every line of this interview is unreal, a man who truly has no fucks to give

Bunta Shimizu is a fast rising Japanese stylist who we often see around the streets of Harajuku. Even though Bunta has already worked on a number of high profile projects, he is only 19 years old.

In addition to his purple shaved hairstyle, Bunta’s look here features a sheer blue tulle dress by Molly Goddard over a vintage Kiss t-shirt, ripped Levi’s denim flares, and Reebok sneakers. Accessories include his long floral gloves from the Richard Quinn x H&M collection and a bright yellow vinyl purse by the Brazilian brand Melissa.

Bunta’s favorite Tokyo fashion boutique is The Four-Eyed and he likes the music of Hone Bone. Follow Bunta on Instagram and Twitter to see more of his fashion and styling work.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

We met Masako Hirano, an artist sporting yellow-tipped hair and carrying a hula hoop, on the street in Harajuku.

Masako’s ensemble consists of a vintage teal bomber jacket over a yellow handmade shirt, dark blue pants from Landlord New York, Adidas x Hyke sneakers, and a Nike drawstring backpack, which she got for free when she purchased a pair of Nike shoes.

Masako likes to listen to the music of Mount Kimbie, Clark, New Order and Pavement. For her social media updates, follow Masako on Twitter and Instagram. Also, check out her official website and her project Skydiving Magazine.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Asachill is a Kyoto-born Tokyo-based Japanese singer who also works at the famous Kawaii Monster Cafe in Harajuku. We often see Asachill around the streets of Harajuku.

Asachill just released her new album “Pont”. Check out the music video preview on YouTube or visit her official website for more info. We also highly recommend this new English-language interview with Asachill if you’d like to know more about her.

Asachill is wearing a graphic jacket by the female-run Japanese streetwear brand MYOB NYC with black rivet shorts, a garter and fishnet stocking, roller skate platform boots by the Japan fashion week Thai brand Sretsis, and an Amazon Tokyo Fashion Week tote bag. Accessories include a huge o-ring necklace, choker, and cat ear LED headphones by Axent Wear.

Asachill’s favorite fashion designer is Vivienne Westwood. She likes the music of Denki Groove and YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra). Follow Asachill on Instagram and Twitter for more of her fashion and music.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Raw is a 19-year-old Japanese fashion college student who we often see around the streets of Harajuku.

His look here features a vintage hooded jacket worn under a remake striped shirt, red track pants with a neon yellow stripe, and silver shows. His silver accessories are by Tokyo Humanexperiments.

Raw’s favorite fashion brands include Acuod by Chanu and Dog Harajuku. He also likes listening to the music of Deformed Nippon. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter for more of his handmade fashion.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

The Great Videogame Crash of 1983 was a industry-wide catastrophe that toppled titans, shuttered studios, and caused pennies-on-the-dollar inventory dumping on a colossal scale. The collapse seemed to confirm suspicious that videogames were just a passing fad and effectively flatlined the home console market for years. When Nintendo attempted to resuscitate the American market with its Famicom system a few years later, it had to pitch the device as something more than a next-gen successor to the Atari 2600 or Intellivision. Even then, videogames spent another decade under the public perception of being the domain of kids and basement-dwelling malcontents.

Most accounts of the Crash have concluded it was a bad thing. While that is an understandable conclusion, I have unearthed additional evidence that the Crash actually spared this world from even greater horrors.

Bless you, Atari 2600 Pac-Man. Bless you, E.T. the videogame. Though the ignorant masses may curse thy names, the world owes you a debt which can never be truly repaid.

Related posts:

1. Growing up 2600: A merry disaster
2. The Long Game: Coming soon to a landfill near you
3. Road to nowhere

Who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Kate Stark and I am a Twitch Partner and full-time broadcaster at twitch.tv/kate.

What hardware do you use?

I use a LOT of hardware for my job. I'm currently using a two PC setup - one for streaming and encoding and a second for gaming. I've just built a new dedicated gaming PC, and it's an absolute beast, which is what I need to be able to stream at 1080p and play games at a high graphics setting. That includes an AMD Ryzen 7 1700 processor and a ZOTAC 1080 graphics card.

For streaming console games I'm using a Magewell Capture Card, which has been incredible for streaming games off the Nintendo Switch.

As far as lighting goes, I've got an 18 inch ring light mounted behind my Logitech C920 webcam that provides great even lighting on my face, and then 2 separate LED panels mounted to provide fill light on my green screen.

I find headphones to be really important as well. It's not something that people generally think about, but for a long time the headphones I was using were causing headaches. Since I switched to the Steelseries Arctis 5's that hasn't been an issue, because of the elastic strap they have which alleviates the pressure on the top of your head.

Beyond that, I find a good chair with decent lumbar support to be super important, as well as having monitors mounted at eye level to reduce neck strain. You really don't notice how much strain you're putting on your body until you've streamed for 8+ hours and you're sore the next day.

And what software?

Streaming software is pretty simple. I use Open Broadcast Software, AKA OBS. It's basic and easy to use but it does exactly what I need it to.

For music I tend to use Spotify. I've also been using Pretzel Rocks recently for royalty-free music to avoid muting on my VODs and avoiding content-ID claims.

My backend alert system is run through Layer One. It was developed by a team of people who work with streamers and know their needs. They're really open to listening to feedback and I find they really take it to heart, and the service is constantly improving. It's totally replaced the need to use other third-party alert websites by having all the information I need in one place.

What would be your dream setup?

My dream set up is basically exactly what I have right now. In September 2016, streaming became my full-time job and since then I've found it very important to spend money on good equipment dedicated to improving the quality of my stream, because I want viewers to have the best possible quality and experience when watching.

Donald Trump has been playing around with this for some time, but his call last night for Congress to pass a bill allowing Cabinet agencies to fire workers they consider disloyal to the current regime is effectively a call to repeal the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which ended the Spoils System of government and created a professional civil service that was apolitical for most positions. This was one of the smartest moves ever made by the government (almost certainly the best law to come out of the Gilded Age). It allowed the government to grow by promoting professionalism instead of political hackery. But of course, Trump and the GOP wants to repeal the last century plus of good legislation that limited personal power and wealth. Whether the repeal of Pendleton Act would lead to another presidential assassination, the reason it was passed in the first place, remains to be seen. A sadly appropriate call for the New Gilded Age though.

Share

The exhibit Author Function, featuring computer-generated literary art in print, is now up in MIT’s Rotch Library (77 Mass Ave, Building 7, 2nd Floor) and in my lab/studio, The Trope Tank (Room 14N-233, in building 14, the same building that houses the Hayden Library). Please contact me by email if you are interested in seeing the materials in the Trope Tank, as this part of the exhibit is accessible by appointment only.

There are three events associated with the exhibit happening in Cambridge, Mass:

February 7, 6pm-7pm, a reading and signing at the MIT Press bookstore. Nick Montfort, Rafael Pérez y Pérez, and Allison Parrish.

March 5, 4:30pm-6pm, a reception at the main part of the exhibit in the Rotch Library.

March 5, 7pm-8pm, a reading and signing at the Harvard Book Store. John Cayley, Liza Daly, Nick Montfort, and Allison Parrish.

In addition to a shelf of computer-generated books that is available for perusal, by appointment, in the Trope Tank, the following items of printed matter are displayed in the exhibit:

• 2×6, Nick Montfort, Serge Bouchardon, Andrew Campana, Natalia Fedorova, Carlos León, Aleksandra Ma?ecka, and Piotr Marecki
• A Slow Year: Game Poems, Ian Bogost
• Action Score Generator, Nathan Walker
• American Psycho, Mimi Cabell and Jason Huff
• Anarchy, John Cage
• Articulations, Allison Parrish
• Autopia, Nick Montfort
• Brute Force Manifesto: The Catalog of All Truth, Version 1.1, Series AAA-1, Vol 01, Brian James
• Clear Skies All Week, Alison Knowles
• Firmy, Piotr Puldzian P?ucienniczak
• for the sleepers in that quiet earth., Sofian Audry
• From the Library of Babel: Axaxaxas Mlo – The Combed Thunderclap LXUM,LKWC – MCV – The Plaster Cramp, Christian Bök
• Generation[s], J.R. Carpenter
• Google Volume 1, King Zog
• How It Is In Common Tongues, Daniel C. Howe and John Cayley
• Incandescent Beautifuls, Erica T. Carter [Jim Carpenter]
• Irritant, Darby Larson
• Love Letters, Letterpress Broadside, Output by a reimplementation of a program by Christopher Strachey
• Mexica: 20 Years – 20 Stories / 20 años – 20 historias, Rafael Pérez y Pérez
• My Buttons Are Blue: And Other Love Poems From the Digital Heart of an Electronic Computer, A Color Computer
• My Molly [Departed], Talan Memmott
• no people, Katie Rose Pipkin
• Phaedrus Pron, Paul Chan
• Puniverse, Volumes 32 and 38 of 57, Stephen Reid McLaughlin
• Re-Writing Freud, Simon Morris
• Seraphs, Liza Daly
• The Appearances of the Letters of the Hollywood Sign in Increasing Amounts of Smog and at a Distance, Poster, David Gissen
• The Poiceman’s Beard is Half Constructed: Computer prose and poetry by Racter
• The Truelist, Nick Montfort
• Tristano, Nanni Balestrini
• Written Images, Eds. Matrin Fuchs and Peter Bichsel

Here are some photos documenting the exhibit:

It’s Patch Day! As usual, the full Patch Notes went up today after the game was taken down for maintenance, and since I haven’t actually talked much about the Patch so far outside of around the last Live Letter, I figured today’s as good of a time as any to go through what stands out about the Patch to me. Of course, there are a ton of things we’d expect: new Main Scenario quests (which seem like they’re going to be opening up a new zone, as there’s a strange mention to “unlocking an Aetheryte” in the Notes), new dungeons, the new trial against Byakko, and of course, the Final Fantasy VI-themed Sigmascape raid. But as always, there are little things here and there that can slip through the cracks!

The Patch brings a fairly large number of Job changes, with the ones I’m most interested in being the Monk changes. I’ve been saying since sometime in Heavensward that Perfect Balance should really have a shorter cooldown to make it a bit more like the “reset” buttons that Dragoons and Black Mages had during the last expansion in Blood of the Dragon and Enochian, and we’re finally getting that! With a new cooldown of only one minute, Monk should feel a lot better in fights with extended phase shifts and time away from the boss (I’m looking at you, Shisui of the Violet Tides).

Warriors are going to have a lot of their Potencies rearranged, and it’s difficult for me to evaluate how that’s going to shake out. Berserk is also being reworked (and apparently folded into Inner Release). Since I’ve never really played Warrior heavily, I’ve got no idea how this is all going to work out, and I’ve seen mixed reception on social media regarding the changes.

I’m actually a bit excited for the Dark Knight changes as well: the longer duration on Blackest Night should make the effect more likely to trigger in dungeons where incoming damage isn’t always high enough to break the barrier in 5 seconds.

Black Mages are getting their 280 Potency Fire IV back and a shorter Transpose cooldown (which should make it a little less annoying to maintain Enochian during phase shifts and the like).

All three healers are seeing minor changes as well, which mostly feel like quality of life changes. Excogitation will be a little more useful, Divine Benison will be easier to use, and in the only sort of “raw numbers” change, Astrologian’s Spear will last longer than it does currently.

There are some nerfs, too, of course, with Paladins receiving yet another reduction on Holy Spirit (and a nerf to Shield Swipe, too). These changes are fairly significant, too: a 50 Potency reduction on Shield Swipe is quite large! I’d imagine Paladin will probably be fine, given how much better its kit got in Stormblood, though.

Summoners, only a patch after their suite of buffs last time, are being retuned again, with the focus largely being on reducing their AoE damage. It’s rare that the team adjusts things so quickly when they feel they’ve gone too far on the buff end of the spectrum for a class, so that actually surprises me a bit.

The Machinist changes surprise me as well, as they seem to be minor that I can’t imagine they were actually necessary. This one seems like the kind of change aimed only at the highest echelons of play, where such a small adjustment might have an effect on the overall metagame. It’s generally rare that the team makes such minor changes.

The Patch is also bringing a couple changes that I don’t think are going to work out so well. The most baffling one is the coming change to cutscenes in Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium, which will no longer be skippable. While I think the intent here is admirable (my initial Duty Finder experience in Castrum Meridianum was so negative that had I not found a Free Company that was willing to do Praetorium with me and wait for the cutscenes, I might not have stuck around in the game!), I suspect the result of this change is that people are going to be even less likely to do the Main Scenario Roulette.

They might be doubling the amount of Poetics rewarded for the Roulette, but Poetics haven’t been extremely relevant for a long time, and as long as the dungeons will be with the cutscenes, there are far better ways to get those Tomestones for old glamour items or leveling other jobs.

I’m also very disappointed to see that it looks like Stormblood is going to maintain the old Expert Roulette and “high level” Roulette split, with the two new dungeons being by themselves in Expert Roulette and all of the other level 70 dungeons being placed into a new Roulette category all their own. This isn’t necessarily surprising, but I had a little hope that with fewer dungeons being added in Stormblood that we’d simply see a single Roulette category for level 70.

This means the old problem of Roulette burnout for the two new dungeons is back (even at the start of Stormblood we had three dungeons, and for awhile we had four, which was so much better!). With the relic questline in Stormblood being tied to Eureka, it’s not even clear that it will have massive Tomestone costs as the Anima and Zodiac quests did, so I’m looking ahead to a future where I potentially never touch the level 70 Roulette, which is going to make things very samey, and I think that’s unfortunate.

But it’s not all bad! We’re getting tons of quality of life improvements, from changes to the glamour system (though I’m a bit disappointed to confirm, from the Patch Notes, that items converted to glamours in the Glamour Dresser won’t be able to be removed from it to wear as non-glamour items, which has implications for me since I often use glamour-focused items for RP and idling) to additional inventory (including the ability to put a number of items in the Armoire that have been clogging up my inventory for ages). The Perform action is getting a lot of improvements (which isn’t something that really affects me, but it does look like it’s going to be a lot better to use going forward).

The retainer cap is also going up to 9 (though why the team hasn’t increased the base number to 3 or 4 by this point escapes me). I’m not sure I’ll need an extra one at this point, once I convert a lot of older gear I’ve been holding onto into glamours using Glamour Dresser, but the fact that we have the option is nice, at least. We’re also finally getting an option to toggle battle music, which is something I’ve been wanting especially since 4.0, since the areas have such gorgeous music but high monster density, meaning frequent interruptions.

Looking through the various text commands, it looks like we’re getting several new emotes: Charmed, Big Grin, Reflect (which appears to be from Grand Company Seals), Furrow, Scoff, Tremble, Winded, Aback, and Greet. Several of these seem to be emotes we’ve seen a lot in cutscenes, though from the looks of it, we’re still missing some! I really want the standard arms-crossed pose we do so often, and that doesn’t seem to be present here, unfortunately. But, given that we seem to be getting emotes regularly, hopefully we’ll see some more added in 4.3!

Gear Previews

Most everything else that’s coming I talked about a bit already when I talked about the most recent Live Letter, so I won’t go into details there, since for once our understanding of what was on the horizon was pretty complete following that. There is one last thing left to talk about, though: all the new gear! As usual with a new “raid tier” Patch, we’re getting several new gear sets, and we’ve gotten the standard “group shot” previews for all of them over the past month or so. Since I haven’t actually talked much about them, I probably should!

The dungeon sets  from Fractal Continuum (Hard) and Hell’s Lid looks to be recolors of the sets from Castrum Abania. That’s somewhat expected, as the team’s pattern for a very long time has been to alternate wholly new dungeon gear sets with recolored ones every major patch. I’m pleased by the choice of sets to recolor here, as while I liked the shapes of the Gyr Abania sets, the color schemes were very uninspiring, and these look like they’ll be much more suited to use for glamours. It doesn’t look like the classes got swapped around for each model, and I do like when they do that just for variety’s sake, but otherwise I can see at least some of these working their way into new looks for Alahra going forward.

In something of a surprising pick, the team elected to recolor the Void Ark gear sets for 4.2’s crafted battle gear. I was never a fan of most of these, but I do think the Jackets for Scouting and Aiming DPS could work out all right once dyed. I would have much preferred that we got recolors of the original Labyrinth of the Ancients sets, as those would have been absolutely great to see dyeable. I also have to admit I’m slightly bothered by the weapon models for these sets being recolors of the original Zodiac Weapons. While it never bothered me that those weapons were outdated (or that the quests were nerfed), I don’t like the thought of legendary weapons being reused to fill out palette swapped sets, as it takes away from the mystique of otherwise rare models. (I’m  similarly against reusing raid weapons and gear in the same way, for what its worth). That being said, we’ll have to see how these sets dye before I can really comment on their use!

The new Mendacity gear is…honestly very disappointing! I don’t know how else to put it. Not only are these sets similar in style and thematic to the Genji gear from Deltascape, they’re all extremely heavy and bulky, which means they’re going to look absolutely terrible on smaller characters. I’m especially annoyed by the inclusion of yet another large and heavy coat for Scouting classes (the black and purple set the female miqo’te is wearing). The best I’ll be able to hope for here is that various side pieces like the gloves and boots might be usable, but for once I don’t see anything that I want at all for the new Tomestone gear.

The new Sigmascape gear, appropriately, is very reminiscent of Final Fantasy VI. I’m much more interested in these sets than I am the Mendacity gear. I’m not sure if any of them will really work for Alahra, but I at least like them. The Scouting set (which, by my best guess, is on the female miqo’te again) is appropriately light but also armored, which is something we don’t get a lot of. Since I don’t raid anymore, I’ll likely never see the dyeable version of it, but I could see the body piece and possibly the gloves being useful even in these default colors.

And last, but not least, we have the new PvP gear. Overall, I think these are actually my favorite new sets coming in 4.2. They’ve got a sort of Greek mythology theme going on, which isn’t something we’ve seen a lot of in FFXIV, and they all look to have various pieces that could be useful for glamours. I don’t really PvP much at all anymore, but I definitely think I’ll be checking these out to see how they dye, and I think I’m likely to get some use out of them (and honestly it’s always nice to have an excuse to PvP at least for a little while as a diversion!).

And with that, all we have to do is wait! These 24 hour maintenance periods are always grueling, but for once I actually have planned things to do! Hopefully that keeps me from chomping at the bit too much…

There are a lot of games about uncovering the truth. From indie games about family mysteries to globe-spanning conspiracies, games love to talk about the hidden truth, the buried past, and the reality beyond what we know. But what about the history of video games? While YouTubers like The Gaming Historian have made their name on reconstructing past events and their contexts, this still remains a small part of gaming culture. We’re always looking forward to the next games while passing around the same old anecdotes about Atari cartridges in the desert.

Laine Nooney, an Assistant Professor at NYU Steinhardt, works in this exact realm of illuminating the unquestioned past of video games. Her recent publication, “Let’s Begin Again: Sierra On-Line and the Origins of the Graphical Adventure Game” takes aim at our assumptions about Sierra On-Line and what the adventure game genre looked like in the 1980s.

You might know Sierra On-Line as the company most famous for creating game series like King’s Quest, Space Quest, and the Leisure Suit Larry franchise. The company was a staple of the adventure gaming genre in the 1980s, with one of their key innovations being the addition of a visual element to the text-based parser system that allowed the player to interact with the world (for a beautiful illustration of how this all worked, please read the hilarious Line on Sierra series).

As Nooney argues, Sierra On-Line’s games are often presented as being less sophisticated than the complex, text-only games coming from rival adventure game company Infocom, the creator of games like Zork and Planetfall. In the popular gaming imagination, these two companies are the titans of industry, two swinging giants that released games into a cutthroat marketplace.

Nooney argues that this story we tell is nothing other than “blunt historical shorthand.” We mistake our mythology for reality, and it takes the work of actually digging around in historical documents to understand the true shape of things at the time. And digging around in things makes things more messy.

Nooney’s article uncovers a number of interesting factual parts of game history: Roberta Williams, the key designer behind many Sierra On-Line games, played a great number of adventure games before she committed to making her own, Mystery House, and the exact level of cooperation and input from each of the developers of the game was flexible, mobile, and wholly contingent on circumstances rather than big design ideals.

It’s worth reading the entire article to see the exact steps that led to the creation of the graphical adventure genre, and it is illuminating to see the exact amount of specificity that is required to get as accurate a picture as we can of game development procedures nearly 40 years in the past.

Have thoughts? Swing by Waypoint’s forums to share them!

The picture of the tortured artist has endured for centuries: creative geniuses who struggle with their metaphorical demons and don’t relate to life the same way as most people. Today, we know some of this can be attributed to mental illness: depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and many others. We have modern stories about this and plenty of anecdotal information that fuels the popular belief in a link between creativity and mental illness.

But science has also started asking questions about the link between mental illness and creativity. A recent study has suggested that creative professionals may be more genetically predisposed to mental illness. In the web industry, whether designer, dev, copywriter, or anything else, we’re often creative professionals. The numbers suggest that mental illness hits the web industry especially hard.

Our industry has made great strides in compassionate discussion of disability, with a focus on accessibility and events like Blue Beanie Day. But even though we’re having meaningful conversations and we’re seeing progress, issues related to diversity, inclusion, and sexual harassment are still a major problem for our industry. Understanding and acceptance of mental health issues is an area that needs growth and attention just like many others.

When it comes to mental health, we aren’t quite as understanding as we think we are. According to a study published by the Center of Disease Control, 57% of the general population believes that society at large is caring and sympathetic toward people with mental illness; but only 25% of people with mental health symptoms believed the same thing. Society is less understanding and sympathetic regarding mental illness than it thinks it is.

Where’s the disconnect?  What does it look like in our industry? It’s usually not negligence or ill will on anybody’s part. It has a lot more to do with people just not understanding the prevalence and reality of mental illness in the workplace. We need to begin discussing mental illness as we do any other personal challenge that people face.

This article is no substitute for a well-designed scientific study or a doctor’s advice, and it’s not trying to declare truths about mental illness in the industry. And it certainly does not intend to lump together or equalize any and all mental health issues, illnesses, or conditions. But it does suspect that plenty of people in the industry struggle with their mental health at some point or another, and we just don’t seem to talk about it. This doesn’t seem to make sense in light of the sense of community that web professionals have been proud of for decades.

We reached out to a few people in our industry who were willing to share their unique stories to bring light to what mental health looks like for them in the workplace. Whether you have your own struggles with mental health issues or just want to understand those who do, these stories are a great place to start the conversation.

Meet the contributors

Gerry: I’ve been designing websites since the late ‘90s, starting out in UI design, evolving into an IA, and now in a UX leadership role. Over my career, I’ve contributed to many high-profile projects, organized local UX events, and done so in spite of my personal roadblocks.

Brandon Gregory: I’ve been working in the web industry since 2006, first as a designer, then as a developer, then as a manager/technical leader. I’m also a staff member and regular contributor at A List Apart. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2002 and almost failed out of college because of it, although I now live a mostly normal life with a solid career and great family. I’ve been very open about my condition and have done some writing on it on Medium to help spread awareness and destigmatize mental illnesses.

Stephen Keable: I’ve been building and running websites since 1999, both professionally and for fun. Worked for newspapers, software companies, and design agencies, in both permanent and freelance roles, almost always creating front-end solutions, concentrating on a user-centered approach.

Bri Piccari: I’ve been messing around with the web since MySpace was a thing, figuring out how to customize themes and make random animations fall down from the top of my profile. Professionally, I’ve been in the field since 2010, freelancing while in college before transitioning to work at small agencies and in-house for a spell after graduation. I focus on creating solid digital experiences, employing my love for design with [a] knack for front-end development. Most recently, I started a small design studio, but decided to jump back into more steady contract and full-time work, after the stress of owning a small business took a toll on my mental health. It was a tough decision, but I had to do what was best for me. I also lead my local AIGA chapter and recently got my 200-hour-yoga-teacher certification.

X: I also started tinkering with the web on Myspace, and started working on websites to help pay my way through college. I just always assumed I would do something else to make a living. Then, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. My [original non-web] field was not a welcoming and supportive place for that, so I had to start over, in more ways than one. The web industry hadn’t gone anywhere, and it’s always been welcoming to people with random educational histories, so I felt good about being able to make a living and staying healthy here. But because of my experience when I first tried to be open about my illness, I now keep it a secret. I’m not ashamed of it; in fact, it’s made me live life more authentically. For example, in my heart, I knew I wanted to work on the web the entire time.

The struggle is real

Mental health issues are as numerous and unique as the people who struggle with them. We asked the contributors what their struggles look like, particularly at work in the web industry.

G: I have an interesting mix of ADD, dyslexia, and complex PTSD. As a result, I’m an incomplete person, in a perpetual state of self-doubt, toxic shame, and paralyzing anxiety. I’ve had a few episodes in my past where a requirement didn’t register or a criticism was taken the wrong way and I’ve acted less than appropriately (either through panic, avoidance, or anger). When things go wrong, I deal with emotional flashbacks for weeks.

Presenting or reading before an audience is a surreal experience as well. I go into a zone where I’m never sure if I’m speaking coherently or making any sense at all until I’ve spoken with friends in the audience afterward. This has had a negative effect on my career, making even the most simple tasks anxiety-driven.

BG: I actually manage to at least look like I have everything together, so most people don’t know I have bipolar until I tell them. On the inside, I struggle—a lot. There are bouts of depression where I’m exhausted all day and deal with physical pain, and bursts of mania where I take unnecessary risks and make inappropriate outbursts, and I can switch between these states with little or no notice. It’s a balancing act to be sure, and I work very hard to keep it together for the people in my life.

SK: After the sudden death of my mother, I started suffering from panic attacks. One of which came on about 30 mins after getting to work, I couldn’t deal with the attack at work, so suddenly went home without telling anyone. Only phoning my boss from a lay-by after I’d been in tears at the side of the road for a while. The attacks also triggered depression, which has made motivation when I’m working from home so hard that I actually want to spend more time at the office. Luckily my employer is very understanding and has been really flexible.

BP: Depending upon the time of year, I struggle greatly, with the worst making it nearly impossible to leave my apartment. As most folks often say, I’ve gotten rather good at appearing as though I’ve got my shit together—typically, most people I interact with have no idea what I’m going through unless I let them in. It wasn’t until recently that my mental health began to make a public appearance, as the stress of starting my own business and attempting to “have it all” made it tough to continue hiding it. There are definitely spans of time where depression severely affects my ability to create and interface with others, and “fake it till ya make it” doesn’t even cut it. I’m currently struggling with severe anxiety brought on by stress. Learning to manage that has been a process.

X: I have been fortunate to be a high-functioning bipolar person for about 5 years now, so there really isn’t a struggle you can really see. The struggle is the stress and anxiety of losing that stability, and especially of people finding out. I take medication, have a routine, a support system, and a self-care regimen that is the reason why I am stable, but if work starts [to] erode my work-life balance, I can’t protect that time and energy anymore. In the past, this has started to happen when I’ve been asked to routinely pull all-nighters, work over the weekend, travel often, or be surrounded by a partying and drinking culture at work. Many people burn out under those conditions, but for me, it could be dangerous and send me into a manic episode, or even [make me] feel suicidal. I struggle with not knowing how far I can grow in my career, because a lot of the things you do to prove yourself and to demonstrate that you’re ready for more responsibility involves putting more on your plate. What’s the point of going after a big role if it’ll mean that I won’t be able to take care of myself? The FOMO [(fear of missing out)] gets bad.

Making it work

There are different ways that people can choose to—or choose not to—address the mental problems they struggle with. We’re ultimately responsible for making our own mental health decisions, and they are different for everyone. In the meantime, the rent has to get paid. Here’s how our contributors cope with their situations at work to make it happen.

G: I started seeing a therapist, which has been an amazing help. I’ve also worked to change my attitude about criticism—I ask more clarifying questions, looking to define the problem, rather than get mad, defensive, or sarcastic. I’ve learned to be more honest with my very close coworkers, making them aware of my irrational shortcomings and asking for help. Also, because I’ve experienced trauma in personal and professional life, I’m hypersensitive to the emotions of others. Just being around a heated argument or otherwise heightened situation could put my body into a panic. I have to take extra special care in managing personalities, making sure everyone in a particular situation feels confident that they’re set up for success.

BG: Medicine has worked very well for me, and I’m very lucky in that regard. That keeps most of my symptoms at a manageable level. Keeping my regular schedule and maintaining some degree of normalcy is a huge factor in remaining stable. Going to work, sleeping when I should, and keeping some social appointments, while not always easy, keep me from slipping too far in either direction. Also, writing has been a huge outlet for me and has helped others to better understand my condition as well. Finding some way to express what you’re going through is huge.

SK: I had several sessions of bereavement counseling to help with the grief. I also made efforts to try and be more physically active each day, even if just going for a short walk on my lunch break. Working had become a way of escaping everything else that was going on at the time. Before the depression I used to work from home two days a week, however found these days very hard being on my own. So I started working from the office every weekday. Thankfully, through all of this, my employer was incredibly supportive and simply told me to do what I need to do. And it’s made me want to stay where I work more than before, as I realize how lucky I am to have their support.

BP: Last winter I enrolled in a leadership/yoga teacher training [program] with a goal of cultivating a personal practice to better manage my depression and anxiety. Making the jump to be in an uncomfortable situation and learn the value of mindfulness has made a huge difference in my ability to cope with stress. Self-care is really big for me, and being aware of when I need to take a break. I’ve heard it called high-functioning depression and anxiety. I often take on too much and learning to say no has been huge. Therapy and a daily routine have been incredibly beneficial as well.

X: The biggest one is medicine, it’s something I will take for the rest of my life and it’s worth it to me. I did a form of therapy called Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for a couple of years. The rest is a consistent regimen of self-care, but there are a couple of things that are big for work. Not working nights or weekends, keeping it pretty 9–5. Walking to and from the office or riding my bike. I started a yoga practice immediately after getting diagnosed, and the mental discipline it’s given me dampens the intensity of how I react to stressful situations at work. This isn’t to say that I will refuse to work unless it’s easy. Essentially, if something catches on fire, these coping strategies help me keep my shit together for long enough to get out.

Spreading awareness

There are a lot of misconceptions about mental illness, in the web industry as much as anywhere else. Some are benign but annoying; others are pretty harmful. Here are some of the things we wish others knew about us and our struggles.

G: Nothing about my struggle is rational. It seems as if my body is wired to screw everything up and wallow in the shame of it. I have to keep moving, working against myself to get projects as close to perfect as possible. However, I am wired to really care about people, and that is probably why I’ve been successful in UX.

BG: Just because I look strong doesn’t mean I don’t need support. Just because I have problems doesn’t mean I need you to solve them. Sometimes, just checking in or being there is the best thing for me. I don’t want to be thought of as broken or fragile (although I admit, sometimes I am). I am more than my disorder, but I can’t completely ignore it either.

Also, there are still a lot of stigmas surrounding mental illness, to the point that I didn’t feel safe admitting to my disorder to a boss at a previous job. Mental illnesses are medical conditions that are often classified as legitimate disabilities, but employees may not be safe admitting that they have one—that’s the reality we live with.

SK: For others who are going through grief-related depression, I would say that talking about it with friends, family, and even strangers helps you process it a lot. And the old cliché that time is a healer really is true. Also, for any employers, be supportive [of those] with mental health conditions—as supportive as you would [be of those] with physical health situations. They will pay you back.

BP: I am a chronically ambitious human. Oftentimes, this comes from a place of working and doing versus dealing with what is bothering or plaguing me at the time. Much of my community involvement came from a place of needing a productive outlet. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have accomplished a lot through that—however, there are times where I simply need a break. I’m learning to absorb and understand that, as well as become OK with it.

X: I wish people knew how much it bothers me to hear the word bipolar being used as an adjective to casually describe things and people. It’s not given as a compliment, and it makes it less likely that I will ever disclose my illness publicly. I also wish people knew how many times I’ve come close to just being open about it, but held back because of the other major diversity and inclusion issues in the tech industry. Women have to deal with being called moody and erratic. People stereotype the ethnic group I belong to as being fiery and ill-tempered. Why would I give people another way to discriminate against me?

Open Thread is where Waypoint staff talk about games and other things we find interesting. This is where you'll see us chat about games, music, movies, TV, and even sports, and welcome you to participate in the discussion.

I spent the weekend hauling new bookshelves around my apartment, trying to find the one place where I can cram as many of them as possible without creating a choke-point inside my new place. Bit by bit, the “other apartment” is becoming home, and the place I share with friends in Dorchester is becoming “the old place”. It’s bittersweet: Later next month I will, for the first time in almost ten years, not have a home in Boston or Cambridge. I won’t be able to describe my place relative to a Red Line stop (“It’s no trouble to get to, the train usually only catches fire further up the line!”).

There are three milestone rituals I have when I move into a new place, and until I’ve performed these rites I still feel like I’m trapped in some kind of liminal limbo. First and perhaps most important is setting up the desktop PC. The desktop was my lifeline to normality going all the way back to my first year in college, and until I’ve successfully powered-on and connected to the internet, I haven’t really settled anywhere.

The weirdest ritual I have (and it is a ritual) is setting up a surround-sound speaker system and then, immediately, testing it with a copy of Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans. I don’t know why I am fixated on ensuring that I can always retreat within a cocoon of cinema-quality surround sound, but it’s a top priority everywhere I go. And I won’t know if I’ve set things up correctly until it sounds like Marquis Montcalm and his native allies are bringing Fort William Henry down around my God damned ears. My partner can no longer abide this movie, by the way, because she has heard the same two or three scenes blasting at full volume, on repeat, late into the night at every place we’ve ever shared while I scuttle around adjusting speaker placements.

Article continues below

The final piece of the puzzle is finding a place for my three-volume hardcover edition of The Complete Calvin & Hobbes. It’s an odd thing because I barely ever take them out and read them: I still use the old trade paperbacks for that, because they were what I grew up on and I think they feel lighthearted and playful in a way that’s more fitting for Calvin & Hobbes than the heavy, sober hardcover collections. And yet I still need to know that I’ve found a home for that massive set of books, heavy enough shatter my foot like a champagne flute if I were to drop them. There’s a comforting permanence to them that lets me know that Calvin and his tiger are safe here with me, I’m not going to lose them, and they’re right there if I need them.

What about you? What are the things you cannot feel at home without? What weird rituals do you perform in order to make sure you’ve properly feathered your nest?

Let me know in today’s open thread!

Angela is the best people! 1000%. A perpetually inspirational force of wit, courage, and adventure! – DS

Some people mess up their lives with drinking or bearing children. Instead, I use shows. So, here’s a list of 142 shows I did in 2017, NOT EVEN including the open mic that happens every Sunday at the Midway, which adds about 50 more. That’s basically a show every other day. It was a good year, honestly. I did 3 festivals, a short music tour, got on bills with some very nice famous people, and got some of the bar spots I’d always wanted to do but was too polite to ask for. Next year, I hope I’ll tell fewer jokes about ugly clothes, and maybe some more roasts and video things. Come see some shows in 2018. You can find mine at iluvkarlrahner.com.

Tue, Jan 3 Angela plays music at the Midway, Midway Cafe

Fri, Dec 29 Matt Robidoux + Angela, Blue Bag

​

five years in the making, Jason Roberts’ gorgeous illustrated game is out for iOS/Windows/Switch

Rest In Peace Danny Monster Cruz. At just 25 years old, Danny has died on Wednesday 12/13/17 after having a heart attack as a result of living life with Duchenne, a form of muscular dystrophy.

Freedome by FLAMING DRAGONS OF MIDDLE EARTH

While walking along the street in Harajuku, we came across this duo sporting couple fashion. They are Shin-Ping and Zhao Zi, both 20-year-old students.

At the left, Shin-Ping is wearing a pink printed button down shirt, black pants, and white sneakers. He accessorized with mismatched earrings, an O-ring on his belt loop, and a gold watch. He is active on Instagram.

Blonde-haired Zhao Zi is wearing a matching printed shirt in light blue, worn open over a cropped velvet top, pink satin drawstring pants, pink Nike Air Max sneakers, and a pink tote bag. Her accessories include colorful hair clips, mismatched doll earrings and layered necklaces. For her social media updates, follow Zhao Zi on Instagram.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Eartha is a 20-year-old who works in the Japanese fashion industry. We street snapped her in Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood.

Eartha’s look features a faux fur jacket from Forever 21 over a Melange Harajuku top, vintage lingerie, vintage plaid shorts, and Dr. Martens Mary Janes. Accessories include a hair bow, scarf, and a leather crossbody bag from Thank You Mart.

Eartha’s favorite shop is Melange Harajuku and she likes the music of One Direction. Follow her on Instagram.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Motoi Okamoto was a member of Shigeru Miyamoto's Entertainment Analysis and Development department for a decade. He recounts the making of many of Nintendo's best-loved (and biggest-selling) titles. ...

While walking along the street in Harajuku, we met Joseph, a civil servant. He caught our attention with his interesting steampunk kimono fashion style.

Joseph’s look features a printed kimono shirt with lace and leather sleeves, a long pleated kimono skirt, geta sandals, and a handmade briefcase bag. His handmade accessories include a steampunk cowboy hat, steampunk round sunglasses, a multiple pendant necklace, a brown leather belt, a rope belt, knuckle rings and a walking cane.

Joseph loves to listen to KFL and Eikichi Yazawa. Follow him on Twitter for more Japanese steampunk fashion.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

While walking along the street in Harajuku, we met Beverly, who caught our eye with her all black goth ensemble.

Beverly’s look consists of a Moa Moa vintage sleeveless cutout shirt, black shorts from Thank You Mart underneath see-through skirt from BNG (Closet Child), fishnet stockings, and black boots. Her accessories include a collar necklace, round eyeglasses, and black backpack.

Beverly’s favorite brands include Poison Honey and vintage shops, and she likes the music of My Chemical Romance, Muse, and Royal Blood. Follow Beverly on Instagram.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

While walking along the street in Harajuku, we met 21-year-old Maseiyu, who caught our eye by wearing shades of orange.

Maseiyu’s orange minimalist ensemble features vintage pieces such as a turtleneck shirt, velvet drawstring pants, baby doll shoes, and a Comme des Garcons crossbody bag.

Maseiyu’s favorite fashion designer is Jean Paul Gaultier. Follow him on Instagram.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

While on the street in Harajuku, we met Ryuma , a 20-year-old freelancer, and Maho, a 17-year-old student.

Ryuma is wearing a grey Fila vest over a resale white shirt, green side-striped vintage pants, black Reebok sneakers, and a black Asics belt bag. His accessories include resale glasses and a black belt. Ryuma’s favorite brand is Penguin Tripper and he listens to the music of Nogizaka46. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

At the right, Maho’s ensemble features a red dress, turquoise socks, black embroidered flats, and a red tassel bag. Her accessories include a bracelet and ring from The Four-Eyed and Mikansei. Her favorite music/artist is Avlora. She is active on Twitter and Instagram.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Every major operating system upgrade is a grand adventure.  No matter the vendor or how vanilla you keep your system:  stuff is going to break.  This was very much the case with git when I upgraded my MacBook Pro to High Sierra.

After the upgrade I tried to pull down a git branch and received the following cryptic error:

xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools), missing xcrun at: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun

Every OS upgrade is interesting in its own ways but you can bet your life that something relating to Xcode will go wrong.  I tried using Homebrew to install git by itself (brew install git) but that didn’t ensure git worked properly so I went with a fix that’s worked in the past:

xcode-select --install

The command above restored git and I was able to instantly get back to work.  The mystery of how Xcode and its developer tools getting ruined with every install is really something Apple should address.  In any event, keep this blog post handy each time you upgrade your Mac operating system!

The post Fix git After High Sierra Upgrade appeared first on David Walsh Blog.