kate

i've been nearing the end of totk for a while now, trying to get various checklists and sidequests taken care of before tackling the endgame, and at this point i get much more personal enjoyment out of putting on a podcast and using a guide to check items off a list than i do scouring the corners of hyrule trying to find what i missed. which has brought me back to mapgenie.io.

i've only used map genie once before, when trying to find all the ominous stakes in pokemon violet, but i was instantly enamored with it then and am similarly enamored with it now! its maps come with many varied, in-depth checklists for in-game collectibles and locations. and with an account, you can check off up to 100 items to track your progress.

if you want to track more than that, you need to upgrade to pro, and for that you have two options: you can pay $10 for a yearly subscription to map genie, or (if you're like me and you hardly ever play big-budget open world games) you can pay $5 for just the map you're interested in, forever! no subscription, just a one-off purchase. there's something kinda fun about buying a map like i'm a tourist in hyrule or something. plus i just like looking at maps!

(my one criticism of map genie: they have a map for hogwarts legacy, and that just straight-up sucks.)

the first time twitter hit End Times Mode and everyone posted their links, i made a spreadsheet of all the people i follow on there and where i can find them elsewhere. but of course, as i followed new people on twitter (and elsewhere) and as new social media sites popped up, that list quickly became out of date. and when everyone posted their links again today, i just felt exhausted.

it's by no means a perfect solution, but i want linktree (except, like, not linktree lmao) with following, blocking, and locking functionality. one central "here's where you can find me", and that is its sole purpose. no posting, no extra features, and a very small footprint - bare bones HTML and CSS. a public service, in an ideal world, so it doesn't also inevitably shutter. the internet can grow and change, social media sites can come and go, personal websites can flourish, and you can always stay in touch with folks wherever they travel on the web.

(if i'm reinventing something that exists -- or existed -- do let me know lol, there's no way "phone book for the internet, but like, y'know, with privacy measures" is an original thought)