I rocked long hair from grade school to my mid 20s.

Then, a lady friend (platonic) sat me down and had a talk with me.

The thinning, now seemingly always greasy, strands of hair was not a good look. Like, don’t visit a playground or I would be arrested on site lol.

So, being a metal head there are two main options, or at least were at the time. Long hair. Or take bare clippers to it.

So, I did.

That first winter fucking suuuucked. Still to this day, I tend to rock a hoody in cold weather, and toss my hood up to cover my head for warmth when outdoors.

Sometimes I let it grow out for about a month before taking clippers to it again, out of sheer laziness. A month of growth, from shaved, isn’t much in the way of hair, but temperature wise it is very noticeable.

I loved Control.

I absolutely could not get into AW, and it bums me out because it seemed intriguing.

Linux is the key there.

All your complaints revolve around Windows.

That being said, if you don’t want to fuck with computers any more than necessary, that route won’t be particularly pleasing until Valve can release their OS and Launcher updates, assuming they keep things user friendly.

Linux gaming is leagues better than it was 20 years ago. Still hard to beat a fresh Windows install (key: fresh) and most certainly a console when it comes to ease of use.

I’m on W11 with my daily driver.

I don’t like it. I didn’t like it from the start.

So why?

Because W10 will hit EOL sooner than later; and I have to support that shit professionally.

Doesn’t matter that no one is testing or building applications for W11, no security patches mean any employer worth their salt will switch over to W11, despite not having the infrastructure to do it.

Admin VS IT. I’m nearly 40, and that story is older than I am.

I’d also add a lifetime subscription to Nexus, that alone can add so much life to so many games. Hell, if I’m checking out a game, I see what kind of mod support it has first.

Or do they not offer that anymore?

I think I got it way back when for $50 or so.

I’ll admit, I haven’t watched it. Nor do I intend to. And I tried to allude to CDPR doing… something to explain it.

I’ve seen too many decent games ruined by hype trains, so I do my best to avoid them and form my own judgements.

I tend to be a lore nerd before a min-maxer in games, though that wasn’t always the case.

The “best” build isn’t always the most enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE theory crafting ridiculous shit - but if you trounce all your enemies, conquer every social interaction, and breeze through the game… where is the adventure?

Hell, the BEST DND player I’ve played with lasted three sessions. Second Edition. Gnome Fighter with 3 INT. He was, sadly, too dumb to live. But man, I enjoyed every session with that character. Barrel of laughs, and his “idiocy” could be really ingenious. Dangerous to everyone around him, friend or foe, but he got results.

Sadly, he re-rolled with a more optimized character. It survived, but it was not nearly as much fun.

The Trial of Grasses is kind of a defining moment in a witcher’s life.

Thats really my only beef at the moment with the choice, but I’ve been awake for over 48 hours so I’m not thinking too clearly at the moment.

As an American who has worked night shift for too long… I’m sick of “breakfast” foods.

Bacon, eggs, some carb, maybe spice it up by adding salsa or some shit?

Nah, sorry.

I’ve had my fill.

8am is dinner time for me. I want steak, burgers, pasta, a fucking meal.

I used to live in the “city” or at least, suburbs. I could find something.

Moved to rural fly over state recently. I’d rather not eat than shove another form of egg down my gullet.

I don’t disagree. My last job was using winget to update some things. I raised the concept of trusting otherwise unknown updates, but I was pushed aside for the quick utility.

I’m only a student of cybersecurity, but I harshly judge my former “security expert” on far more than that.

Like fuck, the help desk has to install every patch, to every machine, through a spreadsheet?

No, deploy that shit from a server. Fuck.

In a way, I’m glad I left. In another way, I would really like a pay check again… and I moved to a well, tech illiterate state. Fuck me.

I picked up Veilguard because I enjoyed Origins and Inquisition. The second game… at this point, I don’t think I took it right and its my problem and I need to give it another chance.

I’m still very early into the game, but the only “woke” thing I’ve seen so far is variable gender identity during character creation.

You want to play a “woman” who looks masculine, with atypical male traits, even a penis, and a deep voice? You know what, I’m glad the option is open to people. It doesn’t vibe with me personally, but I’m glad that people I care about can make a character that is “them,” because who hasn’t made themselves in an RPG at some point in their life, best they were able.

Again, I’m early to it, but that is all of the “woke” shit I’ve seen.

For the record, I have friends and family in the LGTBQ+(whatever, doesn’t matter) that I support.

I don’t want hate in my heart, and I’ve worked very hard to overcome some biases that came from my more “southern” upbringing. Hell, one of those biased views from the past is now openly trans, and I was the only family member they talked to because they couldn’t talk to anyone else.

I’m imperfect, as all humans are, but it isn’t hard to fucking TRY, just a little, to realize that someone else’s self image and happiness doesn’t affect mine other than what pronouns I use to refer to them. Fuck, its not hard. Just don’t be a dick.

Yeah, TNO is absolutely an individual character you happen to be in the shoes of.

Without spoiling anything, the game IS TNO’s story.

If that doesn’t interest you, best of luck in your refund request.

That being said, I’ve only gotten around to getting one tattoo in my life - The rune of torment.

Oh fuck me, I’m still studying to red team basic computing.

I take it you’ve never had to log into a printer with an AD account before?

Yeah, I went out to 32 characters once. Until I needed to work on a printer.

Black Isle Studios.

Hands down, no contest.

If you’re looking for a name, Chris Avallone. Planescape: Torment and fucking New Vegas.

I only have one tattoo, and it is the Rune of Torment. That piece of art touched me.

My expectations of Bethesda, since Oblivion, has been as a mod platform.

Gimme a new engine with updated graphics and great mod support and let the community does what it does best.

The last group I was with ran mostly DND 5e. However, our DM needed a break, and another player took up the reigns for a Star Wars Table Top.

It was not serious. Homebrew and the rule of cool made it a blast - Think Guardians of the Galaxy comedy in a Star Wars wrapper.

The DM for that set goal posts. Like around a certain level, force sensitive classes would get their first light saber.

My character was a bounty hunter who finally got his Mandalorian armor where I could customize “components” like a hand mounted flame thrower, or a shoulder cannon, or what the fuck ever. We spent more time dissecting statistics to get it balanced than anything thematic.

Totally home brewed in that system.

I think that was my best table top experience, and I’m an old school DND nerd. I feel like some days I can barely do my job, but I can quote how THAC0 works on a whim.

I don’t understand statistics unless dice are involved, and no that does not extend to gambling dice games. Utterly useless, but I can go into an ADHD hyper focus on anything that is not actually beneficial to my life in a tangible way, lol.

We live in troubled times, the planet is overheating at a rate that it might affect my life more than being more uncomfortable in the summer. And that’s Texas summers at that.

There is an island of plastic refuse in the ocean bigger than some countries.

I saw the home computer come to the living room and the internet be birthed.

If you were to ask if I was jaded as a kid, already? Yeah. Around 7 years old.

It isn’t getting better. Corporations claw for more and more at the expense of the people and the planet.

I hope the younger generations can lead the charge of change, but for me… I don’t have the time or energy to play games most days, let alone change the planet.

And for those who will say, “Aren’t you just part of the problem then?” Sadly yes, I am. I try to make changes when I can, but I fear changing the small environment of my home will not be enough.

I mean a grinder of that nature wouldn’t be too useful to me, too much too muchery.

But I keep a set of water stones to sharpen my straight razor - though I haven’t had a job I had to shave for in a while.

My EDC knives see more use from them these days.

Please don’t I barely understand subnetting as it is.

Work has been difficult, mostly due to coworkers lately.

If I’m blaring Rage, like I have all week, I’m ready to walk or to burn the place down. But I’m a lazy man.