ericdontigney
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Update: Recommendations and Randomness
🕑 Added 2025-04-08 21:44:11 +0000 UTCI've been a little slow to start today. Migraine season is truly upon us. I somehow manage to forget that this time of year always, always sucks harder than the rest of year for migraines. It's just the weather. So, anyway, I had a migraine last night which really screwed up my sleep. That, in turn, has left me kind of groggy today. There is an Unintended Cultivator chapter coming. It's about half written. I just needed to give my brain a few minutes to percolate on the rest of what needs to happen before I write it. So, you get an update while I let my subconscious sit on a low simmer.
To start with, I don't throw out a lot of recommendations because I suspect that I'm largely reading the same things in the progression fantasy/litRPG sphere that everyone else is reading. If anyone is wondering what I've been listening to/reading recently, here's a short list or series/first books:
Savage Awakening, Apocalypse Redux, Rift Magus Reborn, and Discount Dan.
I particularly enjoyed Discount Dan. If you ever thought, "Man, if Dungeon Crawler Carl was just 50-75% less nihilistic, I'd like it," then Discount Dan is for you.
However, I do read a fair amount outside of the progression fantasy/litRPG sphere, and there's a lot of good and/or fun fiction to be found. So, some things I have particularly enjoyed include:
Hard Luck Hank (series) - by Steven Campbell (science fiction silliness)
Arcane Casebook (series) - by Dan Willis (alt-history urban fantasy goodness)
Merona Grant and the Lost Tomb of Golgotha (prequel coming later this year) - By Brina Williamson (Indiana Jones-esque adventure...um... -ness?)
Not sure if those recommendations will mean anything, but I figure I should do them every once in a while.
In other news, I built a gaming PC over the weekend. Two reasons. One, it was a project that did not involve me looking at a computer screen (mostly). Two, I want to play Microsoft Flight Simulator. It turns out that my current PC, which is fine for literally everything else I need, doesn't have the processor/GPU horsepower to support it.
Fun fact: building a PC for the first time is hard.
Even if you've watched a bunch of assembly videos and made sure that all the components are compatible, it's still hard. There are about a million large and small ways to screw it up. There is also a brutal learning curve when it comes to understanding what is actually on the motherboard and which things on said motherboard you actually need to worry about.
Noob Tip #1: You don't need to worry about approximately 90-95% of what you see on a motherboard. Those things are built to accommodate a whole slew of different components and setups, which means there are tons of connectors on there that you will never touch.
Noob Tip #2: Motherboards often come with a simplified diagram that helps you identify the things you do need to worry about. Look for it to save yourself time. If there isn't one in the box, there may be one on the manufacturer's website.
Noob Tip #3: There will be a lot of leftover bits and pieces from the motherboard, GPU, and CPU cooler boxes (at least if you get components like the ones I got). Do not panic. You likely didn't forget anything. This all goes back to the whole "these components are made to accommodate a lot of different setups" thing.
Okay. I think I've covered both recommendations and randomness, so it's time to get back to writing some fiction.
Comments
Angela Roberts
Thanks for the lists! What is it about pollen and warming weather that turns so many of us into sleep deprived aching zombies?! Congrats on your build, I've been wanting to try my hand at it so you've given me needed courage.
Daniel McConville
I know you've talked about the migraines before and you've had them for a long long time. Thanks for your fantastic writing, and enjoy flying in MS Flight Sim. Congrats on building your first PC, I hope you enjoyed it and didn't find it too stressful. Nobody will ever have as much care or attention to detail as yourself when building a PC. Feel better soon.
