Time Ticks Forward Evermore
TWP #8 - We are lost among the stars, and to the stars we will return one day.
Remember That You Have to Die
Memento mori, or, remember that you [have to] die, one day. It is a reminder of the inevitability of death. Me, you, family, friends, famous people, pets. Our time is limited and our time is precious. Life often moves fast, days turn into weeks turn into months turn into years. There is often little time spent on reminding ourselves that our time here is limited. What does that exactly mean though? How is that translated into practical purposes?
I often think about the balancing act of living for the future and enjoying the present. Too often its the former. Blinded by the ambition of progress, the ever moving locomotive barreling forward into the new dawn. But to know where we should go we should understand where we came from, how we got to where we are. Understanding what’s really important in life, finding peace in the present and using that to plot the course that will take us to the inevitable end of the line. “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart”. I hope I can understand this sooner rather than later.
We walk among the stars, and to the stars we will return. How bright we shine is up to us.
“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”Steve Jobs
What I am Reading
The Fellowship of the Ring
Believe it or not, I haven’t actually read much of any of Tolkien’s work. So I figured it was about time given that the new Amazon show is currently out. There really isn’t much else to say about this foundational piece of epic fantasy.
Some More Things
Seamless Texture Generator using Stable Diffusion
Dream Textures (github.com/carson-katri/dream-textures) is a Blender addon to create textures, concept art and background assets using Stable Diffusion. It can also create seamless textures that can tile. If you lack the artistic skills like myself, then this new world of diffusion models are game changing.
Undiscovered Worlds
I found this tool, Undiscovered Worlds (github.com/JonathanCRH/Undiscovered_Worlds), recently via a Reddit post. This open source application is a procedural map creator. I love just creating landscapes, worlds, mountains and terrains in various game engines. I’m looking forward to messing around with this in the near future.
How DALL-E 2 Actually Works
This blog post from AssemblyAI.com offers some great insight into the technology behind text-to-image models. DALL-E 2, given a short text prompt, can generate complexly new images that combine distinct and unrelated objects in semantically plausible ways.
What I am Playing
Honestly, not much. I could use some recommendations. PC, PS5, Series X, Switch. You name it.
I did run 2nd and third ever raid in Destiny 2 the past week. First was Vow of the Disciple introduced in the Witch Queen expansion, then the reprised Kings Fall raid that came out during this season, season of plunder. Both were a great time. VotD was challenging because I was still dealing with post-covid brain fog, and man memorizing those symbols and all the other stuff just was killing me. Luckily, during the Caretaker encounter, I only forgot the symbols twice.
Now Kings Falls, that was a ton of fun. Just the right amount of difficulty, set pieces and overall timing. I never played this back in the D1 days (my fireteam all stopped) but it was a blast. I look forward to many more runs to maybe get that new raid weapon, Touch of Malice.
In Conclusion
Enjoy the week, the weekend and the days before winter. Winter is coming. You are all appreciated. Be unique, stay positive and fuck what other people say. Go Bills.