T w e n t y S i d e d
So this is 44 years old. It feels a lot like 43, only moreso.
Technically, I’m doing great. I’m a middle-class person in the western world, which means I’m living better than 99.9999% of all the humans that have ever lived. I’ve got my health, my family, and I’m living in the internet age. But whenever a birthday rolls around I always feel this pressure bearing down on me. The clock is ticking! Isn’t there a bunch of stuff you need to accomplish before you snuff it?
As a mater of fact, I have two important things I need to do today:
1) I need to make an appointment with the dentist.
On Friday I had this happen:
"Yuck! Something hard in this cracker."
*spits out*
"I wonder what that was?"
*feels mouth*
"Oh. It was part of my tooth. I needed that."
:(
— Shamus Young (@shamusyoung) August 22, 2015
Admittedly, this isn’t as bad as the last time I broke a tooth on a Friday, but I really feel that breaking teeth on Fridays is a thing I shouldn’t be able to arrange into a list.
2) I need to make an eye doctor appointment.
My eyes are not good. When I got outside at night, scenes that should look like this…
…end up having all the lights covered in these flaring line patterns:
My life is like being inside a J.J. Abrams movie 24/7, except the plot somehow makes even less sense. Also, last time I visited the eye doctor he said he was worried. He saw some risk factors / signs of glaucoma, and wanted to see me again in six months. I said, “Yes sir! I will surely be right back in half a year good sir!” I think that conversation was sometime in early 2011. In my defense, the last couple of years have been really busy.
The only reason I’m remembering now is because my computer screen is looking a little blurry these days. Usually I only need my glasses when I leave the house, which is… I dunno. I know it happens once in a while, but it’s like trying to remember your dreams. Outside is where hot weather and sunlight come from, and I try not to expose myself to those sorts of dangers. But if my computer screen is going to be blurry then This Will Not Stand.
Anyway. Basically my body is falling apart and everything sucks, except not really.
Also Happy Birthday to Stephen Fry, Hideo Kojima, and all other August 24 birthday-havers, famous and otherwise.
Spec Ops: The Line
A videogame that judges its audience, criticizes its genre, and hates its premise. How did this thing get made?
The Dumbest Cutscene
This is it. This is the dumbest cutscene ever created for a AAA game. It's so bad it's simultaneously hilarious and painful. This is "The Room" of video game cutscenes.
Skylines of the Future
Cities: Skylines is bound to have a sequel sooner or later. Where can this series go next, and what changes would I like to see?
The Best of 2014
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2014.
Charging More for a Worse Product
No, game prices don't "need" to go up. That's not how supply and demand works. Instead, the publishers need to be smarter about where they spend their money.
Happy birthday! May have have many more.
+1
Penblwydd hapus! Those are some good birthday compatriots too
Ah, another Welsh person. Hello. Cardiff is awful today.
Very suitable name and picture, the rest of south east Wales isn’t looking much better today
There are always far more welsh people to be found in these sort of communities than i would ever otherwise suspect.
Also hello fellow sheep shaggers.
“So this is 44 years old. It feels a lot like 43, only moreso.”
That’s odd. Why would being 44 feel more like being 43 than 43 did?
When I turned 43, I felt older than I ever had before.
This is worse.
And now you’re older still…
Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime,….. Keeps marching on.
I’m kind of looking forward to 50, because then I’ll sound as old as I feel.
That’s the wrong way to look at it. Think instead that you’re now the youngest you’ll ever be!
*again*, at least.
Happy birthday Shamus! Please take care!! :)
Happy birthday, Shamus!
Edit: Oh crap, did I make a typo in my email again? That gravatar, someone make it go away! Gah!
Happy birthday.
I also went to the dentist today, and they’ve started using lasers instead of normal drills. I feel like living in the future!
I have to confess, I’ve never actually been “to” the dentist’s. Back around 1990-91 a dentist van came to our school and gave everyone a dental checkup, so technically the dentist came to me. I was in grade 2 or 3 or thereabouts and I haven’t had a checkup since. I’m probably going to regret it. Someday.
I’m not going to blame you, I hate going myself. But I’ll tell you this: If you get an inflammation, so you really need to drill, the anesthetics won’t work properly (because the pressure inside the tooth). I once had to take an ex-girlfriend to the emergency dentist because of this. I can still hear the screams (hers and other patients). You really don’t want to be in that situation.
I’ll second Knut’s sentiment: I lost one tooth in the most horrible fashion, in little bits and pieces in several very painful episodes stretching over half a year.
Because I didn’t go to the dentist when it started becoming uncomfortable.
And now it’s lonely counterpart on the other jaw will never be useful again. It will eventually come out so far that it’ll hurt the empty spot on the jaw, then have to be pulled to avoid worse. Because I waited too long to get something to fill that void…
Really. Don’t wait. It only makes it worse.
(but yeah, of course nobody wants to go to the dentist. It’s much easier to imagine it’ll just go away than to get up and do it. People are like that sometimes…)
Happy Birthday, Shamus!
Live long and prosper.
Happy birthday, Shamus!
You really should go to the dentist. Last time a part of my tooth broke, I thought “fuck it, so what”. And then, half a year later (yeah, I’m an idiot), that tooth decided to mess up the last days of my vacation by starting to hurt like a mofo. So I had to schedule an emergency appointment, where the nice dentist lady spent half an hour elbows deep in my mouth trying to pull that bastard out of my skull, using about a dozen different instruments and three anesthetic syringes in the process. So yeah, do that shit early.
P.S.: Do I even have to mention that it was a wisdom tooth? Ugh.
P.P.S.: Happy birthday, old man! :-)
Ugh,wisdom teeth suck.Mine were growing sideways,so I had to have my jaw sawed through in order to get all four of them.It sucked.
Also,leaving a broken tooth open is the worst.I did it once,and ended up having to have the nerve removed.That didnt suck,but the pain preceding it sucked so much.
Nothing to lift the spirits on a birthday party like talking about painful health-related episodes.
… and nobody’s even mentioned back pain yet!
That’s it, I’m going to the gym now.
The same thing happened with me, except somehow the dentist screwed up and cracked (!) a piece of my jawbone when removing one of them, leaving a pointed bony spur behind that slowly sawed its way back through my gumline and the side of my tongue until I went back two weeks later to have him cut the gum open completely and grind (!!) the spur down flat. NOT MY FAVORITE DENTIST.
It’s surprising how long you can put off removing a broken tooth. I went two or three years last time. Could have gone longer, but I decided to get it out for peace of mind
Ugh, wisdom teeth are the worst! I’ve had one surgically removed from my skull because it decided to get stuck in the skull bone and made a little pocket in the back of my mouth where bacteria decided to have a party. After the second infection my dentist said “we’re pulling that fucker”. As I was to have it pulled out, the surgeon looked at my x-ray and said “I’m not pulling that thing, it’s WAY too close to that very important nerve that makes the right side of your face work properly” and sent me off to a super-special 3D x-ray machine that lifted me up and spun around my face. Then after a few weeks more it was back to the surgeon who completely numbed my face and proceeded to chop the fucker in half and then stitched my face together, covering the root of the fucker and then I ate mashed potatoes for a week. That was two years ago and no infections since then. I hope the other three never rear their ugly little tooth-faces…
It’s ironic that the Wisdom teeth are by far the most random and destructive of all the teeth.
I don’t think it’s necessarily ironic, it’s just a case of “people suck at naming things”. See also “mantis shrimp” (neither mantis nor shrimp) or “shooting star” (most definitely not a star).
The wisdom tooth is actually named that way because of a translation error. In Duthc, they were called the “ver-stands-kiezen” (far-back-teeth). This was interpreted by translators as “verstands-kiezen” (intelligence-teeth”) which got you “wisdom teeth” in English and “dents de sagesse” in French…Which was then translated *back* into Dutch to “wijsheidstanden”, to complete the cycle.
The more you know…. ;)
That sounds like an urban legend to be honest. I have done some “research” on Wikipedia, and nowhere I looked (English, German and Russian versions) was there a mention of that story. The most complete version is in the German Wikipedia. My translation:
“The name comes originally from the Pesian physician Avicenna (980−1037) from QÄnÅ«n fÄ« á¹-Ṭibb (Arab. “القانون ÙÙŠ الطب”Ž, “žCanon of medicine”), that were translated at the translator school of Toledo to Latin as dentes intellectus. In Greek they were called Sophronisteres by Kleanthes. In other languages the name also has a connection to wisdom or understanding, e.g. in Japanese (知æµæ¯, chieba).”
As far as I could gather the name comes from the fact that wisdom teeth appear (if they do at all) when a person is older and (assumed) wiser.
P.S.: For context of the translation, I speak German as a native speaker.
Edit: A Google translation from the Dutch Wikipedia: “The alternative folk etymology which wisdom teeth are so named because they are behind in the mouth (ver-stands-kies) is unlikely.”
Happy birthday!
I know you hate the outside and all, but exercise has been shown to be enormously helpful to health, even mild exercise!
For example, I shouldn’t have high blood pressure at my age, but the combination of sedentary-ness and weight ensures I need to be taking blood pressure medicine.
This Healthcare Triage episode reminded me I need to be back on an exercise regiment… after I finish moving into a new home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFBBjynBpSw
Stay healthy!
I’ve been hitting the vitamin D hard the last week or so (D3 to be specific) and its been helping with the lack of sunlight. Something to consider if you’re indoors all day. It alleviates a lot of symptoms including depression, irritability and feelings of achiness or borderline sickness. Also got a B vitamin complex with biotin in addition.
I also found I hadn’t been drinking enough water and started drinking more of that.
I’d thought I might have hypothyroidism or maybe age was just wearing me down but those three things have made me feel years younger this last week. When I say more water I mean chug it. I’m making a point to chug at least 2 liters a day now if not more.
I’m a little younger than you but still, these are quick easy changes of habit that could make a big difference. Once the habit has sunk in, I’m going to use the increased energy to change a few more habits and then use the gains from those changes to change a few more (willpower is a finite resource after all). Most people need the three above things more than they get them, especially us indoorsy types.
For mild exercise, I suggest this.
Yay for being one of the non-famous 24-August birthday persons. Thanks for that, and happy birthday to you too, don’t think about it as growing one year older, think about it as stepping into the sci-fi future of tomorrow(where your daughter is part cyborg before you are).
Thanks for reminding me that I should also probably go for a routine check up on my eye-doctor, but for today I’m going to focus on laying in bed, reading a couple books and doing absolutely nothing annoying.
PS: Looking at the images, it reminds me of how the old CRT monitors used to get as time went on. Have you tried degaussing your eyes? :p
As is the tradition on my facebook feed when there is a birthday.
http://pbfcomics.com/archive_b/PBF032-Todays_My_Birthday.gif
Happy B-Day, Shamus. Hey, it could be worse, your life could be like a Michael Bay movie instead.
Every year it’s always a nice surprise to be reminded that a person I read and follow is having their birthday on the same day as mine.
Happy Birthday Shamus.
I’ll keep reading so long as you keep writing.
Happy 44th revolution around the sun!
Also I suggest replacing your failing body with a cyborg one.Much more durable and much easier to maintain.
But it doesn’t come with handy, allthough literally buggy, self regeneration/repair mode. So meatbags are more likely to outlive the cyborg if it doesn’t get maitenance often.
Grats! Hurry up and get to 100 so we can raid.
And get your eyes checked. I know from personal experience that it can be very, very important.
Happy Birthday, Shamus :)
Loved the graphics card/glasses joke. Don’t worry, when you get to 70, you’d have a whole host of other issues to trouble yourself with, such is life.
And I hope you celebrate with your favorite sweet thing(s) of choice and a lovely day/evening with your family, possibly with a friend or three, other than us blarg(blog) viewers here
Whenever you start to think you haven’t accomplished anything, Shamus, remember this: https://twitter.com/HMarieYoung/status/591433750162059264 (including the picture-taker!) You have a beautiful family, which is accomplishment enough for any lifetime.
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday, Shamus! Hope you have a great one and many more feel better and good luck with your teeth snd eyes. I’m only 20 and my eyesight is worse than anyone I know – even my 84 year old grandmother has better eyesight. I feel your pain. Oh and don’t worry – 44 is not old. You haven’t even hit the halfway point yet. Lets hope for 66 more
Happy birthday, Shamus! I hope your eyes and teeth get better! Best,
Happy Birthday Shamus, I hope you stay well for a long time, and thank you for the countless hours of entertainment you have provided for years.
Happy Birthday, Shamus!
Definitely get those eyes checked out, they’re a bastard to replace, all that tracking down someone with the right tissue type, running them down, arranging an alibi, etcetera. Just get them fixed the easy way.
Here’s to a happy birthday, Shamus! Thanks for everything you do!
Happy Birthday, kid. 56 year old here.
Happy birthday Shamus! And to hopefully many, many more.
Happy womb emancipation anniversary.
Hope your body holds together long enough for the robot revolution, so you can have your brain implanted in one and have clinical immortality and thus become immune to the Prometheus virus.
Don’t worry, you’re still Young.
Incidentally…aren’t lights supposed to do that thing? Seriously? 30 years of it and I’ve never known any better? :3
Uh, yes. This. Hellooooo sudden freakout. At least I’m not alone? ;P
They’re meant to do that when you squint. Or if you have dirt on your glasses. Or if your glasses aren’t glare-cancelling.
If they’re doing that when you’re not squinting (etc.), it can be an early warning sign for glaucoma (which is very treatable – but it’s also progressive, and any damage that occurs is irreversible; so getting it diagnosed is really important if you have a family history of it (or indeed if you don’t, but it tends to be inherited))
On the bright side, you won’t have to upgrade video cards as often. I mean, if the textures are going to look blurry anyway, might as well save some money there…
Happy birthday, Mr. Young.
You are surrounded by those who love you and have made what you love to do into something countless others can enjoy. I’d call that a pretty productive life.
Hope you see many more years.
Happy Birthday!
I recently purchased a Google Cardboard for $6. It is thanks to this that I found it necessary to visit the optometrist. The image through my left eye was off alignment, down and left. Everyone else who looked through it was amazed because they saw though it correctly. My eye doctor informed me it was “lazy eye”, so I am now getting used to a wearing glasses. I cannot even remove them without feeling queasy as my lazy eye will attempt to go back to its natural focus. The funny thing is, walking around with glasses feels like VR. I’m told it’ll pass, and I’ll eventually regain the perks such as peripheral vision and light compensation.
Happy birthday Shamus!
Funnily enough, long before I ever found Spoiler Warning or your blog, my friends and I would forward a certain YouTube video to each other on our birthdays, so I feel it appropriate to send it to you as well. Enjoy!
Happy Birthday o Lord High Muckity Muck of Twenty Sided.
Happy Birthday, Shamus! I wish you all the best!
I’m a day late, but Happy Birthday Shamus!
Happy birthday, Shamus… I hope your get your body patched up alright.
Happy birthday and here’s to many more!
Birthdays aren’t so bad compared to the alternative… NOT having another birthday.
Happy Birthday Shamus!
Happy birthday, Shamus! You should probably stop that getting old thing, I hear it’s bad for your health.
Happy Birthday!
I chipped a tooth, went to the dentist and got the list of expensive options. But then he said, “Or since it’s just a back tooth, you could ignore it!” Just what I wanted to hear…. It’s been fine since.
Getting old does suck though. I read a novel at one sitting last night, and for the first time in my life, got eyestrain in my right eye! Sigh.
(Didn’t read any of the comments)
Happy birthday!
The eye thing, it’s not necessarily something horrible, I’ve also got lens-flares whenever I see a light-source. Since you already wear glasses, but this is apparently something new, I’m going to assume it’s not a normal thing of being mis-sighted (be it short or far-sighted) so it might just be that the flares come from astigmatism, which is basically your (organic) lenses being crooked, which can easily be corrected by prescription lenses (Be they contacts or glasses), so I wouldn’t worry too much until you’ve seen an optometrist!
Hey, Shamus, you need a ten year project. If you visit the dentist before you turn 54, and the eye doctor too, and ship your game, and don’t hate the next Mass Effect game’s story/ending, you will get the awesome Silent Hill masterpiece you’ve always wanted.
Happy birthday!
Merriest of birthdays Shamus! I was born the 23rd, 22 years after you. I hope it was a joyous occasion, and many more, so that you can continue to brighten my day.
Happy birthday Shamus!
And let me add my $0.02 – go see the dentist. Now. Get your tooth fixed while it’s “only” (presumably) a crown and a root canal. I recently had the extreme displeasure of going in for the root canal, and 5 minutes in they stopped and told me that it wasn’t salvageable and it needed extraction. Now. As in, as long as I was already numbed there was this oral surgeon a mile or so over and I should get it pulled now, along with the wisdom teeth that I’d never bothered to have out but two of which now had non-fill-able cavities at the gumline.
I figured that it would be fine, they’d knock me out and I’d wake up without the teeth. However, something went down, the gum was split down to the roof of my mouth and didn’t heal properly until two little pieces of bone were ejected from the still-open wound over the course of the next two weeks (the stitches dissolved way before it finally healed). Not recommended as an experience. 0 of 5 stars, would not do again.
As a 22 year old with Keratoconus I know that blurry, light bloomed image all too well. Nighttime is so much kinder and easier, daytime looks like a constant supernova.
I’ve been rereading the entire blog from the beginning and I’d just like to say…it took 44 years but you managed to finally grow some facial hair. If that’s not the best birthday present ever I don’t know what is.
Happy Birthday! And save me a piece of that delicious looking dragon cake please.
Happy Birthday, Shamus! :)
Your eyes actually have the exact same problem as mine (the funny lens flare with lines of light radiating out from the light source). It might be nothing to do with glaucoma; most likely it is astigmatism, caused by irregular surfaces on the surface of the eye which cause light rays on the eye to fail to properly focus on the back of the retina. The problem usually starts early in childhood, but in some cases it can develop as we age and our eyes grow out of shape.
In any case, definitely do get it checked out by an optometrist, but I wouldn’t be too concerned. :) Astigmatism is not a serious eye condition, and you can still drive at night even if you have it.
Happy birthday!
Concerning your eyes, If you have early signs of glaucoma you should REALLY go to the doctor regularly.
Glaucoma is sometimes called the Silent Thief, as it robs you of your vision without you even noticing it.
For those that do not know, Glaucoma is the result of excess pressure inside the eye. This pressure damages the optic nerve, resulting in gradual, PERMANENT vision loss. You cannot feel this excess pressure (it is not related in any way to blood pressure) and you only notice the vision loss when it is really bad. There is no way to regain the vision that was lost.
The upside is that the pressure inside the eye is completely manageable through medication. If you diagnose the disease early, the medication will bring the pressure to acceptable levels and there will be no further damage to the optic nerve and no more vision loss. However, the damage already done to the optic nerve does not regenerate and there is no way to recover the lost vision.
TL;DR –
Glaucoma is a disease that can be stopped, but cannot be reversed. Since it leads to blindness, you should get checked by a doctor regularly.
P.S. – Since some forms of Glaucoma are hereditary, you should also take your daughters to the doctor.
“The clock is ticking! Isn't there a bunch of stuff you need to accomplish before you snuff it?”
Here is a norwegian saying: Alle disse dagene som kom og gikk, ikke visste jeg at de var selve livet.
Translated: All those days that came and went, little did I know that they were the actual life.
Happy birthday!
I know I’m late, but happy birthday anyway, Shamus! Thanks for making this little slice of the internet a thing ;)
Happy birthday! If you were local to me I’d bake you a cake but since you’re in a different country simply enjoy the the gift that is the concept of cake! : D
Happy Birthday! Cake looked yummy!
Hope you had a nice day and you’ll have many more :-)
Shamus, you should get that glaucoma checked out. It can become a serious problem if left untreated. People can lose their vision completely with that, so take it seriously.