Free as in freedom…

I’ve recorded my awesome weekend… But a picture is worth a thousand words and I really do not want to waste any more time (by editing a video about it), so here :

 

I was so excited when I found a bundle of Asian instruments, which are difficult to record myself, and which were on sales. And it runs within the music software that I got (inside a wrapper). The music software that I’ve got has plenty of pads, synths and western instruments, but few Asian instruments.

I’ve been using Linux (Mint) for nearly 10 years, and I’ve forgotten what it’s like to use Windows and its whole eco-system. It also seems to have changed a lot. Last time I got a “fancy software”, it was a video editing software, and all you needed to do was inputting the serial number (from your receipt) in the window that popped up the first time you used the software.

Now… You need to first download a download center, which is bound to a license manager (a software). The ones from the “fancy music software” only had a few hiccups. I also know that after the license registration is done, I should avoid connecting to the internet while using this kind of software, otherwise it “stopped working and needs a reboot” (true story…). These license managers are just unstable and often go awry when connected to the internet.

But this time here, we have a third party license manager. Those are fun, as you can imagine (see picture).

I’ve contacted the support of the instruments, who answered fast, with a copy-pasted first-step check list. It actually made sense. But it didn’t change a thing. I’m hoping they know what I’m supposed to do to have the stuff work.

I’ve tried everything : making sure no other software could interfere (I have literally nothing but the music softwares on that partition), doing the Windows updates (of course, some just failed), reinstalling, installing the newest versions, disabling the anti-virus software, disabling Windows defender, etc. I really don’t know what else I can try.

The license manager’s official page says that their software won’t work on some newer AMD CPU. Mine is not in the list. I still tried on my laptop (which has a different CPU), but I got the same issue.

While waiting for the support staffers to answer (there’s a huge time difference that makes things very slow, despite the fact they answer fast), I checked forums. Another person had the same issue as me, and was also living in China. (It’s not a connection issue, though). The topic doesn’t offer a solution. Well, that’s the search result I got when I searched for the name of the music software. When I searched for the name of the license manager, I got lots and lots of people saying “Thanks, I hate it.” Some claim that the issue is the OS (ha…) and that one should try to manually make the software start and to add a delay (to the start, not to the music). I guess I’ll try this. Can you sense the irony of how it’s always on that OS that we actually need to randomly tweak things as if we’re devs ?

I’ve found lots and lots of forum posts talking about how “we don’t own anything.” We get to use these software and music instruments, until the license manager software stops working or decides we can’t use it anymore (for whatever reason that could suddenly arise…). I’ve gone through that when Amazon decided to close their ebook business in China. So I bought the paper book (of the ebook I could still access, but ultimately won’t be able to access when the phone it’s on will stop working).

As someone who has been using Linux quasi-exclusively for a decade, it feels odd. “Free as in freedom.” I have my Cymellia instruments and the software that allows me to make my own compositions. I have the debian packages and the app images of several softwares saved on an external hard disk. I have the old version of Blender (2.79) saved as well.

After reading all these forum topics, I suddenly had a urge to just make my own (simple) music software. I need to refrain myself, especially since I don’t need one, because there are things like Audacity, Hydrogen and others. For which I’m grateful. They bring the freedom to do what we want, whenever we want and not always depend on the good will of someone else. It’s something that’s been increasingly important to me.

I sure hope I will be able to use the instruments I purchased, one day at least… They’re exactly what I was looking for, and I’m very bummed that they didn’t work right away. But that was clearly the first and the last time I bought something that comes with a third party license manager. And I know that I WILL buy that instrument that has been in my Taobao cart for a while already and record it myself.

So, instead of raging about Windows (like I used to do before), be unhappy and stay away from computers for days, I’m just going to be glad about Linux and the whole eco-system of software, of everything that allows us to do whatever we want, even make our own software from scratch and our own font.

Freedom is priceless and I sure appreciate it.

 

Just a Game is now available !…

The science-fiction novel “Just a Game” is now available.

The e-book is already available on several platforms. Here’s a page with the direct links : https://books2read.com/u/box8xL . It should be available everywhere within a few days.

Please note that, since I reside in China, it seems I cannot publish e-books on Amazon and Google Play. I’m still looking into Amazon right now, but from what I understood, I won’t be able to publish it on there.

I haven’t made it available on US-only platforms. (However, it is not geo-restricted).

The printed book should be available in a matter of days. It should be available everywhere, even Amazon.

I’ve posted the first chapter of the novel here : https://melina-j.me/just-a-game-chapter-1-v3/ . I’ve updated it today with the final corrected version.

So yeah… ^_^

Just a game, chapter 1, corrected…

Here is the corrected version of chapter 1 of Just a Game.

Edited on 27 March 2025 with the final corrected chapter.

 

CHAPTER 1

Oceane was sitting by the lake, beneath the shade of a large willow tree. When she was younger, it was her favourite spot to gather her thoughts or just admire the view and relax. Being here was helping her dive back into her memories. Those simple times now seemed so distant. Before… Before it all started. Long before the Great Nap happened. When will they all wake up? The city was silent and deserted now. Asleep…

She was recalling that one evening, when she was seventeen. During dinner, she asked her dad about his job. He dodged all her questions, as usual. Every time she asked, he merely gave vague answers, claiming it was not interesting. The most he ever said was that his job consisted of monitoring, making sure there was no downtime, debugging, and doing all kinds of boring tasks.

Oceane’s dad was a programmer. He worked for both simulations. He always assumed that when Oceane asked about his job, she meant the hangout simulation, and that, like virtually everybody who had asked him before, she believed he was having a lot of fun at work. Moreover, many young people dreamed of becoming a simulation idol, and that was what they had in mind when asking about working at the hangout simulation. His job, however, was less about glitz and glamour and more about code and debugging.

The hangout simulation was a virtual world where people from the four corners of the universe could spend time together and enjoy all kinds of activities, like ice skating, skydiving, or attending digital concerts, and even play out a virtual life. It was fun. Oceane had been connecting since she was fourteen and had made some friends there. She also had a cute boyfriend whom her parents didn’t know about.

“It’s not for real,” the boyfriend often said. “It’s just a game, a simulation. It’s not real life.”

Oceane wasn’t happy about this. To her, it was real. She was young and didn’t know any better.

What was really piquing her imagination and interest, though, was the other thing her dad was coding for: the historical simulation. People weren’t allowed to play with that one. It was for historical and archiving purposes. Oceane couldn’t understand why it wasn’t open to the public or why this type of knowledge wasn’t shared with everyone. Her dad would simply answer that he didn’t know and that he wasn’t the one to decide.

She figured this topic wasn’t welcome either. She had been scolded once for questioning what seemed to be a paradoxical statement about some historical events and people. She couldn’t understand why the teacher had reacted that way, but it taught her to keep things to herself or search online. She would also save her questions for when she visited her grandparents. Where they lived, things were more laid-back, and people weren’t scolded for merely trying to understand. It wasn’t just a different planet; it was really a different world.

Oceane didn’t like history. She dreaded those “lessons about wars and dates to memorise.” She made it clear every time her parents wanted her to watch a history program: “It’s always the same! They fight and kill everybody for questionable reasons. War is bad; we get it. It’s so boring.”

On the contrary, she was fond of anthropology and had already decided it would be her field of study at university. Anthropology is different from history; it’s about the people, the tangible reality of their daily routines, their beliefs, and how they celebrated life in general. She was deeply fascinated by extinct civilisations and their cultures. That’s why she was so curious about the historical simulation. She often imagined all the things she could do with it, how it would allow her to virtually recreate life as it was in these ancient societies. It would definitely be the best way to experiment and further her studies. She already had a specific project in mind, for which she had secretly been learning how to code. Little did her dad know about this.

“What about the historical simulation? What do you do there?” Oceane asked her dad.

“I’m not usually onsite, but I regularly go for code maintenance. It’s all automated; I only need to make sure everything runs smoothly. Unless there’s an issue. In that case, we’re expected to show up immediately when we’re called in. The server administrator, he doesn’t mess around.”

“But what if it stops working for an hour? It’s not like the hangout simulation; no one is inside it. Why does it matter?”

“Because it would create bugs and inaccuracies. The simulation calculates and interprets data. Any system downtime can cause errors that would render the whole calculation void. The purpose of the historical simulation is to understand how things got to this point and to ensure these bad things will never happen again. Nuclear wars… It will take thousands of years for the radiation to no longer pose a health risk and for these planets to become habitable again. Yet they wouldn’t stop, until they completely extincted other populations and themselves.”

“I was thinking…” Oceane said, “for my graduation paper… I would like it to be about the historical simulation.”

“The historical simulation? Are you sure?” he replied, surprised.

“Yes. It would be great if you could take me to visit…”

He looked bothered.

“Well, I don’t think I can bring you with me to work, but they frequently organise tours. I’ll ask when the next one is scheduled. You should be allowed to join.”

“That would be perfect!” she exclaimed, overjoyed.

***

Oceane was tormented by all these memories. She often wondered how things would have been if she had never gone to the historical simulation. Yet, she had no regrets. Love… and the people she met there. It was all worth it.

The Great Nap happened much later, decades after the chaos she had created and the events that followed. It would have happened either way. All because of that evil man. He was more evil than his dad ever was.

 

 

Merry Christmas !…

Wishing everybody a merry Christmas !

I know how you all love the Aywutyr, so to celebrate today, here’s episode 6 of the Aywutyr (from 2020).  :-)  Animation is made to be watched, not just kept on some storage device. Even though there will not be a season 2 per se, the Aywutyr will definitely pop up from time to time in the future…

 

Resonance…

 

I’ve recorded in French, as it was originally not meant to be a vlog, but since everybody is as curious as I am now, I’m posting it. I’m basically explaining that the cranes are definitely part of the resonance I can hear from my flat, in addition with the excavator which is at the opposite side (my building is more or less in the middle).

The last part of the video is what I could hear from the opposite side (at ground level) of the cranes, more or less at equal distance. (That is to say, distance from my building to the cranes = distance from the cranes to where I was this afternoon, but behind it). It’s the same noise, but in high tones, while I hear deep tones in my flat. It’s really confusing.

The noise has been gradually fading away for the past few days. The start of the week was something, though. It was really unbearable and made my ears have this very strong vibrating sensation. I can still hear it, but it’s less dramatic now. It’s still making this annoying vibration in my ears from time to time.

The fact it’s fading is even more confusing. Part of the resonance was definitely the excavator, along with the trucks, which I can also hear as a normal noise when they leave and come back. But it really seems that the main noise was the cranes, which are moved to different spots, I guess, but remain around the building, in a fixed place. The buildings look finished, they’re putting the tiles and windows now. They’ve been building it for a year and a half, and apart from a few times last year, I didn’t hear that resonance at all. That’s really odd.

I feel like we’d need the Jamy guy (from French tv) to explain like we’re 5, because it’s such a mind blowing phenomenon. I can hear clearly both the trucks and excavators and the cranes, but when I open the window, most of the time, there’s no noise at all. It’s also not very noticeable day time, seems to stop around 17h, but becomes very loud around 22h-23h (and happens all night long). It’s odd as they seem to be doing the same things around the clock. Some nights when I open the window, I can hear the high pitch noise, but other nights, I only hear the resonance.

I’m really confused right now, as I looked out my window and the cranes lights are off. There is no way they’re working in the dark. But the noise is back, just like everyday for the past week and it started around 22h tonight. Is that just the excavator ? Is it something else ? Did I miss something ? Are the cranes making more noise when they’re idle and off ? How ? I kind of want to know (and to stop too tbh). This is just so weird.

 

 

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