Handheld Revolution
First, to quote myself on BlueSky...
So a little 'I'm old' revelation I recently had. I used to love handheld gaming but had gone off it in recent years. The other day I got my first pair of varifocal glasses. Turns out now I can see my handhelds, I have learned to love them again.
— wryterra (@wryterra.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 6:12 PM
This has had a knock on effect I could never have predicted.
So something bizarre seems to be happening. In my old age I am finding that my distaste for JRPG as a genre has waned. So anyway, Persona 3 is kind of great so far.
— wryterra (@wryterra.bsky.social) June 17, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Some people reading this (mostly the people who know I used to do a podcast and have listened to it, or who know me personally) will know I've long held the opinion that Final Fantasy VII is most likely a great game, given its cultural impact and reputation but 'not for me'.
I've tried to play it several times and bounced off. I maintain to this day that the pre-rendered backgrounds do a very poor job of imparting information about the depth of the scene and that can make navigation obtuse, frustrating and confusing.
That's why I've never got past the second reactor mission. Yes, I've bounced off that quickly.
Until now...
Something about the handheld format makes the game more... I don't know, digestible? Whatever the reason I'm actually even further along than when this was taken. I've just arrived at Fort Condor for the first time. Which, well, it's not far into the game but it's a lot further than the second reactor mission. I might actually stick it through this time!
Victoria Road
I went out with the intent to do a little street photography on Victoria Road in Glasgow.
I am extremely smart.
That is why I took a camera that had no battery in it.
But I own a phone and they say the best camera is the one you have with you. I didn't spend as long as I'd planned, given that I didn't have my camera with me, but I used it as a practice run and tried to get my eye in with a few shots.
My New Camera
Continuing my adventures with lowfi photography I have a new camera.
I was inspired by Karin Majoka and her YouTube video How a TOY CAMERA Made Me Fall in Love with Photography (again). Watching it had me almost convinced. What did it was the fact the algorithm then threw another four or five videos about the same toy at me, all from professional or highly capable photographers.
It's also dirt cheap.
Now this isn't some wonder-camera. The lens is a tiny plastic lens, the quality is... dire.
This is, in theory, a 20MP image. The details are soft, the colours are definitely wrong. So why is this such a good camera? Well it comes with a printer built in. And not an Instax style printer. It's a thermal printer like the ones used to print your receipts when you go shopping. The quality is... dire.
But the print is almost instant and it costs next to nothing. Something about this quality of producing a tangible product, feeling like an old instant camera, while being eminently affordable makes it a joy to use.
Also it gives me this nostalgic feeling like I'm using a GameBoy camera all over again.
And in case you're wondering whether I can load up a quality photograph shot in a studio on a real SLR then print it on the same garbage printer? I've got good news...
It's the photographic equivalent of an 8-Bit demake video game. Or deliberately adding scanlines to emulated ROMs.
I love it.
Just Some Pictures of Glasgow
I went in to town today running an errand and on a whim I decided to take my camera with me. If you're wondering 'why do they look like that?' it's because I was playing with my pocketdispo lens. It's a plastic lens recovered from a disposable camera that you can mount on to a modern camera. You too can use a £500 camera to take photos that look like they were shot with a £9.99 disposable!
Oh yeah, I have a blog don't I?
Sooooo nearly nine months, huh? Wow that means it's been about as long after the birth as the pregnancy lasted. I haven't thought about this blog much since my daughter's birth. I haven't thought about much other than my daughter since her birth, if I'm honest. A lot of things have gone by the wayside but we're starting to get a handle on things. [1] We even went out to visit some Highland Cows 'just because' and I bust out my camera gear for the occasion. I've remembered hobbies!
So I'm going to try and take more photographs going forward, which means I'll probably post pictures here. So that'll be nice.
I also got back in to wargaming a bit, or at least the assembly and painting of miniatures. I haven't quite arrived at a place where I'm mentally prepared to leave my family for an evening to go gaming.
This week I took a week off work just to recharge. It was... not entirely successful. I don't feel like I've relaxed much. But I did get some hobby done.
Not my finest photography. Also, being out of practice, not my finest painting. But they're done and that makes me happy.
I discovered that an old friend of mine who also does excellent YouTube painting tutorials has a discord and jumped on there which has helped reignite that fire.
Of course, America lost its' collective mind, so that's also had an effect on my mood this week.
Still! We painted the house a bit, we're making plans for our daughter's first family Christmas, there's good in the world...
Hopefully I'll be able to write about it here.
I say this even as she is crying in the next room, in the middle of a sleep regression that has her parents losing our minds. But no, really, we're getting the hang of things. ↩︎
You're Kidding, Right?
Zoe and baby are still in the hospital at time of writing (not for anything serious, just a little jaundice which is pretty common). The good news is it looks like they'll be able to come home tomorrow!
Remember how in my post about the birth I said nothing went very wrong but nothing went right? Hah. Hahahaha. Yeah.
I just got home from the hospital after visiting with them and the only reason I made it home is that my car has run-flat tyres. And if you own a BMW with tyre pressure sensors you'll recognise the image attached to this post. Flat tyre. Now. Today. When I need to get to the hospital to pick up my partner and child tomorrow.
First thought? I'll get an Uber. Only... no, I need to have the car seat in and they're not going to do that are they? Well maybe I can hire a car, sure I'll have to uninstall the car seat from the car and swap it over but I could- wait, I have RAC breakdown cover through my insurance don't I?
So hopefully, though let's not count any chickens that haven't hatched here, they'll be able to get me up and running tomorrow morning. If they do it'll be another example of nothing going very wrong but nothing going quite right. Which, honestly, is just how parental life is going so far.