I've had the growing impression, in recent years, that it has become thoroughly uncool to try your best. Exceeding expectations is embarrassing, meeting them worthy of ridicule. I see it all the time. You're caught rehearsing, or journaling in public? how performative. It kept you up at night, did it? you poured sweat into it? such a try-hard.
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world.
But I don’t think this is new. It’s that ol' familiar cynicism, one we’ve cycled through before. It usually precedes a moment when people grow tired of poorly made things, and what is done carefully and thoughtfully can once again be appreciated without shame. I'm hopeful that we're about to emerge into a renaissance, and convinced that those who are giving their honest best are just avant-garde.
If despite it all, you put your heart into it.
I'm here for it and thank you!
It's Christmas morning. I can't believe it. All my friends say it's been a bad year for them. It's not helping my mood one bit.
On the plus side, this site just got another lease on life (more or less, see below), and it snowed in Bucharest overnight. For once the weather forecast was spot-on.
Going out later to see a friend. No better time to do it. Might update this in the afternoon.
Otherwise, no news. I still can't write one line of fiction. All my web development work happens on other sites now, too. This one is now legacy. You wouldn't believe how little of it is even worth moving elsewhere. Next summer when I renew the domain it will be for the last time. That's that.
Yeah, idk. Back later with more thoughts, maybe.
Edit: well, that was a big nothingburger. At least the trams are running today, even better than usual.
I find myself wandering the once familiar streets of Nightfall, following the intermittent buzzing of a flickering neon bulb toward what used to be a bustling part of town. After much detouring, dead ends and stepping over debris, I finally reached our ol' kiosk. The dusty shelves laid bare save for a few issues from Rek, Felix and myself.
I wonder where all the people that used to write for this corner have gone, if there isn't a shinier corner with avider readers that called them away, or if maybe writing has done its good work onto them so they didn't feel the need to anymore. Well, I'll hope so, it is now the fifth year since I began writing these bi-monthly pamphlets. After this, there will be one more left to pen this year.
2025-12-05 Athumb athump. - a
It is getting cold, and I am having a hard time getting used to the sun setting earlier, to counter this Devine & I have put up Christmas lights inside the boat. We managed to find 2 matching strings, thrifted locally. These have greatly improved my mood aboard. I've also been tackling much-needed repairs aboard Pino, like taking the water pump apart(i think this is how i may have hurt my thumb), and stripping, sanding, and re-varnishing the cover of my boat's dry toilet.
HEALTH. I have been cycling a lot more this month, despite the persistent rain and cold. The city of Victoria has added many more protected cycling paths, making getting around the city safer, and easier. I really miss being obligated to cycle everyday, rain or shine. As it stands, I only cycle when I need to go get something somewhere, like a grocery run, or going to pick up a part at a faraway store. I need to create more opportunities for cycling.
I somehow hurt the thumb of my left hand recently, which happens to be my dominant hand, and it is hard to basic things, like working scissors or using my pen tablet pen. I hope that the swelling goes down soon. I can still draw, but the little thumb splint I made for myself does hinder my movement a bit.
ART. I have drawn 65 rabbits for punk rabbits. Aside from that, I have been drawing and animating sprites for donsol. I finished drawing most of the monsters and am now working on animating the bosses. Devine is finally beginning to work on the game with me, we hope to release the game early next year.
SEWING. I am trying to get better at sewing, whether it be by hand or with my machine. I hope to better my skills to one day be able to make repairs or projects for others. I completed 2 small projects, like a protective canvas sleeve for Devine's computer, and a pouch to store a little 1980's foldable steam iron I found at the thrift store.
MOVIE. I've been watching a lot of older films lately, like Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca, and, a favorite of when I was a kid, The Long Long Trailer. I've enjoyed them all.
Even outside of work, social media features such as likes, shares, and retweets play the role of points in games. Over time, these simple metrics threaten to distort or take the place of values (say, the wish to meaningfully contribute to discussion or to take pride in the quality of one’s work) that might otherwise have inflected our behavior on these platforms.
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
CALL FOR ACTION. Currently, the fantastic Pattie Gonia is walking 100 miles in drag over a period of one week to raise funds forBIPOC + Queer 8 nonprofits & orgs working to make the outdoors/environmental spaces a more equitable place, and that is a really a crazy worthy cause. Support the campaign if you can.
GREAT FINDS OF THE MONTH
When this entry goes online, my journal will be four years old. It's late autumn, there hasn't been much sun lately and I'm severely burnt out. To top it all, the Neok Kiosk is winding down. The only people left are a hundred rabbits on a boat and myself. Oh well, it was a good run.
Experiments matter. Not all seeds are going to sprout, but you have to try.
This month's highlight was likely shopping with a friend whom I don't get to meet often, at the big old market hall in Obor. Damn, that place rocks. It's grand, a bona fide historical monument, yet more lively and nicer to be in than any mall built this side of the 2000s.
Someone ought to write a story about it. Oh wait, I already did.
Right, anyway. There's a squirrel in the neighborhood now. Just the one, but it's a spot of color. They were completely gone for a while, even from parks.
