Three Dollar Quill

I realized that I could simplify the PICO-8 code in a few ways:

• Because the grid lines are uniform, I can use sspr to draw the middle bits all at once, which cuts down on draw calls and lets me get rid of the intersection sprite.
• I don't have winline rendering yet, but I was dreading writing the code to handle diagonals, because it would have involved fiddly logic in which there's N internal bits but N+1 nubbins on either side, which is tricky to iterate over. I realized I could eliminate this by shifting the pieces over to the side by one pixel. This moves N nubbins into the internal section, eliminating the draws, expands N nubbins, which is fine, and the remaining 2 nubbins get absorbed into the end pieces. The end result is I still need to iterate spr calls to make this work, but all of the iterations match and I only need two calls outside the iteration, which is nice aesthetically. I just need to remember to deflect the draws 1 pixel to the side, when I do the logic.

I've been in all-day meetings at work, so I'm exhausted, and will continue to be so. The main thing I accomplished earlier today was to notice that performance on my work laptop improved when I closed all the text editor windows I had open, so I cut down on the windows on this laptop as well, and it's... probably not worse?

Yesterday, before the exhaustion set in, I bought one of the books I was interested in. Actually, I bought it, and the book it's apparently a sequel to, because they were in a two-pack for a dollar more. As I said, I'm exhausted, so I gave myself a target of just the first chapter. The first chapter is from the male character's viewpoint, and he's kind of a pompous ass, so I'm kind of hoping this takes the tack of "he's ignoring his capacity to be a good person and improves himself" rather than "the heroine reforms the bad boy". My wife feels way stronger about that cliché than I do, I think, but I'm still, like, I hope the book I bought is, like, good.

It would be good for me, I think, if I could get more comfortable with extending trust to the author to start with, rather than watching for (or imagining) the slightest sign of weakness. I try to avoid being antagonistic to other people because it was tearing me up inside, and being antagonistic towards media I'm consuming... doesn't feel as bad, but it mostly doesn't feel good.

I'd read more tonight, but I am (again) exhausted and I want to get ready for bed early.