thelsim

I had a bit too much fun with these :)

Magical Items

• The Bandwidth Cap
  Cursed item that limits the magical power of it's wearer
• The Token Ring
  Magical ring that allows the wielder to communicate over large distances. They can receive messages from one token ring and send message to another.
• The Memory Barrier
  Protective charm that shields the mind from intrusion.
• The Shadow Register
  A magical ledger that records secrets and hidden locations in the immediate area.
• The Superscalar
  A legendary shimmering sword that can strike multiple foes in a single attack.

Spells

• Loopback
  Redirects a spell to its point of origin.
• Jabber
  Causes the target to produce incoherent speech and lose its train of thought.
• Branch Prediction
  Gives the caster foresight to predict their opponent's next action.
• Traceroute
  A tracking spell that reveals the path of a target.
• Mask
  Hides the caster's true identity.
• Hypertransport
  Enables instantaneous movement over short distances.
• Interrupt
  Counterspell to disrupt an enemy's casting.

Spell modifiers

• Broadcast
  Modifies spell to affect a large area.
• Unicast
  Modifies spell to affect a single point with maximum damage.
• Multicast
  Modfies spell to affect multiple selected targets.
• Repeater
  Modifies spell to recast itself over multiple turns.

My partner stresses too much with work and I wish I could help more. But all I can do is give comfort and urge to at least let things go when at home.
Any practical advice is always brushed off, which I can understand. Sometimes you just need to vent and I don’t mind listening about what happened this time. I just hate seeing them like this, it does make me worry a bit about their health.

PICO-8, though it's more of an on-and-off again project of trying to teach myself to program again.
But I like the limitations you have to work with, and even I can create some crude 8x8 sprites :)

Being appreciated.. either by my kids, my partner, co-workers or anyone else really..

If I feel like I've made someone happy or helped them out somehow and they give a heartfelt "thanks" or even just a big smile, well that always makes my day.

I’m blocking a couple of bots but no actual people.
Though I guess I would block someone if they were being persistently trying to harass me. I can take offensive internet behavior, but not if you’re coming after me as a person.

Traffic lights were hand operated.
The small town where I grew up had one pedestrian traffic light for crossing the main road. There was a small brick shed next to that traffic light with no windows and a little door. When I was little I was convinced that was an operation's center where someone worked to turn the lights red or green.
In reality it was a power substation for the neighborhood, but I was seriously convinced that behind that door was a man looking at a TV screen and operating the traffic light at the right moment.
When we went to a larger town nearby, where there were traffic lights without a convenient mysterious building nearby, I told myself that the traffic light people were most likely working under ground, peeping through the drains.

I.. was good at making up answers for myself instead of just asking my parents.

The first house in my city is from 1976, the entire city is built on reclaimed land. It went from 100 residents back then to more than 220,000 now.

A fun fact is that they still find stuff in the ground from old shipwrecks to crashed WW2 bombers.

I have two ways of explaining. The first one is just saying “I work with data” followed by some hand waving and shrugging.
The other is where I really go into detail and explain everything. Going gaga over some minute aspect that I find awesome but couldn’t even interest one of my coworkers.
Neither seems to really work, but I don’t get follow up questions which suits me just fine :)

Maps and compass. I like the reliability of finding my way no matter where I am. Plus it’s fun!
Especially the trick of using two landmarks to pinpoint my location on a map makes me feel like an old-fashioned navigator :)

This really creepy Czech Alice in Wonderland movie. It used stop motion with animal skeletons, fish heads, and tons of other things.

My mom put it on when I was little in an attempt to keep me occupied.
“Would you like to watch Alice in Wonderland, Thelsim?” She’d ask.
“Yea!” I would shout enthusiastically, thinking she meant the Disney movie.
Half an hour later I’m crying and hiding under the blankets.

I never did watch that movie again. Maybe it’s not so bad now, but the screenshots still make feel very queasy.

A sample 🫣

A slipknot works great! It’s done in a second and easily undone as well.