Real work · new skills · life after 50

Wrenching.
Coding.
And everything
in between.

I'm Chris—a mechanic learning to code, building games and sharing the life experiences that connect the workshop to the keyboard. This is an honest conversation about work, creativity, change and everything that happens along the way.

Explore the journey See what I'm building

A mechanic's workbench meeting a game development desk

WRENCHINGThe shop

CODINGThe keyboard

one life · many tools

01 Life at the workbench→02 Learning at the keyboard→03 Everything in between

The wider story

Life isn't a straight
line from A to B.

For most of my working life, I've solved problems with a wrench in my hand. The repair trade taught me to listen, stay patient, work with what is in front of me and keep going until the machine runs again.

After 50, I started using those same instincts in a different way. I opened a code editor, began making games one small system at a time and gave myself permission to be a beginner again. Wrenching is still part of my life; coding is another tool on the bench, not an eraser for everything that came before it.

Wrenches To Code is where all of those threads meet: repairs, programming, game development, moving from Windows to CachyOS Linux, creative projects, lessons earned the hard way and the ordinary life happening between the milestones.

“
Wrenching, coding, and everything in between—it's all part of the same life.
— Chris

Wrenching

Lessons from the shop

Repairs, real jobs and decades of mechanical problem-solving remain part of the story—and still teach me something worth sharing.

Coding

Learning new tools

Python opened the door. Godot and GDScript made code tangible through movement, enemies, systems and worlds of my own.

Everything between

Sharing the whole journey

Projects, setbacks, fresh starts and everyday life all belong here—not just the polished wins at the finish line.

On the workbench now

Things I'm
building & learning.

The tools have changed, but the method is familiar: understand the problem, make a first version, test it, and improve it.

01 / GAME DEVIN PROGRESS

Unsupervised Chickens

A chaotic chicken world growing across a top-down video game and a tabletop card game—full of predators, ridiculous weapons, and plenty of poop jokes.

Godot · GDScript · Game design

02 / LEARNINGEVERY DAY

Learning the craft

Building real systems while learning clean GDScript, reusable enemy states, smooth movement, and the problem-solving habits behind good code.

Code · Systems · Better questions

03 / THE SWITCHNEW WORKFLOW

Windows to Linux

Part of rebuilding my life meant rethinking the tools I use every day. Moving my development setup to CachyOS Linux pushed me beyond what was familiar—and made the computer feel like mine again.

CachyOS Linux · Open source · Learning by doing

04 / STORYTELLINGNEW CHAPTER

Wrenches to Code

Videos and conversations about mechanical work, learning code and game development after 50, creative projects, life experience and everything in between.

YouTube · Wrenching · Code · Life

What the shop taught me

Old lessons.
New language.

Listen before you fix.

Good diagnosis matters more than fast guessing—in engines and in code.

Make the problem smaller.

The hardest builds become possible when you take them one system at a time.

Don't fear the teardown.

Sometimes the cleanest way forward is to pull it apart and rebuild it properly.

You're never too late to begin

Come build the
next chapter with me.

If you enjoy real workshop stories, learning something new, building creative projects or honest conversations about changing direction after 50—you're in the right place.

Wrenching.Coding.And everythingin between.

Life isn't a straight line from A to B.