Hey, look - I'm trying.

Budding novelist and game designer.

[truedevilsadvocate]

I’ve been away working on college. So sorry - will get back into gear soon! Also, if anyone has a Pokemon Go interest, you should friend me. My trainer code is 865139611274. Love you all.

[truedevilsadvocate]

Following some initial trouble on Amazon’s end, First Embers is back up on the Kindle store with a new and improved cover. $2.99 on Kindle, free with Kindle Unlimited, and just $3.99 for the paperback. Starting 11/13/2020 and ending 11/17/2020, First Embers is free to purchase on the Kindle store. Follow this link and read the blurb. If it doesn’t seem like something you’d enjoy, you can help a lot with just a reblog. If you do read the book, please rate it and review it - let me know what you think!

[truedevilsadvocate]

My first self-published story! Try to excuse the cover art, as I’m working with a literal shoestring budget. But yeah! Very excited. It’s just $3.99 on Kindle, or free if you have Kindle Unlimited. It’s also available for paperback, priced $5.99. It’s the first installment of my A Dragon Heir series, a gay M/M paranormal romance series. Here’s the blurb:

In New York city, there emerges a pattern of death by cremation with piles of ash as the only remains. The victims? Some of NYC's worst and most despicable. The killer? A man who calls himself only The Son of Kur. Dependable Detective Caleb Palmer is on the case; a case that takes him far out of his comfort zone and changes his life in more ways than one.

If you’re into thrillers, gay romance, the paranormal, shapeshifters, dragons, and/or the occult, this series could be a lot of fun to read! If you like it, please do me a solid and leave a review; share it with a friend if you really like it. Also note, there are two very explicit erotica scenes that make this book strictly 18+. Purchase it on Amazon. Thanks!

[truedevilsadvocate]

Been avoiding it by making apps with Stencyl and games with ChoiceScript, but it looks like I’m going to have to finally bite the bullet and learn how to code like a big boy. Especially with Flash headed for the great beyond.

[truedevilsadvocate]

Hey! How have you been? Didn't see any updates from you in a wire long time. Do you still work on Time of Genius?

Hi Langre! You made my day, sending me this! Haha. Well, I wish I could say I’m working hard at it, but the truth is that I’ve needed to put Time of Genius on the backburner. I’ve had to sacrifice most of my writing time to work masonry and do some other odd jobs to pay the bills. It eats me up. I want to be working on this - I care so much about this game that I find myself always thinking ‘Goldman would say something like that’ or ‘That looks like something Lexi might have worked on’ or ‘What would Sebastian have said in that situation?’ And so on. I want to get back to it. Tell you the truth, I’m not 100% on if it’s going to be a ChoiceScript game or if it needs to be a visual novel or what it needs to be. But, I care a great, great deal about this game/story - it’s my baby. Thank you for caring about it enough to shoot me a message. :) Like I said, you made my day.

[eyeheartsheep]

How to stay sane during quarantine

I have chronic depression and executive dysfunction. I’ve also been working from home for a good few years now. I’ve learned a lot, so I think I have some advice to help all of the people that are now stuck at home for long periods of time.

1. Shower, change your clothes, brush your hair, brush your teeth, shave. Anything that you would normally do first thing in the morning to prep for school/work, you still need to do it. Our minds crave the routine, and your body doesn’t suddenly stop needing to be clean because no one is seeing it dirty. 

2. Do everything in your mortal power to keep the same sleep schedule you had before. For the absolute love of god. Set an alarm and stick to it as if your life depended on it. Fucking with your circadian rhythm is the #1 to make you feel like dog shit.

3. Keep a journal or at least a calendar. It helps the days matter. If you don’t have something concrete to look at each morning or night to remember the day and the date, everything starts to meld together. It fucks with your soul. And besides, you’re living through a historical event. If any time was the time to start documenting your life, it’s now.

4. Stay in touch with your friends. It doesn’t matter how, as long as you do. Discord is a go-to. Even Facebook works. There’s also Watch2Gether, where you can watch videos online with friends. 

5. If you’re religious, continue practicing your faith within the comfort of your home. Your God doesn’t care where you pray. They get it. It’s cool. This is especially important if religious gatherings were a part of your normal life. Right now, everything is scary. Find comfort where you can.

6. Pets are important. Take care of them well if you have them. Walk them or let them get exercise. Play with them. Cuddle them. You both are made healthier with the contact. 

7. Pick up a hobby you’ve always wanted to but never had the time or energy. It’ll let you feel productive and give you the feeling of accomplishment that school and work might.  And it’ll keep your mind engaged.

8. It’s tempting, but don’t binge watch or play. Don’t watch the entire SVU franchise back to back, or spend 12 hours playing Morrowind. You shouldn’t do anything for such a prolonged period of time. It turns something that should be a reward into the emotional and mental equivalent to junk food. If you have to, at lest cycle what you’re watching/playing.

9. Work out. You’re going to gain weight, that’s normal. It’s a drastic change to… well, everything, but especially your body. This is twice as likely if you eat when you’re emotional/bored. 

10. Fuck me, stop watching the damn news so much. Social media counts, too. Maybe check once a day, once every other day. You’re freaking yourself out for no good reason. The numbers aren’t so important that you need to know it every hour of the day. You don’t need to see what stupid things someone said or did. Our brains weren’t meant for this.

11. If you have the luxury, go outside. This is maybe one of the most important ones. If you live far enough from others, take a walk. Maybe bike. If you can’t, go in your yard and relax. If all else fails, open every window in the house. Homes can constrict you if you stay there for to long. It starts to feel like a prison, and you go stir crazy. No home should feel like a prison. 

12. If you have one, your therapist very likely offers online visits. Most state insurances that cover therapy/counseling also include online visits as an accessibility feature. Even if you don’t normally attend therapy, you may need it to combat situational anxiety and depression, which is just as important as their chronic cousins. 

Uh. Hope I helped. I’ve always sucked at concluding statements. 

[truedevilsadvocate]

From last week being one of incredible energy and productivity, to this week being one of frustration and exhaustion... Here’s to a rebound!

[truedevilsadvocate]

Why does it feel like Rod Serling was promoted to head writer for Earth the last couple years? “ It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call... Earth, 2020.” 

[radical-eve]

[eyeheartstims]

Being in a relationship where both of you are on the autism spectrum is just… wild sometimes. It’s like we’re two aliens living in a world of humans, but we’re different species of aliens. So most of the time we bond over how silly the humans are, but then turn around and realize how silly this other alien is.

Like… as an example, most autists simultaneously have these things they do that make no logical sense to anyone but them, and HATE people who do things that don’t make logical sense to them. 

So… okay, long story short my fiance peels the sticker off a banana before peeling the banana to eat it. Why does he do that? He doesn’t need to do that. He’s not going to eat the peel. It doesn’t matter if there’s a sticker on it. He’s just making more work for himself. He insists on doing this. And that is the incorrect way to eat a banana and I can prove it. and it makes me so. angry. 

[eyeheartstims]

I know the internet is full of tons of people that are 100%, objectively Wrong but this is taking it to another level.

[truedevilsadvocate]

Nice to have a little solidarity on this, everyone :P I accept that it’s irrational and I probably picked it up from eating apples. I also accept that I’m going to keep on doing it.

[truedevilsadvocate]

So, you’ve heard of mass hysteria. How about mass dementia? Y2K, 2012, H1N1, Ebola... Coronavirus. Freak out - Dramatize, sensationalize, pillage, and lose your cool. Fear the worst - Dread, anxiety, depression, hopelessness. Fail to learn - Forgive the media, forget the result, fail to learn the lesson. Repeat - Do it all over again next time. I’m not saying there’s no danger. There’s danger crossing the street or in not wearing your seat belt. But, the above response helps nothing. Instead, adopt this approach: Get info - Delve deep, compare data, find facts not speculation. Stay cool - Stay realistic(not cynical), avoid media overload, keep living. Adapt - Apply safety measures, avoid needless danger, help others do likewise. Remember - Stay critical, stay safe, stay realistic, stay cool, stay vigilant.

[eyeheartprompts]

Here’s a good reason to start work on your project today: if you finish it, people will do commissions for you for free and call it “fan art.”

[catchymemes]

[truedevilsadvocate]

[truedevilsadvocate]

Programmer dilemmas.

[truedevilsadvocate]

My favorite part of programming is when you have no idea how to solve a problem so you go "fuck it, I'm trying X" and X actually works.

[cyberpunkonline]

The narrative states that to "get on in life" you have to tow the line and do as expected. The empirical data, history, suggests that precisely the opposite is true.