What JRPG Means To Me

In video gaming, I think most people generally know what a JRPG is. But JRPGs may be hard to define, genres can overlap, and distinctions are not necessarily clear as elemental crystals. So in this post, let me share what JRPG means to me.

If Apple Made A Dual Screen Foldable

Some phones bend in half. Some tablets fold. All have a giant crease in the display that you can see and feel. I don’t like that. And I think there’s no way Apple would make such a thing; it’s not elegant. But I do think if Apple made a dual-screen device (like the Microsoft Surface Duo), it would sell more units than the Apple Vision Pro headset. And I’d probably buy it.

Pika Simplicity Makes Blogging A Pleasure

The more I use Pika, the more I like:

Star Ocean - The Second Story R Impression

This game is impressive. If you like JRPGs, it’s a must play. Even if you prefer turn-based, you should still give this action-RPG a few hours chance; you’ll know by then if it’ll be worth a play through. And if you like RPGs from the 90s, Star Ocean: The Second Story R is superb.

Stardew Valley Impression

I’m only 21 game days into it but am having a lot of fun in Stardew Valley. I left my cubicle job for Loblolly Farm, my new home and way of living. Resources abound, there’s lots to do, people to meet, and things to learn.

Celiac Diseased Maniac Has First Colonoscopy

Hi, I’m Jason, and I’m a Celiac. I got the “diseased maniac” line from Superman the movie (1978). I’m closer to 50 than to 30 and have had this gluten problem from birth, hence my first ever colonoscopy today. I survived!

A Good Enough Meeting About Pika

Last week, I was fortunate to meet on a video call with members of the Good Enough team, the company behind blog hosting platform, Pika. They wanted to learn a little bit about some of Pika’s early bloggers and how they’re using it.

Apple AirPods Fight Cool Competition

In this week’s Power On newsletter at Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes about Apple’s next versions of AirPods:

Pokémon Violet Indefinite Pause

Okay. I say this with a bit of a sigh, but I’ve decided to not finish Pokémon Violet for now. This post is to justify wimping out.

Two 80s Cars Got Me Into Tech

I was asked this week what caused me to get into technology. Part of the answer is that I grew up as a kid in the 80s, and the debut of home video game consoles (Atari, Nintendo) played a huge role in drawing me into the coolness of electronics. They’re interactive and fun! I later realized that, in fact, there were very strong and particular influences that made me, “Wow!” at tech as it was or could be: two 80s cars.

Dune Part Two Is A Must See

If you enjoyed the first Dune movie, you must see part two. If you read the first book but haven’t watched either movie, stop reading this post, buy some overpriced buttery popcorn and a fizzy soda, and watch both movies. Then come back to read this spoiler-free post.

WordPress To Pika Migration

Just a bit of blog status news here. Over the next few months or so, I plan to copy my posts from WordPress to my new host, Pika. The Jason Journals archive will repopulate here as I plan for this to be my new home going forward. It’s a great blogging platform so far!

My Apple Laptop Was A Chromebook Air

I’ve been deep in Apple’s ecosystem for several years. So it might be surprising that my MacBook Air became a Chromebook Air over the past six weeks. Then again, I’m a tech geek, so it’s not too great a shocker.

Happy Mario Day 2024

For Mar10 day, I’m remembering my first Mario experiences, way back in the 8-bit 80s. The last series game I played was Super Mario 3D World on the Wii U. But the first time I ever experienced Mario cost me a few quarters.

Trading WordPress Perks For Pika’s Simplicity

Early this year, I wrote about staying with WordPress, noting that much of the grass was greener there. And I wanted to hold onto certain features: subscribers, comments, readers, and the community.

Apple’s Poor Optics

I’ve been an Apple fan (boy?) for a while. The company’s hardware is excellent. The company itself, though, is less so in my eyes these days, due to its apparently greedy or self-serving business practices of late.

Why Leave WordPress Again?

In January, I wrote about settling into WordPress instead of jumping ship. The manual HTML work, migrating my posts to Neocities, was infeasible. I just wanted to blog. WordPress was the path of least resistance. But now I’m thinking about un-settling from WordPress (again).

More Bloggy And Personal On Pika

Okay, here’s a little observation about blogging on Pika I’ve had. What is kind of hitting me about it is that, thanks to its clean and simple design (how it looks and works), it helps me blog better. Or I should say it helps me write more like a blogger and less like an editorialist or essayist. It helps me feel like I can be less formal, more personal.

My First VR Experience Was Eye Opening

Alright, I finally got to try a VR headset. It wasn’t Apple Vision Pro. It was the Meta Quest 2 that my 17 year old son recently bought. My first taste of VR was the game Beat Saber.

First Impressions Of Blog Host Pika

There’s something about Pika, which I’m loving after a few days of use. It’s more than just simple or minimal; it’s pure and elegant. The typography and layout of text and links are exquisite.

What If Apple Makes A Game Controller?

Recent news suggests Apple Arcade isn’t doing as well as it should. From mobilgamer.biz:

My First Pika Post

It’s March 1, 2024. And this is my first post on Pika.

I just discovered Pika this week after hearing how WordPress.com (my current blog host) would start selling user data to A.I. companies. I opted out…