From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were—I have not seen
As others saw—I could not bring
My passions from a common spring—
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow—I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone—
And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—
Then—in my childhood—in the dawn
Of a most stormy life—was drawn
From ev’ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still—
From the torrent, or the fountain—
From the red cliff of the mountain—
From the sun that ’round me roll’d
In its autumn tint of gold—
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass’d me flying by—
From the thunder, and the storm—
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view
Edgar Allan Poe
Author: Tim (page 1 of 5)
Born in Ohio, raised in North Carolina. One day I'll make it back to the south, but until then, I'm stuck in the Buckeye state.
Everyone who is a trauma survivor knows this: We’re real, real, real good at covering up what we’re going through.
Wil Wheaton
One of my favorite places to get new wallpaper for my iPhone (and my computers) is from Vladstudio . The artist, Vlad Gerasimov , has some of the best illustrated wallpapers out there, and he’s always creating new pieces and posting them on his website.
While the wallpapers are free, you do have the option of supporting Vlad by becoming a premium member. Not only does the small, one-time fee ($15 minimum with the option of choosing to pay more) support him, but it also enables you to download all the images as a ZIP pack and gives you access to all premium artworks.
I believe I became a member back in 2008 or around that time, and I will say that I definitely got my money’s worth over the years. In fact, a few pages on this site have header images that came from Vladstudio (attributed appropriately, of course).
So, if you’re looking for wallpapers, e-cards, Facebook covers, and more, you owe it to yourself to check out Vladstudio and see what’s available.
Vladstudio – Premium Wallpapers & More
Credit: Header image Astronaut by Vladstudio
It’s been twenty-three days since I took possession of the base model Midnight M2 MacBook Air .
First – I did not like the original MacBook Air design when Steve Jobs introduced it in 2008. Yes, it was revolutionary at the time due to it being extremely thin. However, I was not impressed with the wedge look as well as the fact that it was severely underpowered for what I needed.
Second – Like the MacBook Pro before it, I (and others) assumed that with a new chip architecture (PPC to Intel, Intel to Apple Silicon), a redesign was in order for their machines. I was disappointed; yet I still bought the M1 MacBook Pro since I needed a new computer. That didn’t last long, and I ended up parting ways with it over a year later.
Third – Apple surprised the hell out of me when they introduced the M2 chip and a complete redesign of the MacBook Air. Gone was the wedge design and an underpowered machine that was a sub-$1000 computer just for the sake of padding Tim Cook’s bonus.
And with that, I decided upon the base model: 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD in Midnight color. I don’t like gold, silver is too common, and Space Grey has run its course. Plus, blue is my favorite color and Midnight hits the sweet spot.
Completely worth the $1099 + tax (shameless Amazon affiliate link).
Next year marks the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite video game titles ever, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening . In fact, this game introduced me to the Legend of Zelda series, as I had no prior knowledge or experience with the other games (The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past).
Crazy, I know. But I was only 12 at the time of Link’s Awakening release and the only video game system we had growing up was the Nintendo Game Boy , and that’s only because I spent all summer mowing lawns and using that money to buy the system and a few games.
I was never really into gaming beyond playing Tetris and Super Mario Land . I was pretty content with those two titles alone, not really saving up money for other games. It wasn’t until a childhood friend of mine brought his Game Boy and games on a bus ride for a band competition that I became interested in playing something new.
Considering I knew nothing about the game aside from the instruction booklet that came with it, I spent that weekend (and an insane amount of AA batteries) exploring the island and the many different characters, enemies, dungeons, and locations throughout the game. That weekend expanded to summer vacation; I vowed to defeat the game before school started, as well as before my friend decided he wanted the game back.
I would even call him on the phone just to ask what to do whenever I got stuck somewhere or how to defeat a certain boss. You know, stuff we take for granted now due to having information readily available that was damn near impossible 30 years ago. Had I known that there was a guidebook I could buy, I would’ve done that instead.
Anyhow, it’s hard to believe all that happened almost 30 years ago. Over the years, I’ve played the Game Boy Color remake, as well as the many, many eShop versions on various systems, and the latest remake for Nintendo Switch. Each time I play them, the memory of the original game and the personal history behind it comes up and I reflect back to a simpler time of being a kid again.
Even though my friend is no longer here (R.I.P.), I’ll never forget our friendship and the countless times that I annoyed him with phone calls for hints. Had I not known him or even bought a Game Boy for myself, who knows what games I’d be playing today, if any, that have this much of an impact on my personal growth.
