Lonnies Fishtank
Ashley’s Fish Models
I added the fish variations using the 3D goldfish models that Ashely has been working on! Here are some demonstrations below:
In the two images, a variety of much more interesting looking fish can be seen. Ashley did a great job providing fin variations and shapes for these fish, so much so that it feels like new life has been breathed into this very simple game.
Tutorials
I also worked on creating some basic tutorials for the game. The goal is to make these tutorials so that I can allow the rest of the team to experiment with the build and test things out, without worrying about learning all the controls. I guess in the short term I could also just give them the controls as a text document / the text box on the screen.
The Poppy Wars
I’ve also started reading the book The Poppy Wars by R F Kuang with Gia. It’s a story that is very similar to the likes of Harry Potter, Enders Game, or even the Hunger Games, and takes place in an old time China inspired setting.
One thing that I’ve found funny is that each of the different provinces of the the different Chinese zodiac animals. Rin, the main character, grew as a war orphan in the rooster province, which southern and filled with farmland. After score the highest on the daunting exam in her province, Rin is then summoned to an elite military general training school in the capital of the empire.
I cannot help to think about how much this sounds like Katniss’ (The Hunger Games) journey from her home in District 12 to the Capitol. Similar to Katniss, Rin experiences a huge culture shock when she arrives at the capital and begins to analyze just how different and frightening the lifestyle is here. Hagglers swarm Rin and her mentor (the Tutor) at every corner, people are obsessed with beauty and status (e.g. staying out of the sun to preserve white skin, and silky hair), and children die on the street.
I can’t say that I experienced the same culture shock as these two when I moved from Surry to Northern Virginia and started attending college, but I can definitely understand and see some aspects of their culture shock in my own life. Things that came as some kind of shock to me include:
- The cost of living was much higher in NoVA.
- Stores and restaurants are very accessible, and it is common for people to go out to eat on a weekly basis or just to hang out as friends. Bubble tea hangouts are something of a norm.
- The sky is purple and you cannot see the stars.
- Parking is often limited and there are cars everywhere.
Don’t get me wrong, none of this was super shocking because I had grown up visiting my mom’s family in DC every other weekend and over the summers; However, this was just my first time being fully submerged in the culture and having autonomy as an adult while living there.
Anyways, I wish there was a Reddit thread or some kind of free online discussion board for each chapter of the book, similar to how people make these threads for each episode of popular TV shows. I think this would be really nice to feel like I am engaging with a community as I am going through each chapter of the book. If I am unable to find something to fill this void, then I would like to try and set something up myself. Some cool ideas that this discussion board or app or website could have include:
- A Finch like accountability and goal feature that allows you to keep up with your reading goals and view other people’s progress. It would also be cool to reward people for their reading progress, reflections on the reading, viewing information about others’ reading journey, and cheering them on / encouraging them.
- What if there was a type of shared reading experience where you can see little side comments in the margins where other people might have made comments on certain sections of the book, and you too can leave comments and react to their messages.
Finch
On that note, Finch has been a game changing app for me. It has been the first journaling / accountability app that I have been able to keep up with for over a year now! Usually when I’ve tried to maintain yearly habits, especially through apps, I’ve always fallen off of them; However, Finch has been amazing because it rewards me for journaling every day with new clothes, furniture pieces, and the prospect of traveling to new locations with Gizmo (my finch pet) and discovering new things about those locations. Just this month I’ve learned that Iceland:
- Has a special rye bread that they Beale in the group
- Have many turf houses built into hills with grass and the ground overtop of the to help with insulation and warmth.
- Has special black sand beaches.
- Drink their water directly from the springs that produce them.
I highly recommend Finch as a daily accountability and self care app!
Shawshank Redemption
Gia and I have also made it our goal to go through each of IMDB’s Top 250 movies this year to culture ourselves with historically renown films. We appreciated both Letterbox’s and IMDB’s lists, but ultimately decided to start with the IMDB one because of the many familiar titular that we had yet to have watched.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION SPOILERS AHEAD!
Last week we started this series by watching Shawshank Redemption. It was a great movie, with some frighteningly realistic depictions of the prison-industrial complex in the US. In spite of all the tragedies that befall the characters in the film, it still ends on a high note where the two main characters (Tim Robins and Morgan Freeman) are able to reconnect years after Tim escaped Shawshank and Morgan had been released after seeming to be “redeemed” in the eyes of his evaluation committee members.
I think the most tragic and compelling scene in the film was the segment with Brooks trying to cope with the new world that he wasn’t used to, after spending nearly 50 years in prison. Brooks narrates his letter about how everything has changed in the world and that things move so fast it’s hard for him to keep up. The scene ends on a very emotional note with Brooks committing suicide.
Also, it was wild to see a younger version of Sal, from The Penguin appear in this film. I have watched Shawshank once before in the past, but it was interesting to watch it again while knowing this actor that I just watched and appreciated in another role was also present here.