Yesterday I got my first ever real VR headset, got it off of a friend who didn’t need it anymore. Its the Meta Quest 3, felt reluctant putting all my Facebook info into it but it doesn’t matter that much. I stopped caring on who collects data on me these days what are you going to do with it? doesn’t matter to me.
First game I loaded up was beat saber, I played this once at a party like 4 years ago and have been fiending for it ever since. I’m really disappointed at the song selection though its like all anime stuff, only 1 Modern Baseball song… what a shame seriously like I wanted my Midwest emo on the rhythm game. Besides that its pretty fun and gives me a good workout for when I’m feeling like a shut in loser.
Other game I played was VR chat… alot of things to say about that game. Its full of weirdos, I really don’t try and pass that judgement onto others but man I’m sorry I can’t help it. Nearly everyone just sits in a corner by themselves and sits there silently. People sometimes aren’t too friendly either which makes me think like ok why are you on VR CHAT then… whatever. You can have some decent conversations on there though I met a nice lady and guy and we talked for a little bit. Still felt weird basically a TV strapped to my head and talking to these people like I was really there with them.
The whole experience so far has been pretty fun but I still can’t help but feel weird every time I put the headset on for some reason. I see these graphics in my eyes and can touch fake screens like they’re really there but its all just an illusion.
I guess that’s why I’ve always had a thing for the early internet and the y2k aesthetic. It was so distinct and all the graphics were so crappy but special that it wasn’t trying to be reality. I guess the direction of our technology then was to be separate to our daily live and just be tools for when we needed them unlike today where I Mark Zuckerberg want’s the future of work to be remote and with a TV strapped to your skull at all times so they can monitor what you’re actually doing instead of working.
Overall, Fun toy but makes me scared of the future. Thanks for reading 🙂
Wow I can’t believe how many live shows I’m going to this year. I went from only seeing one concert (Billy Joel my beloved) to seeing 2 in one year!! This is awesome!!! And its two bands I’d never think i’d be able to see since they’re both British!!! I was having major fear of missing out syndrome cus I couldn’t go see Mom Jeans or Hot Mulligan but seeing freaking Boa and Panchinko pretty much cured all of that.. and I’m going with my bestie yipee!! I am like off the walls excited to see Boa they’ve been my favorite for so long it feels like a dream.
Anyway sorry if this sounded like gloated I just wanted to express gratitude for these opportunities and not take my life for granted.
I’ve been wanting to start a physical collection for my media for some time now but I don’t want to go broke spending money on old CDs, to remedy this I’ve decided to start burning my own CDs for whatever I want. First problem I encountered was getting an actual CD-DVD Write drive for my computer since I was lacking in a CD drive. I went around to a couple local stores but the USB-CD players were ridiculously expensive. I managed to pick up this Thinkpad USB CD player for 12 bucks. Its about 30 on Amazon at the time of me writing this but you can pick it up for much cheaper if you just look around. For burning my CDs I’ve been using CDBurnerXP and found no issues so far. I’ve burned a couple of playlists and games that I’ve been wanting to own for a while now and tested them out and it sounds great!
There’s no real benefit of me owning these instead of directly streaming them but I feel some sort of pride being able to hold my own playlist in my hands and it distinctively be mine I can just hand it off for somebody else to listen to and write on the CD and to me that’s extremely gratifying. I’m hoping to one day have the resources to make my own CD covers and really immerse myself in owning my digital media but for now its just something cool to have and reinforces my totally cool vintage lifestyle.
When I think of what’s wrong with late stage capitalism ALOT of things come to mind but the one that occupies space in my mind the most is the “social” media site LinkedIn. LinkedIn reminds me of a never ending corporate morale event where everyone gets a pizza party and slaps themselves on the back for driving stock prices up and not a single genuine interaction is had. Seriously its incredible that they somehow took the “social” element out of social media. I’ve never seen such a lifeless miserable platform that is just disguised as a job searching site like Indeed but with some self help grifters and bootlickers.
If you’ve ever worked in a corporate environment you’ve gotten the inevitable question of if you have a LinkedIn and my answer has always proudly been, No. I don’t have one and refuse to get one. Maybe I’m shooting myself in the foot professionally by not “networking” (who even talks to their coworkers or connects once they leave their job) with others but I can’t bring myself to subject myself to more corpocracy in my life. If I want to connect with you I’ll give you my phone number and we can talk like normal humans without the corporate mask on. This site has no reason to exist other then bootlickers to give THEMSELVES a pat on the back for slaving their life away at whatever blue-chip tech company that’s going to lay them off in a month anyway.
So lets all do ourselves a favor and ditch the damn fake personas and stop using that pointless website. We’d all be better for it. Thanks for reading!
I sometimes hate how I miss out on so many events because I lack friends. Its like super hard to make friends in your 20s especially if you have a crippling fear of doing things by yourself like I do. Idk I’ve always had an issue connecting to people I guess, I wish there was a easy way out of this but there really isn’t. Not much left to do but keep moving just wanted to vent about that to the world wide web.
One of my favorite albums of all time is Twilight by Boa, they’ve gotten quite popular from Tik Tok but I’ve known them since hearing them during the Serial Experiments Lain intro ( hipster moment). The sounds in this album are so comforting to me and its sound/vibe is unmatched.
I wanted to give my thoughts on each track in the album and share a couple of my favorite parts and lyrics from each song.
1. Duvet
The most well known song by them from the Serial Experiments Lain intro
This is the song that blew up and propelled them into the limelight and for good reason. The sounds on this track are so comforting and unique for its era the best way I can describe it is a warm hug from the late 90s – 2000s. I think the lyrics are really relatable for a lot of people too with my favorite parts being “I am falling I am fading I am drowning Help me to breathe” the lyrics give a sense of desperation and longing but the sounds off the song are almost a comforting voice in your head telling you, take it easy its gonna be alright.
2. Twilight
The Albums namesake
This song has always represented a messy situationship to me. The Twilight in the song being one side of it where you’re longing and loving someone who always seems to be looking the other way. The emotions in this song are powerful almost giving me a rage kinda vibe with it starting off calm in the beginning and continually ramping up as the song progresses. My favorite part of this track is probably ” And you still want me, If I could be her but I’m not her and she’s not me ” sometimes I relate a little too much to that but lets not dwell on it.
3. Fool
Guitar in this one is awesome
This song always seemed to come on while I was driving home and I’ve gotten very good of yelling along to it now. I like this tracks lyrics of feeling out of place in the world and being unsure how to feel about it, do you turn to burning or love the land? I dont have much to say on this track but its still a solid one. My favorite part of this one is ” You and I, born as fools now. You and I, think we rule now“.
4. Rain
This track gives me the most 2000s vibes with the guitar and general flow of the song. If Boa was more popular I could definitely see this being a track I’d hear as a kid in my moms Jeep Cherokee. I don’t have any deep compelling thoughts about this one but is still a good listen in my eyes.
5. Elephant
My favorite song on the entire album!!!!
Wow. Where to start with this one…. This is by far my most favorite song on the entire album and maybe just my most favorite song ever. I discovered my love for this song after a really turbulent bad time in my life when I decided to give the entire Twilight album a listen. There was a constant negative noise in my head draining the light and clouding everything in my head but suddenly this track came on and my eyes just widened in amazement. This song felt like a much needed hug telling me its going to be okay, you’re going to see the light. The lyrics in the song represent life as a long journey to me much akin to the path of healing, its going to take time and we’re going to have to travel but we’re going to get there. I especially appreciate the parts in the song inviting others to follow you on your path, which to me represents helping others on your journey. Anytime I feel as if everything is going wrong and crashing down, I throw on this song to remind myself I’m on a constant journey of improvement and experiencing life. I have so many favorite parts of this song but to highlight one I’d chose this one “We can go there, we can travel over the motorway, over the valley All the way there with your gentle spirit I am not afraid.” Showing that you’re not alone on this journey. Wow sorry for the yap-fest I just really really like this song LOL.
6. Scoring
This song always represented breaking free of a toxic relationship to me. With the sounds of the track feeling like a rebellion/fight and the song representing never going back and submitting to the humility of a toxic relationship. A favorite lyric of mine being ” I will never be beaten by your brutality and I will never be shaken by your stupidity“.
7. Deeply
This track feels like you just found out somebody was talking shit about you and now you’re going over to confront them. It gives off that kinda I’m mad I’m not really thinking energy. Like now that the secrets out and your feelings are burning might as well go crazy.
8. One Day
Male singing???
Woah new voice ok I fuck with it though. I really like the sound on this song but I really can’t explain why just take my word LOL. The lyrics make me feel like this song is about a confusing situationship where you confess your love and it really doesn’t go your way and you kinda want to leave it now but the other person still wants some loving and they’re might be a spark afterall?? Basically the song feels like confusion to me if that makes any sense.
9. Welcome
fancy
I really like the sound of this song. Its more like jazzy to me like if I walked into a really fancy bar with martini glasses, smoke in the air, and mystery, this is the song I’d want to be playing in the moment. The song itself though seems about two people at odds ends with one being constantly dishonest and the other pining for honesty. The flow of the song supports this is my mind as it kinda feels like a lovers duel.
10. For Jasmine
underrated asf.
This is a nice little song that never fails to make me happy. It represents watching a child, whether it be your own or maybe a sibling grow up in life. You get to watch them learn and experience life just as you had. I really like the lyric “And the world will smile when you smile” Nothing crazy complex here just a nice little song about growing up from an outsiders perspective 🙂 .
11. Anna Maria
Ok admittingly this is the song I’ve listened to the least on this album but its like kinda cool. I can honestly see this being played in a Hispanic restaurant idk if thats a fucked up thing to say since the band is British but I mean just listen to it I think I’m right idk.
12. Little Miss
Out of all the slept on tracks on this album this might be the most slept on. This song is about hookups, plain and simple. But not just hookups!!! Getting feelings with someone in a casual relationship. The worst part is the guy doesn’t know how to handle it and just goes back to having her just for sex anyway!! ugh!!! You honestly feel for little miss in this song being used by this man but I’m glad they included the part where they say “But she’s gonna make it she’s a strong one and your heart, well, its already melted“. Also there is a crazy ass saxophone part at the end of the song and it kicks ass, super random but I totally dig it.
13. Drinking
last song!!
This song is clearly about a drunk, very melancholic song. The lyrics show a person drinking their life away with their voice being beautiful at first but then as the drinking continues turning into a siren. Its funny this being the last song on the album it feels like a song you’d hear at the ending credits of a coming of age film. I couldn’t think of a better closer for this fantastic album.
Thanks for reading!!! Hope you liked my some of my thoughts :)))
Modding an iPod seems like an out of place idea in 2024 but classic iPods are still a wonderful piece of technology that shouldn’t be so easily forgotten. This was a great project for me as a beginner in tinkering and someone who really likes vintage tech.
This is my modded iPod 5th Generation with almost all new parts besides the motherboard. The most common mods for an iPod of this make is replacing the battery and expanding the storage. I decided to replace the back and wheel to better fit my vibe and give it more of a custom feel. I did this all in one day and was ecstatic when plugging it in and having everything work.
I loaded the operating system with Rockbox a custom OS for iPods for further customization and useability. I was really satisfied with how everything came out and how it represents me.
The sound on these old iPods is unlike anything you can produce on a smartphone and leaves me blown away, seriously its out of this world listening to your favorite albums on this thing if the vintage appeal wasn’t enough for you.
Another benefit is the ability to listen to my music on the go with zero notifications or distractions. This thing is built for listening to music and that’s it. No social media or any impulsive online distractions.
If my rambling has convinced you to pick one up yourself, you can usually find a 5th gen iPod pretty cheap but the upgrades are going to run you about $100 bucks. The installation is quite simple with most of the components being attached with ribbon cables that are easily removable.
I can’t think of a better way of preserving the past than giving an old piece of technology that would normally be abandoned, new life. I hope you liked my post and consider picking one up for yourself!
