kaywhyn's Blog

[mobius]

Matthew Walker (scientist) on sleep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig

for myself; when I get up early and/or work hard (physically or mentally) I usually get to sleep quickly and have a good night's rest, assuming I go to bed early or at a reasonable hour [I define reasonable hour as at least a couple of hours before midnight].
If I sleep in or don't do much during the day I have a much harder time getting to sleep.
Simply put; the more energy you expend, the more sleep you need. And visa versa. The only time this is really a problem is if you want to prepare for the next day by getting a lot of sleep and can't because you didn't do much the day before.

There are times (rarely these days, more so when I didn't have a job) when I didn't go anywhere or do much during the day and stayed up until 1-2 AM and got maybe 4 hours of sleep but felt fin the next day, and didn't do much that day either.
But if I went two days like that and tried to do a lot of physical or mental activity I'd likely have lots of problems.

I often wake up at least once per night, get up and go to the bathroom or drink some water. I usually go right back to sleep. Occasionally not returning to sleep or not getting to sleep in the first place I think is fairly common. If its like every single night then you should start looking into it.

Flux was a nice program but gave me a bad side-effect; stronger than usual hypnogogic hallucinations in bed.

A very powerful tool you might want to look into is meditation. If nothing else this could help you get to know how your body handles/deals with sleepiness better or exactly how sleepy/how much sleep you need.
If you're running on adrenaline/keyed up; meditating properly will release you from that spell and reveal how tired you really are. It could help you get to sleep if doing it before bed. But this is something that requires experimenting. I rarely meditate before bed, I usually do it in the morning or after work (afternoon). If you do I highly recommend "Shinzen Young"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUQFw2jNf7s

I used to lay in bed for an hour or more every night. Now I usually get to sleep within a half hour. But still it depends on a lot of factors.

Twice I've fallen asleep and began dreaming without losing consciousness. These were some of the weirdest experiences of my entire life. I wish it could happen again but I'm also too chicken to try it now. I believe its very possible to sleep deeply on demand and without losing awareness. Thought this is a feat few have achieved.

[kaywhyn]

Has it really almost been 2 months since I last posted here? Well, time to revive it

This post describes my experience with getting the first Covid vaccine dose. The state of California recently opened up more eligible groups for vaccination. The first group was anyone 65 years and older, or Tier 1A. It's now currently in Tier 1B, which means more groups of people are eligible to get vaccinated. These groups include healthcare workers, educators/teachers, etc. I'm a teacher myself, and hence I'm in the Tier 1B group.

However, the way the appointment system works is quite wack and chaotic. We were told that the Othena app is the way to sign up and register to get an appointment for the vaccine. It was especially bad in the first several weeks the app was released back in January of this year, as people were left wondering if they were even doing the process correctly or if the app kept bugging out and crashing and not working properly. The app developers promised a load of fixes but these didn't make it in until several weeks later with multiple updates. It's a lot better now, but even then I have not had any success with being able to book an appointment with the Othena app.

A couple of weeks later after the Othena app was released, MyTurn was made, which is a website that Californians can go to that allows you to register and get notified when you're eligible to get the vaccine. I did that, although the really strange thing is that I received a text message on my phone telling me that I successfully signed up on the site a week or so later. Even when teachers were now eligible to get vaccinated, when I go to sign into my Othena account or MyTurn, it would say that I'm not eligible for the vaccine yet. In short, this Covid vaccination appointment system is crap.

Eligibility for teachers was recently opened up about a week or so ago. Around that time, there was one phone number that I kept calling over and over but I never had any success in reaching anyone, as I would always get the message "I'm sorry. Nobody is available to take your call. Please try again later. Goodbye." This happened everytime after 2-3 minutes.

Then, I saw a FB post from a teacher friend of mine with another phone number to call, so I gave that a try. I had to wait on the phone for almost an hour, but I was able to talk to someone. I was told that appointments were available Wednesday - Friday of this week, and I decided to get the vaccine on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. So, I booked an appointment 6 days in advance.

On the day of my appointment two days ago (currently Friday, March 12, 2021 as of this writing), I arrive about 10 minutes ahead of my appointment time. On arrival, I was giving a slip to fill out my info to put on my dashboard. There was a security officer going around in the parking lot and will know which cars were here for the vaccine, as we were given a marker that was put on top of the car. Once parked, thus began the long wait to get the phone call telling me that I could come in for the vaccine. An hour after arriving, I get the phone call.

Once I get to the front of the building, I had to wait in line for another 25-30 minutes. When I did get to the front of the line, the workers were letting other people from a separate line in first, and I wondered what was up with that. I guess they were honoring those with medical/doctor appontments first. Altamed is a health provider. It was a really good thing that it wasn't raining at the time, since the line is outside, although it was windy and very chilly. It was also raining on the way to my appointment.

Once inside the building, I was given a short questionnaire to fill out that we give to the receptionist. This was another 5 minute wait. Once I get to the window, I gave the worker the questionnaire, and I was told to show my ID and proof of employment with my employer. These were my driver's license and substitute teacher badge, respectively. I guess it's fine even though I've been out of work for a little over a year due to the pandemic, as I still have my employee badge. I think all that's important is that the worker sees that I'm a worker in the eligibility group for vaccination. Also, I'm not insured with Altamed, but it doesn't matter, as getting vaccinated is free, and you can be insured with another provider and it'll still be fine.

After confirming everything, another 5 minute wait to get inside to the vaccination area. Very quick and painless. After getting the vaccine, I had to stay for another 15 minutes because they want to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction or anything to the vaccine. After the 15 minutes is up, my name was called. I come up and I was asked how I was feeling, to which I said I felt perfectly fine. With this, finally all done. This was a total of about 2.5 - 3 hours.

Just minutes before receiving the vaccine, I was warned that I may feel sore after getting the shot. Indeed, almost 24 hours after being vaccinated, on the morning of my birthday around this time yesterday, I woke up with my arm sore. It was nearly like the experience of coming back to work out at the gym for the first time in a very long time (gyms are still currently closed down and has been since November of last year). As of now, fortunately my arm is not sore anymore. I was more worried about getting fever-like symptoms, but luckily I didn't get any of that. So, I guess the soreness took me by complete surprise even though I was technically warned of it ahead of time by the staff.

I come back for my second dose on April 7, 2021. I received the Moderna dose, which is 4 weeks instead of 3, like it is with the Pfizer dose.


Regarding the sleep problem, I appreciate the responses, Dullstar, geo, and mobius. I'm still having the problem of waking up after about an hour or 2 every night, although I think there were a couple of times where I got 4 hours in before waking up. This is an improvement, but definitely not that much better than getting through the entire night without waking. Guess my body is accustomed to being at home since I've been out of work for so long. Not to mention that I haven't been able to expend more energy by doing physical workouts due to the gym still being closed.

Is your main issue trouble falling asleep, or waking up after a few hours?

The latter. Since it's still an ongoing thing, I definitely should go get it checked out. At the same time, I haven't really done anything to make me extremely tired throughout the day, such as a vigorous workout or anything, as I haven't been out anywhere in weeks. 

Talking about drugs, as far as I'm aware the legal classification (and social perception) of drugs is mostly unscientific bogus that doesn't follow any clear criteria. So if you're fine with alcohol, you're already taking one of the more serious drugs with respect to e.g. associated health risks, and the line you draw isn't really much of a line along some spectrum. (That said, I've never taken any to help me with sleep, so I can't advise on that.)

You're right, of course, since I'm still doing drugs by drinking alcohol, although I do it in small to moderate amounts. Plus I only do it at home and probably about once a week with my father, where it's generally over a nice evening talk with each other. Fortunately, I'm also a heavyweight when it comes to drinking, as I have quite a high tolerance and don't get inebriated easily      

[kaywhyn]

As is typical with me on New Year's Eve, I generally do one giant post reflecting back on the year in the final hours before ringing in the new year. So, let's see, where to start? With respect to Lemmings Forums activity throughout 2021, a lot of it was spent LPing various level packs. I find it very hard to believe that I've been LPing for the past 14 months! This year alone, I managed to complete 24/25 LPs of level packs, though one of them was started last year and was the first LP done at the start of this year, SEB Lems for New Formats. This is probably way more and beyond than what the typical average person can solve in an entire year. I guess a large part of it is how I've been willing to LP packs of any difficulty, with the exception of packs that I solved or played too much of it long before I made the personal decision to get into LPing. Not to mention that I was not working for much of 2021, meaning I had a lot of time to LP during all of that. The speed at which I got through LPs slowed considerably once I did start working at the end of September, but it seemed that I still managed to keep a steady pace with them and pump out videos at a higher than usual rate

My Youtube channel doesn't just have playlists of LPs of level packs. I also LPed LDC (Lemmings Design Contest) levels, as well as did some "level solving commentary video series" on a few packs, which are just a series where I show off my solutions via loading the replay for the level, and explain the solution and what my thought processes were while I was solving them. For the latter, I've done 3 4 such series: one on Lemmings Open Air, one on Lemmings Reunion, one on Lemmings Stampede (New Formats), and finally one on Gigalem's Resident Gigalems ghost pack (this last one I just remembered, I'm a dummy, I can't even remember what packs I did this series on ). This actually first started with one I did on Lemmings United, and as that has proven to be a huge success with Icho, I decided to do some more such series on select packs that I especially like, such as the ones I listed. The one I did on Lemmings Reunion was also a big hit with Icho, and I know that pack authors love it when they see something done with their level packs via video.

All the links to my LPs of level packs can be found here: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5180.msg86787#msg86787

Additionally, all the playlists on various Lemmings level packs on my Youtube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/kaywhyn/playlists.

Consider subbing to my channel if you like what you see On that note, thank you to all the LF members here who are already on my Youtube followers/subs list

Regarding my YT, I believe when I finally started uploading videos to my channel near the end of last year, according to analytics I had 15 subs at the start of 2021, and by the end of the year it now stands at 34. I honestly have no idea how that happened all in the span of a year. Must be all those LPs I've done Once again, I must emphasize that no one asked if I ever considered getting into LPing. Instead, I made the personal decision to get into it, as I thought it would be fun. It all started when I got the idea of doing a video series on Icho's Lemmings United, and from that point on I thought I try LPing out. Indeed, ever since I got into it, it has proven to be so much fun for me, and I still enjoy doing them to this day, all for you ladies' and gents' viewing pleasure. Needless to say, I guess I kind of became a full-time Youtuber/LPer during much of 2021 when I wasn't working, though since I kind of cemented myself with it and due to the huge positive reception they've been receiving, I will continue to do more of them in 2022, so stay tuned and be on the lookout for them!

2021 also marked the year that I made my Lemmings level making debut, because LDC #22 was the very first one I participated both as a level designer and level solver. I was busying LPing SEB Lems at the time, but I managed to get it done early enough to start making levels and submit/PM them before the submission phase deadline. As you may or may not remember, the very first Lemmings level I have ever made is my R1 "Bubble Trouble" (level attached). Most were kind enough to tell me that this level still proved to be difficult for some, but this one proved to be a hit with the community, where in the grouping it was in, it was the second most popular level, after rtw's "Warmth." It didn't advance any further than the rule voteoffs, but I was still pleasantly surprised to see the very first level I have ever made get past one round of voting. My R2 also made it past the rule voteoff, although IIRC it was saved by tying with at least a few others for 3rd most amount of votes in order to advance.

I later found out that for my R1 there's a level with the same title in Deceit's Lemmings, though it was more that I completely have forgotten that, as I had already played through the entire pack years before I LPed it earlier this year.

I have participated and made levels for the next 2 contests as well, and I believe I have had only a level in each one make it past the first round of voting. For LDC #23, honestly I was surprised my R3 was the most popular of my 3 levels in that one. I think I can understand why that wasn't the case for my R1 and R2, with the former being backrouted so many times and resulting in somewhat of a visual mess, while the latter it was simply a huge cluttered visual mess. Finally, for LDC #24, since my level has already been eliminated, I can go ahead and talk about it a bit. Another one of my R1's proved to be the most popular, but unlike LDC #22, my R1 was the most popular in the rule voteoff, having edged out the second most popular level by just 1 vote. In a way, I kind of had a feeling it would do well, especially since it's one that I'm most proud of out of all levels I have ever made, but I didn't think it would do THAT well! So once again, it was a pleasant surprise to see it do well, even if just for a round of voting.

Just to let everyone know, though I'm sure you all know already anyway, I still prefer to solve levels than make them, but let me just put it out there: I haven't exactly ruled it out, but a future level pack from me is still a possibility If it does come to fruition, don't expect me to go easy on the difficulty Before I got into level designing, I always had this thought that I was no good at making hard levels, but I've been proven wrong by the contest levels I have made. Granted, they're not quite at Icho, Armani, and Nepster difficulty, but apparently still up there in difficulty. I may or may not ever reach their level of difficulty, but I'm probably not leagues away either. For the time being, I'll say that I'm still far from reaching it.

Other accomplishments of mine on the Lemmings front in 2021 include two Superlemmini conversions, Deceit's Lemmings and Oskar's PSP Lemmings, as well as a conversion of builletride's Lemmings Stampede to New Formats NL.

On the non-Lemmings front, 2021 also saw me getting into other games that I haven't played in a while. Before this, I had played nothing but Lemmings daily for the past 10 months or so. Yea, I know, that's way too excessive, and I would certainly understand not playing it for that long and getting into other games in the meantime

The first such instance was when I got stuck bad on a particular Rapture level in SEB Lems at the beginning of the year. I got back into Age of Empires at the time, though in my case I had bought the Definitive Edition a while back but haven't played it since purchasing it. It was great to play a game that I've known from childhood again despite how I was not so good at it (and I'm still not, but I kept using cheat codes back then ). I also played it on the hardest difficulty, which likely sped up my return to Lemmings after only about a week because of how very frustrating and brutal the AI was, as well as how there was a very bad bug where units constantly got stuck on one another and it was a huge pain to get them freed. I haven't returned to the game since, and I'm not sure if I will due to the bad bugs.

The next time was when I got stuck in the second rank of LemRunner, but this one was a major break from the game of Lemmings. For about 1-1.5 months, I played through the Blizzard games I grew up with. In particular, I played through Starcraft and its expansion, as well as all the Starcraft 2 games. Only single-player though, as I'm not much into multi-player. Others include Warcraft 3 and its expansion, and Diablo 2's expansion. After playing through these, I returned to the Lemmings level I got stuck on and was able to get myself unblocked. I went on to smash through the rest of the pack in about 1-1.5 weeks.

It's also been fun bonding and playing JB with various members on Discord throughout 2021. I joined every session when they took place, and I must say they really helped me become more comfortable with this community, especially since I'm not much of a chatter on social media. Though I'm not too good at and didn't win many of the games, I still had a lot of fun, and I will take the few victories I did manage to snag up with pride, but winning isn't the most important to me. Yes, I tend to be competitive, but the most important thing was just having fun regardless of the outcome.

Otherwise, not much went on with me in 2021, especially since we were stuck in lockdown due to Covid. Thus, I wasn't out much or working for most of 2021. Generally, the only time I was out was just to work out at my local gym. Otherwise, I was at home taking care of my folks.

I got my first Covid shot the day before my birthday, and the second shot 1 month after (because Moderna is 1 month between shots). The first one fortunately didn't give me any bad side effects than the injection site being very sore. The second shot had me feel very dizzy and light-headed and very bad cold chills in the arms/legs. My booster shot also gave me the same thing, though I was fortunate to have gotten it shortly after I became eligible to get it due to how I'm in a field (educator) that is considered high-at-risk to exposure. I received it near the end of October. So, I'm fully vaxed + booster for the winter season, though I got the flu shot a few weeks before getting the booster.

From January to around May/June, I was still collecting unemployment benefits. It wasn't as much as when I was collecting them for 2020, but it was still more than enough to get me by until I could find a job again. After I exhausted my benefits, I wasn't collecting any for about 3 months, which is pretty much the same situation when I'm not working during the summer months because teachers get those off, save for meetings and what not. I finally returned to the workforce at the end of September after 1.5 years of being shut out of a job, all thanks to my cousin who is friends with a teacher, who was desperately searching for a Vietnamese teacher. She thought of me, as she remembers that I work in the education field, and hence she got me in touch with her teacher friend. I was told what I needed to do to apply, and after submitting the application, the next day I got the email that I was accepted into the subbing position. However, it was about another few weeks before I would start working due to paperwork and not being able to get a doctor's appointment to get a physical and get a form signed by my physician.

It was quite a good feeling to be working again, as I'm one of those who would rather be at work than be stuck at home not working a job. From the time I first started working again, I went on to work every day up until my winter break, which started almost two weeks ago and will be ending in a few days. It felt wonderful to be getting and seeing actual paychecks in my bank account on payday During the 1.5 years I wasn't working, I was quite miserable. Yes, I was collecting unemployment during much of that time, but honestly there's no satisfaction in that vs making actual income. My parents know how hardworking I am, so they understood my misery of not working a job.

So yes, I believe I covered everything for all of 2021, so that's pretty much a review of my 2021 for you all. 40 minutes to go before I leave 2021 behind and ring in 2022. With this, I will see you all around the Forums and Discord in 2022! I've almost been posting publicly to the site for two years, but I want to thank everyone here for being quite a welcoming and supportive group. It's been great getting to know each of you, and I hope that continues for years to come, both old and newcomers.     

[kaywhyn]

Hi,

Did I really go the entire year of 2022, let alone a year and a day, without posting anything here? Wow, not good I wonder why I even made this topic then if I'm not going to be maintaining any such blog of my own and posting to it from time to time.

Anyway, I'm just posting to share a video that I made specifically to say thanks to the Lemmings Forums:

Kaywhyn's Special Thanks to the Lemmings Forums Video and Shoutouts to Various Members of the Site.

As for the shoutouts, you'll just have to watch it to see if you got one from me After I finished recording, there were some members who I indeed forgot to individually make a shoutout to, so I apologize for that, but let's say that the general shoutout to the Lemmings Forums that I did before the individual shoutouts in the video means all of you who are members of this site are included and credited

I had originally planned it to be an end of 2022 special video after I finished my planned LP before the end of 2022, which is RotL v4.0 for New Formats NL. I almost succeeded, but I unfortunately fell short due to the final level, which I wasn't able to solve before New Year's Eve ended So much for that. Oh well. So, just so I don't forget later and while it was still New Year's Day at my location and not so many days after it, I wanted to at least get this video recorded. Yes, some shoutouts were missed, but to be honest I was recording when I've been quite sleep deprived and haven't been going on much sleep the last several weeks. Not to mention that I didn't have anything to go by, such as anything written down on paper and simply if and when I could remember names. Yea, the video's more disorganized than it needs to be, but honestly I was too lazy to write some names down as a reminder for myself. Too many names, let's say

Anyway, hope you all enjoy it, and just know that I'm very happy to be part of a community full of awesome members who, like me, shares their love for this awesome puzzle game that was released back in 1991. It's been great being able to discuss Lemmings, or anything for that matter, and getting to know all of you during my time here. Later this year will be my 6th year as a registered member (wow, I can't believe it's been that long already!). Honestly, sometimes I feel I haven't done or contributed much ever since I started posting publicly to the site back in 2020, but it seems that my LPs and feedback, both audio and written, are far more than enough. Of course, I've done a bit more than just feedback to level pack authors/designers, but the feedback seems to be my biggest contribution I'm happy to hear from many authors it's been very helpful even if they're quite a handful to read due to how I'm very detail-oriented!

Here's to 2023 and that it'll be a much better year than the crap we've been through in the last 3 years due to the covid pandemic which is still going on and other changes we needed to adapt to. Keep being the awesome people you all are!

[mobius]

wow amazing job completing (or nearly completing) such an immense pack in such a short amount of time! Far more than I can do that's for sure.

Did you manage to solve the last level after all?

[kaywhyn]

wow amazing job completing (or nearly completing) such an immense pack in such a short amount of time! Far more than I can do that's for sure.

Did you manage to solve the last level after all?

Thanks for the kind words, mobius! I've been busy with family from out of state/abroad visiting this week the day before and was out all day yesterday, and so I haven't had much of a chance to revisit the final level lately and see if I can get it solved. Hopefully I'll be able to in about an hour or so. I feel I'm on the right track, it's likely just fine-tuning some tiny details to make it a working solution. I've played the level before, from Turrican's Remix Pack for SuperLemmini, but I was able to backroute it there thanks to a tiny crucial difference with the digger mechanic between SL and NL. I've only seen the solution to it for SL back when I played through Turrican's pack, but even though I've already seen the solution for the SL version, I don't quite recall every detail of it, as that was several months ago, and I would like to avoid spoiling myself by taking a look at it again. I certainly will not be viewing the NL replay until I get the level solved, though it wouldn't surprise me if the solutions to the level on both engines are the same.

That being said, interesting choice to end the pack on a geoo level, even if it's nowhere near the hardest of the pack

[Armani]

Hey this is actually great shoutout video
Thanks for mentioning me in this video.
I think what I've done isn't much comapred to other people, but it's still very nice to hear all these kind words.
Also thanks for all your passion for this forum and the game.
We all are keeping this epic game alive and in that regard you are among the top in my mind.

I'm probably going to get more time to have fun with this game in 2023.
Well I always have been meaning to do so but i got around to it recently.
I rather prefer to make instead of solve levels but hopefully I can find more time to play some packs

[kaywhyn]

Hey this is actually great shoutout video
Thanks for mentioning me in this video.
I think what I've done isn't much comapred to other people, but it's still very nice to hear all these kind words.

You're welcome

Also thanks for all your passion for this forum and the game.
We all are keeping this epic game alive and in that regard you are among the top in my mind.

Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised to read this from you! I personally haven't done that much either in the time I've been active on the Forums, except for maybe I'm likely known as "that guy who gives so much detailed feedback on nearly every level." Also, I don't think I come anywhere near both you and Icho and a few others in terms of solving ability, but well, if you and the community think I'm up there, then I can't argue with the group opinion on that. I still find it pretty funny that most consider me up there as one of the greatest solvers of the game, though, when I myself get stumped by levels all the time

Same with level designing. I don't think I'll ever top either of you, or anyone for that matter, in terms of making my content look pretty, considering that I've never been an artist, and I still am not However, once again I've been told by you and others that my visuals are slowly improving over time

I rather prefer to make instead of solve levels but hopefully I can find more time to play some packs

I'm the complete opposite as you know, but now that I've been doing level designing for several contests now, the more I've actually come to enjoy it Who knows, a future level pack by me is still a possibility

[kaywhyn]

Yea, I definitely need to post more in this topic of mine, otherwise why did I even do it

Today's topic of discussion: The infamous (at least to me) and currently my biggest nemesis in the Lemmings scene, the level Black Hole 1 - "Thin Layers" from Nepsterlems (level image below). I would post in the level pack topic itself, but I do not want to clog up Nepster's topic that isn't my own. That's what my own topics like kaywhyn's blog are for



Black Hole 1 - Thin Layers. 1-of-everything skillset in the classic 8 skills. Save 7/10

As you may or may not be aware, so far I've been able to completely solve all level packs that I've played, some of which are the hardest ones currently available (I have played so many in the last several years), including Lemmings United, Lemmings Uncharted, Lemmings Plus Omega 2, and Lemmings Plus Alpha. Yes, I've even finally recently finished Revenge of the Lemmings v4.0 for New Formats, even though it was left incomplete due to being stuck on the final level there for 4 months. Except for a few vague hints for a few United levels (thanks again Icho for not giving any of the solution away! ), I've been able to solve these packs without hints, and I intend to do so for every level pack I play.

This pretty much means the only really hard level pack that I have yet to finish is Nepsterlems, all courtesy of one level that I've been stuck on for almost 3 years now, Black Hole 1. From discussions I remember from Discord, Icho really had to convince Nepster to move this level to the Black Hole rank, as I believe previously it was either in the Sun or the Neutron Star rank (3rd to last and 2nd to last rank, respectively, of Nepsterlems). The reason being of course that the level is just too hard for even those two ranks. Granted, there have been plenty of really hard levels before this one, but they aren't anything like Black Hole 1. The skillset is 1-of-everything in the classic 8 skills, as the pack only uses the classic 8.

I know what you're thinking. How is it possible that kaywhyn has been able to solve all the other really hard packs except for Nepsterlems? Well, even though I have yet to play any other level in the Black Hole rank, the thing is I'm certain I be able to complete the rest of the level pack after I get Black Hole 1 solved. I don't doubt that at all, but as I don't like skipping around, that's why I haven't made any further progress ever since I reached Black Hole 1 from way back in 2020.

I've been trying to take onboard some of the tips that I've received on Discord from Icho and Armani for Black Hole 1, such as mapping out where the lemmings are able to go in the level, as well as think about why the save requirement is the way it is. Indeed, I can only see the climber being able to traverse the left side of the level by himself and going all the way to the top of the level that would enable him to die to the deadly ceiling, while the rest of the crowd appears to need to go up the right side. However, all of these are things that I've been stuck on for a while, and all these possibilities I can think of and keep being stuck on keeps leaving me a destructive skill short. I've found a possibility where to get around the at least 5 obstacles in the way, I just haven't found a way to do so or am not sure if it even is possible to get it to work.

Of course, this isn't a call from me to get hints on this level in any way, as I don't intend for this level to beat me! Just a rant because of how this level is really driving me up the wall as I'm nearing almost 3 years being stuck on this level. I've been coming back to this level a lot in the last several days/weeks, hoping I'll finally see something that would help me clear the level, but alas still no dice. For a somewhat very minimal layout, it really doesn't look that hard of a level, but it is! Ugh! I really want to see the rest of the pack, but because I don't skip around, I won't be able to until I get Black Hole 1 solved

[kaywhyn]

In case you haven't heard, at the very end of April I was finally able to get the final level of Revenge of the Lemmings for New Formats NL solved after being stuck on it for 4 months. geoo's Stroke At Retirement Age is a very worthy level to finish off the pack despite it not being anywhere near the hardest level of the pack, though it's certainly one of the hardest.

Spoiler

It turns out to use the exact same concept as another level of geoo's, Merge Sort, another level that I really struggled with and took me a long time before I solved it with a very messy and fiddly solution that involves the very long waiting game. I simply failed to make that connection for a very long time and hence I didn't think to use a lemming around the middle of the 99RR train to do the mining instead of either the first or the last one. Before I made this realization, the level did a great job of making me think the intended solution was something completely different, when in fact I had had the solution the entire time in the last several minutes of the penultimate video of my LP.

However, that's not the greatest news. About a few weeks after finishing up RotL for New Formats NL, earlier this month, I was finally able to get Black Hole 1 solved from NepsterLems last week on Tuesday (May 16, 2023, level image in above post). I proceeded to solve the rest of the level pack in just two days after that. So, it might had taken me 3 years, but I finally have solved all of NepsterLems

As for BH1 itself, there is a spoiler contained which shows the part I missed in the nearly 3 years I was stuck on this level circled in red, so don't open if you plan to play the level yourself! I seriously can't believe I didn't see that critical spot in the almost 3 years the level stumped me

Spoiler

Before I realized that critical junction where the basher goes, I kept doing everything from the right side. In the end, I would have a basher left, but to my annoyance and chagrin, at the very top where you can get them down, they will fall and land right by the pole on the other side and therefore the level isn't solved


Also, the floater and 7 save requirement distracted me for a very long time, as well as the bunch of red herrings that I never really ruled out as incorrect, such as the many gaps that are not sealable by 1 pixel.

After announcing on the Discord that I finally solved all of NepsterLems after 3 years, I received messages of congratulations from several of the Forums members. I have copied/pasted them here.

kieranmillar — 05/18/2023 2:01 PM
Well done! Your dedication, persistence, and also discipline in not looking up a solution in 3 years, is very impressive.

Will — 05/18/2023 5:16 PM
@kaywhyn Congratulations on solving Nepsterlems!

SQron — 05/19/2023 3:17 AM
@kaywhyn You solved all the Nepsterlems levels? That is an achievement not to be underestimated!

Pooty — 05/19/2023 4:27 AM
That must feel so damn good. (Referring to how I said that I have solved all the really hard level packs, such as Lemmings United, Lemmings Plus Omega 2, Lemmings Plus Alpha, and finally NepsterLems)

Armani — 05/20/2023 12:09 AM
Hey congratulation for finishing the pack!   You escaped the nightmare of blackholes and no lemmings level can stop you now!

Then there's this from me:

it might have taken 3 years, but nepsterlems is finally all solved!

The message of mine above received a lem:thumbsup reaction from mobius, kieran, and armani.

Therefore, thank you to mobius, kieran, armani, WillLem, SQRon188, and Pooty for their congratulations However, somehow I don't feel all 100% happy about this achievement, and I don't know why. It might likely be due to how I was stuck on BH1 for almost 3 years, when everyone else who had solved the level needed at most only 1-2 hours. Not me apparently. I needed almost 3 years!

Thus, this kind of made me wondered why I received all these congratulations and whether I truly deserved them. Was it because of the fact it took me 3 years to solve all of the level pack? The fact it's one of the hardest packs? Maybe both? Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful and grateful to those who showered me with praise on my achievement of solving all of the pack. Maybe how I'm not completely happy about it is just simply another case of me being too hard on myself. I did, after all, solve all of a really hard pack that not many would be able to. And I did it all without hints too! Yes, that includes BH1 even though I got very desperate and nearly wanted to throw in the towel several times. Nevertheless, I held back, and I especially would never ever forgive myself if I did look up a spoiler for the level, especially one that is in only the classic 8 skills.

I'll be honest, and that is it was really kieran who gave me the push to get BH1 solved, as he was the most recent one to solve it after I posted my rant about the level (the post immediately above this one) in this topic. By this, I mean the frequency I kept coming back to the level hoping I would finally see something that would help me get the level solved increased significantly. So, thank you kieran for giving me the motivation there! I assured him there was no need for his apology that he got the level solved before me, as there's bound to be levels like that that just stump me far longer than they should. BH1 happened to be one of them, all due to my "blindness" and failure to see anything else besides the ways that I kept being stuck on and trying to make work.

Needless to say, know that it's no one's fault I feel this way, as there are times when I feel and get all down about myself and wonder why I'm not good enough. However, sometimes I just need a reminder from others that I am worth it and am not completely worthless. 

[kaywhyn]

Back near the end of 2020, I blogged about Jeopardy host Alex Trebek and his untimely passing to pancreatic cancer:

https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.msg89374#msg89374

This post will be about Pat Sajak and his recent retirement from hosting duties. For those who aren't aware, Pat Sajak is known as being the host of the American game show Wheel of Fortune. This game is essentially like Hangman but with some cash and other prizes and goodies thrown in. In this game, 3 contestants are pitted against each other as indicated by colors: red, yellow, and blue. They spin a wheel with various slots and call out a letter they think might be in the puzzle. Vanna White, the co-host of Wheel of Fortune, reveals those letters on any squares that are highlighted. In earlier seasons of the show, Vanna White would physically turn them over to reveal the letters, but in later versions the squares simply turn blue, and I believe what happens here is that she just touches the bottom right corner of it to reveal the letters, or maybe all that's needed is just for her hand to be close by to the square for them to be revealed. I think it's been the latter for a long time.

The contestant with the most money at the end of the show does a final round where first any instances of R, S, T, L, N, and E are revealed before Sajak needs the contestant to give 3 more consonants and a vowel. After that, the contestant has 10 seconds to guess what they think the puzzle is with any of the letters that were revealed. If they succeed, they get whatever prize was revealed with the card that got selected. They range from prizes like extra money, a trip to another country, etc. If they don't succeed, then they don't get the prize that is opened behind the letter card that got selected.

There's a bit more than what I described above regarding the show, but you can always read about the game show on Wikipedia. Of course, if you've seen the show, then you likely already know how it works in general

Anyway, yesterday was Sajak's final Wheel of Fortune episode as host. In contrast to Alex Trebek's final Jeopardy episode as host before his death, I didn't get to watch the episode, as I was out with my dad when the episode was on TV. I did however watch some Youtube videos on his retirement. Not sure where I can watch the actual episode itself, though.

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune were the two game shows I watched a lot as a kid, though the latter more than the former due to being too young and not really understanding how Jeopardy worked. This continued for some time until I lost interest and didn't really watch either one as I was growing up. My revived interest in Jeopardy came back the summer of 2004, before my sophomore year of high school, when Ken Jennings was in the midst of his amazing mega winning streak on Jeopardy. This was the first season in which the 5-day win limit was removed and contestants can now keep winning indefinitely. Before Jennings, Tom Walsh was the first contestant to win more than 5 games after the limit was removed, 7 I believe. From that point on, I pretty much watched Jeopardy daily for about the next 19 years or so, while not really watching Wheel of Fortune at all.

As for why I haven't been watching Jeopardy for the last several months, I honestly think I simply lost interest. Ironic, considering that Jennings is like my trivia idol and therefore you would think that I would keep watching because he's now permanent host of Jeopardy. I'm still a fan of trivia, but perhaps another thing that factors in is just how Jennings was pretty much point on in his first episode as host, where he states that "no one can really replace Trebek." I have to agree with him there. It definitely was a pretty rude awakening to all of a sudden watch Jeopardy without Trebek as host, something that I very used to for the last several years when he was and I tuned into the show daily. Kind of reminds me of Simpsons, where I did watch it daily for years until I finally lost interest in it near the end of high school, I believe. Still, it surprises me that it's still going. The show is pretty much my age!

Well, to Sajak, happy retirement and best of luck with your future endeavors! At least we got to see him retire, which the same unfortunately can't be said about Trebek, as he ended up passing before he could. Sajak did need to get surgery about a year or two before he retired yesterday, but he made it through that. Also, I haven't yet read up on why he decided to retire, so I'll need to get on that!

[kaywhyn]

As it's still Tuesday, August 13 where I am, this means there's still about another 10 minutes of this special day, which is Left-Handers Day. As the name suggests, it's simply to celebrate all those in the world who are left-handed. I know there's some here in this community who are left-handed. Off the top of my head, I believe geoo (just my guess from a pic Simon posted when geoo and him had their in-person meetup last year, where he was using a computer mouse with his left), mantha, and Shmoley are? There's likely way more than this, given there's about 540 members registered on this site and that the estimate of left-handed people in the world is 12%.

A picture that I found which is currently my temporary profile picture on Facebook in honor of Left-Handers Day today:

My case is pretty interesting. I was born left-handed but I was robbed of this gift growing up. For whatever reason, my grandpa didn't want me writing with my left. You see, it's considered bad manners in the Vietnamese culture to write with your left. However, I grew up in the USA my entire life, and there isn't anything prohibiting that here. Alas, my grandpa was pretty strict about it and still holding onto the Vietnamese culture of things. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to be a Vietnamese-American, but I should had been allowed to write with my left, as that's how I am naturally.

In the summer of 2017, I made it a goal to practice writing with my left in order to reacquire this natural gift of mine that I was supposed to have grown up with. It was slow at first, but I made pretty good progress for 3 weeks before I stopped and haven't come back to it since. I do have pics of my writing with my left which I may or may not post at some later time. So, I'm essentially back to square 1 with left-hand writing as it's been about 7 years since I last did that. Perhaps it's time for me to take it up again for good, especially as I'm not currently going to school or taking classes and therefore I won't have any coursework to slow me down as a result. The summer I started practicing I was taking education courses for the teaching credential program I was in. I found that writing with my left was slowing me down considerably with my assignments for the courses! Therefore, I gave up on that and just went back to writing with my right for the rest of the credential program and haven't taken up left-hand writing since.

One thing I should mention is that there is a misconception that handedness is determined by which hand you write with. This is not true. Rather, it's determined by which hand you use more. Even though I write with my right, I use my left way more than my right in my daily life: Eating, holding stuff, playing sports like basketball and bowling, etc. This therefore supports that I'm a natural born left-handed person and hence should had grown up writing with my left had it not been for my grandpa.

True ambidextrousness is extremely rare. By this, it means you can use both hands equally for any activity you do. Instead, more common is mixed-handedness, where you can do certain activities better with your left than your right and vice versa. I remember I once met an instructor at a summer program I did at a university/college institute who was ambidextrous. The first thing he did when he entered the classroom was demonstrate and show off his ambidextrousness by writing with both hands on the board at the exact same time. I was very blown away by it, as was everyone else in present in the room. I believe it was his name he wrote on the board? I don't remember.

I'm not the only left-handed person in my family. My dad is too, and so you can pretty much say that I inherited being left-handed from my dad. He's just like me in that he writes with his right, also being subjected to the same thing by my grandpa (his dad) who didn't want him writing with his left. So really, my grandpa robbed the both of us of our left-hand writing.

In addition, I have a brother-in-law who is originally from Georgia who is also left-handed. I'm not sure when I found out he was left-handed like me, but I'm almost certain it was at a time when we were eating out and I just happened to take notice of him eating with his left hand.

I have extended family who are also left-handed but I would need to ask my cousins about that, as it's not often I see them. I've also met a few left-handed people in some college courses I took back when I lived away for college for 4 years.

August 12 - Middle Child Day

Missed it yesterday, but I'll go ahead and insert it in the post too. Yesterday was Middle Child Day. Again, as the name says, it's to celebrate those people who are the middle child among their siblings. I too am a middle child, being the middle of 3, between my older brother and our baby sister. So, this means I'm a middle child who is also left-handed, surely a very rare breed I think my brother-in-law has an older sister and so there's just them two.

Just remember that with each newborn after the first child that you're the baby until the next one comes along. Meaning, I was the new baby of the family when I came almost two years after my brother, and then I was the baby until my sister was born nearly 4.5 years after me.

[Mobiethian]

I really enjoy your blog, kaywhyn, keep going with it. Your recent post is really interesting as well, thanks for sharing!

[namida]

One thing that's interesting on the subject of handedness - in humans of course, right-handedness is more common. However, in birds, it seems left-handedness (or rather, left-footedness, I guess) is more common - almost every parrot I've known that can hold their food in their foot, uses their left foot to do so, aside from one macaw who seems ambidextrous.