Quarterly Goals Recap - March 2019

Read the original goal post here.

Phone Lock Screen Reminder; Source unknown

I'm here to write. Write I did. What I've been up to these last three months:

What Were My Goals?

1. First Draft of Shallow Seas
1. Failed. This is all on me. I wrote some +100K words. Most of that ended up in outlines that were rewritten and scrapped. One-and-a-half months spent on that. Heck, I have another outline. I learned I need to be faster on outlining and commit earlier. For now, I can get this draft done, my first draft of a novel-length work! (Almost there - another quarter should have it written.)
2. Time Efficiency
1. Won. From spending 40-50% of my time on what I categorize as time wasters (commuting, internet browsing) and chores (hygiene, food, cleaning), I'm sitting nicely at 25-26.5%! By any measure, this is a huge improvement. The goal was to get below 33% of time spent on these activities; the goal now is to maintain it.
3. Be Assertive
1. Won. I am asking more for what I want. I fear less of saying the word 'no'. There's a lot of improvement to be made here, though I think I'm on my way to... Better decisiveness? Self command? Self respect? Anyway, it's a good place to be.
4. Voice Acting Credit
1. Failed. Totally missed this. Time spent on writing Shallow Seas might have been split up to take on voice work. However, to attempt equal time for both would guarantee the mediocrity of each. I've learned a lot having two creative endeavors in one quarter.
5. Marathon Capacity
1. Failed. As soon as I posted this goal, I went for another half-marathon practice run in December. Only now, three months later, is the rough scar fading. I certainly need better shoes and socks if a full marathon is to be adequately trained for. The tangential benefit is that I spent more time on the low-impact stationary bike!
6. Play Games
1. Failed. I have an entry in my time tracking software for 'Pleasure - Games'. I have only now in the last week spent more time playing video games (six hours) than I have in the entirety of the last three months. This article sums up the paralysis I'm working on overcoming in not just game playing, but in many aspects of what is termed 'self care'.
7. Read
1. Won. Maybe. I'm doing this somewhat. Nearly every night before getting ready for bed or in the middle of a weekend's afternoon I'll settle down for an hour of physical browsing. I will do more of this, but that's a general statement of 'protect and value your time to yourself'. So for now, let's chalk this up to a win.

43% success rate. Ouch. And even after (temporarily) ending my time as a Couchsurfing host! Can I recover from that supposed failure? What are the lessons, the return, from all of this?

For one, be a lot faster in the brainstorming and outlining stages of writing - I wrote a full outline of Shallow Seas with everything but world description and dialogue, only to throw that out.

Another thing would be to have only one creative, product-generating goal in a quarter. Getting to voice acting felt as a drag on my psyche after spending two hours every morning writing on Shallow Seas. I must focus and there's only so much focus to go around.

Generally, protect my time. Really think about saying 'yes' to anything. 'No' ought to be the default; "if it's not a HELL YES, it's a no".

What's for next time? Here's a shortlist of some considerations:

• Finish Shallow Seas's first draft.
• Make a JimmyChattin.com website.
• Edit a bunch of written short stories.
• Spend a little less time on others.
• Leverage certain financial saving opportunities.

Heck, maybe I'll just hire a life coach March 1st. Do you know one?

Quarterly Goals - March 2019

Phone Lock Screen Reminder; Source unknown.

My Goals Due March 2019

1. Draft 1 Shallow Seas
1. Shallow Seas is a working title for this Hero's Journey that steps off of Campbell's wheel at times because actions have consequences. Severe consequences.
   Have an outline (8500 words), but it needs much more. Finish the outline, finish the first draft. This I'll do by March.
2. Time Efficiency
1. I am unhappy wasting time. Right now chores and what I literally categorize as "waste time" take up anywhere from 40% to 50%, mainly resting in food prep, cleaning, and commuting.
   The goal here is to get that time to be less than one-third of my weekly spending. Moving to a new office five minutes away will help a lot, but more work might be needed (or in need of being cut) to achieve this outcome.
3. Be Assertive
1. Simply put, I'm too non-confrontational. It's literally my most recognized, positive trait. However, there's a darker side, too.
   
   A few events have happened in this last quarter where not practicing assertiveness has caused negative outcomes not only for myself, but for others. To reduce how I hurt others, I must serve myself with the favor of expressing directly my wants and needs. Here is where I'll start.
4. Voice Acting Credit
1. From last quarter, I have a demo reel. It should be changed, but I have the knowledge to do that, too. It's fun to make voices, to act with play emotion, and I will be unhappy to not have tried being an accredited voice actor, at least once.
5. Marathon Capacity
1. I want to be able to run a marathon. Do I actually need to compete in one? No. The goal is to be able to do a practice marathon (this is nearly universally not recommended), if not dip my toe into a competition this Spring.
6. Play Games
1. A very important conversation with a very important person helped me realize I need to enjoy life. From that, there are four areas I revel in, those being: Do well, daydream, be present, and serve.
   
   Games can accomplish two, possibly three, of those for me. Four, if by 'serve' means serving my future self, not burning out on the non-consequential tedium of the day-to-day, but to glory in this thing called life.
   
   How am I going to measure this? Not sure yet - heck of a SMART goal, right? But I will track time spent enjoying myself, possibly scheduling it in and defending it (#Assertiveness!).
7. Read
1. I've stopped reading. Yes, there are audiobooks, and yes, I browse articles and the like. But what of a thing I must take in with my eyes, to focus my hands and gaze and mind on?
   Books are going to start appearing at my bedside and novels will appear on my phone, accessible within two clicks. I will not give up on reading, nor, dare I say, should you.

Let's see about accomplishing more than 50% of these seven plans for myself. What do you want to give your future self?

Listening to Kaszimir's Flag while putting this together. While on YouTube, checkout Jenna Moreci, the inspiration for these quarterly goals.

Original photo; Source unknown.

P.S. Picked this quarter's image based on having a 'vision' of a new story premise, a combination of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, the theme being that knowledge is a terrible thing. Robots, lots of fire, loss of innocence, sexy firefighters, the pitch may need some work :)

Quarterly Goals Recap - December 2018

Where have the three months gone!? Truly, time flies.

Just as truly, 2018 has been the year of self-discovery and definition. Between flexing my capabilities in software development, getting a better taste of project management, traveling abroad, writing, and putting pen-to-paper when it comes to what I want to accomplish in life, possibilities are both growing and solidifying.

Of the extreme danger of sounding more vague, simply put, I am.

Enough of that for now. Let's talk about what we set about to do three months ago and where we are now, three months hence.

What Were My Goals?

1. Stream 100 Days
1. Won. Verbatim, a stream didn't happen consistently for 100 days, nor did a schedule get strictly adhered to. Why? Two things: First, I liked engaging with viewers, but they weren't the reason I showed up on stream; they were a passive byproduct of me merely making public work that interested me. Second, spending two weeks in India with followup on either end of the trip put the nail in the coffin of "is streaming for me".
2. Voice Work
1. Failed. Did I learn how to voice act? Yes. Did I study, making a sample reel of voices? Yes. Did this get sent out, or myself apply to even gigs for free to try for accreditation? No.
   
   I really enjoy acting with my voice, so will I pursue more voice acting ventures? Most likely.
3. Creative Writing
1. Won. A story on my mind for awhile has been outlined. Certain fluid parts have solidified. That, and a balance-sheet of the stories I'd like to write has been put together. This sheet, which includes things other than writing, will be where future goals get drawn from.
4. Say No!
1. Failed. The (spectacular) failure here involves other people. I need to remove that weakness, being more assertive, and feeling more compassion for my future self more often than for the needs of others. Assertiveness is feedback from multiple folks in multiple scenes of my life, so there's something to it.

Despite having only four goals laid out this time, we're still 50% for success. Hey, at least I'm consistent!

What has been learned:

• Don't fear dropping an exploratory goal (eg streaming) early if it really does not click.
• Be assertive. Become more militant in protecting time.
• I like voice acting.
• I really like writing.
• I really enjoy putting together spreadsheets!

During the last three months, a balance sheet of life goals has been put together and quantitatively evaluated. My five purposes in life have been distilled into four. Four 'buckets' of enjoyment have also been defined, though singular activities from these buckets may need to be specified for time's sake.

But what's next? It's clear more 'me' time is necessary, as well as writing. Things for the day job may be considered, including scheduling time off work. Whatever happens, we'll see more in the next post. Cheers for now!

Quarterly Goals Recap - September 2018

This has been a tough last three months. With a huge project having dropped at work, it's exposed that I need to better protect my time and interests, though I need to better clarify what those interests are.

If you're wondering what this "Quarterly Goals" thing is, check out my previous recap or the outline for this past quarter.

What Were My Goals?

1. Get a working prototype of a game Tech Dungeon (working title).
1. Failed. As this quarter was winding down, I was running out of time. I did find programmers that could take on the task while my contribution was a design spec. The trigger failed to be pulled on getting this prototype ready.
2. Write letters to my past selves.
1. Failed. No letters written, hardly an outline. These were to be pieces of life advice, though even that is getting turned around as I type.
3. World-build the Diesel Dark (working title) universe.
1. Failed. It's unclear what I have here. World-building, story outlines, but what's different about it? Seemingly little from its inspiration Warhammer 40k. The best that can be said about it is that I've enough to use the IP as a converted outlet for any current or future WH40K fan fiction!
4. Blog twice monthly.
1. Failed. Kept up for the first month, only went half-way the second month, and here in August the blog has been neglected. I'm learning something: I prefer not to write copy! That, and what do I have to say? There's still so much to learn...
5. Clear Facebook and Reddit of saved content.
1. Won. Pretty darn clean. The best part was sparking off a huge Facebook discussion on a years-old post all because I 'liked' the thing!
6. Record all saved Warhammer 40K loglines.
1. Failed. Got started moving these hundreds of loglines for plots, characters, settings, and gameplay items. Could finish in a weekend, but would it be anything but "shuffling papers" around?
7. Let go of a bunch of material things.
1. Failed. Got rid of some, still have a lot. Could stick them all in a box for donation... Not ready to do that, so some will get donated while others will eventually be up for sale.
8. Refresh C# knowledge.
1. Won. So much covered! And so much new stuff learned in the project at the job that's been taking up attention... Plus, a lot of C++ cramming took place for interviews. (There's a story how these talks went and how I'm maybe being a little more flexible in career considerations~)
9. Visit the family.
1. Won. Got to see the cats - have to chalk that up as a win.
10. Last Will and Testament.
1. Won. This sucker is good to go! Any next steps would be sending out information packets with Will copies to a few folks for safe keeping.
11. (Two personal goals.)
1. Won (both). Some important things got done. I'm better equipped for the future because of the effort.

Phone Lock Screen Reminder; Photo by Alex Konstrad

Six out of twelve. Not too good. So what went askew? First, no timelines - this was all done 'seat-of-the-pants' style, allowing time to slip away. Second, no dedicated time to work on goals was allocated - it was all ad hoc, taking a few minutes here, a few there. Third, easy distractions that took away from goal-time weren't corrected for or made up. Lastly, some of the goals were not part of who I am - not enjoyable, not profitable.

How to make better games and other things? I'm thinking either 1) expanding the goal list to include day-job activities, but those aren't always dictated by me; or, 2) condensing the number of goals and improving the quality (fewer trivial pieces of low-hanging fruit).

Because I subscribe to 'work-life separation', the next quarter's goals will seek to reduce the number of goals but make their impact / quality much higher. This'll start with defining my 'Purpose', followed by goal brainstorming, then followed-up on creating timelines versus 'winging it' (what's been business so far). A new, massive task is on the horizon at the day-job, so we'll see how well time and attention can be protected!

Sound good? Good. Hope to have you along as I continue this trek to accomplish more :)

Multitasking, Distraction, and (Not) Doing

Greetings, busy person! Fellow many-priorities person here.

Have problems with multitasking? It's become well known that multitasking is dangerous. Other than being ineffective, multitasking can cause brain damage, lowering IQ, and that's just the start.

There's so much science behind trying to multitask (including popular case-study accounts like The One Thing by Gary Keller or The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker) it's clear humans are meant to do one thing at a time.

Just don't multitask. Period. (Quick post, no?)

If you'd care for a the influential remarks that came to me about multitasking, read on!

Multitasking, Distraction, and (Not) Doing

Book cover from Amazon.com

Reading Kenneth S. Rubin's book Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process hit me like a brick. It covers project development and management, though some real gold comes from the exercises. Here's one (try it yourself):

Set a timer, then say or write the following characters. Start by going row by row; record the time. Next, finish each column before trying the next; compare the times:

Image edited from Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Practices

What do your times look like? Taking a guess, the row-by-row was a lot more time intensive than the column-by-column, or single-category attempt.

Mr. Rubin's test shows that multitasking such simple things as reciting together the alphabet and numbers destroys performance. Sticking to a single frame of mind saves time, if not also sanity.

Still think you can get away with multitasking? Try the test above again, but with some 'help': Turn on YouTube News, crank some music, and set a timer for ten seconds.

Those results aren't good.

This is interruption, distraction. Banes for those trying to get things done. It happens when watching (having to find a lost spot on the page or context of a scene), listening ("Could you repeat that?"), doing.

Interrupted or distracted 'doing' is especially harmful. 'Doing' is active, while hearing and seeing are naturally passive. Actions that become interrupted or distracted are like a speeding train that needs to stop (derailing) or gets onto the wrong track (oops), like a car where "they came out of nowhere" or that drifts into the other lane.

Don't 'do' during distraction.

'No longer doing' image from Pexels.com

Part of interruption can be putting something off for awhile. "Now's not a good time," you say. Well, the time gets good.

Or maybe you'd like to dust off one of those postponed projects. What you'll be faced with there is likely to be either:

1. Irrelevant items (e.g. that blog outline predicting the outcome of the 2016 election does little in 2018)
2. Analysis paralysis (there are so many things I could start again, maybe I'll organize them - I can't work in a cluttered environment, can I? [/sarcasm])
3. Where to begin (where was I on project X?)

Or all of the above. Interruptions do happen (though you're working on negating them, right?). But just because something has had some effort invested doesn't warrant sinking more into the cost.

Thus the importance of no-to-do lists. When the majority of humanity lived in poverty, being able to do more was a sign of wealth. Now, when everyone - everyone - can do everything and wanting to do it all at once (multitasking), elites separate themselves over what they'll not do. From Tim Ferriss to Warren Buffet, success correlates with suppressing the 'noise' of virtually infinite possibility.

A wall doesn't have all its bricks laid at once, but one at a time. As such, picking a strength or two, a priority (maybe two), and sticking with them guarantees outcomes vs. their purgatory of being interrupted in multitasking.

Monotasking, Focus, and Exclusivity

We do better when working on one thing that has 100% attention. That doesn't mean other tasks are off the 'to-do' list, but there's only one place at the top. And that list? Carefully curated by excluding as much as possible from it so only the right work is done.

Now go forth, you hyper efficient person! Avoid multitasking multiples of 'doing', distracted 'doing', and 'doing' everything. You, your work, and those around you will be better for it.

(I know I am.)

My Overtime Experiences

This week marks (hopefully) the end of 3 weeks of serious overtime (60+ hours a week, 6-7 days a week). Needless to say, I've been thinking a lot about overtime... Let's talk about it.

Quarterly Goals Recap - June 2018

Quarterly Goals?

Quarterly Goals are the well thought about activities and accomplishments I want to see done within a three month time span. There should be more than what can be accomplished though all and more must be aimed for. At the end of the quarter, a public post is made. What the goals were, their pass / fail state, and what the next quarter brings are all covered. (Nothing like public accountability!)

Author, vlogger, and cyborg Jenna Moreci (link to her Youtube channel) uses this system and is what I'm basing the work on. Her descriptions go in depth on the concept, so should you like to adopt the process, check her out. Follow along here regardless!

What Were My Goals?

For my first partial-quarter (only two months) trying out Quarterly Goals, I kept it loose with eleven parts:

1. Sell all my excess books.
2. Update my personal schedule.
3. Prototype a real-time, text-based dungeon crawler.
4. Prototype a Hotline Miami meets DOOM game.
5. Outline a larger fan fiction of the Warhammer 40,000 Emperor of Humanity's unknown past.
6. Rewrite three separate short stories based on feedback on.
7. Rewrite a novella based on feedback of other stories.
8. Only binge three meals a week.
1. Some background on this: After following Tim Ferriss through a number of his books and studies, I read The 4-Hour Body, his book on health. 
9. Post a video of myself on social media once a week.
10. Upload two projects to GitHub.
11. Finish a video game.

To remind myself, these goals were kept on my phone's lock screen so never should I forget:

(Image by Raoni Nery)

So, did I win the past few months? ... Let's say this is a learning experience.

Sell All Books

Failed. Only a single book of two or three dozen was sold (and for a pittance). The failure came from me using only Craigslist vs. Amazon Seller and bundling the books.

Update Schedule

Won. Calendar is clear with minimal additions. Further, a new morning routine is in place to maximize my accomplishments. That includes: Getting up at 6 AM everyday no matter what, writing / contributing to my quarterly goals first thing, then working out before the day job.

Real-Time, Text-Based Prototype

Failed. Not a complete failure, the prototype only has text recognition and some structures defined for code implementation. I know what I want to do - the next steps are to finish something demonstrable.

Hybrid Game Prototype

Failed. Even an attempt was abstained from. I may consider hiring someone in the future to render the prototype to specification later.

Fan Fic Outline

Won. Does an outline count if includes two branching possible narratives for the main character? I'm currently undecided.

Short Story Rewrites

Won. These were longer edits than anticipated. Nevertheless, I'm happy with the results. Any next step would have other folks critique them!

Novella Rewrite

Failed. The short stories took longer than expected, playing on my lack of planning.

Three Meal Binges

Won. I might get away with two in a week. Regardless, three works for me and I'll continue this experiment going forward.

Social Media Videos

Won. Success came merely as a technicality. Yes, videos were uploaded every week, but were they engaging? Provocative? A contribution to the world? I can do better.

GitHub Uploads

Won. Uploaded three older projects to GitHub! They don't reflect my current abilities. Instead, they serve as reminders to me that I can do things.

Finish a Video Game

Failed. Tried my hand at Darkest Dungeon. A very engaging game, but it had a repetitiveness and obvious setting back of playtime if mistakes were made. After attempting to complete it, I decided time was better invested in accomplishing other goals.

Six out of eleven isn't too bad for a first shot, but I'm a +90% kind of guy. A few things at home will be better regulated while I learn to say 'no' more easily.

Thus concludes the last quarter. Since this is long, look for the next post where I go over the goals due by September! (I promise to keep it short!)

IGDA Nanocon '12 Notes - The Lens of Truth

(Games of Taste - Notes from Nanocon '12.)

The Lens of Truth: Real World Adaptive Level Design

Speakers: Chris Totten (Art Director E4 Software) and Josh Lynsen (Creator of StreetPass Network)

How did we get here?

                How Chris got here:

• Architecture Masters.
• Self education in Blender.
• Teaching on game development.
• Writing on game development.
• Doing game development.
• Advice: Be self-motivated.  Put the time in.  It will work for you if you keep your head down and hit the grind-stone.

                How Josh got here:

• Took the skill in his day job and applied it to what he wanted to do in game making.
• Does things that apply to a part of game making.

Discussion

Use virtual clues for real-life treasure.

How to deal with structures that already exist

                Use Urbanism

                                - Large spaces can keep people away from each-other

                                - Paths, districts, nodes, landmarks allow for meeting

                Connectivity

                                - Cell phones/internet create a damaging interaction issue

Adaptive Game Reuse - take a game and re-center it around a place

                1. Games that enhance

                                - Simple mechanics to real-world situation

                                - Ex: item finding to explore locations

                                - Ex: virtual art/characters in real locations

                2. Games that pervade

                                - Events can only be executed in specific locations

                                - Going from point A to B affects the virtual world

                                - Ex: passing someone in life gives virtual goods/action

                3. Games that rehabilitate

                                - Jane Megonigle

                                                - Works on games that makes the world better

                                                - Gamify basic actions in a positive way

                                                - Ex: Tombstone Hold'em, Cruel to be Kind

                                - Gamifying a common feature/location

Chris and Josh: Creating a ‘Hometown social game’

1. Goals
• Revisit hometown and bring welcome visitors
• Support local business and institutions
• Inject new life into smaller/shrinking cities
• Maintain links to - and value - your past
2. Platform
• Facebook, Google Plus or other social network
• Any communal posting area that supports photos/discussion/moderation
3. Guiding principles
• Large amount of local control
• Encourage tourism as much as revisiting
• Especially support volunteerism
• Especially support local festivals and city events
4. Example point system for pictures taken:
• 2 - you in town
• 5 - you and local landmark
• 10 - you supporting local business
• 50 - you volunteering at local charity
• 50 - you at local festival
5. Rewards
• Game enjoyment and community support
• Gold, Silver, Bronze involvement rankings
• No specific leader-boards
• Less about competition, more about involvement
6. Notes
• No specific hometown?  You are a nomad player.
• National chains ineligible for business photos.
• Chambers of Commerce could be local bases.

Telemetry, Logging, Debugging : Background Necessities of Development

Imagine you're helping test Beth's game.  Suddenly, jumping onto a ledge in the new lava level, things begin to lag, enemies stop attacking, and the game crashes; a popup of "Unhandled Exception" shows.  Consulting Beth, she doesn't know what happened and confirms there isn't any information saved from the game in cases like this.  Thus, valuable details on a bug are lost, leaving Beth to try to reproduce the issue and stepping through the code with breakpoints!

After years of both making programs and being on the receiving-end of someone else's development, I've come to identify a number of things that every program should have (including Beth's) to help designers, testers, and the developer themselves when their product is in use. Let's see how they could help Beth's situation:

Telemetry

Performance

- Crashes: hold enough memory in reserve to send a final notification to inform on any crashes.  The type of crash (OOM, unhandled exception, etc.), the callstack, build version, and any other applicable details must be included in the telemetry event.  This way, no application failure will go unnoticed, decreasing turnaround time to getting a fix in.

- FPS, memory/CPU usage, and network details should be included in periodic telemetry check-ins.  Gauging what is happening between check-ins can show trends of where performance needs to be improved, such as in the lava level.

An example from the lava level could have been:
1-2-16 17:18:19 (date-time), 123abc (session-id), 0.1.2.3-Test (version), unhandled_exception (type), foo at bar (callstack if applicable), Lava_Level_1 (level), 12.3 (FPS), 456 MB (memory), Windows (platform)

Input

- Can the program accept user interaction?  If so, every user action should be attempted to be recorded (a must for simple GUIs).  For more complex products such as Beth's game that can have dozens of inputs in a single second, the following is more suitable:

Interaction

- Pickups, the firing of weapons, level exits, cinematic skipping, the works - in this case, more data is better.  When the user can take action on the content in the program, it should be recorded for later analysis.

- Things to include would be information akin to time/date, a session ID, XYZ, level, what's currently equipped, checkpoint, health, what's being interacted with, etc.

- If there are processes or actors (e.g. NPCs) other than what is coming from the user, record those, too!  Who's the AI targeting, how is the manager handling pickup clean-up, and the streaming-state of cinematics are all questions Beth should be wanting answers to.

Logs

In General

- Pick a spot to put playtime and error logs that is going to be present on every system (a user's Documents folder, phone/console scratch folders, etc.).  When on a development environment, the details should be very verbose, allowing anyone to deduce what both the player and the system were doing at any given point.

During release, the user doesn't (shouldn't) need to see all the details of what is going on, so regular playtime logs could be toned-down or turned-off.  Error logs do, however, need to be made available to the end-user if developer follow-up is required.

Debugging

Hooks

- Exposing debug hooks that affect the nature and status of the program is necessary if there's any high-level blackbox testing to be done.  Instead of starting from scratch, a testing user can allocate virtual funds, profile details, and, in games, weapons, health, and altered-AI states quickly and on-demand.  Instead of starting from level 1 in Beth's game, the player can go straight to the lava level and re-equip the gear they had before the crash!

- Hooks should be disabled for release builds of the product to eliminate an avenue of unwanted manipulation when it comes to data and performance.

Error Messaging

- No-matter the version, any time a program hits an error or crash, a useful error message should display to the user explaining the problem encountered and any additional steps they should take.

And what makes a message useful?

• A lack of technical jargon.
• An explanation that could be given to Beth's grandmother.
• What can be done by the user in the future (e.g. enter only letters and spaces into a name field).
• Contact info or a link to submit an error report (if the issue is serious enough).

Before Beth starts looking into why the game crashed on the lava level, she may want to spend time implementing behind-the-scenes systems to make future issues easier to resolve.

Including telemetry, session logs, and embedded debugging in any game or commercial app will ease a lot of pain when a user comes back with a crash or other heinous issue that needs correction.  For myself, this is a best practice for anything new I make, and I highly encourage you to do the same!