Homo Monstrosus

- Wednesday, 07 June 2023 -

Of Cats and Tides

Right now I am helping raise two kittens (nearly proper cats at this point). That's right, in March, Aloy got a sister - Ysabeau. She is indeed The Little General and though she is so tiny compared to the absolute unit Aloy has grown into, she runs the place and set the entire pace of her integration with Aloy and the house as a whole.

Aloy has so so much energy and expresses every emotion - good, bad, inquisitive - by turning into a murder pinball. It has been very good for him to have another cat around to not only interact with but teach him that every expression doesn't need to come with teeth and claw. He's not aggressive or violent, he's incredibly excitable while also being very very pointy. But as he gets older, and with Ysabeau's help, he is getting better at regulating himself. He still goes a little Lenny-from-Of-Mice-and-Men sometimes but "COME HERE AND LET ME LOVE YOU TINY SISTER" is better than "I HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY I'M GOING TO CHEW ON YOUR HANDS OR THIS EXTENSION CORD UNTIL YOU GIVE ME MORE EXCITING STIMULI".

Of course, because of the above mentioned cord-chewing we are still not quite ready to let them have the run of the house while we sleep. But they are also both getting too big and nocturnal to be cool with being cooped up in our bedroom all night.

There's "cat-proofing" and then "Aloy-proofing" which is really like the difference between RV camping and those mountain climbers who sleep hanging from ropes dangling off sheer cliff-sides. But it's a good excuse to give the whole house a refresh and reimagining.

This tweaking and redesigning how we use some of the spaces in our house, coupled with work on the yard, long put off, has meant there are many Projects piling up that I am making an earnest desire to chip away at.

But it also means I am yearning to settle into actually living the life we are working so hard to build and tend to. It's felt like since getting Aloy last fall so much has been in motion, large waves of change crashing rhythmically on my rocks. The waves are frightening but generally leave behind wonderful new treasures - like kittens and bookshelves - strewn across the beach.

But the bookshelves need assembling and oh God what are the cats into now, and so I am ready for the tide to go out for a while, and for the winds to calm so I can just sit on the shore with my notebook and stare at the ships on horizon.

Reporting From: A cool, quiet morning while everyone else is sleeping.

Current Conditions: An unusually wet late-spring which is wonderous for my mood and disasterous for my yard-work plans.

Posted: 06:45 Wed 07 June 2023

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- Thursday, 02 March 2023 -

Soul etc.

Started a journaling practice/project/process. Trying to train myself to take everything to page (and screen). Or take it out on the page. Or take the page out to dinner, get it a little drunk and then grill it for its secrets.

Doing a deep dive into the Hermit card, across many different decks. Sitting at the feet of my guides; or maybe taking them out to dinner, getting them a little drunk and then grilling them for secrets.

Reading more, writing more, thinking more, and dealing with all the associated problems of such a fool-hearty lifestyle.

No but seriously, it's all going quite well.

Violence etc.

Carving a path through the God of War series. Finished God of War (PS2) and started God of War 2. Amazing how a game can be both so ahead of its time and so dated at the same time. Not a problem for me though, I am thoroughly enjoying them and eager to see how the series evolves and transforms by the time it gets to the PS4 and beyond...

Also playing a lot of Mario Golfs (N64 and GBC) to balance things out a bit.

Cake etc.

My birthday is soon and also I hear rumors that spring might be coming back as well. At this point this is all unverified chatter and probably not worth the cold, bitter breeze it blew in on. But we shall see...

Reporting From: The space between work and dinner time.

Current Conditions: Spring should be arriving soon, but dang if winter isn't hanging on...

Posted: 17:55 Thu 02 March 2023

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- Sunday, 22 January 2023 -

Linux etc.

I've been fucking around, and finding out with Linux as I refurb a Dell Chromebook 11 with Arch Linux and LXQt. It's fun! The whack-a-mole to get everything up and running is a challenge, but not an unwelcome one. Even when I realize 85% of my problems come from typos and missed details. _ and - are different I assure you.

Feeds etc.

Gone back in time and set up a RSS feed reader. Using FeedBin an NetNewsWire and inspiration from "The apps I use to read and write for this blog" on Interconnected.

Reading etc.

Tom Cox, Sonic the Hedgehog, Gary Snyder

Gaming etc.

Almost done with Sonic Frontiers and loving it. Starting the "...of Mana" series. Thinking about Quake and the Game Boy Advance I recently got.

I did end up beating Infernax and can't wait to play it again.

Nora etc.

Got a kitten. He's a headstrong, reckless Nora brave named Aloy. Yes, "he".

It's been a journey.

Reporting From: the Arch-book

Current Conditions: Winter doldrums, but good music.

Posted: 13:45 sun 22 jan 2023

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- Wednesday, 05 October 2022 -

I guess this is like a Captain's Log - but even nerdier..?

Okay, this looks fun. What am I up to?

Fiddling with the ol' website. Adding new parts (like this page) and freshening things up. Building for the sake of building. For fun. For play.

Embracing the autumn. Doubling down on a spiritual path. Clearing out the inbox and the reading queues. Making it up as I go, but realizing that maybe I've been gathering what I needed this whole time. Just have to pick it up.

Figuring out what's next, what is, what I have around me, and what I want to start doing with it.

Thinking About

...what it means to be on the internet for broadcasting vs. recording. Writing for right now vs. writing for an audience of the future. (sure, it can be banal, but banal for future generations is different from the disposable banality of the now...)

Been reading Tom Cox: