I have a Minisform Venus UM790pro and have been using it since February for gaming and hosting a couple of servers. It’s currently available on the minisforum website for $599 with 32Gb Ram and a 1TB SSD. I think this would be perfect for your needs, if not a little overkill.

I’ve never had any overheating issues with it, even when playing slightly more demanding games like Horizon Zero Dawn for many hours. Its 1080p gaming performance is very solid. It has a couple of issues with poor WiFi and Bluetooth signal but if you can work around those (usb dongles fix it) it’s a great system.

Bit of a weird one but because I love the sea, and sailing, the classic folk song “The Mary Ellen Carter” by Stan Rogers really gets me fired up. It’s about a ship that sinks and the efforts of the crew to raise her and sail her again. When I feel at my emotional worst the last verse repeats in my mind:

“And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow, with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go: turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain and like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!”

Reading the comments and I’m really glad it’s not just me who’s experiencing the fact that my interactions with people either seem to now be really lovely or hateful. Fortunately, even in the UK, it seems most people are supportive which brings me great euphoria Even with the negative encounters it’s not been uncommon for a supportive stranger to come to my aid.

One interesting thing I’ve noticed is the gender ratio of my closest friends has over time shifted from mostly cishet guys to mostly women and enbies.