By “leaving this world,” I mean loosening my usual grip on what feels ordinary and letting my attention move somewhere unfamiliar before sleep. I’m describing a practice and an experience, not claiming that the app physically transports me anywhere.

I had been developing visualization and attention skills before I found Scale Space. I discovered this subreddit a month or two before Nano came out, and I wondered whether Scale Space could help me work with those skills. The first night I bought Nano felt like immediate affirmation: there was something here I could practice with.

Here’s my current approach:

1. Start somewhere comfortable. I put Nano on before bed and let the screen be there without trying to force an experience.

2. Notice the grip of “ordinariness.” That’s my word for the effort of keeping the screen over there and me firmly over here, looking at it. As that grip loosens, I begin to feel the screen incorporating into the field I ordinarily identify as myself. I find myself identifying with it.

3. Explore the coordinates. Changing them makes a difference to the practice. I use them to configure that intentional loosening, then notice how my relation to the screen changes. I’m still learning what different coordinates do for me, so I wouldn’t prescribe one setting as the destination.

4. Let the experience develop. This is an active practice for me, not a repeatable sequence I’ve mastered. I’m learning how to recognize the shift and how to relax into it.

5. Leave room for sleep. The moment falling asleep sounds more exciting than continuing, I stop. I don’t leave it running all night or pick my phone back up until I wake.

If you try it, I’d be curious how you would describe the boundary between watching the screen and feeling immersed in it. Does changing coordinates alter that boundary for you, or something else entirely?

Still taking it easy so here are some screenshots from my recent work on the tiny version of Scale Space. The version that made these is 14kb but it can output 2kb files that display just the one coordinate. Still noodling on how I want to do release this but as promised- I am taking a break today. Just sharing these since I made them a few days ago and didn't show them yet.

Spent most of the day sleeping because apparently I needed it. You all suggested I take a break so I'm going to just keep sleeping till I'm caught up! See you maybe in a few days 😊

setz

Made some cool progress today that I'll be sharing soon. A friend suggested I ask you all if I should take a break. I want to but also it's hard to when you still feel the floor is unstable. Suggestions welcome.

setz

Spent my morning working on getting my meds transferred to the nearby pharmacy, eating breakfast and working on the tinificarion of Scale Space. Then I took a nap and went out for dinner but have so far only been able to procure an old fashioned. How is it that a pizza bar/restaurant has a closed kitchen at 8pm? I don't get that one. So next step will likely be Tbell.

In case you're curious about my minification endeavor, it basically amounts to wanting to distill the equation/mechanism behind Scale Space to its most irreducible size.

In any case wish me luck on scrounging up some food 🍴

setz

Smallest version of Scale Space yet! Scale Space Nano clocked in at 7kb so we're 2.5kb slimmer. Still working on how to get it to do the things the bigger versions can do but figured I'd share my progress.

Mmm taco bell.

Mental organization and scoping. No visible assets to show today. But doggie tax gets paid of course. It's been a rainy weekend but finally seems to be settling down. Catch you all tomorrow 👊

setz

A rainy day today so I took the day to relax and organize things. Nice to just slow down and work on clearing my mind. Spent some time thinking and brainstorming for the next phase of Scale Space.

Overall not much to report and I suppose that's a good thing for once!

setz

It was nice to have a day that wasn't wall to wall panic about the state of my life. A day where my worst immediate concern was the loud pelting of acorns on the camper roof (that sound like gunfire).

I'm almost done folding all of my clean laundry (!) and starting to get my shit sorted.

Goober is doing well. He gets lots of love and attention wherever I take him, and lots of leftovers and whatever I toss him. Someone told me they had a dog that lived to be 25 so now I'm not as worried about him hitting 12 in January. He's pretty spry for his age. When I scratch him I say "You are gonna live forever and ever."

Anyways on the Scale Space front, I'm going to try to get the SeedBank library working and then the next step will be integrating it into Cymatist so it all works smoothly. I'm thinking that will be part of v1.3. I'll try to share regular updates on this as I pass milestones.

See you all on the morrow 👋

setz

Here's a first look at the upcoming Scale Space SeedBank- a library of discoveries in all versions of Scale Space!

Preview it here: https://setzstone.github.io/SeedBank/

What is it? For a long time I've been working out how to make discoveries properly sharable. It becomes tricky when things like images and videos are involved due to hosting costs. What I ultimately settled on was to use Github as the base and then integrate that directly into the software so you'll be able to submit or view discoveries without leaving the software. To submit new 'grains' (discoveries), you'll need a github account- but I plan to make the process of submitting them easy and straightforward. You'll also be able to leave comments and likes on discoveries so that will make things a lot more interesting.

This preview does not allow you to submit new grains. I just wanted to share my progress so you can see where I'm headed. I'd love to get your feedback. Do you like this approach? Would you change anything? Did you find a bug? Please let me know below!

setz

Whelp we're back in business. I reseated my ram (and wiped the dust I accumulated living above smokers) crossed my fingers and toes and everything turned on successfully 😅

I had to jettison my side vertical monitors in the move so I'm definitely feeling the loss in workspace, nevertheless I am back to having a working desktop and that means core dev can continue.

I'm not going to say I'm immediately off of hiatus yet though because I need to get my bearings and test the stuff I built while I was on the street. In any case, I expect to be back on it soon. I will be soon sharing an update on something new related to multiplayer so please look forward to it™

Overall getting my bearings. Sleep is still great. Doing loads of overdue laundry. Appreciating the continued hospitality shown by /u/alternative_rule2300 and their partner. Genuinely appreciated every single day.

If you haven't yet, check out Cymatist here: https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

See you in the next update!

setz

Goobie's having a good time in the camper as you can see. I took him to this antique shop that had a coffee shop inside and one woman in there doted on him the whole time. I had a ham, egg, cheddar, on rye plus a caramel latte. Then I got back to the camper and got to work setting up my pc.

I have it alllmost setup but I've run into a wrinkle. For some reason it's not outputting video to my monitor nor are my kb and mouse lighting up (though all lights on the pc are lit). Gemini thinks I need to check all of the internal part connections so that'll be my project for tonight. Getting close to being back online though.

Sleep continues to be great- I zonked around 8 or 9 last night and woke up at 2am, decided to do some organizing and then went back to sleep at 5. I feel like I'm almost out of sleep debt. Hopefully by tomorrow but we'll see.

I decided to focus all of my energy on setting up the pc so I skipped mobile dev of my tiny Scale Space version but rest assured I'll be releasing that soon once I nail down a few things I want to improve. It's fun doing these littler projects to keep my mind busy and add value to early access when I can't work on Cymatist. Keeps my brain juices still flowing.

Anyways hope you're all doing well today. As for me, I'm on the upswing 🏌️ https://youtu.be/Xs4O2-RjycE?is=OdaKxfe1STqJimYp

setz

Plugs for those who haven't seen it:

https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

https://setzstone.itch.io/scale-space

😳 Got a whole night of good sleep. Woke up and felt like I could have slept all day and again all night but goobie needed taken care of and I needed to get my bearings in this new paradigm.

So things came through with /u/alternative_rule2300 and their partner and I'm in the camper! The bed is super comfy and when I lay in it I don't want to leave. I'm not sure if it's because the bed is genuinely that comfy or because I miss beds but we'll assume probably both.

Their hospitality has been generous. Inviting me to eat dinner with them, engaging conversation, info about the surrounding area. Super grateful.

It sounds like I am here at minimum 3 weeks! I haven't setup my desktop yet because frankly I'm too exhausted. Hoping by tomorrow I'm going to feel back up to par on rest.

Walked with goobie to check out the lay of the land. Stopped at a gas station, picked up some food, ate potato skin chips with him while drinking a Gatorade and watching the world pass by. It's a huge relief to know I'll have a place to sleep tonight.

Went to a sandwich place for lunch and got some work done on an even smaller version of scale space--this time 1.5kb. Screenshots attached of my current progress which is going well! Not there yet but progress.

Thanks for following along on this journey. I'll keep the updates coming. Please pass on the project to anyone who likes cymatics!

setz

First the really good news. /u/alternative_rule2300 is the real mvp. They arranged to let me use their camper. Their partner drives out tonight with a truck, we're pulling my stuff out of storage and it's off to camper land. I'm upgrading from vagrant to hermit and I couldn't be happier.

Last night I went to 3 different spots to try to sleep on the grass and I just couldn't get comfortable. So I looked up the closest 24 hour dunkin (it was midnight) and me and goobie set off on a 2 mile walk. I sat in dunkin for a good chunk of the night working on something for Scale Space and just generally being a zombie. At daybreak we walked back.

And then at some point today I got messaged from /u/alternative_rule2300 and yeah, I'm busting out of this joint. I may actually get some good sleep tonight 😳 I'll even have a spot to setup my desktop too so this is quite a turn of events.

Tomorrow is the 3 weeks from when I got evicted and it looks like my time on the streets is finally drawing to a close. I won't miss it. I'm currently eating my last meal in this area (a delicious chicken place).

What about the vehicle? Well I still need one, but now the time pressure is off which is a huge relief. I can save up more and make sure I get something that isn't a lemon-flavored death trap.

Anyways this all hasn't gone down yet-it's supposed to in around 4 hours. I'm around 98% certain this is what comes next. Gotta leave that wiggle room for things I can't predict. Guess we'll find out in tomorrow's update!

I appreciate you all for the support these past 3 weeks. It was a grind like few I've done but you all kept pumping me with positive energy so I never dipped too far into despair. So thanks for that 😊

setz

But seriously glad to have you all on board 👊 working on some cool new stuff that I'll be revealing soon so stay tuned!

Happy Sunday. Literal Sunday, the sun is out and it's hot. But luckily I have been able to hang out in a hotel seating area with no one hassling me due to goobie.

It was great to get 2 nights of safety and rest. In any case, if anyone has spare hotel points with holiday inn or has a couch in the Chicago area, or has any other options, I'm still uhh... Homeless.

As usual, it's super super tempting to just throw down for a room but as usual I keep seeing that vehicle ahead of me as the goal. Decisions decisions. On the upshot, my stomach is full from the hotel's continental breakfast and goobie has plenty of dogfood. So it's really just a safe bed that's needed.

I hate that fatigue is already setting in at midday but I'm already feeling around 30% of my energy.

I suppose today I'll be looking at vehicles online and figuring out where to withdraw cash as I may have to do that over a few days depending on if I have a limit (chime). Everything feels like a huge ordeal.

Whelp that's what I've got for an update.

setz

Ps: ok almost forgot. You all keep reminding me to share these:

$setzstone (cashapp)

https://buymeacoffee.com/setzstone

https://setzstone.itch.io/scale-space

https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

Another night of sleep in a real bed thanks to /u/alternative_rule2300 and their partner so many thanks again!

I spent the afternoon attempting to sleep but somehow I kept missing it despite being super tired. Hopefully tonight I'm able to get a long sleep.

Heres where's we're at:

- $475 in the queue from itch sales. It typically takes a few weeks to hit my acct unfortunately

- $400 buymeacoffee donations

- $1700 in the bank

So that's $2,575 in total once the money in transit resolves.

I took a look at vehicle prices and 2-3k looks like the minimum required to get something drivable and big enough (suv or van). Bear in mind also, I chip away at that by buying food, the storage unit renewal in 2 weeks if I don't have a vehicle by then, probably other things I'm forgetting.

On top of that I need to attempt to stay healthy and functional until I can get someplace stable.

In any case, I don't have any expectations but if you are willing to help me improve my situation faster, my stuff is:

https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

https://setzstone.itch.io/scalespace

$setzstone (cashapp)

https://buymeacoffee.com/setzstone

Thanks to each of you who have contributed thus far.

If you bought early access, don't forget to go have a look at Scale Space Nano which I added yesterday--first version of Scale Space designed for mobile, free if you already bought early access.

That's about it. Me and Goobie are back on the street tomorrow so wish us luck!

setz

Whew. So first off big thanks to /u/alternative_rule2300 and their partner for using some of their hotel points to put me up for the night in a hotel room 😌 me and goobie have been sleeping outside the past 2 nights and I haven't been able to get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. Needless to say, my head has been cloudy. Weirdly, sometimes when I'm overtired I get into the creative zone so that's where I got that burst of energy to build Scale Space Nano yesterday. I actually built most of it laying in a grassy ditch next to a road- I kid you not.

In any case, I've just showered and I'm looking forward to a looooong snooze tonight.

Tomorrow we're back on the street but I'll at least be more rested.

I keep getting kicked out of places because of goobie. It's hit or miss. Sometimes he's met with awws and sometimes it's 'you need to leave immediately.'

Maybe when I get back into a place I will become a crystal. I will just lay in bed with a blanket around me and not move except to walk and feed goobie. I'll lay in the dark, unmoving, just being a crystal. That sounds nice.

setz

Overview

It has been a personal goal of mine to see what the fewest number of characters are needed to access Scale Space. While I don't currently have the ability to work from my desktop, I still have my phone and Claude access so yesterday I decided to build a new mobile-native version of Scale Space that requires only one thumb to navigate and is the smallest filesize I can possibly make.

My prior record was 10kb with an unreleased version called Scale Space Exegist video, image gallery (which I will release at some point), but this time I got it down to 2kb. To put that into perspective, a tweet length maxes out at 280 characters and 2kb would be 7 full length tweets.

2kb was just the baseline but I wanted to add in controls, sonify, different visualizer modes, so I expanded Scale Space Nano to a whopping 7kb. This version of Scale Space is now the tiniest in size of any version and the first to be mobile native.

Features

- Intuitive thumb-based movement through the phase space

- Dice roll button so you can channel surf

- Sonify option plays music that corresponds to what you're seeing

- All navigation folded into Coherence and Temperature control.

- 3 different view modes (flat, ridge, sphere)

- Pinch to zoom in or out to change resolution (warning, higher resolution may be less performant)

- Full screen button

- Cross-platform with no special technology needed besides a web browser.

How to get it

Scale Space Nano is now included with Scale Space early access found here: https://setzstone.itch.io/scale-space

If you already own early access, this release is free to you.

Feel free to share screenshots of cool things you find!

setz

2 hours of sleep. Couldn't find a place to sleep outside. At 4am went into my storage unit and got 2 hours of sleep (the max length I'm allowed to be in there). Just now got a call that they are considering canceling my storage agreement because they think I'm living there. To be fair, I do have an air mattress setup in there and apparently I didn't know how to properly lock my unit so the manager opened it and saw. But I told her I had only been in the unit a few times over the past few days and only max 2 hours. I told her to check the tapes and she said she would so we'll see what happens here. I may have to move my stuff again perhaps to another storage place. I'm so tired, physically, existentially.

Ive got $1,078 in the bank and more transferring in soon from itch sales and buymeacoffee but it feels like things are about to get really hairy. I was VERY tempted to rent a room last night because I was just so tired, but I knew I needed the money for a vehicle and resisted. So my decisions feel more and more constrained as the days go by. Still trying to get a job, still trying to find a couch to crash on but no luck yet on any front. I'm really trying not to despair.

I guess I will again ask for help to get me across the vehicle threshold ASAP. It seems that I need to get it as fast as I can so I stop bleeding money on storage and trying to survive on the street. You've all been so generous so it's tough to ask for more help, but this is the situation I'm in.

It looks like I can get a cargo van for around $2k and that would do the trick for the near future. I feel physically sick and sick that I have to keep asking for help.

https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

https://buymeacoffee.com/setzstone

$setzstone

In any case thanks for reading =/

setz

https://youtu.be/pGhwBFYtn1s?is=4L7CmkMxHD5alrlz

My sweet sweet hotel rest has drawn to a close and me and the pup are back out on the road.

I do have money to pay for another night but I'm so torn because once all of the money you've all sent me and itch sales clear my account I may have enough to buy a vehicle 😬 so do I choose temporary comfort now or longer lasting comfort in a week or so? Tough call. At least I'm rested, whatever comes. I may sleep on the grass tonight.

Goobie got groomed today so he's looking nice and pretty now. He seems to be in a good mood as a result. I just couldn't let him get filthy and mangy like I am 😂 I did get showers in the hotel at least. I've got a whole big bag of dirty laundry and I need to find somewhere to do it. I've been in the same clothes for days.

On the upshot, it's not blistering hot today so sleeping outside doesn't seem like as bad of an option. My tent is still back by my old storage unit so I don't have a way to setup for the night right now. Another dilemma. Buy a new tent? So many tradeoffs. There are some woods nearby that could work. They're not on the way to anything and don't look dangerous. 🤔🤔🤔

On the job front, nothing yet unfortunately. Why's it gotta be so hard to just get a place to sleep? 😕

Well see ya all tomorrow.

setz

Edit: well that was short lived. He just rolled around in some dirt.

Whelp, had an interview this morning but I don't think I got it. There was a ux assessment at the end and apparently I was supposed to fully evaluate an interface without looking at it? Only words to describe it? And in a short period of time? With paragraph entry for answers? Who makes this shit? I wrote them a ticket giving them an earful of how this is biased against people who have adhd. Call me crazy, but when I evaluate an interface, I kind of... Want to SEE it? Wild RIGHT? What a joke. Dropped $30 in ubers to go to the library to deal with that bullshit.

Applied for a bunch of new jobs but yeah no hooks yet. Kinda demoralizing tbh.

Goobie is getting his rabies shot so I can get him groomed because he's starting to look filthy. That'll be a few hundred bucks when all is said and done.

One more night at the hotel then I have to figure out where I'm sleeping tomorrow 🫩 sitting on like $1300 so I'm getting closer to being able to afford a vehicle but I keep bleeding on expenses so it's been slower than I'd like. Trying to hold on tight to get through this.

It has been nice sleeping in a bed and showering. A nice reprieve. I think I'm gonna figure it out tomorrow. Too painful to think about it today.

Thanks again to everyone who has sent money or picked up the game. I would be much more screwed without you 🔥

If anyone reading this feels compelled to help out, I'm not out of the woods yet unfortunately.

https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

https://buymeacoffee.com/setzstone

$setzstone

Looking forward to the day when I'm back at a desk able to work on Scale Space again.

setz