Something glitched and things didn’t pop off.
You should check this out: this link over here
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NOW what?!
Something glitched and things didn’t pop off.
You should check this out: this link over here
This could’ve been a Ghost blog
Real talk, whenever I have a Hard Time with server stuff on this blog, I think to myself "what the fuck am i doing here" as I sometimes frustrate the hell out of myself. The past few days was one of those times as I troubleshot Something or Other and have Tech Support in my back pocket for advice and pointers (seriously, Digital Ocean Support Bench, thank you so much).
And I looked into other platforms. From having Someone Else manage this Classic/WordPress blog, to Something Completely Different with Ghost. Both are pretty solid options.
I didn’t like either.
For the former, I like having complete control over my stuff– even if that does some with the occasional headache and the consequences of my fuckups. I don’t have to jump hoops to do what I need (want) to do, more of less. And as for Ghost, it’s simple: I just didn’t like it. While I’ll definitely keep it in mind for recommendations and possible future, it doesn’t quite fit my current workflow.
So, hi. I had a moment. But it looks like I figured it out.
For now.
Other than that, sorry for the quietness. I’ve been dealing with offline stuff, which includes totaling my car. So that’s been fun.
Currently working on another snarky-like review, and here’s a preview for you:
What other updates I got?
- the response to my message was a nothingburger
- watched Blade and partied
- my bed gained 6 inches from all the mattress pads– and I love it (note: write about that)
- they bit me
- Megan 2.0 is coming out soon!?
- heh heh, it’s all coming together
And that’s all I got as the coffee finally gives out and I get my ass to bed to fight public transit in the morning. See ya later!
The Shiva Snap
Context: this meme.
There are at least two layers of gay/queer/LGBTQ culture at work here.
So yeah, if you think the world revolves around your cishet ass, you’re gonna be lost.
And another reason to dislike Facebook regurgitating Tumblr posts.
A Toot
Before I nuked it, I got hit with one of those Facebook memories. As it goes, it was just a meme I SHARE’d real quick for two reasons:
- it was from Final Fantasy X, one of my all-time favorite games
- it was gay. as. fuck.
I vaguely remember the FF fan group it was (re)posted in, and to my delight a lot of my fellow queer fans came out to have a kiki and appreciate this piece of freakin’ art:
But, alas, the majority of members were a straight bunch.
And they were shook.
Beside themselves.
Confused.
Harshing our freakin’ vibe with their insistence that a meme has to make sense for them, damn it! "I don’t get it!" most of them whined. "I know lesbians exist but why would this make a man gaaaaaaay? Why do our male members like this meme?????? How would this make me gaaaay?" because of course the complainers were straight men and everything has to revolve around them, even shitposts.
I called that, up there, the Shiva Snap. When you just know.
It’s who drag queens strive to be.
It’s for those who are all the stronger for being in touch with their feminine side.
It’s for those that appreciate femininity, regardless of gender. Gender be damned, really.
It’s for that tumblr user who witnessed the sheer fuck yes slay in that summoning sequence and just had to share this gospel through Tumblr and to the world. Look at the notes on this motherfucker. Put some respect on sodomymcscurvylegs’s (user)name.
It’s for those that, if you asked them, they’ll tell you why The Shiva Snap got them, specifically, and it is a varied and nuanced thing that some blogger can’t possibly pithily summarize.
One thing is clear: It’s for the queers.
I got it. They get it. We don’t need a whole dissertation on it.
But if you didn’t (and still don’t) get it:
Don’t worry your goofy head about it. It’s probably not for you. 🙂
600ish Words of Word Vomit
This summarizes what I’ve been going through with Pink Pistols and a local gaming group. I sent this as a DM to a mod upon their request. Just read this or catch up with the previous entries, who cares, everything is terrible, 1312, can i just fuck off now
I should name some names, yolo and all that. Expect jokes and teeshirts about this, because you know we queers gotta kiki through the pain.
“Fake” Holidays I Enjoy
Fun, excuse to be fun, fun fun fun, let’s get on with this silly list. You don’t need a whole paragraph explainin’ this shit, I don’t care what the SEO plugin says. pop culture
Revenge of the Fifth
When: May 5th, also May 6th if you’re extra evil
From: Star Wars
Nothing to see here. Cue hand thing.
Independence Day
When: July 4th
From: names-the-same-movie
Will Smith saved us from the aliens on this day!! Respect!!! He could have been at a BBQ!
Until America starts behaving I’m not celebrating that shit! Memorial Day and Juneteenth are more important to me, anyway.
Festivus
When: Dec. 23rd
From: Seinfield
I will have any, and I mean any, excuse to decorate with strange objects, complain, and straight up tackle someone. I also enjoy the anti-consumerism angle it could have.
Frank: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.
Kramer: What happened to the doll?
Frank: It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born.
Towel Day
When: May 25th
From: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I was enamoured with this series when I stumbled upon it in my high school library. And, you know, knowing where your towel is actually good advice… and more relevant the older you get.
TOWEL.JPG is here. Do you know where your towel is?
National Lazy Week
When: Jan 5th to Jan 10th
From: Garfield
As the name suggests, it celebrated being lazy. Garfield Wiki
That’s a message I can get behind. Also, capitalism hates it when we’re lazy. Cue the memes!
Fade in the Water Day
When: Aug 5th
From: IRL
Fade in the Water. ROLL (ed up in the) TIDE. The Alabama Sweet Tea Party. The Montgomery Massacre. The Riverboat Rumble. The Montgomery Melee.
No matter what they call it, Black people are talking about the big fight between a group of white men who attacked a Black dock worker and the Black people who swarmed in to defend him. NewsOne
I love us Blackfolx. We can make a holiday out of anything. And I live for this show of Black solidarity we were witness to on that fateful day in 2023. You fuck around, prepare to find the fuck out.
And then you got the ones where I just make up, or do something different.
Dick Plate in the Lake Day
When: Feb 28th
From: Xenosaga
Actually, this was already a thing as KOS-MOS’ Birthday. But I was grasping at something I can do for the Xenosaga franchise. My original idea leaned heavily on a fairly popular snark thing and… uh, let’s say the source material for that didn’t age well. Soooooo I decided to use the first game’s release date and uphold that instead. It’s safer. Makes me cringe less.
…and I still failed that Will Save Throw Whatever DnD Thing because it must be snarked. Dick jokes!! There is an uncomfortable amount of phallic imagery in that game! Dick. Jokes.
Enjoy the YouTube Video my settings Won’t Allow me to embed. Just as well, really.
Macross Day
When: Oct. 3rd (Series), July 21st (DYRL? movie)
From: Macross
Unfortunately, I’ve yet to come across the MM/DD of when the alien spaceship made a dent in the Earth (please comment if you did!). You know I’ll celebrate the airing of the first episode, and the option of one of my favorite movies as a bonus. Party twice! If you make a Mean Girls reference I will slap you and Tina Fey.
Calypso’s Birthday
When: whenever the hell you want
From: Our Flag Means Death
I’ve only down here because I’ve yet to see it around, but it should totally be a thing! (And this shows that I’m not in the fandom… I should fix that?)
Anyway! Want to throw a party? Have that nagging feeling that you need a reason to have a party, but can’t think of one? Here it is. Just say it’s her birthday. She has a lot of birthdays. And no one really knows when her birthday actually is, so no one can call you out on it. It’s a perfect concept. … I mean yes I guess you can use the air date of that episode, but where’s the fun in that?!
Additionally, dress the part. That means D R A G, lovely!
National Rage Week
When: third week of September
From: Me! (and Garfield– title is totally shambling around in its National Fat Week corpse)
It began as a joke while I was still on LiveJournal, early 2000s. I was so Mad About Shit, that I felt like I needed a whole week to complain about Shit. To vent. Because if you don’t vent, you fucking explode. I haven’t observed it in quite some time; due to Current Events we are bringing it back. We’ll discuss anger management as well because… take care of your health, y’all. Being mad is all well and good, but you have to control it like a fire.
Don’t burn out. Take deep breaths. Mark your calendars.
And it’s now that I tell you that there is an entire list of pop culture holidays (and TV Tropes has some!) so you can discover some of your own! I definitely need to observe more of them.
- National Grouch Day (Oct 15th, Sesame Street)
- Summerween (June 22nd, Gravity Falls)
- Life Day (Nov 17th, Star Wars)
- K-Day (Aug 10th, Pacific Rim)
- Hobbit Day (Sept 22nd, Lord of the Rings)
- Halloween in January (Jan 31st, Bojack Horseman)
- Galentine’s Day (Feb 15th, Parks and Recreation)
- Fridge Day (Dec 25th, Dinosaurs)
- Leap Day (Feb 29th, 30 Rock)
…Yeah, that was one rabbit hole I jumped into.
And there’s nothing stopping you from making up your own. For example, I just thought of "FUCK OFF WITH THE GUNS" Day (July 14th, Trailer Park Boys ep air date, quote from that guy that’s always yelling offscreen).
C’mon. Give it a try!
It’s been two months and I’ve been great. But why do I still feel so sad?
On January 1st, I deleted Facebook and I couldn’t be happier.
But when you’re not on Meta, it can be isolating.
You’re at a party and everyone is happily trading Instagram profiles, and the only thing you could offer reliably is…
…
nothing, actually.
Only gamers seem to know about Discord, and getting people on Signal is still like pulling teeth. Even a phone number could miss– there are still people out there that don’t disclose it for privacy reasons.
That happened to me during another icebreaker. We were sitting next to each other and they beat me to it, asking for my Instagram handle first. Unfortunately, I don’t use it in that capacity (more on that later). We eventually came to a compromise: email addresses. It’s been two months since I sent the first one.
…I’ve yet to receive a reply.
At the next shindig my contact info was just a TinyURL. It has the online places I actually frequent and ways to contact me.
…No new friends (yet).
And I tried sending someone a link to my personal website.
…I uh, got blocked? But that happened only once.
There’s always a failure rate to these things.
When I take it personally: no one wants to meet me where I am.
But actually, I think: No one wants to leave Meta.
It’s convenient. It’s popular. It’s what we know. All the organizations and queer peers are on there. So that’s why I caved and made an Instagram account. Where there’s a lack of RSS feed or newsletter, it’s my last resort. And I still miss important updates because nothing’s chronological, I’m drowning in ads, suggestions keep pestering me, and the whole thing like the rest of the modern web is user hostile.
I fucking hate it.
I may delete it out of spite in six months.
But I’m used to not having Facebook in my life now, and for a digital diet I’ve filled it with other things: GroundNews, tiny forums, my projects, Mastodon, a lot of Discord. I’m even giving Friendica a try (it is largely neglected). I’ve my messaging apps that also have a web or desktop client for when I want to use a full keyboard– it’s easier on my hands.
I think I’m only lonely because I miss certain people.
But also, it’s been oddly freeing. Instead of all those 200 friends, I got my chosen family and fellow weirdos. And the occasional stranger that crosses my path, goes "what’s up, doc?" and if we keep bumping into each other we even become friends!
I think that trade-off is worth it.
In short, I’m the Odd One Out and I am solidly in my Cryptid Era.
Which, cool.
Past Prompts (and today’s)
02/05
Remember a time when you forgave someone fully.
Forgiveness– is it the same as "just getting over it" or a conscious decision to move on? I feel like I do the former a lot.
I immediately thought of that one Vine with the person going "NEVER HAPPENED." I’m a grudge-holder, yo. And I may have forgiven you, but you damn well know that I’ll remember your fucking name, as the Scottish saying goes. It’d be easier to say I got over things. Eventually. I can’t think of a readily-available example of me forgiving someone, let alone FULLY.
Maybe something’ll come to me later. I keep getting lost in the nuance of my own making.
02/12
Remember a time when you spoiled yourself
I love having Me Dates. As in, I go on a date. By myself. It could be as low key or fancy as I please.
And one time I got really fancy. It was a place at random that I Googled "oysters," because of course I was craving those. And it was a new place, kinda swanky and upscale and asked if I had a reservation (I did not), so they seated me at the bar. I treated myself to oysters, shrimp scampi and a dessert with cinnamon ice cream while I started a new book.
I made a mental note to keep that place in my backpocket.
02/14
suggests I "put my dancing shoes on" regardless if I’m going out or not– and have a little dance party. I am OVERDUE for dancing to darkwave synthwave stuff. I never thought I’d like it as much as I do, but I’ve a partner that I love dancing with. And it’s fun! Well, I wiggle. But it counts.
And one time, I was pulled into a spontaneous dance one afternoon after putting on some Dorothy Ashby. That was fun.
And during a L.O.U.D. Twitch stream we did more wiggling then, too.
I think I’ll put on some ShyGirl.
02/28
What are some ways in which you surprised yourself, and maybe others, this month?
Bitch, please. If you didn’t see any of this coming it’s on you. (tone: cynical and generally speaking)
But seriously, I have to outsource this question. Looking back, I feel nothing out of the ordinary.
…
I may have made a new friend in an unlikely environment.
That’s pretty surprising, actually.
Past Prompts: A Few Sweet Things
What’s another way to say…
02/06 "I Miss You"
I send memes. I spam emojis. (Well, I do this normally, but there’s a lot more when I’m missing you.)
I tell them that I’d rather they be where I am.
I send photos of interesting things near me. I may even send a selfie.
02/13 "I Love You"
Bringing home a slice of your favorite cake.
Leaving weird shit on your bed.
Biting you.
Answering your call even though I still kinda hate phone calls.
Showing you this cool rock I found.
Making sure you’re staying hydrated and you have your glass of water nearby before we head to bed.
Hovering over you while you’re sick, insisting on feeding you herbal tea and soup.
Not worrying about the silence between us when it falls.
Feeling weird if I don’t kiss you goodnight.
02/27 "I’d Like to be Friends"
As I write that, I’m confusing it with "just being friendly." I find myself opening up a little and before I know it, I at least have a friendly acquaintance. How do I keep doing that? I should cut it out; I got Internet Street Cred to maintain.
…I’m joking. Are you on bookwyrm? The obvious: "Add me on Discord! / Here’s my Website! / Here’s a way to actually bypass my cryptid tendencies!"
Or, I seek you out instead of just holding up the wall.
And I say just say "fuck it" and reveal a little more of myself.
But the biggest thing? Being at peace with the fact that I may be hurt or disappointed. Revealing yourself is risky business, but that is how friendships happen.
Audience Participation
We decided to kill time at an art gallery before continuing our journey home. Out of the three stories– two, if you excluded the workspaces of the artists– we wandered around the second floor the most. The colors and nature scenes drew us in where the sepia of the colonial map exhibit didn’t. We had more than enough time to admire and relish over each painting and artist commentary. We were even in time for an artist showcase of sorts– each one on the second floor would describe themselves and their art while standing next to the display. They were phenomenal, and the art was incredible– I wish we had time to listen to every single artist.
I even inadvertently got into some audience participation!
(A pause as the introverts take a moment to gather themselves.)
There was one in particular that had business cards, too. Each had a word and a square of the artist’s quilt. I pocketed one, and thought nothing more of it. But when it was this artist’s turn to speak, she gave 5 women random cards from her piece Turns out these cards had a deeper purpose, too. So I frantically rummaged for the card in my bag and I was making my way up to the front with the others, I promise, despite the shyness– then one of the curators encouraged me with a little push, in excitement! (And I did appreciate it, in the moment.)
So that was an amazing experience; I’m tearing up thinking about it. The main idea of that is that different women have different words, and put them together to create a greater whole.
Also my partner pointed out: ain’t it funny that the BIPOC person had to be ushered to the front to be included? Because yes, I was the only one.
So it goes.