윤

Joseph Lin was still the boss at work, and I sought his permission to borrow the truck parked in the warehouse to get home, though I thought it might not be worth the trouble, having to bring it back in the morning. His complexion was worse than I remember, and he wiped away the sweat or secretions while he explained to me that Patrick Stewart was retiring not only from his career in film and television, but his honorary position at the company. (Reminds me of the celebrity endorsement Apex purchased from Terry Bradshaw.) My earlier scenario found me free from my usual state of transportation-disabled, collecting my things after a class, fitting one backpack into another so that I’d only have two to carry. The girl that had sat beside me, who had curly brown hair like the actress who played Elaine’s counterpart on Jerry’s failed pilot, told me her father was picking her up, but that he was fussy about her sitting in his car, even the way she handled its door. I told her I’d take her home instead and not complain, “I’ll even open it for you,” I offered—the conversation felt real, I recall our exchange clearly; she asked me for my name, which despite a certain extent of intimacy we somehow hadn’t gotten to sharing, to which she replied, “The Jay?” “I guess I am,” I flustered, and our relationship having withstood my reputation, bravely requested her number. She smiled and nodded, and as I fumbled for a writing instrument in one of the nylon pockets, I would learn she was Marissa.

I’m certain I’ve never written about this place, since I only first stepped into our location this year. (There’s been some competition from the Panini Kabob Grill around the corner.) Last week I upped my “lines” of their 130K Scoville red sauce on my platter to six, and it cost me most of the following day.

Which got me thinking again about my three pillars of taste, and how the human flowchart will eventually force me to give them up, only one at a time, if I’m lucky. Jin compared them to Ultima’s Principles of Truth, Love and Courage (which of course combine to form the Eight Virtues, because they needed more than just three cities and dungeons) and gave me the idea for a comic where I’d meet their personifications, possibly represented by Geri Halliwell
, Gene Wilder and who else but that fucking nightmare from Star Trek. They’d have to emerge from within me, since I’ve already used the cosmic pantheon for my Lance Reddick one—I’ve really got to get to work to drop them all someday like a Netflix season.

There’s still some surprising me, after all; I shat all over the first two seasons of Picard, their unwelcome new characters, nonsensical plotlines, and worst to me, the submission to popular dystopianism—turns out all they really needed to do was bring everyone back, a few of their kids and some familiar guest cameos. …And fuck me, that reunion on the bridge of the D was worth it all, as if they wrote the entire season around it, to hell with the previous ones or rational in-universe explanations. Never mind the lighting, it was the carpet all along! Reminded me of how I’d see Star Blazers in TNG, e.g., Wolf 359 to the Earth Defense Force’s last stand against the Comet Empire; this is like their Yamato.

I figure I can’t count on LINE to preserve our contributions indefinitely, so I’ll try to add historical context: Jin linked a fan song based on “The Inner Light” (which was parodied on Teen Titans Go!—furthering my belief that someone I know has been working on that show all this time), prompting my response below from my other favorite S05 episode and attempts lately to learn Joy Division bass lines.

I have waited in my shell
For a reason I can tell
For when it’s time I break free
You must be the one I see

I have studied all my life
To be more than just a wife
I can sense your heart’s desire
Anything you require

An old book to fall asleep
Knowledge surprisingly deep
Or a physicality
Of great durability

I am ready for this bond
And travel to worlds beyond
Take me to where you spoke of
Away to a land of love

[Title and meme from this new track for old people like us.] Actually, I’m quite enjoying my daily visits to the am/pm down the street, where I would stop on my way to work 9-10 years ago for that refill of crunch ice and Mountain Dew on dispenser lines that must be corroded with just the right chemical buildup it’s borderline toxic and intoxicating. The rewards app helps, and I can’t help be amused that I’m charged 3¢ for tax on my free drink.

“The top five most boring hobbies”, according to a study outta England (and not one of their classic 70’s shows):

1.) Sleeping
2.) Religion
3.) Watching TV
4.) Observing animals [I will never not laugh at this clip]
5.) Mathematics

An excerpt from one of several pinnacles of the franchise, accomplishing in a single 45-minute episode what the new series cannot in two season-long arcs. Talk about boring! Fuck Akiva Goldsman, everything that hack touches is shit.

What kept me watching this low-budget no-fanfare new series wasn’t so much the prospect of Lovecraftian horror (which no, doesn’t just mean the spooks are invincible), but my fascination with the main character’s video restoration work. Plus, Tarkovsky’s Solaris, which is Lovecraftian. I wish they went somewhere with that, beyond the use of found-footage simply to switch perspective, maybe that’s what they were getting at with playback of all the recordings recreating reality. Why not make that the “other world”—a realm run by a being not unlike the Doom Patrol “Telephone Avatar“—instead of yet another Nexus, or even the surface of a comet, since we now have a good idea what one looks like? Still waiting for the genre smörgåsbord to top John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, however.