97. A Clearly Marked Hellhole

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Lords:

• Tina
  • https://twitter.com/Teanah/
• Slothy
  • https://twitter.com/jonshiring

Topics:

• What do Indie devs imagine AAA is like
• My cousin is an astronaut
• Finding an ad for a medicare scam in my drafts folder
• Brad asks "The '30 days hath...' rhyme sucks as a mnemonic because so many months rhyme. Everyone should just use the knuckle mnemonic instead."
  • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckle_mnemonic
• Ted Lasso
• My post-burnout solo European vacation with a guy who had illicit keys to Notre Dame

Microtopics:

• Having one name like Cher but also having more names too.
• Giving yourself a nickname because there are too many people with just your name.
• Creating personal boundaries in an office setting and making it clear when people cross them.
• Working on a regimented team where everyone has specific roles and the programmers can't just say "I feel like doing sound design today."
• How to motivate yourself to work.
• Cultural things that can go wrong with code reviews.
• Wondering if a feature is a good idea and implementing it in a day and putting it in front of testers to find out.
• How long before you ship a game is good.
• How to get a team of 300 people to change direction.
• How to be invested enough to do a good job but not invested enough that you'll freak out if your work doesn't make it into the final product.
• Reasons to go to GDC.
• My Cousin The Astronaut.
• Sitting in the bleachers to watch the space shuttle launch.
• A building that they don't tear down because it contains things
• Building the international space station by sending up one piece per shuttle launch.
• Whether Buzz Aldrin is still an astronaut.
• Deciding as a child that you want to be an astronaut and from that point on making every decision in your live based on that goal.
• Watching your daughter carry part of the international space station across a busy freeway.
• Space shuttles exploding and driving up NASA's insurance rates.
• The pros and cons of relentlessly chasing your dreams.
• Self-esteem vs. self-compassion.
• Living in LA and having to remind your kids that not everyone works in movies.
• Different definitions of success.
• The least-driven game developer.
• Enjoying the process of making art vs. enjoying the result.
• People enjoying what you've worked on.
• Boosting your social security check by up to $1782 per year.
• A Special Medicare Advantage Part B Premium "Giveback" Rebate Benefit.
• Your pocket writing an email about Medicare.
• Having a dream about Medicare and waking up and deciding to become a spam magnate.
• Whether the mailto: protocol can specify a subject and a body.
• Making a pact to change your email password.
• Mnemonics for remembering how long each month is.
• The Knuckle Mnemonic.
• Whether it was aliens or the pope who stole the two months we used to have after December.
• A show about nerding out. (It's this one.)
• How wifi works in space when planets can get in the way.
• The first moment of freedom on Mars.
• Living on the Grand Canyon except you have to keep your eyes closed.
• Thanking Brad.
• Choosing a topic for nefarious reasons.
• The least skeptical TV show.
• Trying to remember to give people the benefit of the doubt.
• Buying a plane ticket to Europe without knowing what you're going to do there.
• Your friend in Paris who has a keyring with keys to every church in the city.
• Breaking into Notre Dame during the COVID lockdown and checking out the view from the roof.
• The listening tower that the NSA used to spy on East Germany.
• Using a variety of methods to get the keys to every church in Paris.
• A wig for people who have a mohawk that is just mostly one of the sides of your head.
• The Santa Cruz Hell Hole.
• Building the Paris tunnels to get partying teens off the streets and underground.