i get lost a lot. i am good at many things, but none are related to direction. these days, sign posts on trails sometimes have QR codes on them. i think about that a lot. after us, will aliens find these little shapes and say - this was religious.
in 50 years, will QR codes be completely out-of-date, so young kids are used to seeing the shape but just assume it means something else; like how floppy discs mean save. looking up at us with their brows knit. what do you mean you had to scan it?
i think a lot about how if i had been born even 50 years ago, i'd be dead by now. there are a lot of reasons for that. i can read a map pretty well, but that sense-of-direction thing will really getcha. i usually wayfind by pulling up my phone's compass. there's something so odd about that - about using something like a smartphone to figure out my cardinal direction. to figure out which way is home.
for a long time, i didn't have a smart phone. whenever we went to places that required a QR code, i'd just have to shift uncomfortably, waiting for someone else's page to load. not to sound like an old grump but - these days it feels like half my world is behind scan this or register with your email to sign-in or sign up for our listing or click the link.
i think a lot about the digital detritus we leave behind. about how different the world looks, literally, than in the 90's. how much waste has become things like laptops, chargers, wires. i think about the drones over city; flying in the shape of an advertisement. i think about graves. my grandmother's had a trademark on it.
in the middle of the woods, someone had put up a jesus is risen laminated poster. it had an underwater turtle on it, which i thought was funny. i took a picture for my group chat. he rises from the deep i guess i send them. the signpost was unhelpful - inconclusive arrow, jesus turtle poster. no map. i pulled up my compass, which is to say i took out my phone.
i wonder how much is waste we're making and how much is just making our mark. at some point, all my writing - this post and all the others - will be left, floating around on the internet. it will all outlive everyone who created any of it. every fic and overly-personal recipe and idle drawing and abandoned webcomic and sanctimonious twitter post.
i hope they are all living in the same place. i hope they get along. i hope they never feel alone.
i hope somewhere out there on the internet, someone or something finds something i left and says - oh. so that's how i get home.
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happy friday the 13th here are some spooky text-based games for halloween:
contrition - As a priest, it’s your job to listen to your parishioners’ darkest secrets and absolve their guilt. But when a sinister stranger comes to the confessional one Halloween night, you realize it’s your soul on the line.
familiar - You are a familiar. Your mistress has some requests for you. Help her complete her ritual, or pay the price of failure.
jagged bone - A branching choose-your-own-adventure horror game about transformation and perspective.
the forest of candles (and the man with a lighter) - follows Maggie, a young woman with a fear of forest fires sparked by an old town folk tale. She's spent years trying to escape her hometown and the fear it inspires in her, only to be called back for the funeral of an old friend.
mary's hare - Mary's Hare is short interactive horror story about a woman and a rabbit, based on the story of Mary Toft.
only this - "And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming / And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor..."
what girls do in the dark - a slumber party text adventure.
god is in the radio - you are death, one of 22 members of the major arcana, a cult dedicated to some far-off god. the night is halloween, and you watch in scorn as the unknowing dance among devils and dress to indulge in sin. the high priestess receives a message from the all-mighty himself: the arcana must gather in an abandoned house and find his song on an old radio receiver.
anchorhead - Travel to the haunted coastal town of Anchorhead, Massachusetts and uncover the roots of a horrific conspiracy inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Search through musty archives and tomes of esoteric lore; dodge hostile townsfolk; combat a generation-spanning evil that threatens your family and the entire world. (illustrated version on itch.io)
my father's long, long legs - An interactive horror story about family, unease, and loss.
beneath floes - Qikiqtaaluk, 1962. The sun falls below the horizon and won't return for months. You wander the broken shoreline, wary of your mother's stories about the qalupalik. Fish woman, stealer of wayward children: she dwells beneath the ice.
the silence under your bed - An interactive horror collection about the strange, the spooky, and the macabre.
bogeyman - You can go home when you learn to be good.
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It's honestly frustrating that I've seen non-Russian queer people almost bragging about how they would be illegal in Russia, labeled an extremist or terrorist. Russian queers are in danger, their government has made it clear where it stands, and it's made this effort for the better part of a decade (even longer, perhaps). This will kill people, don't mistake this for a quirky little proclamation from a government, akin to somebody saying the sky is pink. Russian queer people were already expressing their fear, and the least we can do now is express our love for them, and advocate with them.
Russian queer people, I love you. I love you all so much. I am so sorry, I cannot begin to express the grief that I feel, and I hope that you are safe. Words cannot encapsulate how I feel as a non-Russian, and I cannot hope to comprehend how it feels to actually be in this situation.
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i know not many people would want to read a 10,000 word article about the minecraft end poem and how the author, Julian Gough, was never fairly compensated for his work and has made it public domain.
But it's a very well-written and heartfelt read, and he makes it very clear that none of this is a cash-grab and despite the fact that he is essentially a starving artist in this capitalist society, he only mentions his financial struggles despite Minecraft's huge huge success at the bottom of this article and not in the tweets so as to not dilute his message.
Anyway, I just think it'd be cool if those who are able to could support him in some way whether it be subscribing to his substack or donating to his paypal (that's linked in the article, you can ctrl + F to find it easier), that's all.
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gen fic appreciation post. i love you gen fic. i love you serious, plot-heavy gen fic. i love you funny, lighthearted gen fic. i love you angsty whump and h/c gen fic. i love you emotionally complex and intimate gen fic. i love you super long chaptered gen fic. i love you oneshot gen fic. i love you strictly canon adherent gen fic. i love you alternate universe gen fic. i love you crossover gen fic. i love you gen fic about queer identity and relationships. i love you found family gen fic. i love you gen fic.
(edited to add: by ‘gen fic’ this post is NOT referring to rating. it is referring to fic that is not about and does not prominently feature romance, regardless of rating.)
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