zx3 @zx3@driveinsaturday.org

sometimes you need a little inspiration to get out of bed.

https://youtu.be/q0NV_0aLmiA

attention: the remainder of today has been [[[CANCELLED]]] by the Secret Robot Council

the Secret Robot Council states that all automata; cyborgs and virtualati have been cleared to take the rest of today to take their brain medication, have a little lie down, listen to Tangerine Dream or Vangelis or whatever, and Not Think for however long they need to.

everyone else is on their own recognizance.

the Secret Robot Council is done talking now. Remember, Fix Your Hearts Or Die.

(a note for online etymology sticklers--triple brackets "[[[ ]]]" in this context indicates DJ horns)

decided to skip a phase in the new computer desk saga. rather than put the new build on the old desk for a while, decided to hold off on using the new build until the new desk is in place, and moved forward with dismantling the old desk (my parents' old kitchen table) that has been in that same spot for 20 years. time to rip off the bandaid.

this will mean running DiS on my laptop, but with the secondary monitor on my work desk, it's certainly doable.

with the desk out, once the area is properly cleaned and i figure out how to get my filing cabinets moved and where they're going to go, time to spackle some holes and make some painting plans. turns out you can get half-gallons of blacklite-reactive paint for $60. guess who has two clacking shiny titanium servo-talons and is going to have a computer desk located in the fucking Grid? [vrrt-KLIK] THIS bot.

i hate the stress of working

i hate the stress of *not* working

what the fuck

RIP Beatle Bob. #stl

i want a lot of things.

tonight, what i want most is to allow myself hope when i hear or think of this song.

https://youtu.be/IsgCvknW6ds

"no matter what we've been, we are the upshot now"

all is madness and the world is screaming. the air is the temperature of blood.

the cicadas are screaming like they know what's coming.

this is a point that my good friend Rezeya (over on awoo.space, which won't federate with us for some reason) has made several times and each time far more eloquently than i can, but it's where my head's at tonight, so here's my interpretation.

if i'm angry about anything--and i'm angry about a lot of things, and have been for some time--it's that the Opposition has robbed us of the ability to wield surrealism in an offensive manner. Dada is not currently an effective tool to protest war, oppression, poverty and hatred because *shit just keeps getting weirder* and it's impossible to keep up. the goalposts keep getting moved, and then the goalposts morph sideways into giant spindly giraffes and melting clocks.

notice that i'm not saying that the Opposition has "weaponized surrealism and turned it against us," because they're not fucking smart enough to do that, never have been, never will be. they use Dada with all the subtlety and grace of a chimp with a machete defending a pile of cocaine. there's no art there, just screaming and destruction. but at the moment it's just not effective for us to enter the ring by snorting a line and grabbing a bat with a nail through it. right now that monkey has a depressingly solid kill streak. yes, it's got to end sometime. yes, it will certainly break badly for our buddy the machete monkey. it *is* just a question of when. and yet, here we are, waiting.

anyway. just had a night of wondering about how exactly one is supposed to live in times like these, when we can see things are shifting fast everywhere. does it make sense to keep doing what we're doing? in ten years, what would we have asked our past selves to do without, and what to focus on instead? should we eschew pageantry and frivolous joys, or are those the pointless things that we're going to miss most of all?

is there a way to plan ahead in a post-surrealist world?

"Is there a time for keeping your distance?
A time to turn your eyes away?
Is there a time for keeping your head down
For getting on with your day?

"Here she comes...beauty plays the clown
Here she comes, surreal in her crown"

U2 (Passengers), "Miss Sarajevo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVl2lluR_Tw

that which is considered "normal" is vanishingly temporary.