How important is owning your own games to you?

Let me put it this way: I have nearly 5,000 games on Steam. It’s the one source of media I have no problem investing money into, because I agree with how Valve is providing the service.

It’s convenient, user-friendly, and easily exportable. I can go anywhere in the world, download my games and save files, and pick up where I left off. Which has been made even more convenient with the advent of the Steam Deck.

If I paid for a game, it’s in my library forever. Even if it gets removed from the Steam Store. And the regular sales/discounts ensure I can afford to have such a massive library. I would be severely in debt if I paid full price for my entire library.

If/when Valve loses Gabe Newell and the new CEO prioritizes profits over customer satisfaction, I will gladly switch to pirating and hoarding my own games.

I’m very much against subscription services and I firmly believe in owning everything I drop money on. I don’t play console games anymore because they’ve all been pushing subscription services, and with Sony in particular trying to push for people to not own games anymore? Fuck PlayStation.

This is also why I won’t use Epic Games. Their predatory business practices and poor customer service shows what a terrible company they are and I refuse to support a business that degrades and exploits the customer experience for profit. I will gladly pirate any exclusive they keep off the market, or wait until they show up on Steam in a year or so.

If everyone voted with their wallet, Epic Games would be forced to confront the fact they need to make changes to compete with the online gaming market, or go bankrupt.

My dog licks his metal food bowl clean after every meal, regardless of wet or dry food. When I had another dog, he’d lick her bowl clean too, when she was done eating. I give the bowl a good rinse before filling it at every meal, then wash it with soap and water maybe once every couple weeks.

Same with the metal water bowl. Every meal, I dump out whatever water is still left in it, give it a good rinse, then refill with fresh water. Then I do a soap and water clean every two weeks or so.

I live out in the countryside, so we have well water with lots of minerals in it. My dad used to just top off the dogs’ water bowl every day and it started forming a calcium mineral ring along the top edge. Now that I rinse it a couple times daily, it stays pristine. No more water rings.

My dog is also an indoor dog, so the cleaner I keep his food/water bowls, the less germs and bacteria he spreads around the house. I don’t have to fend him off if he wants to lick hands or faces now.

My favorite is, “Are you subscribed to my OnlyFans?” Not only stops the conversation, but they’ll avoid you for the rest of the night.

They’re likely saying that data collection/analysis on customer’s eating habits is getting to the point that they can almost predict when you’ll be hungry, and the next step is to deliver food to you before you even order it.

If you order a burrito at 11:30 every day, their goal is to have a burrito delivered to your door at 11:30 every day, without you even ordering it.

Which honestly, is kind of terrifying. I don’t want a company knowing my habits so well that they predict what I want and then order it without my consent.

2016 was the year that a bunch of celebrities started dying all at once. The world has never been the same since.

He does not, sadly. He lived a pretty wild party life for many years that got him addicted to heavy drugs, and he became a gay prostitute for a while. He completely disappeared for a handful of years into some creepy sex cult and popped up again when he was rushed to the ER one day. Almost dying in a hospital was the wake-up call he needed.

He’s been through rehab and recovery and as far as I know, he’s working a pretty normal office job now. I’m good friends with his family, so I see him every time he’s passing through town. And he still asks me if I’ve pooped that day.

This reminds me of my high school days. In health class, we were taught that a healthy digestive system had at least one bowel movement per day. Throughout the course, we were also encouraged to promote generic healthy habits with our friends, family, and classmates; basically help each other stay accountable with their health and nutrition.

One of my friends took this to heart. He started going up to people - literally anyone - and asking in a concerned tone, “Did you poop today?”

If they gave any answer besides “yes,” he would go off about all the health benefits associated with a daily bowel movement and what kinds of healthy foods and exercises would assist in having one. He would even offer to provide moral support from outside a bathroom stall if they needed it.

We all got a kick out of how deadpan and serious he played it. When the teacher asked him to knock it off, he insisted he was just concerned about promoting healthy habits, then would ask her if she had also pooped that day. To a room full of teenagers, there’s nothing more hilarious than asking a teacher if she’s pooped. No matter her response, the whole room was rolling in raucous laughter.

It’s been over 20 years since then, and every time we meet in person, he still greets me with, “Did you poop today?”

I mean, Disney put out a casting call several years ago for little people to fill the dwarf roles for a live action Snow White. But Peter Dinklage balked at it, claiming that it was oppressive to cast little people just because they’re little and not giving them serious acting roles based on skill or merit.

However, a lot of little people in Hollywood got mad at Peter Dinklage for ruining job opportunities for them, because they’re rarely cast for anything else and they had no problem taking the roles based solely on their height.

But it was too late; Disney pulled the casting to avoid controversy and now we’re stuck with this CGI abomination to replace little people in this film.