Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

You know what's really fucking surreal? I have found myself missing office life purely for the social contact.

My brain keeps telling me that's because my social circle imploded and I'm a terrible person and nobody wants to see me anymore.

I suspect what's really happening is that, no longer living in a Big Furry Social Nexus, I now have to arrange my own damn social life and am essentially stuck in the same 9-5 rut as everyone else... just without coworkers. *shrug*

And I could almost buy into a dream like this again, even on mornings like this when she's (very understandably) depressed and skittish about the whole thing. I don't know. I keep seeing evidence that the main thing we _really_ have to fear is the urge to give up, and just slide back into the cozy assumption It Could Never Happen To Losers Like Us.

I don't know. It's not like I had any other really urgent plans, or anything else on this planet I was super-committed to.

Doing a little better. It's just become real clear that Peg and I have to finally start Adulting in the next year or two, in a way that neither of us has ever been well-equipped for. n.n;

It would be super-neat if the "Adulting" involved was just getting serious about our comic book, and I'm so torn. It sounds like such a dumb thing to treat as a Plan A... yet, here Peg is with her Charlie Stross DMs and her tarot deck and her history of pulling things off by sheer fae stubbornness...

(Mostly at this stage, I guess we're just looking for opinions about the character designs and visuals and so forth, whether they made any semblance of sense. We're not quite far enough for there to really be much of a plot to make sense of yet, so we're not actually that surprised people have been quiet. n.n; )

(Admittedly, we're aware that the storyline[s] have barely even gotten moving yet. And yes, we're aware that the webpage I linked to is kind of a mess -- it's honestly more of just a dump page for finished pages right now. The real action, such as it is, is on the Patreon!)

You know, to be perfectly honest, if you REALLY want to do something to help my mood, there's something very specific I can ask for...

Go to http://egypt.urnash.com/parallax/ and tell us what you think. Constructive criticism, especially a DETAILED "I don't get what's going on here and here" would be super-welcome. And tell your friends.

We don't expect you all to read it regularly, but man, if anyone finds our work interesting -- or can explain why it's not -- I could sure stand to hear it today.

screwed

Several of you should know that you've been called out:

So in summary, my belief in the power of friendship is still permanently damaged, my country is still being run by Lobotomy Nixon and his yes men, and I am still largely convinced that my encroaching health problems and underemployment will lead to doom for me and the woman I love.

But I had REALLY good shrimp & grits, got to look at many cute doggos, and made jokes about committing piracy on the high seas against spoiled-ass yacht owners. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

Despite my chronic bronchitis acting up... a certain Stephen King novel triggering the hell out of my Station Beta trauma... and falling back into Total Writers Block on Parallax... today was a pretty good day.

Peg and I wandered out to the Ballard Locks and accidentally found a street fair. We had a lovely and much-needed day in the sun, worked out a few relationship issues in fun and playful ways, and put a lot of ice down each other's clothing while giggling like loons.

#moodsnapshot: I want to build a shrine to this Revered Martian Ancestor and celebrate his martyrdom by mauling and eating some Russian guy, preferably a Trump acquaintance.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129551459

I would commit murder right now for a plate of chee cheong fun. I blame my employers exclusively for this.

Exhibit A: http://ieatishootipost.sg/freshly-made-chee-cheong-fun-the-secret-weapon-for-finicky-kids/

Exhibit B: https://goo.gl/maps/NhTEg1XeCak

I sort of cribbed this joke from Enter the Gungeon spoilers, but...

a music genre that is just high BPM remixes of Galaga sound effects

called "bumblecore"

Oh, well. In the name of universal feline camaraderie, deliver all the petting I am owed to my dear friend Chill, with my coolest regards: http://codepen.io/Yakudoo/full/YXxmYR/

=^_______^=

I am having such a tiger day today. I'm simultaneously wound up and ornery and in the mood to chew up the whole world, yet lazy and hungry and wishing I could spend the whole day curled up and petted and fed cubes of steak.

What I am definitely not in the mood for is eight solid hours of staring at badly documented Malaysian tourist traps, which is what I actually have to do for most of today.

"The most important vehicle of reality-maintenance is conversation. All who employ this same form of communication are reality-maintaining others."

-- M.A.K. Halliday (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-language)

Like, you know that scene in Breaking Bad, where Tuco samples some of the blue meth and for the next three minutes he's howling and screaming about how "tight" it is?

Yeah. It was like that, except the dish at hand was bright red from all the chili paste, instead of bright blue. I need to eat like this more often.

As part of my ongoing efforts to be more vocal here when I'm happy... I just want to say I'm pleased as hell with the Mie Goreng Tahu (Indonesian fried noodles with tofu) that I just made. I took two packets of notably bland ingredients and the random contents of my condiment shelves, and made something that I will now have to physically will myself to stop eating.

https://freegames.org/2048-solitaire/