97. A Clearly Marked Hellhole

Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! Lords: Tina https://twitter.com/Teanah/ Slothy https://twitter.com/jonshiring Topics: What do Indie devs imagine AAA is like My cousin is an astronaut Finding an ad for a medicare scam in my drafts folder Brad asks "The '30 days hath...' rhyme sucks as a mnemonic because so many months rhyme. Everyone should just use the knuckle mnemonic instead." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckle_mnemonic Ted Lasso My post-burnout solo European vacation with a guy who had illicit keys to Notre Dame Microtopics: Having one name like Cher but also having more names too. Giving yourself a nickname because there are too many people with just your name. Creating personal boundaries in an office setting and making it clear when people cross them. Working on a regimented team where everyone has specific roles and the programmers can't just say "I feel like doing sound design today." How to motivate yourself to work. Cultural things that can go wrong with code reviews. Wondering if a feature is a good idea and implementing it in a day and putting it in front of testers to find out. How long before you ship a game is good. How to get a team of 300 people to change direction. How to be invested enough to do a good job but not invested enough that you'll freak out if your work doesn't make it into the final product. Reasons to go to GDC. My Cousin The Astronaut. Sitting in the bleachers to watch the space shuttle launch. A building that they don't tear down because it contains things Building the international space station by sending up one piece per shuttle launch. Whether Buzz Aldrin is still an astronaut. Deciding as a child that you want to be an astronaut and from that point on making every decision in your live based on that goal. Watching your daughter carry part of the international space station across a busy freeway. Space shuttles exploding and driving up NASA's insurance rates. The pros and cons of relentlessly chasing your dreams. Self-esteem vs. self-compassion. Living in LA and having to remind your kids that not everyone works in movies. Different definitions of success. The least-driven game developer. Enjoying the process of making art vs. enjoying the result. People enjoying what you've worked on. Boosting your social security check by up to $1782 per year. A Special Medicare Advantage Part B Premium "Giveback" Rebate Benefit. Your pocket writing an email about Medicare. Having a dream about Medicare and waking up and deciding to become a spam magnate. Whether the mailto: protocol can specify a subject and a body. Making a pact to change your email password. Mnemonics for remembering how long each month is. The Knuckle Mnemonic. Whether it was aliens or the pope who stole the two months we used to have after December. A show about nerding out. (It's this one.) How wifi works in space when planets can get in the way. The first moment of freedom on Mars. Living on the Grand Canyon except you have to keep your eyes closed. Thanking Brad. Choosing a topic for nefarious reasons. The least skeptical TV show. Trying to remember to give people the benefit of the doubt. Buying a plane ticket to Europe without knowing what you're going to do there. Your friend in Paris who has a keyring with keys to every church in the city. Breaking into Notre Dame during the COVID lockdown and checking out the view from the roof. The listening tower that the NSA used to spy on East Germany. Using a variety of methods to get the keys to every church in Paris. A wig for people who have a mohawk that is just mostly one of the sides of your head. The Santa Cruz Hell Hole. Building the Paris tunnels to get partying teens off the streets and underground.