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Years ago I had an annual tradition of making "Virtual Advent Calendars" - little toys and games that could run in the browser, one each day for Dec 1-25.

I was heartened to find out that the first years' (which I thought were lost because Java Applets are now deprecated) can be run if you use a Chrome plugin called CheerpJ.

Anyway, here are links to all 7:
2009 (Java Applet)
2011 (Java Applet)
2012 (Started remaking in JS)
2013 (Seasons)
Ed Emberly Animals (plus Santa)
2015 (Games)
2016 (Finale)

Sometimes I miss making these things! It was a fun little tradition, and nice creative outlet.

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And there are a lot of lessons you could take from that about the nature of getting immersed in a piece of art [by spending 21 hours livestreaming to live a mundane working class week in Cyberpunk 2077]. But for me, I think my main takeaway is something I've always said on this channel. *If you want to get more out of something, put more into something.* This goes for games. It goes for movies and other forms of art. But it also goes for your relationships, your health, and your life overall.

If it surprises you, it's information. If it confirms your bias, it's entertainment. If it makes you hate your neighbor, it's a weapon.

Life is mostly maintenance.
Irrational beliefs come from insisting maintenance should feel like achievement.

It's been a while for me but did anyone else read Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer"? Lately I've been thinking of the parallels between the titular Primer and the experience of frequently consulting with ChatGPT via smartphone. (and it's ability to take what it knows about you into account with its answers)

"you're the best thing that's ever happened to me"
"i don't think so much in superlatives but you're right up there"

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