Unexpected Windfall and the Digital Writer's Life | Apr 8, 2025

A letter from my bank contained a surprise $1,945.43 since I hadn't opened my mail, I hadn't seen it.

With this unexpected cash infusion, I'm the most mentally financially secure I've been in over a year.

Over the last 12 hours, much weighing of options has been happening. Where the monthly mandatory expenses are settled, what should I do?

I want to invest in HAC Studios, but am unclear about the best way to do it.

This is a good problem.

Cereus & Limnic: Escape From Okinawa | Completed draft of 6500 word technical report

It's finally done. I've been working on this section for days.

Getting a technical report to have the right balance of scientific rigor, character voice, and plot construction is very challenging!

But I'm satisfied with the result. Next time will be a rewrite of the entire thing.

Began rewriting the technical report to add more "flavor." Got through 300 words.

This is gonna take awhile.

As a consequence, I learned how to enter molecular equations into Google Docs. So there's that.

Reading "Infinite Jest" pgs 502 - 512

More good phrases and words

"marijuana destroys slowly but thoroughly was the consensus"

anhedonia

bonhommic

anorak - had to look this one up since I saw it twice:

An anorak is a type of waterproof jacket, typically hip-length and featuring a hood. It is designed to protect against wind, rain, and cold weather. Historically, anoraks were made from animal skins by the Inuit people, but modern versions are often crafted from synthetic materials like nylon or polyester, which are lightweight and water-resistant[1][2][3].

The defining characteristic of an anorak is that it is a pullover garment, meaning it does not have a full front opening like a traditional jacket. Instead, it may have a short zipper at the neck or a quarter-length zip[1][6]. This design helps prevent rain from entering and heat from escaping, making it ideal for wet and cold conditions[6].

Anoraks are often confused with parkas, but they differ in that anoraks are typically shorter and have smaller hoods, while parkas are longer and may have larger, fur-lined hoods[3]. Anoraks have become popular both for their functionality and as a fashion item, suitable for various outdoor activities[3][6].

In British slang, "anorak" also refers to someone with a strong, perhaps obsessive interest in niche subjects[5].

Citations:
[1] https://www.gearpatrol.com/outdoors/a427328/anoraks-are-trending/
[2] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/anorak
[3] https://daniel-patrick.com/blogs/news/streetwear-jacket-anorak
[4] https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/anorak
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorak_(slang)
[6] https://www.napapijri.co.uk/blog/product-guides/napapijri-guide-to-anoraks.html
[7] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/anorak
[8] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/anorak

Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share

Now you know

[one of those intricate multiple-handed ethnic handshakes]

naked aggression (physical term + abstract noun)

comfortable - half italicized word for emphasis

vestry

\stabbing gesture/ - a very visible motion

| (eyes) "Empty of intent."| - a disturbing description with many interpretations

streaks of lividity - not sure what it means but it sounds cool

tubercular throat-clearings (anatomical + compound noun)

gem-like flame - can picture this well

Restarted The Odin Project

This will be my 3rd time restarting this powerful (free) programming curriculum.

What I like about it is it actually teaches you how to work as a professional programmer.

FreeCodeCamp is good for straight coding (though it has gotten stronger over the years in teaching foundational programming knowledge). But Odin is like being mentored by a senior dev from the start.

There's little hand holding, but I found I learned more when I stuck to their program.

Today I completed "Introduction - How this course Will Work."

Making a Story and Character Generator Apps

The "Military Game Tech Fiction Story Generator" is now two apps - Story and Character Generator.

I coded these in an afternoon with the insanely powerful Windsurf IDE.

This is a blazing fast way to put together simple apps IF you have an idea of what you want to build and how you want to build it.

Cascade (Windsurf's intelligent AI agent) can piece together bespoke apps when given simple commands. Although it did crash a few times, I'll take a few hours over a few weeks of development time any day.

I made these apps so I wouldn't have to open Windsurf or another code editor every time I wanted a new character or story idea. But now I'm thinking these might be helpful for other writers.

Debating whether or not to throw them up on Gumroad as my first software products and see what happens.

I'll decide later.