I can't believe you resisted the temptation to eat Sidewalk Bagel. Or maybe you didn't and have gained its powers

🎶 Who lives in a nice palace within the (Holy) See? 🎶

The Moon: oh wow you guys decided to come back

Artemis II crew: earth’s haunted

We live in the mirror universe that began when the Chicago Cubs broke the seal and won the World Series they were never meant to win back in 2016, and Artemis II is from the prime universe/timeline and unfortunately has to interact with us.

Some of the people I encountered before I got here are the types who believe that a faltering faith is an indicator of a character flaw. A defective person, basically. They treated me as much.

I'm *not* giving up. But the trauma I experienced put me in a dark place. I don't see a way out yet.

So, I took a leave of absence from my order. This year is the first Easter in over a decade I wasn't present at the vigil for.

Today is a joyous, blessed day. But for many, its joy rings hollow - I especially think of those affected by war and other calamities right now.

With the other times, I experienced a downturn, and then a slow upturn. I could always feel the trajectory that I was "on my way back."

I never felt that this time. There was never the expectation of a joyous resurrection around the corner. There was just... nothing.

Two months ago, I experienced religious trauma. I said to myself at the start of Lent, "well, maybe I need this season."

As today grew closer, I realized this wasn't going to be like the last times I became disenchanted with it all, where there was something positive waiting for me at the end.

A digital illustration in a fairly loose painterly style of a street pigeon tailing flight with a slice of pizza clapped in their little grabbers. Hand drawn typewriter-style lettering around the pigeon reads ‘Maybe it will happen today’.

*takes off glasses and sighs* You've had *another* toilet malfunction?

It's fixed? It sounds like? Hell yeah. I look forward to seeing the troubleshooting process in the inevitable documentary.

The Artemis toilet getting 100% fixed would be like landing on the Moon, in my book.

I could never do this even over the course of my life, and I love baseball. But I listen to far more games than I watch. I multitask.

My dad *says* that during the 1970s and, as far as he knows, during the 80s and later, my grandfather did not miss a Braves game. So I have to assume this is true.

I guess I need better hobbies, because tonight I calculated that my grandfather, if his commitment was as hardcore as he claimed it was, hate-watched 4,854 Atlanta Braves baseball games between 1976 and 2005.

Since my bad depressive spell began, I can only report one significant positive change: I now address people as "folks" much more frequently.

My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it.

The depression has been hitting me really, really hard this year. Just too many bad things have happened. I'm grateful for the good in my life, obviously, but the bad stuff has been *really* bad.

Use a frame-perfect glitch to get the tankers into the desert terrain and have them sail on the sub-ocean to the other side, until they're clear of the terrain and back at sea again.

I hate tree pollen because it kills me, but I love how so many of my online friends who stop in Charlotte while they have a layover or whatever at CLT will have lunch with me and they're invariably like, "holy SHIT why didn't you tell me about the trees???"

Losing my mind at the Fox Deportes announcer signing off by switching to English to say (regarding Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic, tomorrow night), "Same bat time, same bat channel!"

(It's a funny reference and a baseball pun!)

And I speak of spiritual suffering! Of people seeing their talent, their work, their lives wasted. Of good minds submitting to stupid ones. Of strength and courage strangled by envy, greed for power, fear of change.

So cool that the WBC organizers scheduled Italy vs. USA on the day that celebrates the most famous Italian in the world: Mario.

me right now

Starting from top left: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB, 1993), Ridge Racer (PS1, 1994), Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast, 2000), Shenmue (Dreamcast, 1999), The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC, 2004), Dwarf Fortress (PC, 2006), Elite Dangerous (PC, 2014), Gran Turismo 7 (PS4, 2022), UFO 50 (PC/Switch, 2024)

While I writhe and suffer from horrendous allergies (pollen and my father's dog, yesterday), I did one of these things. The nine games that have shaped me most, or are just favs of mine. (See alt text for details.) my9games.com

I have pretty strong memories of finding Confederate flags around here when I was a teenager, and our roads are terrible now. I guess they do have us beat on gas.

Oh, neat! It’s such a nice city. I’ve been in Cabarrus County too long. A change of scenery will do me a lot of good.

In Gaston County, the differences are slim, to be fair.

(Also, I regret to inform you I am committing the ultimate act of Native Charlottean heresy soon. I am moving to Greensboro.)

In my sleep-deprived delirium (tl;dr: it's noisy and bright out), I'm thinking a lot about how we were all expected to believe Jean-Luc Picard, a starship captain played by an extremely English actor with an extremely strong Yorkshire accent, was French. And we just went along with it, I guess. 🥹

I'm really grateful for you. I'm sorry about that dude. Hopefully he finds spiritual maturity and peace, some day.

dudes rock

I'm just very proud of this one, okay? 🥹