Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

We even got one "Furry porn?! Well, count ME in! :D " drawn in as as somebody's addendum to Peg's story. That warmed my heart a whole bunch and we might have to try to track this miscreant down. <3 <3

On the other hand, their big kindergarteny "tell us YOUR story of creativilization!" wall turned out pretty good.

Peg and I both wrote extremely snarky, thematically honest things about our experiences there yesterday (mine involved spores and host devouring), and I walked away feeling so gloriously adolescent and subversive.

Today the wall was full of crazy stuff like ours, silly fantasy scenarios and frank admissions of being scared little artists who got here by accident. <3

I made it through the first speaker singing the praises of how wonderful Facebook is. I made it through him encouraging people to Always Be Promoting on their smartphones, even while having a conversation with your partner-- that was a real example. But when he started talking about "giving your customers that dopamine" burst, I got huffy and looked for a nice quiet place I could play Slay The Spire. >_<

Also, everybody here is super-young and it's super-depressing.

Sorry for the depressive post last night. I had a big old hairball of sadness to expel and I'm doing a lot better now.

Mostly just sitting here trying to untangle the weird, weird dreams I had last night. I think my brain is in a little bit of shock from being in LA and is trying to figure out it's new environs.

It was kind of neat, actually, but would be totally pointless to try to describe.

Well, that was a 100% Masto-related mood crash. I should really just put on some nice blinders, look straight ahead at the life awaiting me, and stop bothering to look back at the one that exploded. There are still people I care about here, but there are days when I can not get away from Seattle, this account, or this old phase of my life fast enough. The reminders are too painful. Retaining that vague futile hope somebody might still try to help me is too painful.

Hotel wireless is terrible so all I can really tell you for now is that this has all been a very surreal experience so far, and net time between walking into Patrecon and encountering a Real Live Nathan Barley was about 300-350 seconds.

Barely realized it was Halloween today. Too busy getting last-minute errands done before Patrecon. Feeling old, feeling ultra-mundane, feeling a tiny bit envious of the people who get to dress up and thin the boundaries between worlds this year. But it's sort of okay-- *my* masquerade starts tomorrow, in the Land of the Monetizers and Self-Promoters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11_nsW151tg&feature=youtu.be

I wish you all a joyous post-capitalist Samhain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP3yivaOcJA

(cw: nightmare comedy; surreal body horror and infohorror)

Also, this episode of TOTU turned out to have a not-actually-all-that-young Elaine Stritch, so all is forgiven. Totally worth the price of admission, even if the "twist" is "yeah, let's do the bad thing we saw those other people doing." 🙄​

"Oh, this is a quillberry and sourgrass cordial! Ooh, and it's a fourth pressing! Hmm, a bit sweet, must have been a light winter back home. I think this is from the Jazbivali region. Somewhere hilly, lots of ice runoff. YOU OLD RASCAL, YOU MARRIED A BOY FROM KAZBEK!"

*swishes beverage between his cheeks and swallows pensively*

"A bit of tannin... I think he's an orthodontist! Very nice!"

OTOH, I shouldn't complain, because TOTU gave me a slick idea for Parallax: we demonstrate the absurd courtly culture of Baron K's planet by having an old rival of his send him an anonymous gift of an extremely expensive bottle of G-Rated Native Beverage. The Baron's palette is so sophisticated he can detect the exact varietal origins of every flavoring agent... and Planet K's etiquette is so hyper-refined that this conveys a LENGTHY hidden message.

Last night I apparently dreamed that there was a Ramones cartoon in the 80s (I blame @Leucrotta) and now I'm all sad that there wasn't.

In other news, I've been watching the old UK mostly-Roald-Dahl anthology Tales Of The Unexpected. The main thing I'm learning from it is that twist-ending technology has advanced dramatically since 1981.

"And it turns out the chap was quite mistaken." "And she decided NOT, in fact, to eat the poisoned food." "And then the murderer MURDERED him!" Rubbish.

(None of you all, obviously. Some foodtube on Reddit was playing the "you can't blame me for thinking it was real, because it sounds like something those tumblr types would say anyhow" game. It was over somebody saying that learning a foreign language was "cultural appropriation," FFS.

What pisses me off the most is it means this 4channer false-flag shit consistently WORKS. If humans don't learn some basic memetic hygiene real fucking fast, we are SCREWED. -__- )

God I hate it when people use Poe's Law as an excuse for missing blatant satire. I especially hate it when they misquote it to justify their confirmation bias. And deliberately exploiting it, to get away with billing real sentiments as satire after they're challenged, is just plain evil necromancy. -_-

For the millionth time, Poe's Law doesn't say *nobody* can tell *any* real opinion from satire. It says *somebody* will mistake any satire you write for the truth. FFS.

Holy fuck. The voice of Professor Coldheart from the very first Care Bears special?

Ross from You Can't Do That On Television. Mind blown. Childhood narrative totally shattered.

I don't talk nearly enough about the *good* days, so I'm trying to make an effort to be less of an Eeyore. =n.n;=

Today is good. Peg's unwinding from the con. The day job is a bit grueling today but it's left me feeling really clever. I'm still basking in all the unexpected good wishes about Parallax from the con. My stepdad's weight's back up to 140, which is awesome. I get a mini-vacation in a couple of days. We'll probably retake the House.

Things are sort of okay.

🎵​ rowr rowr
🎵 Anthy's orange tiger
🎵 chews gently on your head!
🎵 rowr rowr
🎵 Anthy's orange tiger:
🎵 be grateful she's been fed!

mfw when i'm referred to a right-wing site that's not only down for the count, its downtime message is "Get updates on our Gab page!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshenq

Huh. As I recall, this was a really sad period in Egyptian history.

I hope they found redemption.