Jupiter's Universe

[jacob]

You guys might enjoy: https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-novel-G ... 593321200/

[delay]

This month went by so fast!

There are still five days left in February. You seem to be living in the future!

[ertyu]

I'd be interested if you were to share some of the names you read. I love it when people do that, I often pick out books to check out

[Jupiter]

You guys might enjoy: https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-novel-G ... 593321200/

I think I've been recommended this book 6 times at least as of today. It's bound to happen, I will find it at the library.

[Jupiter]

There are still five days left in February. You seem to be living in the future!

Maybe it is because you've been living with a delay?

I like to update this journal at around the 20-25 day mark in a calendar month. This is why it seems too early to say goodbye to the month, but I am doing it anyways, since next time it'll be March. That's my chosen schedule, there is no real reason for it

I'd be interested if you were to share some of the names you read. I love it when people do that, I often pick out books to check out

Yeah sure! I hope you find something you like in there, ertyu.

I read those novels:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/504 ... s-fant-mes
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48657691-kukum (this was my favorite, so good!)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/185 ... rle-encore
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/618 ... ie-demeure
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/131 ... e_chinoise
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/586 ... ns-heureux

And those non-fiction books:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100 ... e-industry
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252 ... te-of-play
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/828 ... and-gaming (this was my favorite as well, it read so fast and contained very valuable insights for me!)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/302 ... evelopment


And those are the ones I am currently reading (I like having a bunch in parallel):
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235 ... ideo-games
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/527 ... e-designer
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/401 ... ux-du-ciel
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/611 ... a-un-mardi

[Jupiter]

March 2024 expenses:

I saved 33% of my income. Not ideal, but I purchased plane tickets for Christmas in advance, because I was feeling like doing so early this year.

March considerations:

This month was wild. So many activities, parties to attend, projects to advance, people to meet, and tasks to check. I also had to plan for moving apartments. I did great overall, but I must admit that I am feeling really tired! I will try to rest as much as I can before d-day. It is quite exciting, I am looking forward to see if my new roommates and I will be a good match!

[Jupiter]

April 2024 expenses:

I saved 60% of my income, hurrah! Plus, this was considering that I had a few things extra that I bought because of the moving. Hopefully in May I will beat my high score.

April considerations:

I feel like this month was just as fun and intense as March, maybe even a bit more. I cannot believe I am past 1/2 year working already, time flies. I moved closer to my workplace, which feels amazing. I can walk there now! It's slightly more expensive than my previous place, but since I don't take the public transit anymore, it evens out. I am working a lot on my passion projects as well, they make me so happy! I also made a lot of new friends in the past months, all generous and kind and creative people. I feel lucky! The only dark cloud on the horizon is the health of my grandpa. He's been through a lot this month (felt three times, hurt himself badly, developed an infection that made him hallucinate quite a lot, he's still in a critical state).

[delay]

Thanks for your journal update! Congratulations on saving 60% of your income and best wishes for the health of your grandfather.

[ertyu]

Fingers crossed, hope he gets better soon

[Jupiter]

Thanks for your journal update! Congratulations on saving 60% of your income and best wishes for the health of your grandfather.

Fingers crossed, hope he gets better soon

Thank you, delay & ertyu! This is very sweet from you both. My grandpa is doing much better now, he's out of the hospital. I'm feeling relieved!

You guys might enjoy: https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-novel-G ... 593321200/

I finally read this book. I am unsure if I liked it or not. The game development part was interesting, because some parts felt close to the reality of making a game, but I could not get attached to the characters. I wish I had a better book on the subject of game development to share, but I can't think of one. I however have watched Double Fine PsychOdyssey (the making of Psychonauts 2 documentary). It is not the best documentary on Earth, but it satisfies the curiosity of how it is like to make a game.

[zbigi]

I wish I had a better book on the subject of game development to share, but I can't think of one.

"Masters of Doom" by David Kushner is a fantastic read.

[delay]

"Masters of Doom" by David Kushner is a fantastic read.

Can confirm, that's a great read! Here's the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Cre ... 0375505245

[Jupiter]

Thank you so much, zbigi & delay! I will check it out ^^

[Jupiter]

May 2024 expenses:

I saved 60% of my income, again, I am on a roll ^^ To be more precise, I saved 60.9%, which means I beat my high score, but I feel like I still have room for improvement. This is exciting!

May considerations:

This was an awesome month! I baked so many cakes (4, I believe) because there was an occasion to do so about every single week. It felt amazing to celebrate the people around me, we had great times chatting in depth, sharing food and reflections. Not much happened in other areas of life, everything is still fantastic. I was a bit sad because my producer at work left for a new role at another company, and I really liked them as a producer but also as a human being. I also had many chats about machine learning and the new chat gpt. People in my circles are generally confused as to what human problem machine learning is trying to solve. We'll see where the development of this tech will lead us. I'm excited for June: sunshine, picnics in parks, 3 books coming my way from the library, more birthday parties, volunteering, a lot of work and a lot of good times with more friends to be expected!

[ertyu]

Found Kukum in English translation, I'm picking it up
Thanks for the book recs!

[Jupiter]

I am so glad you did, ertyu! Let me know if you think anything of it after your read.

[Jupiter]

June 2024 expenses:

I saved 60% of my income again! I'm happy this seems to be consistent.

June considerations:

June went by so, so fast. I cannot believe it's already the end of the month. I did all that I expected to do (basking, picnicking, reading, celebrating, volunteering, working and spending time with friends). I hope July will be a continuation of this. Life is great!

[Jupiter]

July 2024 expenses:

I saved 76% of my income this month! Woooooh, new record

It's mostly due to not going out (I've been resting more in the past few weeks) and the shift to summer activities (hanging out in parks instead of in a restaurant). Plus, I cooked only for myself and I didn't have any birthday to celebrate (no more fancy cake baking, shoot!). This is probably the least amount of expenses I have had since starting to write on this forum. I find interesting that it is also probably the threshold amount at which reducing my expenses would mean to start cutting groceries/searching for an even cheaper accommodation.

July 2024 considerations:

I have a lot on my mind. I've completed more than 1/2 of my (non-renewable) work contract now, and knowing that feels scary. My company has strict policies around the maximal contract duration, which means that I very probably won't be able to stick around, and need to prepare for the after. I have never been afraid of change, but this time seems different. I think that it stems from 3 things: a sense of loss, the pressure of competition, and the unknown.

Sense of loss: Those words are probably not exactly appropriate for what I'm trying to convey, but they nonetheless capture some of what I am feeling. I really love my job and I wish I could stay for longer. When I first started, it felt like falling in love. I had found a place where I truly enjoyed what I was crafting, why I was crafting it, with who, and how. If we disregard the few odd days, every day spent at my work has brought me immense joy and a deep sense of purpose. Never has any job procured me that feeling before. I still feel the love, a very deep and vivid one. Furthermore, the company has plenty of money, the project is ongoing and they need people to do it, and a lot of people in/out my team have expressed their wish for me to stay. This artificial rupture with my workplace feels disheartening, frustrating and unjustified. I want to keep growing in that space in which I got so emotionally involved. The emotional investment will backfire, and I will maybe have to accept that as the price to pay for living my passions within those terms and at that level.

Pressure of competition: The video game industry (I work as a game designer) is in a very bad state for the employees at the moment: a lot of mass layoffs/studio closures occurred since 2021, and not many gigs were created in the meantime. Hence, the competition is high on the employee side. For instance, a rare full-time role opened on my team recently. According to the requirements, I was fully qualified for it. I tossed my hat in the ring. Someone with 10 more years of experience than I have applied and got the role. I understand and accept that fact. I do find it hard however to realize that this is the kind of people I am competing against every time I put my CV into some recruiter's hands. I am not a competitive person, and when on a busy street, I will usually zig-zag into the alleyways to avoid the crowd. I can't really do that now that even the alleyways are bursting with people, and that it seems to be the case globally. That pressure might be another part of the passion fee...

Unknown: A big classic when it comes to change! I will now experiment a new flavour of the unknown, the one that not only wants to find a way, but wants to find the way back: "Will I ever be able to go back to this happy place that I just found? When? And, if/when that happens, will this place still feel this happy to me? How can I get there as fast as possible? If I decide to not go back, or if I can't, then what could be the next thing? What activities can make me feel as fulfilled? Is there even such activities?" While before, the unknown was rather exciting because I wasn't exactly enjoying the here & now, the transition in view appears more like a levelling down rather than a levelling up. When I try to think of other possibilities, they always look pale to me. Again, I feel so involved in what I'm doing that it will take me a while to come down from my little cloud. Exploring is easier when you still haven't found what you are looking for, but I am hopeful that taking a bit of time to switch gears and figure out what I want to pursue next will help!

So yeah! That's what's on my mind (at least work/money- wise, haha). It's 100% emotions: passion, love, fear and sadness. Hard for me to think rationally. Maybe that eventually, I'll live some kind of perspective shift that will ease everything. In the mean time, I have work tomorrow, and I can't wait! I am determined to enjoy my current opportunity to the max until the last day

[delay]

Thanks for your journal update! 76% is an awesome saving rate. You can have 3 months off for every month of work.

For some reason the anticipation of getting laid off is much worse than actually getting laid off. I wonder if there are good ways to deal with it.

[ertyu]

Stoics say to do the mental exercise where you imagine it's already happened and plan your actions