TenshiNet

Pixel Locked - Staying Secure as a PC Gamer

Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Are you a PC gamer? Do you take appropriate measures to keep your game accounts safe? Chances are, unless you’re a security nerd like myself, you might not be threat modeling with your gaming accounts. It’s extremely important, especially as your accounts’ libraries grow and you interact more with the different platforms’ communities (if they have one), which gradually raises the real-world value of your accounts. In this post, I will offer some tips that any user can implement to better protect your valuable PC gaming libraries!

A Key-nundrum - Staying secure with asymmetric encryption

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Asymmetric encryption, also known as public key cryptography, is a common form of encryption utilized today. It’s used constantly during web traffic, specifically during the TLS handshake. It’s also used in end-to-end encrypted messengers (WhatsApp, Signal, etc.) and with Web3/cryptocurrency wallets, among other things. More recently, it has been utilized to develop passkeys, often lauded as the next generation of online security.

Whether you’re a geek or not, you’re using it on a daily basis for one thing or another, even if you don’t necessarily realize it.

On Discouragement - Lessons from Career Failures

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve had no shortage of disappointments in my adult life. In fact, I’ve tried three separate careers before now, and every one of them has failed miserably. I’m on my fourth career attempt and have run into the same sorts of road blocks I ran into with my previous career attempts, so what keeps me going? It’s not as cut-and-dry as one might suspect, which surprises even me.

Some Background

In high school, I was passionate and determined to become a game developer. In almost all of my spare time back then, I’d do a combination of making games and modding existing games. I was working on an open world 2D adventure game with an art style that (unintentionally) resembled a more colorful Ultima 5, but with intentions to mirror the free, open exploration of my favorite game series, The Elder Scrolls. I also did experiment with other games, including a marble maze game made in GameMaker (specifically 8.1, in the days before they moved to the GameMaker Studio branch). I had every intention to work for one of my then-favorite studios, from Jagex in the United Kingdom, to Bethesda in Maryland… but eventually, I decided I wanted to start my own studio instead.

Frustrations, Humblings and Revelations - A Second Beginning on Linux

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Back in August on my old blog, I ran through my thought processes on picking a Linux distribution to use on my primary PC. By the end of that lengthy blog post, I had talked about how I was leaning toward Manjaro, with Fedora as a possible secondary option. Much of my reasoning for leaning toward Manjaro had to do with a blend of features, a middle ground on the rolling release through the Manjaro Stable branch and so forth. Well, I did decide to go for Manjaro as my primary workstation distro after all and, well… what ensued was a series of frustration after frustration that led me to some degree of discouragement and humbling. Let’s talk about it.

Learning Ubuntu Server 1 - Beginnings

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve gradually purchased more and more courses on Packt for side projects, such as learning Linux or machine learning. Back in August, I worked on one that taught me how to install, configure and use Arch Linux, which was the last major wall that I was facing when it comes to my learning of the basics of the various major Linux distribution types.

Now, I’m moving on to something a bit more practical: Ubuntu Server Mastery - Real-World Linux Admin Skills by the same course author, Dan Mill. In this blog post series, “Learning Ubuntu Server”, I will be documenting my progress through this course to show what I’ve learned and what I’ve reinforced.

Navigating Linux Distros - My Personal Journey

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I, like many others, made the decision to switch to Linux for my primary PC following the death of Windows 10. I already take a lot of issues with modern Windows as it is, and decided I wasn’t willing to use the privacy nightmare that is Windows 11 (excluding one of my side systems, which I’ll talk about in future posts). Plus, with my ongoing career change into IT and cybersecurity, I knew Linux was going to be a necessity so I have about three years of experience experimenting with it at this point.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

TenshiNet is the name of my home lab. It’s based off of an alias which, in turn, is based off of an older alias (Seraph) I used to use in games like flight simulators. I started using Tenshi as an alias instead because I’ve developed interest in Japanese culture in recent years; there wasn’t a direct translation of Seraph to Japanese, so Tenshi was the closest I could come.

I decided to use my home lab’s name for my GitHub, my blog and my TryHackMe account in an attempt to essentially treat them as an extension of my home lab. I don’t view them as separate, functionally speaking.