So, I have here this blog that I have so lovingly hand crafted in a glorified ASCII text editor. Some thousands of dollars of marketable man hours all of them for free, all of them for me. So, in an attempt to get my money's worth out of all my hard word, I will attempt a blog post every day in June.

It's not like I don't have things to blog about. After all, I just moved to a new town, into my own apartment (all by my lonesome this time); my brother and I are having a bit of a game programming contest (again); more words (followed by some in parenthesis).

Interestingly enough, I am at a loss with what to do with all this "free time" I have acquired. I don't have cool, awesome bros to hang out with all the time and with my huge commute gone, I've got another couple hours added on to my day.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've got tons of shit to keep me entertained. There are games to be played, movies to be watched, things to be programmed, shit to be filmed and motion to be graphicsed. And yet, I find myself spending most of my time just surfing the internet, napping and being bored. Perhaps I'm just on the slow, rising edge of the curve and will get used to it later.

There is, of course, the additional items that I must do in order to sustain life that I did not have to before: cooking and cleaning, primarily. I must make my own food or, if I'm feeling too lazy to do that, must get unlazy enough to go and procure some from a vendor of nourishment. On the whole, I prefer to spend less money for food that will negate my feeble efforts to maintain some semblance of fitness (more on this later).

The most annoying part of making my own food is the fact that I must wash a variety of various instruments just to do so (this is where the cleaning comes in). All is well and good once this is done, but then said instruments must then be dirtied again. It's a vicious cycle.

Okay, so there are some thoughts for today (made it with a little over an hour to spare). I'll try to conjure up some good lunchtime thoughts or perhaps code snippets to make the rest of the month more than just my mundane, nichijou.

Hello, mother. It has now been over two weeks since I opened my wings and began life on my own. All has been fine with the exception of one problem that seems to have sprung up - your dirty antics with food preparation.

Yes, that's right. You decided that it would be a fantastic idea to make God's gift to man, this Memorial Day weekend. And that gift was potato salad. You made it knowing full well that I would not be there to partake of the feast. You made it knowing full well that it would drag back my brothers who were having a most excellent weekend at my bachelor pad.

Well, despite your best attempts I am not mad. I am not bitter, sorrowful or sad. For you see, Okasa, I am well within the means to make my own potato salad - a potato salad hewn from the kitchen of my own sweat and tears. A march of miles to acquire the ingredients needed to concoct this wonder of man. And, even if your own salad of tubers had been constructed of motherly love, the due hardships that I had to face in brewing my own makes the deliciousness become exponentially more so.

So, there it is, mia madre. You will have to try harder in the future to tempt me with your foody ways. But, beware. This is a road difficult and wrought with many perils, perils such as a public "shaming" on a blog read by scant few per month. Fear what I have created!

Dear Mom (and Family),

You would make me read something emotional at work. I'll get you for that >_>. But now on to seriousness.

The last twenty-five years have certainly been an experience. Be it good times, bad times or anything in between, you guys have always been there and, more importantly, we've always been together no matter the situation. I don't think I can convey just how important that has been to me, but I can certainly tell you that it has helped to shape my very core. Even just the simple act of eating together and conversing about whatever is something that I've especially come to appreciate the last few years, something I will sorely miss.

The other item I specifically want to express my gratitude for is your openness. Being open about situations in the family, open about the pursuit of my passions, open about your thoughts on whatever situation I had to throw at you. I cannot tell you how important it's been to me and my development as a person to experience the world for what it is, not through some rose-colored, sheltered glasses. Has it always been easy? Fuck no, that's not how the world works! But like was said, we learn from mistakes, be it our own or others and I've certainly learned a lot just from failing and I plan to continue to fail and learn from those failures in the future.

I also want to apologize myself for all the dumbass things that I've done, both as a child and as an adult who should know better. So, for every hole I put in a wall, every object I've thrown, every hurtful word I've ever uttered, every bear I freed from a baby mobile: I'm sorry.

You guys are the most kick ass family that I could possibly ever have asked for and I love all of you. I only hope that I can raise my own family to be a fraction as awesome as you all have been.

Rock on!

-- Matt Hackmann

P.S. I was trying to choke the life out of that cat. It doesn't look it, but there was malicious intent >_>

OP: As you leave home - A letter to my son

I'm moving in mid-May, apartment has been procured and packing has begun. Now that all that's out of the way, let's focus on more important things.

Through various happenings and goings on, two of my brothers and I challenged each other to a drawing contest of sorts. We would each choose a picture to draw and all three of us would have to draw said pictures. Over the course of three hours this afternoon we engaged in the most passive aggressive combat of all time.

Before I leap into the pictures themselves, a quick overview of who my challengers were. First was my 14-year-old brother Steve and second was my 11-year-old brother Joe. Was this a fair fight with me being 24? No, no it was not. Onward!

Continue Reading

Well, it's once again that time of year. Wait... I've never done this before.

In celebration of the upcoming Easter season, I have gone and hidden an easter egg right here my little ol' website. I task you, my wonderful viewers, to find this easter egg and, once you've found it, post either a screen shot or description of the egg right here in the comments. The first person to find it just very well may get a prize of some sort (maybe an old game I don't want or a drawing or whatever).

SO! Put on your detective eyes and clicking things, scrutinizing pixels, inspecting source code, whatever. How will you know you've found it? Oh, trust me. You'll know...

Good luck!