Gareth Butcher🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @BeardyGameGame

A message from a Kindergarten teacher: After forty years in the classroom, my career ended with one small sentence from a six-year-old: “My dad says people like you don’t matter anymore.” No sneer. No malice. Just quiet honesty — the kind that cuts deeper because it’s innocent. He blinked, then added, “You don’t even have a TikTok.” My name is Mrs. Clara Holt, and for four decades, I taught kindergarten in a small Denver suburb. Today, I stacked the last box on my desk and locked the door behind me. When I started teaching in the early 1980s, it felt like a promise — a shared belief that what we did mattered. We weren’t rich, but we were valued. Parents brought warm cookies to parent nights. Kids gave you handmade cards with hearts that didn’t quite line up. Watching a child sound out their first sentence felt like magic. But that world slowly slipped away. The job I once knew has been replaced by exhaustion, red tape, and a kind of loneliness I can’t quite describe. My evenings used to be filled with construction paper, glitter, and glue sticks. Now they’re spent filling out digital reports to protect myself from angry emails or lawsuits. I’ve been yelled at by parents in front of twenty-five children — one filming me with his phone while I tried to calm another child mid-meltdown. And the kids… they’ve changed too. Not by choice. They arrive tired, anxious, overstimulated. Their tiny fingers know how to swipe a screen before they can hold a crayon. Some can’t make eye contact or wait in line. We’re expected to fix all of it — to patch the gaps, heal the trauma, teach the curriculum, and document every move — in six hours a day, with resources that barely fill a drawer. The little reading corner I once built, full of soft beanbags and paper stars, was replaced by data charts and “learning metrics.” A young principal once told me, “Clara, maybe you’re too nurturing. The district wants measurable results.” As if kindness were a weakness. Still, I stayed. Because of the small, holy moments that no spreadsheet could measure — a whisper of, “You remind me of my grandma.” a shaky note that read, “I feel safe here.” a quiet boy finally meeting my eyes and saying, “I read the whole page.” Those tiny sparks were my reason to keep showing up. But this last year broke something in me. The aggression grew sharper. The laughter in the staff room turned to silence. The light went out of so many eyes. I watched brilliant teachers — my friends — vanish under the weight of burnout, their joy replaced by survival. I felt myself fading too, like chalk on a board that’s been wiped one too many times. So today, I began my goodbye. I pulled faded art off the walls and tucked thirty years of handmade cards into a single box. In the back of a drawer, I found a letter from a student from 1998: “Thank you for loving me when I was hard to love.” I sat on the floor and cried. No party. No applause. Just a handshake from a young principal who called me “Ma’am” while checking his notifications. I left my rocking chair behind, and my sticker box too. What I carried with me were the memories — the faces of hundreds of children who once trusted me enough to reach out their hands and learn. That can’t be uploaded. It can’t be measured. It can’t be replaced. I miss when teachers were partners, not targets. When parents and educators worked side by side, not in opposition. When schools cared more about wonder than numbers. So if you know a teacher — any teacher — thank them. Not with a mug or a gift card, but with your words. With your respect. With your understanding that behind every test score is a heart that cared enough to try. Because in a world that often overlooks them, teachers are the ones who never forget our children.

If i die in a fiery car wreck in the next 10 minutes, its because the Uber driver can't stop looking at his goddamn phone

Currently sat watching a pigeon throw a piece of bacon round a tramstop.....their tiny T-rex brains must still remember life was meatier before the meteor

@TakiUdon_ Just wondering how many you have left to ship. I've not had an update on mine yet, but I'm guessing because I must have got one of the last ones, it's at the end of the queue. I know it says 10-12 days I'm just so excited, I'm checking my emails and spam folder every few hours.

@djrtyhands I haven't seen anyone say Rocky IV but seeing as how around 50% of the movie is just a training montage set to the most 80's soundtrack I've ever seen, I feel it should be an honourable mention...

@Croc0dylus I know ive been away for a long ass while amigo but inbox is open whenever you need

#coding #programming #gamesdesign

#GamesDev question for everyone as students have been asking. If you are an artist primarily and want to learn code, what are 1. The best languages to learn, either to help with 2d and 3d art skills within Games and VFX or in general 2. The best methods to learning said language?

Starting working on a personal project and a website to track my process so it can be used for teaching and also for portfolio reasons. Spend a good 30 minutes trying to make the most gnarly 90s eye bleeding header to get my theme off to a good start 😂

No one can disprove that I'm not half mermaid, half minotaur....just I got the boring half of both

This year, I feel I'm finally at a point where I can work on my portfolio without life getting in the way and I want to make some stuff that I can be proud of

Grey skies, staring out of a rainy tram window, REO Speedwagons 'Can't fight this feeling' comes on shuffle, houses and shops race past blurrily.....am I in a sad part of a movie right now?

@StagecoachYrks why is it when i buy my travelpasses with you, you're prompt and timely taking my money, but when i actually try to use your buses, 2 dont show up, 1 drives straight past me and a final one is yet to arrive. How do I put in a complaint? Ima get fired at this rate

It's day like today that make me realise that someday, whether it be a year, 2 years, 5, 10, god knows how long but someday I'll look back at the issues i have now; my mental health, stresses, money, health, etc. and I will be able to go "I've made it, I'm happy" just keep pushin

Genuinely hype to get my office sorted, have some time to relax over summer and become a cat dad to two lil fluffy bois that are currently waiting to be given the all clear

@V1_OSW He is.....a Vanilla (midget) and Cherry Radnor Fruits

@NoContextBrits @HateNewbuild unsure if this is your domain

@DigitalJumpVs Bear no ill will 🤣

@SpillWorks Oh 100%. We couls rattle off a few who do but i dunno. I wanna be inspiree again to do a project and make something fun

I look at all the amazing artists on here doing #gamedev stuff and wish I had more time to do projects like them but im currently sat marking the work of the game artists of the future and I'm just excited for them to go off and do all their own creative works. Just conflicted