The Chase of Happiness

Somewhere, we pick up the notion that happiness is attainable and where we want to go. I think there are many people who say that you're probably not going to be happy all the time, but they would encourage a child to try to chase it anyway.

I feel that happiness is less important to me as I get older. I don't think that this makes me a cynical person. I've found that having peace, and also pride, make me feel like I've chased the correct goals in my life.

I feel dread and pain sometimes when I go about my programming and studying tasks. I don't feel like what I would name happy. I don't think it matters to me anymore. I have a salve for just this occasion, and it is the two things I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

We Need to Talk about Red Velvet

Red Velvet's music makes me feel like they are in touch with my dreams and subconcious. It is similar to the feeling I used to get when watching South Park.

South Park, particularly in its glory days, used to feature dialogue that sounded perfectly stereotypical of one fool or another. I would watch the show and feel like Matt and Trey were cheating by examining my dreams and pulling their script from my dream world. When a character on the show had a critical fault, it felt new to hear him or her speak and yet it felt perfect because it made me feel like I was dreaming while awake. I refer to my dreams here as though they inform my predictions of how people really are.

When I hear Red Velvet, I don't feel like they're just recycling the same two themes that circulate most kpop songs (have confidence and get a boyfriend). Rather, I feel like they're stretching their necks into the cosmos, finding whispers of calm, serious, rigid fearlessness, and handing this loot over to me in the form of their songs.

Here are some Twice songs off the top of my head:

1. I Got You
2. Chillax
3. Go Hard
4. Dance the Night Away
5. Knock Knock

These songs fit the expected mold of kpop. They are about being nice, having confidence, even being a little cocky. Here are some Red Velvet songs:

1. Umpah Umpah
2. Parade
3. Psycho
4. Nightmare
5. Will I Ever See You Again

There is no comparison. Red Velvet is interested in the other-worldly, the edges of what we know. They don't just recycle the cliche themes.

Much of the allure of Red Velvet lies in the simple catchiness of their music. I used to like EDM music and sure, Red Velvet scores points with me just because their sound is euphoric. But when they're excited about fare that would seem mundane to someone who didn't know they were making music with it, it elevates them to the highest level of entertainment.

By my judgment, Red Velvet is 10x as good as Taylor Swift. 3x better than Lady Gaga. 2x better than Twice. And I say that as someone who eagerly clicked the Twice I Got You making-of video as soon as it came out.

Termius Port Forwarding Gotcha

When you setup a tunnel on your iPad Pro to forward port 8080 on a remote host to 3000 on your local host, make sure you give the IP address 127.0.0.1 and not the "localhost" hostname. Or you're gonna have a bad time.

Would I Earn Money Playing World of Warcraft (If I Could)?

No. It would feel weird. It would feel like a waste of my mind, for one thing, but for another, I don't want to play video games. I don't want to practice. I have a full life. There is practically unlimited challenge before me, as a programmer in this world.

I don't want to learn the Mythic mechanics of fighting Devos in the Spires of Ascention Shadowlands dungeon, when I can be learning how the Internet Protocol works instead. One of these enables me to assist a business in this world (which may happen to be a video game company), and one of these only allows me to provide assistance to four other people in a make-believe fiction universe. Courage informs both of these endeavours, but the Warcraft one is unnecessarily fabricated. People pay money to a video game company, to Blizzard, to have a good time in one of these make-believe worlds. I would rather work at Blizzard than get paid to play World of Warcraft.

Even if four people wanted to pay me to tank for them in a dungeon, it would be a misuse of my time. It is not the way I want to demonstrate to coworkers that I can contribute to their team. You sink an enormous amount of time into WoW, and you can't take that game knowledge elsewhere with you in this world. That knowledge is confined to only that game.

I can conceive of some players making money tanking in WoW, but it's weird. Why would you pay money to someone for something that is supposed to be make-believe. Why would you pay someone to face you in a boxing match? If you're entertaining others, I can conceive of paying someone to be on your team in a baseball game. But paying money to do something that is supposed to be beyond money is weird. The honor of participating in a dungeon run does not come from money. It is something you do for free.

I played World of Warcraft for eighteen months because Blizzard's products were like a home to me, and WoW was proxying for all of their products. I also played it because there was honor in playing it, and because it was beautiful. But none of these reasons is sufficient anymore. I can make my own home now. I do not need to tank or do quests to demonstrate to myself that I am honorable - there are other ways that my life affords. I know what beautiful is in the real world. I don't need WoW to show it to me.

I can also imagine a person who makes a living playing video games for game companies. He tells them whether their game is enjoyable to him. He would be like a "taste-maker" (lol). His opinion would be valued like the villain in The Devil Wears Prada. Such an occupation is not something I am interested in doing. Because again, I am not in search of an emotional home, honor, or the beautiful.

If a game company wants to hire such a person inhouse, that is a little different. At that point you're not playing the game for enjoyment, and you are providing a service, and you have a job that relates to consumer demand again (like me and my software development career). I could fathom doing that but that is no longer playing a video game for its home-making ability, honor in gameplay, or beauty.

Rating the Parks and Recreation Characters

Here is my tier list of the characters in Parks and Recreation:

Tier	Characters
S
A	Ron, Tom
B	April, Chris
C	Ben
D	Andy, Ann
F	Leslie

I didn't list Donna or Jerry because they have relatively minor roles.

If I had to list a few notable guest characters with which I am familiar, the ratings would look like this:

Tier	Characters
S	Tammy 2
A	Jean Ralphio
B
C
D	Tammy 1, Monalisa
F

I have never watched more than several episodes (from the early seasons) of this show, so my ratings are based on clips I've seen on YouTube.

I'm not sure what defense to make for my listings. I really like Tom because he commits to being interested in a metrosexual life. He is like a gentleman, or endeavours to be one. Metrosexual is an unfair term that sells him short.

Ron is a reliable standby who most people like. I don't think he is S-Tier, like Tammy 2, because he is too normal. I say normal because I am comparing two giants. Tammy 2 is a villain and overcomes Ron, Jeremy Jamm, and seemingly other men off screen who we don't get to know. Unlike Tammy 1, who is too difficult to find credible, she loves herself and the drama that she stirs up.

April is another standby like Ron. When she and Ron team up, the show really takes off. I do not think that she and Andy ever team up because Andy is unlike her. He is just a kid. We're supposed to like Andy for being boyish and care-free. Sometimes his jokes land but they don't give him any direction. April is a rebel, like Ron is. Andy is middle-of-the-road; he is too childish and cartoonish to ever take seriously.

Leslie is the lowest ranking character because all she does is go around being nice to people. The reader may find it amusing that I put her and Tammy 2 into opposite positions. Leslie has little comedy to perform. She occasionally is painted to be out of control, like when we see her house and she is a hoarder, but these are very short-lived moments. Leslie can never be evil, cartoonish, or in rebellion, so her lines are forgettable.

Chris I put ahead of Ben because he is interesting as a man who loves attention to detail and diligence. He is carved out as a counterweight to what Ron stands for. He is welcome because he is providing material for argument.

Jean Ralpio is a great peak into what Tom might be if he let himself go. He approaches being a villain, like Tammy 2. His sister is too much of a caricature to be his equal, though. She is a straightforwardly selfish person, but with none of the determination that we see in Tammy 2.

Ben is more interesting than Leslie. We get to see him fall to pieces more than once. The time he spends being nerdy for the sake of other characters' criticism or belittling is boring and cliche. Thus he occupies the middle of the ratings. His enthusiasm for what he believes in makes him good TV fodder.

Ann is as boring as Andy. She is Leslie's friend and April's foe. She gets midly irritated by others, complains to the camera, and has no opinions of her own that stand out. If TV consisted of just Ann's, it would be unwatchable.