I’ve been in similar situations while renting. I ran ethernet cables along skirting boards and around doorframes and hid them inside adhesive cable raceways.

I felt similar. Then I had a kid and seeing the world through their eyes brings much of it back. Nothing quite like the rush of emotions (and sleep deprivation) of being a parent to a young child.

Unity, Unreal, and Godot are popular game engines with good communities and tutorials available. Or try something simpler like Game Maker.

Just jump in and experiment and there’s no wrong choices. Think of it like digital play crafting. Just explore and see what you can do.

Furniture.

Not the products themselves, but the amount of packaging to throw away every time I buy a new chair or shelving unit that comes wrapped in layers of foam and plastic. Makes me guilty how much waste there is. But buying second hand isn’t always an option.

Is this for movies and tv shows? I fix it at the output level and leave my rips unchanged. Check your TV or AVR for a “night mode” or “dialogue enhancement” or use the “reduce loud sounds” system setting if you’re playing back an AppleTV.

If the issue is specifically quiet dialogue and loud action scenes, get a dedicated center channel and boost its volume by a few dB.