Useless Conversation

[Morat20]

I really just need decent boots (so goddamn pricey)

When I was 19, I got a big raise and for the first time in my life was able to conceive of blowing money on something fun for myself rather than frantically squirreling it away to stave off catastrophe.  A nice pair of ren faire boots was the something fun.  They were a great purchase, not the least because unlike most items of clothing I bought at that age, they still fit me.

I finally found a pair that fit over my monster calves, and have the size written down (and the shop). When I have a spare 500 bucks (income tax rebate, hopefully) I'll grab them and break them in.

But yeah, lack of decent boots has really been crimping most of my plans for costumes.

I'm from Texas. I can't even wear cowboy boots. It's this pineapple of a muscle. I'm not even sure why. Who needs that kind of excessive calf strength and WHY DO I STILL HAVE IT.

[Reg]

My childish obsession with gaming has kept me from turning into a grumpy old man as well. I've been playing DnD with the same group since 1978 and my wizard has finally got to 18th level. :)

[Mandella]

My childish obsession with gaming has kept me from turning into a grumpy old man as well. I've been playing DnD with the same group since 1978 and my wizard has finally got to 18th level. :)

Power leveler.

 

[Pennilenko]

My childish obsession with gaming has kept me from turning into a grumpy old man as well. I've been playing DnD with the same group since 1978 and my wizard has finally got to 18th level. :)

Holy shit you are old, I was born in 79.

[Sky]

I played my first computer game around 1975.  (ADVENT on a Fortran mainframe, iirc)

[01101010]

I played my first computer game around 1975.  (ADVENT on a Fortran mainframe, iirc)

I'll get the Werthers and a blanket.

My first time playing a computer game was my aunt and uncles pong console in 1979. Then I got a 2600 for Xmas in I think 1983? ugh... I can hear the arthritis forming now.

[schild]

My childish obsession with gaming has kept me from turning into a grumpy old man as well. I've been playing DnD with the same group since 1978 and my wizard has finally got to 18th level. :)

what

[HaemishM]

Many of us saw Star Wars in the theaters, first run. We are old.

[01101010]

Many of us saw Star Wars in the theaters, first run. We are old.

Drive-in actually - but I was 4 years old so I don't remember much.

[Sky]

Many of us saw Star Wars in the theaters, first run. We are old.

1977. Lord knows how many times I dragged my dad to that theater during the movie's run there.

edited to add spoiler tag so you don't have to look at my dumb face every time you open this thread

[Reg]

Hah, I saw that with my family when it first came out too. I was 18 and a college freshman.

[WayAbvPar]

Yep. Saw it at what is now the Cinerama in Seattle. You see, kids- there only used to be 1 or 2 screens in any town, and you had to go to the big city to find movies sometimes.

I also saw one of the shitty prequels there (when it was the Cinerama)- maybe the first one?

[Zetor]

You western pig-dogs and your war stars. I watched pirate-narrated versions of Spaceballs (i.e. one guy '''voiceacted''' all the characters over the original English/German version which could still be heard in the background), and loved it!
Behold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8qjvzaZb9U

(seriously, me and most of my friends watched that pirated Spaceballs VHS multiple times before we had a chance to see a legit or semi-legit copy of New Hope... "hey, what's this american movie and why is it ripping off Spaceballs?" Yeah, I know ANH was shown in cinemas everywhere in the world back in the late 1970s, but you couldn't find it in Hungary in the late 80s)

edit: boo hiss, that was not even the right pirate narration, the OG one was over an English copy. It's more like this one (2:43 - 4:54 if the timecode doesn't transfer) https://youtu.be/rEb3_sEVIjU?t=163

[Samwise]

Luxury!  In the Old Country all we had was a bootleg Betamax of Turkish Star Wars.

[rattran]

I really just need decent boots (so goddamn pricey)

When I was 19, I got a big raise and for the first time in my life was able to conceive of blowing money on something fun for myself rather than frantically squirreling it away to stave off catastrophe.  A nice pair of ren faire boots was the something fun.  They were a great purchase, not the least because unlike most items of clothing I bought at that age, they still fit me.

I finally found a pair that fit over my monster calves, and have the size written down (and the shop). When I have a spare 500 bucks (income tax rebate, hopefully) I'll grab them and break them in.

But yeah, lack of decent boots has really been crimping most of my plans for costumes.

I'm from Texas. I can't even wear cowboy boots. It's this pineapple of a muscle. I'm not even sure why. Who needs that kind of excessive calf strength and WHY DO I STILL HAVE IT.

I wear a pair of Bearpaw shearling boots, or canvas snakeboots from Bass Pro Shop. Comfort tops being actual period footwear.

That said, Son of Sandlar does decent ren fair boots and shoes. Wore out a pair of their shoes a decade ago.

[Johny Cee]

Luxury!  In the Old Country all we had was a bootleg Betamax of Turkish Star Wars.

So....  A youtube channel that's alot of fun is Brandon's Cult Movie review.  As in actual cult and B-movies...  lots of Godzilla, but also lots of B-movies from the '50s to the '80s. 

Turkish Star Wars episode, only 18 minutes long:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awrb8mxWCTs

[HaemishM]

Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews is one of my favorite Youtube channels. Not only does he find some truly crazy shit to review, he's pretty funny doing it.

[satael]

Another YouTube channel for good B-movie stuff is GoodBadFlicks and especially the Exploring Series that goes into the production of the movies in question.

[Sir T]

I first Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back together in a double feature when ESB came out. Mom says that My Brother and Mine eyes were wide and red when we came out of the cinema. :)

[Morat20]

I'm thinking I'm fucking done with Texas. This anti-trans shit is just like the last fucking straw.

I goddamn hate job-hunting, I've sort of niched my self career wise (just a casual scan at software jobs is often a shit-ton of  stuff I only know by thin association. Been doing application level C stuff the last decade). I like my job, I like my coworkers, but fuck this whole goddamn state.

Legal weed and somewhere that has an actual fucking winter. Any goddamn software industry at all would be stellar. Colorado maybe? Massachusetts? Is weed even legal there?

I know too many trans kids. My wife has taught at least one every year the last decade. The happiest ones had supportive parents. The ones that didn't -- well, self harm was common. Suicidal thoughts and statements was common. One damn near succeeded, about four years ago. Last I heard, she'd cut contact with her family and is making a life for herself around the college she went to. (On scholarships my wife worked her ass off to make sure she got).

Fucking Ken Paxton. Fucking Greg Abbot. This whole fucking state needs to sink into the fucking ocean.

[Cyrrex]

Well, yeah.

[01101010]

Well at least it's not Florida...

[Trippy]

Get a remote job and live where you want. Software is one of the easiest jobs to do remotely these days.

[Morat20]

Get a remote job and live where you want. Software is one of the easiest jobs to do remotely these days.

I'm hoping my current job lets us fully work remote, and then I can just vamoose to any state they have offices.  (The nature of the job does occasionally require me to access secure facilities. Most of their offices have at least one such, so....the twice a year I actually need to do secure shit I can do)

Supposedly they've got openings in Colorado in the next few months, including at least one that's in roughly my wheelhouse.

Legal weed, decently places for trips to pretty much anywhere in the US, and snow in the winter. I'll take it.

My wife's jobs a little less portable, but it can be worked around.

[01101010]

It is beautiful here in Colorado... so I can vote yes on moving here. Property prices are still out of control but slowly coming down from the clouds.

[Morat20]

It is beautiful here in Colorado... so I can vote yes on moving here. Property prices are still out of control but slowly coming down from the clouds.

Texas isn't any better on that front.

Problem is we're from Houston -- which despite the godawful climate (it's the armpit of Texas), has a wide and fantastic variety of food from around the world, a solid opera and theater company, and great museums and galleries.

So right now I'm researching a couple of cities in a few states looking for a combination of industry that needs software engineers, good food, and good entertainment along those lines.

I will say that my bucket list DOES have seeing a concert at Red Rocks on it. Right now mostly waiting for someone worth the trip to go see.

[Trippy]

So right now I'm researching a couple of cities in a few states looking for a combination of industry that needs software engineers, good food, and good entertainment along those lines.

Austin?

Though seriously the cities with the demographics (read: food) and amenities closest to Houston are, except for New York City, in California: i.e. Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and San Diego.

Edit: Chicago would qualify too

[Samwise]

Edit: Chicago would qualify too

This was my thought.  If you want "real winter" (I assume you mean snowy and miserable) in a real city, Chicago seems like a great option, and as far as I can tell it's a lot cheaper than any of the coastal cities.

[Morat20]

So right now I'm researching a couple of cities in a few states looking for a combination of industry that needs software engineers, good food, and good entertainment along those lines.

Austin?

Though seriously the cities with the demographics (read: food) and amenities closest to Houston are, except for New York City, in California: i.e. Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and San Diego.

Edit: Chicago would qualify too

If I'm staying in Texas, the one job/company that would keep me here in is in San Antonio. Our company has partnered with them a few times and by all accounts it's a fantastic place to work.  Austin's pretty nice, and at least the heat is drier more inland. I'm just so sick of the climate, political and, you know, the actual climate.

But you and Samwise are right -- Chicago is definitely one I should look at that wasn't even really on my list. Thanks. I might toss in Boston as well.

[HaemishM]

I keep hearing that Dallas is great. 

[Morat20]

I keep hearing that Dallas is great. 

I hate you so much.

Just...so much.

[Mandella]

I'm thinking I'm fucking done with Texas. This anti-trans shit is just like the last fucking straw.

I goddamn hate job-hunting, I've sort of niched my self career wise (just a casual scan at software jobs is often a shit-ton of  stuff I only know by thin association. Been doing application level C stuff the last decade). I like my job, I like my coworkers, but fuck this whole goddamn state.

Legal weed and somewhere that has an actual fucking winter. Any goddamn software industry at all would be stellar. Colorado maybe? Massachusetts? Is weed even legal there?

I know too many trans kids. My wife has taught at least one every year the last decade. The happiest ones had supportive parents. The ones that didn't -- well, self harm was common. Suicidal thoughts and statements was common. One damn near succeeded, about four years ago. Last I heard, she'd cut contact with her family and is making a life for herself around the college she went to. (On scholarships my wife worked her ass off to make sure she got).

Fucking Ken Paxton. Fucking Greg Abbot. This whole fucking state needs to sink into the fucking ocean.

I'll be that guy to tell you that moving out of state is just what "they" want you to do. Take your vote and your liberal attitude elsewhere.

Texas is one of those states (mine is another) where the Republicans are getting desperate, and they are going to extreme measures to push back the rising tide. I'm not moving out of my state, and I've ramped up my political activism in response to all the recent fuckery.

Obviously, you have to do what you think best for yourself and family, but just keep in mind that you moving out of state is also what is best for Ken Paxton and Greg Abbot.

[Khaldun]

It is up to the point that Texas can't keep important businesses running, but those guys don't care about that day whenever it comes, soon or late. They just want the next election.

My basic thing to people is "be where you're happy". Far left people can be strikingly happy in unexpected ways in very conservative places and vice-versa. What makes you happy (job, location, friends) is at least somewhat detachable from "legal/political conditions that are intolerable".

[Endie]

I goddamn hate job-hunting, I've sort of niched my self career wise (just a casual scan at software jobs is often a shit-ton of  stuff I only know by thin association. Been doing application level C stuff the last decade).

It's worth thinking about picking up Rust: it's under-resourced for demand, even by comparison with React and Typescript; it's full of concepts that are pretty comfortable to a C programmer; and it's always worth having an insurance policy as a software engineer. I get paranoid if I don't have a couple of current languages, and I'm a director so nobody lets me commit without a full star chamber reviewing it, anyway.

[Samwise]

I goddamn hate job-hunting, I've sort of niched my self career wise (just a casual scan at software jobs is often a shit-ton of  stuff I only know by thin association. Been doing application level C stuff the last decade).

It's worth thinking about picking up Rust: it's under-resourced for demand, even by comparison with React and Typescript; it's full of concepts that are pretty comfortable to a C programmer; and it's always worth having an insurance policy as a software engineer. I get paranoid if I don't have a couple of current languages, and I'm a director so nobody lets me commit without a full star chamber reviewing it, anyway.

This is good advice.  It's a bit of a niche language, but exactly as Endie said, the demand for it outstrips supply.  When I was at Dropbox there was a pretty strong push to get more people to learn Rust because it was so hard to hire Rust programmers from outside.  (I learned enough to decide it wasn't for me -- there are lots of nice things about it, but fuckin' lifetimes just break my brain.)