Let's Get Posting!
I didn't tell many people where I went off to for the time of my radio silence, but I'll tell you! Last month, My Mom just turned 70. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she jokingly said that she's always dreamed of going back to Hawaii. Inwardly, we both knew that would never be possible with her meager social security payments.
So I took her to Maui for 2 weeks. 
we're not very good at selfies
I am very blessed and happy that we were able to do it. If not for my patrons, I would have been constantly worried about if I could afford to pay for her expenses - but thankfully that problem didn't exist and I was able to take us both there, for a much needed break.
Mom and I, Hakuna matata on Mt. Haleakala
You may be thinking: "But what about my content?"
Well, I'm even more elated to report that when I returned, I instantly became flooded with ideas and had to go to E3. Now, I have so many videos planned for games like Fallout 4 and DOOM and even more content created for the awesome indie game devs this year! I even did a video on the brief differences between VR tech (which you will also be the only one to see as it plays live somewhere in this new Patreon interface.)
If you've known me for a while, you know that I used to write before I did videos. I decided to give that for a spin here with my new articles:
I hope you enjoy my coverage as much as I'm enjoying delving back into games! Don't forget to follow me on my social media (Twitter, Google+, Facebook) to get realtime updates of what I'm posting content-wise.
My infosec video that I hinted about is still set for launch, so be on the lookout for that. So much stuff is scheduled that I don't even know what to do with myself.. but at least this time, I'm not overwhelmed. I'm ready. In the meantime..
Don't forget to take some time, without distractions...and breathe.
June 20, 2015 01:52:43
Breathing Room
The warning signs were there.
I’ve had so many notifications in my inbox(es) over the last few months that instead of a number count, Google decided to give me the bright, shiny and seemingly permanent “infinity” symbol.
I have many videos collecting dust in the inner sanctums of my editing program. I even have some edited, all I need to do is hit the 'upload' button.
So..What could possibly be my moral dilemma?
I’ve been “working” for the last 6 years in varying degrees. But honestly - I haven’t been able to be fully committed lately. I realize the problem now - I distract play with work, and work with play. It’s a vicious cycle, but nothing gets done. In one of my previous posts, I explain how easy it is to be overwhelmed with so many mediums for contact. So much stimuli can incite paralyses. It has for me.
I want to make great things, but I have muddled up my perspective with so many other things that my picture of how that would happen isn’t clear anymore.
So I’m doing something that I find terrifying. I’m unplugging for 2 weeks, with radio silence until the 12th. Going to nature, and refocusing myself.
What I’ve been telling myself, and it may be helpful if you have work-play issues: :-)
1. Your biggest fears are completely dependent on you for their survival.
Stop worrying, doubting yourself, and running through every possible scenario in your head.
2. Instead, be as present as possible. It may not be easy, but try to laugh at the commotion. Enjoy your life as it unfolds – raw data, both good at bad.
3. You might not end up exactly where you wanted to go.. but you will be exactly where you need to be.
See you on the 12th!
Thanks so much for your support, <3
Love,
Nixie
May 31, 2015 19:58:34
Paul Elrick This may be another distraction or it may help. Check out http://www.choosemuse.com/ Or just use the neurologically sound and very ancient technique... Clear your mind and count your breaths,(from 1 to 10 and start over) think of nothing else. Gets me to sleep easily. Also, have a good break!!!
May 31, 2015 20:30:21 · Reply
Jamie Gunn did the same thing myself a couple of weeks ago, took some time off work and headed off to the highlands - no checking emails, cellphone switched off the whole time. bliss.... the calm may have only lasted until about halfway through my first day back at work but I'm feeling waaaay more focussed than I was.
May 31, 2015 22:10:03 · Reply
don bright see you on the flip side
June 2, 2015 00:04:16 · Reply
July 6, 2015 02:03:48
May 1, 2015 07:24:55
Marsh Penman I keep missing content; is there an rss feed of the 'Creations' or 'Activity' pages for those of us who roll that way?
May 4, 2015 17:30:34 · Reply
December 7, 2013 16:49:03
January 28, 2014 15:00:07
March 7, 2014 06:00:01
April 4, 2014 20:51:04
May 20, 2014 22:24:30
Andreas Brüggenkamp The Video to remind yourself about Command Line Essentials for BASH. By the way I really like this star wars coffee t-shirt! ;)
July 22, 2014 13:52:55 · Reply
May 6, 2015 00:22:38
March 21, 2015 02:56:58
February 27, 2015 01:46:10
February 23, 2015 00:17:13
February 22, 2015 07:09:11
February 7, 2015 03:22:57
Faceless Critic yeah it was off the cuff... but still love you.. :)
February 7, 2015 04:42:38 · Reply
Marc Bourgoin Heyyo, I really do enjoy Linux too.. but sadly for me? Gaming on Linux is still a work in progress, but SteamOS definitely is a good push in the right direction since hardware developers have been stepping up their support for Linux. :) Here's the two major letdowns for gaming on Linux for me... https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/224 … that… and also this… https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/221 NVIDIA SLI is non-exsistant since it only works on ID Tech Engine 4 games (Doom 3, Quake 4 and ETQW) which easily runs at full specs these days on a single GTX 680... but new games like Dying Light and such benefit greatly from NVIDIA SLI two-way GTX 680s... Second? Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon3D (ca0132)... buggy as hell unless I use 32bit kernel and even then I seem to only have stereo speaker support and not headset... kernel 3.7 I think added support for firmware loading on the ca0132 but maybe it was never tested with 64bit kernels cause not a single Linux distro out there seems to make it work 100%.. Of course, these two major strikes are due to lack of hardware support from the hardware developers... but it still hasn't changed so to make full use of my hardware I have to stick with Windows. Windows 7 was good and Windows 10 is shaping up to be good as well (which is all that is installed on my PC right meow since I swapped some HDD's around and added an SSHD... so maybe later I'll tinker with Manjaro / Antergos / Linux Mint again in the future but right now I'm just waiting on maybe a new kernel to fix my issues or drivers from NVIDIA...
February 7, 2015 07:43:38 · Reply
don bright The strange thing to me is that open source software has become the kernel of modern gaming even though the layers on top are not open. Android is based on Linux, iOS, OSX, and Playstation 4's Orbis OS are all based on BSD. So... all of these big games are probably using *nix system calls for things like file i/o, networking, usb device access, etc...and most of it's built on C++ language. The problems always seemed to boil down to issues of sound and video incompatabilities and drivers.
February 10, 2015 02:18:35 · Reply
January 31, 2015 03:25:06
jerryb967 Thank you again for bringing us yet another look at more amazing technology! All of these things will change the way we all think and create... and will open up a whole new world of possibilities for everyone, everywhere in the (not too distant) future. The most fantastic part is that what you are showing us isn't some experimental technology in a lab... and isn't coming from some huge corporation... These are primarily open source and low cost things that will only become more open and more affordable as time goes by. This is technology that WE can have... and that we can use in the coming years to shape our own future. You bring us all these things in the most informative, wonderful, fun and engaging ways too... Thank you so much for everything that you do!!!
January 31, 2015 08:45:18 · Reply
January 4, 2015 18:49:28
January 16, 2015 23:51:27
Faceless Critic Not to sound like a goober (yes i still use that word), but if this thing does become popular, it will the out look of our world, like cell phones and laptops. Just saying. -Face
January 17, 2015 04:15:18 · Reply
Peter H. Schmidt I am so bummed I don't have any time to play with these!
January 17, 2015 19:13:11 · Reply
January 26, 2015 05:14:08
Brian Adam Montero Oh no! I hope you cat is doing better!! :(
January 26, 2015 05:19:20 · Reply
Faceless Critic Sad Face for the kitty
January 26, 2015 05:38:35 · Reply
Tiago Silveira I like his face when you asked about community. He fully comprehends the amount of B.S. he's about to spill. Sales is hard.
January 28, 2015 13:46:26 · Reply
January 6, 2015 18:43:50
Faceless Critic I Curse the person with incurable crabs and short arms for taking thy wallet..... Too much??? Happy you got your stuff back deary, Have fun at CES! :)
January 7, 2015 04:25:16 · Reply
Nathan Weber Wow. Best possible outcome for that situation.
January 7, 2015 06:28:34 · Reply
Andre Cardoso de Souza Glad you got your stuff back. I use to upload pictures of ID, passport, etc to Dropbox so I'm not completely in trouble when bad things happen.
January 9, 2015 01:06:02 · Reply
January 30, 2015 05:44:59
October 29, 2014 10:37:49
Gene Johnson Good luck in the Northwest! You deserve all the $upport we can help you with. All our tech stuff seems so normal till it goes dead for a day or even hour or 2. I still remember the days of green screens, no email and you had to send "memo's via inter-office mail lol. My daughter works at a co. where they use IM more than email or phone, my how we've changed. So good luck, you're cute, fun and OS savy. Pretty good entertainment for someone in a town of 3000 in the middle of nowhere....keep your dream and it's just one step at a time :-)
November 2, 2014 23:54:39 · Reply
Guilhem We'll be there, waiting, dear Nixie. Don't you worry about that. As for me, yes, I'm tethered. But, as a very shy person, I find the internet and social medias so much easier than "real life" to talk to people and make friends. My point is, maybe we are indeed a little too much tethered, cyber-dependant, but it also has a huge, huge advantage. Small people have voices. And, ultimately, we can help someone like you. In the end, is being cyber-dependant a bad thing ? I don't know, I think we won't know. Not in our day and age. But I'm being philosophical.
November 13, 2014 18:54:40 · Reply
NAT Daemon I love you and your posts! Awesomeness! Just one question. I have pledged to support you but need to know how I choose a photo that is part of the pledge package? Just curious since I didn't see anything when I pledged. Keep up the fight!
November 17, 2014 22:05:58 · Reply
October 12, 2014 01:24:01
September 25, 2014 02:49:42
Michele It sounds like a Yoga class... But in your case could easily be a Yoda class!
June 20, 2015 03:45:57 · Reply
Robert Murphy Glad to hear that you had a nice and refreshing trip. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on InfoSec.
June 25, 2015 05:56:44 · Reply