I've seen several mentions of Megabonk and since it's apparently in my Steam family library I thought I'd try it out. I have no idea what's going on or what to do or anything. Maybe I'm getting too old for new types of games? Or maybe it's just not a kind of game I'm used to, I dunno.
Absolutely no tutorial of any kind, as far as I can see. I hate "character creation" stuff, just let me start the game with a default setup, as *obviously* I won't have a clue what to select until I've played the game a bit and seen what might be useful. Stupid amounts of monsters which apparently all get auto-killed by the game, so I think I just ignore them? Constant pop-ups asking me to select upgrades from options I'm not interested in and know nothing about (see above re character creation) and which keep interupting me trying to get used to the controls and figure out what's going on.
After 7 minutes of play, according to Steam, I've managed to recognise some of the things that trigger pop-ups, so I can avoid them and wander around the map a bit to try to figure out what I'm meant to be doing. I don't see anything of interest, so I think that's it for that game.
Good thing we don't all like the same kinds of games.
I am so bad at finishing projects. They get to 90% and I just… don't finish them off. I have a "new" email filter server that I set up, installed and tweaked postfix, clamav, spamd etc on, hacked a small perl smtp proxy to glue everything together the way I wanted it, so it can be placed transparently in front of any other SMTP server and it'll never accept-then-bounce, and it's been running, mostly-successfully filtering out spam on a few non-critical domains for many years now, and I *still* haven't got it finished enough to be willing to put all my and my customers' domains through it. So long, in fact, that it's getting a bit out of date.
Same with my web frontend with my own scriptage doing clever automated certificate and OCSP management. Same with my little content-DNS server CDN with configurable automated DNSSEC signing. Same with my "new" BGP routers that were supposed to have replaced the old BGP routers by now. Same with so many other things. Urgh. I'm just so tired of everything, probably because the projects I'm trying to get around to now are the same ones I've been trying to get around to for years. And because I'm tired and fed up with it all, I don't get on with them.
If I could only spend a bit of time and get these things finished enough to be willing to migrate everything onto them I'd be happy to advertise to everyone I know that I can offer this stuff and see if I can get customers in to actually use the things I've spent so much time on. But I let perfect be the enemy of good so much of the time. I ought to just tell everyone I can host everything anyway and try to deal with that lacking 10% as and when needed rather than the other way round. The stuff I have built to the 90% point has generally been pretty reliable after all, even if I don't consider it fully production ready.
Aufgenommen anlässlich des "Weltfriedenstages 2021" in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V.Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr unt...
Get the sheet music for this: https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0238452Sign up for my MusicX Lectures On Music: http://scottbradlee.substac...
There's a weird tension in furry comms. Sometimes people want to see themselves more in their fursona by having them do something they do IRL - often (the best parts of) their job or hobby, maybe even a particular event they want to remember. Sometimes it's the opposite: they want to see their fursona doing things they've never done, maybe fantasies like being a colonist on an alien world or a superhero, or activities that are possible and they want to do but haven't experienced for real.
I wonder if there's some balance there: the former kind helps you to identify as your fursona, because you remember being in the situation they're in, like seeing yourself in a photo; while the latter kind makes your fursona into someone you would like to be.
In some ways, inserting your character into a video game is the best of both worlds. They're doing something that you've probably spent a lot of time "doing" - but at the same time, something you've only fantasized about doing, more fun and interesting than your real life.
It's also weird how this is a lot more normal and accepted in furry. Anywhere else, it's fine to commission a portrait of you doing your job or maybe even your hobby, but getting a portrait of yourself climbing a mountain, being an astronaut, or being a superhero (if you haven't done those things) is sad and maybe creepy, even in this age where you can just get a computer to do it for you.
I guess what I'm saying is, if you've ever daydreamed about doing something fantastic, and you think it would be inspiring to see that daydream in a picture you can put on the wall, find yourself a furry artist.
So apparently Trump's been making noises about annexing Greenland now? (I haven't been following the news.) One wonders when the rest of the world will start to actually stand up to him. I suspect it's like this:
(But this video missed out the punchline: "So where is the last resort? Picadilly!?")
[…] apologetic statesmen of a compromising kind Such as — What d'ye call him — Thing'em-bob, and likewise — Never-mind And 'St— 'st— 'st— and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who — The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you But it really doesn't matter whom you put upon the list For they'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!
My aunt's visiting. She and my dad are watching The Mikado.
There are definitely a good number of politicians nowadays who would benefit from being on the list. They'd none of them be missed.
Oh you think your Home Assistant install is cursed?
A friend of mine has a broken fridge thermostat. For the last year it has been regulated by Home Assistant using a zigbee temperature sensor, turning the entire fridge off and on with a smart plug. He likes this.
I wish we had spent the last 26 years teaching people that the reason the 2000 bug didn't destroy a significant amount of our infrastructure is because *we caught it* and *spent thousands of hours fixing it* BEFORE the year 2000
Because within that little perplexion - people thinking the problem was a hoax because it was fixed before it destroyed shit - is an encapsulation of the current era of Western politics, including COVID mitigation, lesser evil politics, fascism, and crime rate hyperbole
I know I reshare so many of Paco's pictures you'd think he was paying me. They just make me think of a world I could be properly happy in. (They're also incredibly cute.)
Archer enjoying a quiet moment of his own, starting the new year exactly as he wants to. Smiling softly, confident that what’s coming will be good. This past year brought knowledge and experience. Even the moments that weren’t happy, even the ones that hurt, gave us something valuable, lessons we carry with us and we can use as a new year begins.
I started this drawing during flight hours and finished it yesterday that I spent entirely with myself in Seattle, just before 2026 and Anthro Northwest began. In a way, it feels poetic: I was painting Archer while feeling exactly what he might have been feeling. Being alone isn’t sad when you know how to enjoy your own company. These moments with ourselves matter. For me, this was the perfect way to close the year, and to begin a new one surrounded by the community I love, wishing for the best ahead.
This piece was inspired by the balcony of a hotel I stayed at a few months ago in Puerto Vallarta. From there, we could see the other side of the bay. We saw raccoons!! One of many small, meaningful highlights of this year.
Picture for Archer, who has been a big supporter of my art this year, I appreciate it a lot! Digital. Procreate
I also shared a full version of that video, plus the full resolution version of this picture, exclusive for Patreon and Ko-Fi monthly supporters!! And also this year I’m celebrating 10 years on Patreon, I will start something nice for my supporters, announcing it in some days but only there. Links on bio!! Thank youuuu!!
Happy 2026!!! And thank you all for everything! Thank you so much for your support, for your love, for your friendship!! Let’s make a very great new year together!!
2025 started rough: stress, emotional crisis, depression. But little by little it became a year of growth, great moments, reunions with old friends, a new fursuit head I’m in love with, and adopting a cat (who I also love so much) Here are my favorite artworks from each month.
Jan: Shooting Star Feb: That Place Mar: Kvikk Apr: A Good Splash May: The Archer Jun: From Sunrise to Nightfall Jul: Mission: Ice Cream Aug: Chase Chasing Chicken Sep: The Shattered hut Oct: International Raccoon Appreciation Day Nov: Rainy Night Sleepover Dec: Diving Headbutt
Content warning: Re: last boost on hobbies not becoming hustles
100000% this! The most fun I have in baking is always making something that looks good, tastes amazing, and took far less effort than much fancier-looking things that taste nowhere near as good.
Croquembouche is a show-stopper in looks, sure, but at the end of the day it's just cream puffs glued together with caramel, and usually a basic caramel at that. If I really wanna do that I'll make a tasty unique pastry cream that makes me stomp my paws in delight at how good it is (holy fuck that Earl grey one I made for learning choux was outstanding) and just pile a bunch of 'em on a plate in a simple stack. No need for the rest.
But even then I'd rather just a unique cheesecake, I love making them and coming up with fun ideas that look good but took little effort and best of all that look is part of the taste! Zebra striped with vanilla and espresso layers? No longer an overwhelming purely espresso one or middling strength, and it looks stunning with like zero effort. Brownie crust? Looks awesome with being thick but it's partly practicality cause it's less fuss than crumbs, and gives you more slice per slice for friends.
And getting to figure out ways to cater to friends' dietary needs in a way that feels like they no longer have it? To make dairy-free treats that don't seem like it, gluten-free with damn near the same texture as wheated, egg-free that are no more crumbly than egg... It brings me the biggest smile to be able to bring folks those joys. That and just sharing my passion, which is why I stream it so much -- I love sharing my kitchen with folks like that as I learn and push myself not out of a need for a hustle but out of a desire to learn more, to find more unique things I can do to make people happy.
Sometime around the 2020 era, we lost the right to be mediocre at things we love.
No longer can you just bake bread...you must start a sourdough side hustle lol. Wanna stay fit and go jogging or running? Nah, you gotta optimize your biometrics for a marathon. What my point is that every hobby has been enshittified and gentrified into a brand opportunity.
This strange infatuation with optimization culture is killing the human spirit.
So this new year, starting tomorrow, one of my resolutions is to do something bad but fun. Maybe I write a terrible poem. I like to draw and paint, so perhaps I will draw a horse that looks like a table or sing off-key in the showers or in front of my loved ones. The algorithm driving the mainstream social media wants me to be a polished product, but my humanity lives in these messy, unoptimized, cringe-inducing joyful failures.
I will try to reclaim the right to be an amateur. Will you join me?
Content warning: Re: last boost on hobbies not becoming hustles
While there is definitely something to be said for presentation, I'm a huge fan of food items that don't photograph well but taste amazing. Like, stews that look kinda like they've been through someones digestive system already but taste like a warm hug or buns that kind of look like someone burned them in the oven but is just the right amount of caramelized to taste like heaven.
Content warning: Re: last boost on hobbies not becoming hustles
@Owlor I always maintain phones are the worst cameras, or really in general cameras are the worst cameras. So often a photo looks bad but in-person it looks great, in yeah, that "it doesn't look amazing but it does look like it's going to taste good". Photos always seem to only convey it looking bad x3
The hurdy-gurdy in this video: https://ancestore.eu/en_US/p/MM-Hurdy-Gurdy-Fully-Custom-deposit-only/91Mix and mastering by Piotr MartuśArrangement and editi...
Jazy and Charming playing tag, moving together in a moment that feels effortless. There’s an unspoken understanding that goes beyond the game itself.
Last commission worked at MFF's Artist Alley. It was also a last commission I took during Sunday, and I thought I was going to succeed at finishing it before the Alley closed forever, there was still one hour and a half ahead before it closes and I was about to finish, but then... the Dealers Den closes and it was like everyone who was there moved to the Artists Alley and that was a very busy last hour. I had to finish it when I was back to my room before suiting up for last time during the convention, so I delivered it in fursuit.
For Jazy Bunny and Charming Wolf Traditional. Color markers and pencils.
Oh. My gosh. They animated Wes Anderson accepting a Special Filmmaking Achievement Award from the National Board of Review for FMF in the style of FMF.
except some people have a lot more or less votes than others, you have to split your votes between the things you want to and the things you need to live, almost no one knows how the votes are counted or how they relate to the outcome as the rules are complex and constantly changing
All this mess… just to decorate a single slice of cake!!! For Toya, this mess doesn't even matter, it was definitely needed as part of the process. What matters is the focus, pride, and quiet satisfaction of seeing something come together! For him, this was perfection!
Drawing for Toya. Digital Procreate.
You can watch a short time-lapse video of the making of this disaster, on the first comment of this submission on my Telegram art channel: https://t.me/panda_paco
And you can even watch the full video process attached on a file on a post that is exclusive for Patreon and Ko-Fi supporters. You can support my work to keep creating artwork during 2026 (and hopefully more). Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/pandapaco Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco (THAAANKS!!!) And also starting next year (in very few days) I'm creating something special for my supporters, since it is my 10th anniversary on Patreon :D
Official Art Channel 🇲🇽 Clean cute artist. Full-Time Panda. Here to paint some smiles. https://linktr.ee/panda_paco Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pandapaco Ko-Fi Shop: https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco/shop Stickers channel: @pacostickers
My nephew invited me to his Steam family (along with his brother and cousins) and is now apparently working his way through my entire Steam game library. 😋
it's suspicious how suddenly now everyone has autism, adhd, or is trans, back then it wasn't like this
<insert that one graph about how the percentage of left handed people raised over the years, which coincidentally was when people stopped treating being left handed as demonic or something>
Again it’s Lib Dem Ed Davey who makes the right call when it comes to #Trump and foreign policy. It won’t necessarily win him any votes…
“Keir #Starmer should condemn Trump's illegal action in #Venezuela. #Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate dictator, but unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe.
Trump is giving a green light to the likes of Putin and Xi to attack other countries with impunity."
As far as I know, it's always been normal to lose track of which day of the week it is over the winter holidays, but it really doesn't help that our bin collections, normally on Wednesdays, are on Saturday today, and Friday and Thursday over the next fortnight! (Not that weekends are really any different from weekdays for me or my dad.)
