not again. this time is different. i was never gone. i have come back from right here. this time with a focused intent. i have left again, not again like last time but for real this time. i left the socmed, the instagram and the tiktok. i have been wanting to for a while, after two years on and two years off it was finally time for another two of whatever comes next. i have many reasons for not wanting to play that game anymore. some are very personal and for my wellbeing. also, i want to stop carrying around that damn phone all the time. i am close to being able to. just need to figure out how to get myself around. about that. working on it. another reason for me to want to retire from the social medias is the scary times we live in where the tech life is reaching an apex and it has gone beyond normalized, soon required. it already is but can mitigate it. at least i can so why shouldn’t i. the way these are being used by the powers is very scary. it’s very scary how effective it is. the way these apps are using us is also very scary. i am afraid. but the fear doesn’t come out of ignorance, or confusion. i’m scared of how real it is and how much it’s taking down with it:

the environment
the appreciation for each other
the human potential
the connection - the rope
the default interconnectedness of it all
the value of being
my job


so much shit. i clearly need to flesh it out more. whatever i can’t say is kind of forgotten because of the gut feeling that i have that what i am doing is right for me. and all of this is just for me. everyone that chooses to participate does not lack the things i listed before or is wanting to get rid of those things. it’s just me. maybe some other people too. probably.

i bought a small tiny phone. it is on it’s way to me from china. idk how long that will take. i have definitely created a strange relationship to technology. i love it, i can wield it. but as much self control as i think i have, i am still no match for the mind games that comes with the brainless scrolling. i want to be more for real about what i believe. live it. i want to see things for what they are without any added stories or filters. i hope AI loses it’s name and starts being called what it really is. that’ll be another focus point for next time. sooner this time. not again.

yea not this time. the heat is hopefully done. the school year is going. got to talk about the war of the worlds radio broadcast today. it's fun until you have to do it three different times. booooring. new lumines demo dropped on a random monday morning or something like that. i was very excited. so excited i started working on the game again. again. doing more focused tutorials for now to get back into the groove of unity and c. i think it's a really good idea. we shall see. updates for myself mostly. mostly for the future. moistly. i've been getting a lot. a lot of good times with games and friends. cards. things that i need to do. responsibilities. i cleaned my room. the walls are pretty now. for myself mostly. i will come back more frequent. more focused.

it’s so fuckibg hot godddddd damnnn i know convenience and comfort are the enemy but godddd ddnaaaammmbnnnn it’s 90 in my place. i have no reason to be inside but god damn i am tired. i can go to the water. i can go to a movie theater with ac. i do want to watch weapons. i am still thinking about beau. why didn’t i see it earlier. do i not have anyone in my life that cares about me enough to force my ass in the theater seat. whatever. i am going to go out of my way to see edington too. never again.

after a long day of explaining to teenagers the importance of media literacy and speaking about them behind their back to other teachers, referring to their cellphones as pacifists for overgrown babies, i am back home ready for my own pacifier. i am surprised that i am not yet tired or bored of teaching media studies. maybe it is because i feel like i am constantly playing catchup with current events and trying to find a way to make it digestible for my kids. there is a lot at stake, so i try to be the first person to reach them with a specific story or idea. my hope is that after a few months of my class, the cricket in their ear (me) will speak to them about all the media they come across.

i think it is always important to relate the subjects you are teaching to things happening in our lives and to include yourself as the teacher. i tell them that i am also a student of media studies, i also have to interface with thousands of messages per day and that none of us are immune to misinformation, bias, and error. i realized as i was prepping for the class that i use a lot of metaphors from movies to explain the importance of media literacy so this year i will be showing a lot of clips to help drive the main point of whatever topic we are discussing. for example, today i showed them the wizard of oz scene where the wizard gets uncovered. “pay no mind to the man behind the curtain.” i always think of that quote when it comes to understanding systems and media. i hope they understood what i was going for.

i will now go and let myself be consumed by the same thing i told the kids to watch out for. at least i am aware of my own demise. that must be worth something.

there is so much to do and i want to do none of it. maybe i want to do some of it. i am getting kind of stuck in doing the same things in the same ways. i have so many expectations for this site. it has to hold all of my ideas while also giving me a sense of self-directed purpose. i did not write as much as i wanted to this week, it still feels like i am trying to write. but that’s exactly what i need to do, just write and be ok with it being there. i will stop writing about my writing now.

this weekend had a lot of baldur’s gate 3 and i finally watched beau is afraid, which i really really loved. it demanded my attention when i was trying to do everything but sit down and focus on one thing. my favorite part of the movie while watching it was the sound and my favorite part to keep thinking about is about how there are three possibilities on what’s actually happening in beau’s world. either (1) it is all psychosis, all the horrors exist only in his head because the horrible things he grew up with shaped the trauma he continues to live with. it could also (2) be part psychosis and part orchestrated madness. or (3) all of the horrors in his life are orchestrated and he has had zero sense of the real world. i think the movies leans into 3 more than the others and i think i lean that way too.

i love when movies have me thinking about the format and the genre, it can really mess with your expectations. it can help directly explain bizarre themes through feeling and vibe, the type of things that might otherwise be lost through explanation.

i will watch weapons this week.

second day of school on my 8ish years teaching. i have not tried writting shit in that time. i need to find my writing voice, again. so i will just be word vomitting until it feels natural.

this was largely inspired by smile.rip, which also greatly inspired the website overall. i have a lot of plans for the website. primarily to be a hub for all the random shit i do. it all has some sort of digital component that can be uploaded and shared. the container being a website for all those projects also gives me more ways of seeing the project through by giving it a place where it'll feel like home.

i think setting intentions as my first post is the best way i can honor the beginning of a new school year. after a whole day of creating classroom agreements and goals for the year, it feels natural. i want to be able to feel ok about writing whatever. i want it to be it's own thing, not attached to any incentive other than the satisfaction of seeing a page full of my own words. i never could keep a livejournal or anything like that for longer than three 3 days, tumblr was the closest thing i've gotten to creating my own site since the geocities days. i obviously like sharing. i was an early adopter of all the social media apps, which has only taken me further away from my own space on the web. i want these writing to be an example, even if only for myself. i don't want this to feel weird or self-entitled. i have a lot to say. the biggest satisfaction that any creative projects of mine have brought is that it can only exist outside of any of the big websites. soundcloud and tumblr were the last time like i felt like i had total control of how i wanted to share a thought or a whole project. sometimes i have shit to say and pictures to share but i don't want to add the social media perception, all the individual baggage that we attach to each app. it changes the meaning too much. i want to have control over who is profiting over something i think is woth sharing. i want it to exist outside of any systems that only exist to use and hurt my peoples. that motivation is also what keeps me being a media studies teacher. the internet has not been ok for a long time. it hasn't transformed, it was tamed. seeing the internet as a place where i can just create things like this is a reminder that we have so many tools, so many systems that we can shape to work for us.

i hope to keep writting.