Apple TV original shows are among the best of modern streaming TV. I don’t like them all but there’s a lot I do and they’re clearly trying for quality, and often succeeding. But they have the worst openings, consistently. Long and boring. Severence is okay but long. They’re all Must Skip.

I spent a lot of years trying to focus on rules-light ttrpgs on the thesis that I wanted to primarily roleplay. And I do enjoy it. But not nearly as much, honestly, as I enjoy tactical combat. D&D 4e is peak gaming for my tastes. I like 5e if I choose the right build.

I’m super excited for this! I have read Woman of Tomorrow, which is the basis for much of this, and it was quite good. Digging this interpretation of the character and the contrast with Kal-El’s much more gentle backstory.

There’s a constant churn of nonsense from the US government these days. It’s critical to tune out as much of it as possible to stay a sane person who can still function in society. Controversy about a font use by a government agency you read 0% of their documents of is one to not care about.

One thing I hate about this time of year is that, I get my comics mail order. They show up like clockwork on Monday 95% of the time, January -> November. And then December hits. Last week’s shipment is due to me on Friday. Just package volume and USPS enshittification. (Screaming into the void.)

Ugh, this current weather pattern is giving me severe sinus pain, so much that it’s causing a toothache. This late autumn has been the worst.

When I moved out on my own, my Mom decided she wanted new silverware so gave me her entire existing set, which is of course what I grew up with. I’ve been using the same silverware set literally my entire life. And I’m never going to give it up, either, it’s the most familiar thing I own.

It’s getting kind of repetitive to keep saying it, but, wow does the US government deeply suck still. It hurts my mind to contemplate how bad they are in so many ways. And yet we have to keep on doing stuff, knowing that it’ll get better someday, but not soon at all.

The reason this is terrible is that I can’t go over to a friends house and watch a Netflix show together from my phone to their TV. What actually happens then is that I log into my Netflix account on their device and maybe I don’t log out again, which is explicitly what they don’t want. Oh well.

Ah yes, Cyber Monday, the day where every company I’ve ever bought something from sends me an email that I do not read.

This is the first winter storm since I got the solar panels in 2019 that they’ve actually ended up blocked and non-functional. Usually, the super slick surface and steep angle, it slides off pretty quickly. But this was a lot of snow and then it got unusually cold.

That was one of the most productive day-before-long-weekend days I’ve ever had. I don’t know what happened. But I can rest easy now, knowing that the high priority ticket I had is done, ahead of expectations.

I think American Thanksgiving confuses me mostly because I’m much, much less food motivated than most humans. I don’t like eating an abnormally large amount of food, and pie is generally not an exciting dessert for me, I’m happy to let others eat it all. But hey, day off work is good!

With previous tech advancements, like the web or smartphone apps, it created broad wealth. The barrier to entry to make a website or an app is pretty small. With AI, only billion dollar companies can profit from this. Yet another reason it’s garbage for humans.

Life is very good.

youtu.be/EN_Rb-Fw5_Y?... A minute in the life of my new kittens.

Bayley turns out to be a lap cat!

I’d forgotten how life with kittens is go-go-go-GO-GO-go-go-go-sleep.

Giving the kittens space alone so they can settle down but I really want to just go up there and force them to love me. But no, if I’m patient today tomorrow will be better, especially when I come back with wet food in the morning again.

New kitten day!

If you don’t have a custom avatar, I highly recommend one! It’s something distinctly yours and you can use it everywhere! Work JIRA, Social Media, Mac Login, whatever! Brian does good art and those prices are insaaaaaaane!

There are three pillars of a modern just society. Free healthcare so we can have life. UBI at a liveable level so we can have the liberty to do what we choose. Expand free education from K-12 to University and trade schools so we can pursue our happiness. We could just do this.

It’s super wild that we had a repeat MLB World Series winner, both Managers of the Year, both Cy Young winners (best pitcher), and both MVPs. That’s all the repeatable major accomplishments! I doubt that’s ever happened before. And yet, it was one of the most memorable postseasons in history.

I want to live in a world where people talk about things they love, not one where we have to push back on powerful people trying to weaken the definition of pedophelia, but once again here we are.

I miss the time when the President wasn’t a criminal.

Had a great time at friendship and board games retreat. You can still have fun in this world!

We really needed this.

I mean this is so far pretty close to a 10 out of 10 night for Democrats. Winning everywhere! Statewide in PA and GA, huge margin in VA gov race. Sherrill tracking double digits as well! Mamdani above 50% in a the highest turnout in NYC since 1969. Big pick ups in VA House of Delegates.

It looks like we still have a functional Democracy, at least for now! One year until midterms. If it goes like tonight, that’s a severe curtailing to Trump’s power. So, let’s take a hopeful moment for what it is!

Only 3 years and 2 months until we have an inaugural ball in the Epstein ballroom for the next Democratic President of the United States. (This is a no negativity post, willing this into reality here.)

As someone who likes TV and has no shame about that, I used to closely follow new fall shows to make sure I didn’t miss something good. Even in the Tivo era you had to ask in advance. Now I only vaguely pay attention. If something is good, people will talk about it and I can catch up! So easy!

Maximum comfort.

I don’t have any local elections this week, but a lot of you do! Vote if you have voting! It’s an essential component of getting us out of this mess.

Finally coming out of the deep grief hole from losing my precious Pivot cat. I’m still deeply sad about it and the unfairness of the best cat I ever loved only making it to 10 and vanishing in the blink of an eye, but I’m not in the pit of despair any more.

Okay, I get to be one of the happy ones tonight! That was fun, a fantastic series with tons of drama. Go Dodgers! See you in the spring!

I totally understand why most unaligned fans are rooting for the Blue Jays, but I’ve been following the Dodgers all year. Either way this goes, this has been a great series for the ages. I’m going to be a little sad there’s no games tomorrow!

The thing about the trans experience is, no matter what support you get, and no matter how good or bad the political climate is, you have to face your inner demons. Transition is a crucible. Your soul is laid bare. Even under ideal circumstances, not everyone makes it through alive.

Fuck, just found out another young friend just died. This time someone from Roller Derby. 2025, the hits just keep on coming. I’m really getting weary of grieving. That’s two friends, and my favorite, still young, cat, all in about 6 weeks. I hate it here.

Social tip: Don’t ask people for favorites. It shuts down conversation as people mentally do comparisons and try to get the best answer. Instead, ask for an example of something they like. What’s my favorite comic book? I dunno. What’s a comic book I like? Oh, Astro City! (Or whatever pops up!)

Few things will get a block from me faster than people who say cats are evil. They are not. I’ve had dogs and cats, and the love they give is no different. Life is too short to not yeet anti-cat people into the sun, I’m just sad I can only do it metaphorically.

30 years ago, the ttrpg default view was to split itself into twain into rules-bound math nerds who played games like D&D with maps and minis, and flighty theater geeks who played games like Vampire using Theater of the Mind. D&D wasn’t for roleplayers, mechanics weren’t for actors. God it sucked.

525,600 minutes, how do you measure, last night’s ball game?

I only made it 12 innings before I went to bed so I’d be functional at work today. It’s days like this that I miss living on the west coast for sure.

I want to sleep but this game is amazing. Go Dodgers!

Shohei Ohtani is really a special player. I’ve been watching Dodger games for the last two years largely to watch him play.

Bruce Wayne is all stretched out! #cats

We spent so many decades with computers being somewhat limited in what they could do but almost always correct in output, thanks to hard working software engineers who treated incorrectness as a bug, we trained ourselves to believe it. Lt. Data isn’t wrong on facts. We are so unprepared for “A.I.”.

Having to do a return on an item (Wrong Chips, I cannot eat the super spicy pack), and I feel a little bad for the poor fellow running chat, it’s clear that most people abuse the crap out of them and I’m being understanding and he’s so grateful. It’s just wrong chips, people!

This year’s fever dreams included fighting off an invading robot space fleet, getting abandoned as a child in a supermarket because my mother didn’t believe I was really sick, and then a fun period where I shot a lot of nazis. I think I was a cyborg for a while too.