CWs: food

I’ve been thinking about trains lately in general. When I was a kid, we used to take the train from my hometown (Eugene, OR) to Seattle right around Christmastime, and did so for a number of years on and off. I don’t know how that particular tradition started, but I always enjoyed it. The corresponding drive is probably 6-7 hours, but the train trip took considerably longer, mostly since trains go a little slower, and unfortunately aren’t the only users of the tracks; as a result, passenger rail needs to yield to freight trains. I’ve never understood why this is, but I suppose that’s the downside of shared tracks for both kinds of train travel. We usually went with my mom, my sister, and often my grandparents; I think my dad sometimes joined us and sometimes didn’t.

CWs: US politics, gloom

It’s been a rough week. We’re exactly a week out from the US election today. It’s been a rough week, and as I mentioned before, I’m not someone who will be particularly affected by the turn for the worse (white, cis, able-bodied), but I am very concerned about many others who will be affected. I’m still wrapping my head around it. The Democrats have been coasting and doing the bare minimum for ages, and I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising, but it still sucks. I wish we didn’t have a two-party system where both choices suck, but the Democrats suck, at least on paper, a bit less. I wish we had strict term limits at all levels of government. Not that I want to lose institutional knowledge, but there’s gotta be room for new people. I wish we didn’t have a constant election cycle where people are gearing up for the next election instead of governing like they were elected to do. You’d think the Republicans would be all about Teddy Roosevelt’s “Duties of American Citizenship”, a speech made in 1883 decrying, inter alia, career politicians and advocates for term limits, but nope. Career politicians are only a problem when it’s not our guy. Got it. I don’t like the “GOP” designation; there is nothing “grand” about the Republican party.

CWs: US politics, mental health, death mention

nolite timere, imo resistite! (“do not be afraid, nay rather, resist!”)

I cribbed the first part from what is said to have been the delightful poet Seamus Heaney’s final words, sent in a text to his wife (noli timere, “do not be afraid”). Thank you for that, o vates.

It’s been a rough week and it’s barely halfway through. The US election had a predictably terrible result, and Trump won, somehow, again. And apparently, according to reports, won the popular vote. My mom texted me saying she was “dumbfounded” by this decision. Intellectually I get it, but at the same time, it’s not a surprise. America is working as designed. The cruelty is the point. Ad nauseam.

CWs: food, alcohol

I was thinking about writing this while I was in the shower earlier, and was reminded of “Slide Show” parts 1 & 2 on the Final Fantasy VIII OSV. I haven’t written in a little while, aside from my little treatise on the encrypted backup procedure recently. It’s been kind of a blurry few weeks honestly, with a lot going on.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a pumpkin patch in town and bought pumpkins for carving; we bought four, but have only carved two. I’m not sure if we’re going to carve the other two unfortunately. I just haven’t had the desire to deal with it. About a week and a half ago, we got together with our friends and carved pumpkins; I did a “vampire Mickey” and my spouse did a Goomba! They turned out really well. Sadly, they didn’t last that long on the front porch; the temps were up and down, which I think didn’t help. We had about a week with the before they got moldy and gross, and on Sunday we took them to the recycling center and dropped them off. But it was nice while it lasted.

This started as a little document to get down my thoughts, but I figured I’d Markdownize it and make it into a blog post, where it can be not only a reference for me, but also for everyone else!

I like to think I have a pretty decent backup system in place. I have a 2Tb USB-C HDD that hangs out in my office and effectively mirrors my laptop. I also have a lot of older material on it; my previous laptop, as well as my desktop from years past, makes up a stratum or two on there. And I try to remember to do a full backup once a month or so, but I don’t always remember, which is not great. I like to know my files are safe, just in case my laptop blows up or something. Putting /home on its own partition is always a good practice, so then / (your system files, the OS, &c.) can be wiped and reinstalled without touching your important files. But that’s not enough, and that’s where backups come into play.

CWs: Nazi mentions, suicide mention (not personal), death mentions, horror movies

I’ve mentioned my love for dark ambient music elsewhere on here, I’m sure, but I wanted to write a post about when I first got into it, and I guess explain what I love about it. First, I am thinking back to arond 2008, which is when I first got into what is commonly called “dark ambient” music. At its core, dark ambient is just that, a darker version of ambient music, with unsettling noises, like something out of a horror movie soundtrack. I personally have a pretty expansive definition of the genre, which others may disagree with, however. It’s a genre which also defies genre, arguably. Note: I’ll try to provide Discogs, or perhaps YT, links for the albums I mention, wherever possible.

CWs: ableist nomenclature, religion, politics, ghosts, death

If y’all know me, y’all know that I love just about everything Watcher does (y’know, Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej, formerly of Buzzfeed Unsolved, and now with their own company and their own streaming service). It’s been fun watching them start their own network and just have fun with content, do whatever they want. But I absolutely love their ghost hunting show, Ghost Files, which is a big nod to their original claim to fame, Buzzfeed Unsolved. We got into their stuff a few years ago and just went down the rabbit hole, and are now subscribed to WatcherTV to watch their stuff (it comes out on YouTube, too, just with a long delay, but there is some stuff that is exclusive to the paid streaming service).

CWs: death, grief, food

OK, I admit I’m being a little cheeky with my title here, which is a nod to the wind phone, where a disconnected phone is set up so that loved ones can have “conversations” with the departed. But I’m going for sort of the same concept here. I haven’t lost that many people in my life, thankfully, but those I have lost have left sizable holes, and I thought I’d write something in their honor, and have a conversation, as it were, with them. I don’t know if I’ve ever use a wind phone itself, but I love the idea of it, and I’m sure it helps a lot of people process grief, especially when it’s very fresh. The people I am thinking of in particular are my great-grandma, who passed in 1996, and my maternal grandparents; my grandma passed in 2016, a few months before we moved to Colorado, and my grandpa passed in 2021 very suddenly. These three people were some of my favorites in the entire world, and I miss them dearly, although I don’t always show it.

I found out about the game UFO 50 earlier this week and it is really lovely. The premise is that 50 retro games for an obscure system were unearthed, and now they’re available to play. All games are complete, nothing half-finished, and the verisimilitude is staggering. Also, no nonsense with unlocking games, everything is available. As others have said more eloquently, it’s like digging through the past and discovering retro-soaked wonders. I’ve played through maybe 12 of the games so far, and I gotta say, most of them are excellent. Some approximate “shovelware,” but hey, that’s the luck of the draw. They’re “NES hard,” in that most of them are inscrutable with weird controls, but that’s also part of the charm. And the games I would consider shovelware, others might love, so there really is something for everyone. I bought the game a few days ago and I do not regret it! Highly recommend. It reminds me of the DS game Retro Game Challenge which I’ve never played myself, but others have apparently drawn the comparison too. Anyways, it’s great, if you like retro games, or even the idea of playing them, check it out!

CW: brief COVID mention, food, drink, alcohol

I have been remiss and haven’t written for awhile. During the throes of COVID back in June, we had a wild idea of taking a trip. My spouse thought of looking for tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash, a Halloween party at Disney California Adventure, for sometime in the autumn. They usually sell out quickly, so we didn’t think we’d actually get the tickets. However, we were in luck, and were able to score tickets for mid-September! From there, we planned the trip, booking airfare and hotels and such, and of course the tickets for other park days. We haven’t been to Disneyland since 2019, so it was definitely nice to get to go back.