rogue_cricket's recent activity
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
rogue_cricket Link ParentGreat to have you! I've got a buddy who is really into charcoal grilling too, I'm happy enough to get BBQ by association. :p There are weekly video game threads and a ~games.tabletop area so I...Great to have you! I've got a buddy who is really into charcoal grilling too, I'm happy enough to get BBQ by association. :p There are weekly video game threads and a ~games.tabletop area so I hope you can find a place to hang out!
Do you play any systems other than DnD? Interested to try any?
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
rogue_cricket Link ParentHappy to have you! We have a weekly video game thread and tbh I'd love to start seeing more music shared in ~music too. What kinds of games do you like best? :)Happy to have you! We have a weekly video game thread and tbh I'd love to start seeing more music shared in ~music too.
What kinds of games do you like best? :)
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Comment on What are you looking forward to? in ~talk
rogue_cricket LinkPosted about this before, but my new job starts June 20! I am getting a celebratory hair cut and colour to look cute for my work photo. :DPosted about this before, but my new job starts June 20! I am getting a celebratory hair cut and colour to look cute for my work photo. :D
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
rogue_cricket LinkYA GIRL GOT A JOB FINALLY. Well, I already had one offer, but while the tech and people were cool, the compensation was below my expectations. I kept on interviewing at a second company for a more...YA GIRL GOT A JOB FINALLY.
Well, I already had one offer, but while the tech and people were cool, the compensation was below my expectations. I kept on interviewing at a second company for a more competitive and challenging position. Today they said they LOVED me (caps theirs) and that they are prepping an offer!!
I'm a bit sad about turning down the first offer, but, like... but not $45k/yr difference sad.
The company does solar power estimation and modelling using Lidar and satellite imagery. I am EXTREMELY excited to get to use my whole-ass math degree for what might be the first time in a decade, this is exactly the kind of challenge my little monkey brain craves - I'm ordering some text books right after this to brush up on linear algebra. I am also stoked I get to work with a ton of electrical engineers in addition to software engineers. Finally, the pay is an improvement over the place that laid me off by a solid 20%.
I never imagined I'd come back from it at all, let alone with something so good. I'm so happy I could cry.
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Comment on What scares you the most? What fears and apprehensions are central to your identity and how you view the world? in ~talk
rogue_cricket LinkI'm an anxious person to some degree, but I've also been actively coping with it for a long enough time that when anxiety rears its head I'm usually able to pause and think my way out of it. But I...I'm an anxious person to some degree, but I've also been actively coping with it for a long enough time that when anxiety rears its head I'm usually able to pause and think my way out of it. But I really struggle with the idea of death and aging - or I guess, more generally, the tension between feeling as though my mind is abstract but knowing that I and everyone I love are innately physical.
Like... our inner experiences require constant support from the complex processes that our bodies are endlessly engaged in, and if one experiences enough of an interruption to the processes... the inner experience is just gone and it won't come back. It can happen literally instantaneously. Or, as with aging, we accumulate damage over time to the point it overwhelms and our brains and bodies can no longer support our entire sense of self... the event? process? experience? of having a mind.
I've also had the experience of altering my thought processes with drugs (prescription... lately). I'm pretty familiar with the experience of my emotions being altered by the presence or absence of hormones. Those are pretty minor, but they also indicate the physical affecting the inner experience. More dramatically, I've read or heard stories about people changing after a head injury, and there are many diseases or disorders which have their root in the physical structure of the brain that cause vast differences in function and personality.
Self-hood just seems so fragile to me and it freaks me out.
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Comment on The rise of the "trauma essay" in college applications | Tina Yong in ~humanities
rogue_cricket LinkAlthough I'm white and I cannot relate on the level of being racialized or an immigrant, as someone who had a very troubled and dramatic childhood I find this quote relatable. I remember being a...Your story has to be sad enough to gain sympathy but not so sad that it makes you seem beyond help. Just critical enough to inspire change, but not so much that it actually criticizes systemic structures. Just honest enough to seem real, but not so unfiltered that it creates discomfort.
Although I'm white and I cannot relate on the level of being racialized or an immigrant, as someone who had a very troubled and dramatic childhood I find this quote relatable. I remember being a teenager and there being no shortage of scholarship applications or university applications or even journaling assignments which asked a question that invited one to think about their difficult experiences, and while I understand abstractly the intent of these questions they were genuinely awful for me to contend with. Every time I encountered one I would involuntarily re-tread some terrible experience in my life that was often STILL ongoing in some capacity; in fact, the question itself invited a deep examination of the worst parts of these experiences.
I know now that I have PTSD and was experiencing being triggered, but back then I just rode the spiral down and down and didn't know how to stop it. Now in the thankfully rarer cases where it becomes relevant, I just lie or pick something more relatable that's happened outside of that context. But it took a lot of time and therapy to achieve even occasional neutrality about prompts of that nature. I still think they're ridiculous and uncomfortable, and especially so for a 19-year-old.
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
rogue_cricket (edited )Link ParentFor getting/picking the piano, I got one used pretty inexpensively. I think a lot of parents pick them up and get rid of them when their kid loses interest, so they're not hard to find in good...For getting/picking the piano, I got one used pretty inexpensively. I think a lot of parents pick them up and get rid of them when their kid loses interest, so they're not hard to find in good quality used! I tried out a couple before I found one I could tolerate. I always had an upright growing up and after trying some electronic ones, I realized there were more factors than I thought that made me like or dislike a particular keyboard although the key action is for sure the biggest one. Like the first one had nice action, but a very unrealistic "decay"on the note that I was surprised by: it's not something I ever thought about until I heard it and I HATED it. There's just no substitute for sitting down and experimenting for a few minutes.
Headphones are a nice investment for this too I think. I find usually the weakest part of a good piano is the speakers because a "pro" musician would be using external speakers any place it mattered anyway, so a decent pair of headphones is useful even if you don't care whether the neighbours hear, they'll probably outperform the speakers.
For getting back into playing I think the main thing is being patient. I 100% felt clumsier and slower after years of not playing and it was easy to get frustrated because "I used to be able to play X and now I can't! I'm stuck with this simple stuff!". But that was the nature of it, and to keep things fun I had to temper my expectations (... another pun not intended).
I think the fact that my brain had not degraded as much as my hands over time made the "boring stuff" pretty important - warming up with scales, arpeggios, triads, that kind of thing. I actually hate doing this but it works.
I do suggest lessons if you can swing it. The lessons themselves were good for me for structure, but I'm the kind of person who needs this external motivation even for stuff I value and WANT to do. Even if you're the type of person who can do this on their own, though, I think the opportunity for community and recitals is so valuable. I enjoy performance even though it scares the bejesus out of me, and performance is a distinct skill that by its nature you cannot practice on your own: you need a supportive space and a community. I am looking for a new teacher currently* and I'm 100% looking with an eye towards regular recitals. I don't care whether I end up playing after a six-year-old doing Three Blind Mice, I love to contribute as both a safe audience and a practising performer.
* It's entirely circumstantial, I believe I mentioned already but my previous teacher had to stop due to another opportunity and I've been unemployed/busy for a little while so I am just now able to commit to finding a new one.
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
rogue_cricket Link ParentMelodic percussion is a lot of fun! You really can't beat making music with hammers (pun not intended), and the marimba and vibraphone can both have such beautiful tones. The tympani too (which is...Melodic percussion is a lot of fun! You really can't beat making music with hammers (pun not intended), and the marimba and vibraphone can both have such beautiful tones. The tympani too (which is its own thing but is something I often got to play due to my ability to read/tune) is such a powerful tool in a band, most people associate it with a bombastic feel but it can also do more subtle things. I really came to appreciate its technicality and physicality... it looks simple but I hardly scratched the surface of it.
I'm the only one in my direct family that's musically inclined, but my dad's father was very musical with no formal training and he mostly played improvisational or by ear. He played the fiddle, the organ, and the button accordion (weirdly common in this thread?)... I can noodle around a bit on the fiddle as a result of his teaching, and I would love to learn the accordion one day. My dad's brother also plays the guitar. It's fun to jam with him, though I don't know the guitar at all so it's usually him playing and me singing. I wish any of my siblings or cousins also played, it'd be nice.
(And yes, Jukebox the Ghost is great! They're very funny too, and every year I watch their Halloween concert virtually... they have a tradition of dressing up as Queen and playing covers and call it, of course, Hallowqueen. Tommy Siegel is the vocalist and has also made some comics that have achieved internet popularity, most notably his Candy Hearts. He also seems to have a thing for putting butts on things that don't normally have butts. (not really nsfw, just silly)
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Comment on What's your not-D&D RPG, and why? in ~games.tabletop
rogue_cricket Link ParentI like Shadow of the Demon Lord - the setting is a little edgy, but the character-building and fighting are pretty solid IMO. I really like the short-turn long-turn strategic choice and the...I like Shadow of the Demon Lord - the setting is a little edgy, but the character-building and fighting are pretty solid IMO. I really like the short-turn long-turn strategic choice and the deadliness can be fun if it's expected.
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
rogue_cricket Link ParentMy word it's been a while! Sorry about that. I really appreciate seeing you ask all these follow-ups in this thread. :) I started learning classical piano as a kid, and then in high school a lot...My word it's been a while! Sorry about that. I really appreciate seeing you ask all these follow-ups in this thread. :)
I started learning classical piano as a kid, and then in high school a lot of my friends joined band so I did too. I joined up with a small group of the remaining holdouts in my friend group and among them I was the only one able to read sheet music already, so they got popped into percussion with me on melodic percussion doing tympani, xylophone, marimbas, bell chimes, glockenspiel, etc. It was a lot of fun!
After that I moved into a series of small apartments where having a piano was not really possible, so when I was able to get a good electronic piano (NEED those good weighted keys) I started up lessons again. It had been years so it's a bit slow and a little frustrating but it's still fun. The pieces I'm working on lately are a little easy just to keep things fun, I'm currently working on Chopin's Waltz in A minor. One band I like for pop piano is Jukebox The Ghost and I'd like to eventually learn some of their stuff.
I remember vaguely you've mentioned you play music as well - what exactly do you do music-wise? How long have you been doing it?
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Comment on Resources for learning to code in ~comp
rogue_cricket Link ParentI'm quite an experienced programmer and while ChatGPT gets a lot of the more advanced or obscure stuff wrong, I have made occasional use it it. I think a good way of conceptualizing it is as a...I'm quite an experienced programmer and while ChatGPT gets a lot of the more advanced or obscure stuff wrong, I have made occasional use it it.
I think a good way of conceptualizing it is as a buddy of yours who has memorized every tutorial out there... But who has also never actually written an app themselves.
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
rogue_cricket Link ParentI'm a big fan of Clojure for its approach to typing and access to the massive Java standard library. I also like the Lisp syntax and have found occasional use for writing macros, which are just...I'm a big fan of Clojure for its approach to typing and access to the massive Java standard library. I also like the Lisp syntax and have found occasional use for writing macros, which are just kind of neat. I know a bit of Haskell, and I would like to learn Elixir, but Clojure was my main programming language for a long time and I still do it in my free time.
People sometimes have trouble starting out with the syntax feeling a bit 'backwards', needing to work from the inside-out rather than one thing after another, and sometimes find the parentheses annoying - but you can mitigate the more complex cases of deep nesting with threading macros and the parentheses navigation with a good editor that allows for stuff like "slurping" and "barfing". Eventually the parentheses disappear completely.
Another thing people tend to not be into is the discouragement of iteration - that can be hard to get around if you're used to loops being a big part of your toolkit. You CAN make a loop in Clojure, but there are very few circumstances you should NEED to once you understand recursion, reducers/transducers, and the ability to compose functions and pass them as data. I actually think this is something about Clojure that has made me a better programmer in every language.
And, yeah! Thanks! It is a really great group of people, we just need a bit more cash before we can really start thriving, I think. I kind of lucked into the position: my piano teacher had a studio there and taught lessons there. She eventually became the executive director of the org (long story), had to quit teaching piano, and ended up reaching out to me to volunteer for a haunted house last year. I went for it and it went well. She hit me up for further work and now I'm on the events committee. It is very gratifying work!
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Comment on A peer reviewed paper on walkable neighbourhoods finds that walkability improves residents' happiness in ~design
rogue_cricket LinkI've just read the abstract, but I do have a personal anecdote related to this. When I first purchased a house in 2018, my thought process was largely defensive: the idea of my living space being...I've just read the abstract, but I do have a personal anecdote related to this.
When I first purchased a house in 2018, my thought process was largely defensive: the idea of my living space being owned by another person who was not really accountable to me was pretty anxiety-inducing, and it seemed if I did not buy a house quickly I likely would have been priced out (this turned out to not be 100% true, but it definitely would have been significantly harder if I had waited too much). At the time I would not have been able to afford a home closer to the downtown area where I would have preferred to stay, so the suburbs it was.
I liked the perks of apartment living otherwise: in particular, the place I moved out from had a great location that was extremely walkable with a grocery store not 3 minutes away, a bakery across the street, and a convenience/dollar store literally next door.
So once the novelty of owning a home wore off, the suburbs themselves really started to get to me. There was more friction between me and the things I liked to do generally - stuff like grabbing a quick lunch or going to a bar now required the overhead of a car and the associated parking, or cabbing (bad in my city), or bussing (EVEN WORSE in my city). A car itself is a lot of work and money between registration, inspection, cleaning, gas, insurance, and maintenance but even so it was the best option.
My street is very quiet and low-traffic - it's ring-shaped, so there's no reason for through traffic, and it takes about 15 minutes to do a loop on foot (25 if you have a curious and rambunctious dog). There are some alternate routes, as well as a nearby private business which very kindly allows partial access before and after its active hours, but mostly I felt like I was on an island with my car as a noisy little boat to ferry me to the mainland.
Until... I started actually getting to know my fellow neighbourhood dog-walkers. Now almost every day I go out around the same time with my wife and my dog, and we'll meet up with two sisters who also do a daily walk on the same schedule. We are sometimes joined by another woman who walks her elderly mother's dog a few days a week; on the days when she's not there, one of the sisters will grab the dog instead as a favour. There's also one older man who waits for us with treats for the dogs and we will all stop and chat every day, and now that it's warmer out we'll also catch people gardening or doing yard work and stop to say hello.
I've gotten to know a lot of my neighbours and it's mitigated my feelings SIGNIFICANTLY. It is incredible what a difference it has made. I used to think walk-ability was mostly about convenience, and I valued it mostly along that axis, but I've realized it's way, way more than that. Just seeing other people out and about regularly, even if you don't interact with them meaningfully, is huge. Community is so, so powerful.
I'm lucky we formed a small community, because it feels like we did so DESPITE the design of the area rather than BECAUSE of it. If we had a park, or a coffee shop, or some other shared space mixed into the neighbourhood it would have been so much better and easier. It's a real shame there are not more mixed use areas.
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Comment on Introductions | April 2023 in ~talk
rogue_cricket LinkI've also been here a while - long enough to post in the original thread, at least. I don't contribute here a ton, but I do like to hang out now and then. I've been an internet user since it was...I've also been here a while - long enough to post in the original thread, at least. I don't contribute here a ton, but I do like to hang out now and then. I've been an internet user since it was MUCH less ubiquitous, though if you find another rogue_cricket out there, it's probably not me: the only contiguous internet presence I have is my real identity for professional purposes and I use a separate username in most places.
I'm a woman in my mid-30s. I live in Canada, near the ocean, with my wonderful wife and our mostly-wonderful pets. Like many people here I'm a programmer, although I like functional languages and mildly dislike OOP, which feels like a cruel joke being played on me by the universe given their relative popularity. I'm likely to have a job soon in either health or climate tech (probably health) coming off of a job in social media.
For hobbies I like video games (all kinds of genres), reading (fiction and non), hiking (nothing overnight), TTRPGs (right now doing Pathfinder 2e) and when I'm feeling it I play music (mostly piano). I try to stay well-rounded.
Come to think of it, I'm kind of a dabbler in general - I've done a bit of a lot of things. Writing, gardening, roller-skating, sculpting, textile art... I don't mind dipping in and giving something a try and then dipping out. I like novelty and get bored quickly if I do the same thing for too long... I don't see this as a negative thing necessarily, but it also means my storage is absolutely a mess. :)
I strongly believe in building community, mentorship, and in mutual aid, and I volunteer my time at a community centre which prioritizes ecological sustainability, lifelong skills development, and active and affordable child-care. For example, there are classes in foraging and plant identification, gardening with local plants, woodworking, darning. The children's programs also include this kind of natural learning and physical activity as part of their curricula. I mostly work in the background doing planning for fundraising events for the kids but I might be spearheading a board games/DnD monthly event for teens and adults soon, I guess!
I'm a bit of a type A, but I've mellowed out a lot over time... I've definitely grown more sensitive and sentimental and I actually really like that about myself. I'm just trying to find something peaceful for myself and doing what I can to make a small positive impact on my community.
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
rogue_cricket (edited )LinkIn the last of these threads I had posted that I had been applying to jobs in the awful programmer market after being laid off. Since then I've done two interviews, had one application rejected...In the last of these threads I had posted that I had been applying to jobs in the awful programmer market after being laid off. Since then I've done two interviews, had one application rejected pre-interview (this one surprised me actually - I thought my skills were bang on), got three promising LinkedIn connections from cold emails, and the rest were non-responses.
I was really anxious about not sending out tons of applications, but my response ratio is pretty high. I'm glad invested time in making each application unique and researching the companies, even if it makes it suck a bit more when the rejections and non-responses do occur.
The two interviews were with a telehealth company and a clean energy company. I did them both on Thursday and they both went amazingly! I tend to interview well, and I think it's because I like the intensity of the situation - I thrive on stuff like that. Tests, competitions, performances, and job interviews light my starved little brain up like a Christmas tree. (When I am under-stimulated I start to Have Problems but I'll accept the good when it comes.)
The health place got back to me at the end of the work day today to say that they are bypassing the 2nd round of their normal three-round interview process and inviting me for the third one with the head of HR once they can schedule it. So, you know, that seems like a good sign.
I now have to prod the energy company to move things a little quicker, but the health company feels like a shoe-in. When I read the email it was like my mind and body unclenched and more tension released than I thought I had been carrying. I'm not quite done yet, but I know it's close. The relief.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
rogue_cricket (edited )LinkSince I last posted in one of these threads I read a John Grisham novel, The Pelican Brief. I mostly read it out of politeness on the suggestion of a family member. John Grisham is so obviously...Since I last posted in one of these threads I read a John Grisham novel, The Pelican Brief. I mostly read it out of politeness on the suggestion of a family member. John Grisham is so obviously outside my interest I don't know why I did it. Hated it, unsurprisingly.
I thought those "she breasted boobily down the stairs" jokes were over the top, I had no idea they were targeting John Grisham specifically. The main character is a bright law student who is so sexy, she's competent and attractive and when you really explore the depth of her character you realize how great she would look in a string bikini. Of course she has daddy issues and dates older men: the more cynical and alcoholic they are, the better. Nothing about this book was good enough to make up for all the eye-rolling.
For non-fiction I read ADHD 2.0, having recently been diagnosed. It was interesting, I particularly found the connection between balance and focus intriguing. The metaphor of having a sports-car brain with bicycle brakes comes up a lot and feels a little self-aggrandizing but also works annoyingly well as an analogy: they emphasize throughout that the disorder can be both a blessing and a curse depending on the circumstances, so a good course of action is to try and cultivate the circumstances under which it becomes a blessing. Some of it did feel like bunk though, like they had one bit about a personality test that I found unconvincing, but I'd say I got something out of it overall.
Finally, in my quest to get though the occasional classic, I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath currently. I'm not far in but not surprised it's considered Steinbeck's best work. Some of it is still hitting pretty close to home.
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Comment on By more than two-to-one, Americans support US government banning TikTok in ~tech
rogue_cricket Link ParentHey! Horrible immoral foreign billionaires shouldn't be able to go around extracting gobs of money from citizens via mass surveillance, attempting to modify their behaviour with targeted...Hey! Horrible immoral foreign billionaires shouldn't be able to go around extracting gobs of money from citizens via mass surveillance, attempting to modify their behaviour with targeted algorithms designed with the same principles and habit-forming goals as a slot machine, and voluntarily feeding or selling the staggering amount of private information they have about people to other companies and government entities without requiring their consent or awareness! Only horrible immoral local billionaires should be allowed to do that.
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
rogue_cricket Link ParentI'm mid-senior level myself, but yeah - the competition for anything entry-level seems even worse right now than where I'm at. Part of it is the expectation that everyone has to come pre-trained,...I'm mid-senior level myself, but yeah - the competition for anything entry-level seems even worse right now than where I'm at.
Part of it is the expectation that everyone has to come pre-trained, and that it has been this way for a while. White collar companies are not interested in investing in their own workers, it's entirely on the workers to learn the tools and take courses or build a 'personal brand' (🤮) on their own time. But it's basically inevitable in that case to run into the problems you mentioned above with regards to institutional knowledge and a broadly shitty hiring pool as entry barriers grow harder to surmount.
The framework for fuller on-the-job training is not strong anywhere, and to get it re-established would require tolerance for risk and thinking longer and broader term than profiteers are capable of.
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
rogue_cricket LinkI was pretty busy, but the main thing is I actually got down to it and did some job applications last week. Not a ton, but... at least one a day. Feels low but I like to be thorough; I have...I was pretty busy, but the main thing is I actually got down to it and did some job applications last week.
Not a ton, but... at least one a day. Feels low but I like to be thorough; I have multiple resumes that emphasize different skills and I even write cover letters like some kind of boomer. Maybe it's naive to be trying to snipe when most people are shotgunning, but I seriously can't get into the mass application mindset yet. I care very much about the quality of my applications just out of personal pride, and I still have the luxury of caring about where I end up for now.
I did a couple cold emails too, since I'm very interested in certain tech that is a bit more uncommon. I keep an eye out for blog posts about "Why We At Company X Use Uncommon Tech" and give them a read, and if seems realistic I'll shoot off a polite email to the Company X career inbox. I'm not expecting to get an interview this way in the near term, but I've always gotten what I want: a human response along the lines of "love the enthusiasm, we're not hiring right now, but send us your resume and connect to our hiring manager on LinkedIn". I know I ultimately I want to end up working with this tech and the clarity makes it easy to be patient.
I've also been getting occasional recruiter messages, though most of them are the quality I've come to expect (bad) with spotty follow-through if they have any relevance to me to begin with (rare). Yesterday I got one that stood out by actually correctly referencing two things in my skill set, associating the skills with the right company names, having a relevant job opening, and making the process of scheduling a call super easy. The bar is on the floor.
I'll be working on an application for that job for sure if the call goes well. It's a more mathematics-based problem area, so I might get to blow the dust off my math degree next week and brush up on my linear algebra.
Hello! I live very close to the ocean currently, and honestly couldn't imagine living anywhere else - it's wonderful. Getting in it more long term might be a little trickier. Regardless, you have good taste!
You seem pretty artsy! How long have you been doing 3d modelling and how'd you get into it? I tried it out a while ago but it didn't quite stick, though I've been interested in trying again lately.