’t have the resources to beat it. That’s not true. You can beat it, even if you don’t have the resources other people might.

Depression has forever changed me. It’s easy to think that it was for the worst, but I’m more empathetic to people than I was before. Something that helped me was realizing and believing that depression is temporary. You won’t always be like this, even though you might feel that way.

You can do this.

Professional help can be cheap! You just might have to look little harder. For a while, I saw a psychologist who had a deal with a church where they subsidized most of his fee. So it was super cheap for me.

One of the most helpful things for me was Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT. I used a workbook that helped me see how skewed and untrue some of my thinking was.

Finally, walking in nature or, even better, exercise! Find what works for you. I like jump rope. Good luck!

Don’t download Balatro on mobile unless you want to lose your job, family, friends, and health. It’s that addictive.

I’m guessing the Tetris community doesn’t think too much of this game, but I loved Tetrisphere. It was so cool! I guess it’s not included in this, though… :-(

That’s really cool!

A total of 2,348 bombs weighing 41 tons were disposed of during fiscal year 2023, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the Self-Defense Force.

Holy shit. Other than the obvious, I never learned much in school about the Allied bombing campaign in Japan during WWII… which, now that I think about it, was probably on purpose.

I mean, the framerate alone… Bad yikes.

Yikes…

I remember reading a post on reddit a year or so ago where the partner of an OF model talked about how much time she had to spend every day catering to her clients. Between pictures, daily messages, comments, etc., according to this person, she was constantly on her phone, which made quality time together almost impossible.

The way I see it, there are so many variables to this situation. Does she use her real name? Does she show her face? Does she have to spend every waking moment on her phone?

Figure out what you’re comfortable with and see how she lines up with that.

He engages with his fan base a lot. So yeah, there are lots of jokes and things like that. It’s fun to get involved with everything, but you don’t need to in order to just enjoy his books.

By the way, most people suggest starting with the Mistborn series. “The Final Empire” is the first book, and it’s really fun. A good introduction to Sanderson. They’re still big books, but not quite the commitment of “The Way of Kings,” which is the first Stormlight book. Whatever you start with, I hope you enjoy it!!

What the fuck is happening across the world?

I love the worldbuilding, mystery, and magic system, but I think it’s the characters that I love the most. I can identify with these characters so much more than any book I’ve read before. Their struggles, their thoughts and feelings, and their growth really speaks to me.

Also, the climax of Brando’s books are awesome. Fans have dubbed it “The Sanderlanche.” Something that B-Money is great at is delivering on promises. He is actually a writing professor at BYU (he’s uploaded a lot of his lectures to his YouTube channel), and one of his big things for writers is Plot, Promises, and Progress. It’s really exciting when you realize you’re in the Sanderlanche, because a bunch of awesome shit is about to go down.

And, most of his books are in the same universe (called the Cosmere), and so it’s cool when you recognize a character from one series when they show up in another series.

A lot of fantasy readers don’t like Sanderson. And so I wanted to acknowledge that. They soothe my soul, but your mileage may vary…

The Lord of the Rings

This is Howard Shore’s Magnum opus. It’s what distinguishes this movie as more than just a great adaptation. His use of themes to represent not only races and kingdoms but characters, objects (like the One Ring, of course), and even concepts is a level above most movie soundtracks. There are even elements of storytelling through the music!

For example, the first time we hear the theme for Gondor is when Boromir is in Rivendell. Since he’s more or less alone, the theme is played by a single French Horn in a somber (almost tragic) style. In Return of the King, we see Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor, in all its glory, and so the full orchestra plays the theme.

One more: As the Fellowship begins to break down, so too does the theme. We go from heroic phrases to shorter, interrupted instances. There’s a book about the soundtrack written by Doug Adams. I highly recommend it if you’re interested!

Definitely not written for kids. I’d say it’s in the “general audience” category. It’s fairly clean as far as content goes; so kids could read it. But it’s sheer length and number of characters demands the patience and commitment of an experienced reader (if that makes sense).

I know! Have you been reading the chapters on Reactor Mag?

I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but The Stormlight Archive books speak to me like no other books ever have. They’re a huge time investment, but they’re all about the journey, not the destination. 😉

Personally, I think TLG was rated pretty accurately. I wanted to love that game, but it was so frustrating. Beautiful. Haunting. So, so frustrating.

I agree with you on SotC, though! I loved Ico, too.