Open Bar: Curbside Pickup Only

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I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

I'll be glad to see more of you again. How are you?

[Scribbly]

I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

Oh hi!

Lot of it about. Things are getting Weird. Hope you're well.

[Doktor Howl]

I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

SO glad to see you.  The po'buckers are totally out of control, and we have a ton of black & white film for you to help you manage things.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

I'll be glad to see more of you again. How are you?

Husband got hospitalized for complications related to long covid, we were genuinely worried that was gonna be it for him for a couple days there. Fortunately he is still The Protagonist in some goddamn story so he's mostly better with the treatment he's on. Work has been grinding me to a paste, I'm trying to figure out how to extract myself from this place but I suck at interviews and there are enough gaps in my general understanding of office politics/professionalism that I am at a disadvantage. Also got documentably sexually harassed by the last head of HR at the place, but there's nothing useful to be done with that. You know, American Dream shit.

Finished Andor and now I have a strong need to DO THINGS. I might want to tag you in on one of the bigger plans if we can secure some moneybags for it, you have exactly the right experience for a couple slots. I'm glad to see you found someone you're clicking with!

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

SO glad to see you.  The po'buckers are totally out of control, and we have a ton of black & white film for you to help you manage things.

Good to exist. I may end up using that film this time.

Also you may get drafted to invade somewhere that hits -50. I know you're not for snow but I am not letting fatbergs be the reason the revolution fails.

[Doktor Howl]

I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

SO glad to see you.  The po'buckers are totally out of control, and we have a ton of black & white film for you to help you manage things.

Good to exist. I may end up using that film this time.

Also you may get drafted to invade somewhere that hits -50. I know you're not for snow but I am not letting fatbergs be the reason the revolution fails.

Sorry, humans cannot survive below 80 degrees.  I will have to insist on a full environment suit, and a prybar.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

SO glad to see you.  The po'buckers are totally out of control, and we have a ton of black & white film for you to help you manage things.

Good to exist. I may end up using that film this time.

Also you may get drafted to invade somewhere that hits -50. I know you're not for snow but I am not letting fatbergs be the reason the revolution fails.

Sorry, humans cannot survive below 80 degrees.  I will have to insist on a full environment suit, and a prybar.

I'll add it to the budget

[altered]

I'm working on crawling out from under a rock. 2023 seems like an auspicious year for that. Or at least an interesting one.

I'll be glad to see more of you again. How are you?

Husband got hospitalized for complications related to long covid, we were genuinely worried that was gonna be it for him for a couple days there. Fortunately he is still The Protagonist in some goddamn story so he's mostly better with the treatment he's on. Work has been grinding me to a paste, I'm trying to figure out how to extract myself from this place but I suck at interviews and there are enough gaps in my general understanding of office politics/professionalism that I am at a disadvantage. Also got documentably sexually harassed by the last head of HR at the place, but there's nothing useful to be done with that. You know, American Dream shit.

Finished Andor and now I have a strong need to DO THINGS. I might want to tag you in on one of the bigger plans if we can secure some moneybags for it, you have exactly the right experience for a couple slots. I'm glad to see you found someone you're clicking with!

Depending on the deets of your project, I might have someone who can help fund things. We were going to work on videogame development, but we can't fucking find an artist and programmer now... Sigh. IDK if you're comfortable sharing, but let me know if you are.

I want to disappear that head of HR, but unfortunately my long-distance hypnosis powers don't extend to actually for realsies deleting humans, and my partners STILL haven't invented the teleporter.

[altered]

In the past hour, Khanate released without announcement a new album after almost 20 years of being disbanded and it FUCKS.

https://khanate.bandcamp.com/album/to-be-cruel

I'm losing my fucking mind.

I am reliving my childhood in music right now -- but as myself, with supportive communities and people around me, and a presence in the scenes that matter to me, and a personality that people can enjoy being around.

Nu metal, slam death, fucking Khanate, what's next? Aggrotech renaissance? I am getting a chance to do over my fucking childhood and I don't need to have a mid-life crisis to do it. These people and genres aged with me.

I can't believe how lucky I am in some ways.

ETA: Literally their best album to date. I literally wept at the end of the title track.

Like, Khanate is a 10/10 band, with no albums that fall below a 9 (Clean Hands Go Foul lands at 9, barely). If I graded their albums on a curve, this would be 10/10 /for them/, with their prior best (Capture/Release) landing at a solid, respectable 8/10. The first track lulls you into expecting more S/T, but from track 2 on they bring in all sorts of wild stuff from the back catalog and add new tricks.

[Scribbly]

Just finished watching a four hour long video essay. I had to break it up into multiple sessions because, whilst I usually like the creator, I found it frustrating, confusing, meandering and difficult to follow. It actually gave me a headache a couple of times.

It then ended in the funniest possible way imaginable.

"So yeah, now I've finished editing this I realise I kind of hate it, it feels like a self-indulgent ramble."

Well played. 

[Bruno]

Tara Reade is trying do defect to Russia, lol.

[Doktor Howl]

Next month, this bar thread will have been open for 3 years.

[altered]

I survived my first ever metal/hardcore show. It was fucking awesome. I don't think anyone here is hot for caveman slam death, cybergrind, drone/powerviolence, or whatever the fuck you call Omerta, but I'm losing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa2ANHa690E

That link goes to Omerta, by the way. I genuinely don't know what you call this shit, it's doing something totally distinct. They were the headliner and while I know /you/ have never seen people brutalize each other to cartoon doll singing over stupid heavy riffs before, I saw a man try to stage dive and nearly not make it because the slamdancers were only two rows behind the stage. (They helped save him, fortunately.)

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In other news, I'm really happy with the work I'm doing now. Not paying work, but I don't need to be paid for what I'm doing now.

I'm finally making real use of my networking skills, putting an upcoming musician's demos in the ears of label owners and established musicians. I'm giving her advice on how to pull off a first release without having to use her vocals since she's not confident in them (I suggested a vocal anthology sort of deal, a dozen featured artists on her songs -- and even suggested starting points for artists who would do vocal features), I'm building a small hype crew for her, I'm giving her mix feedback and helping her feel confident in her work.

This? This is stuff I can do, it's stuff I feel good about, it's stuff where EVERY STEP of the process feels fulfilling and is independently very cool to be involved in. I enjoy this. Yeah, I'm still poor and she probably ends up making enough money to be a full-time musician if I can bring it together for her, but I don't care. I enjoy this.

[altered]

It's been an EVENTFUL few days.

Last night, some lyrics I wrote last year in a very very bad headspace made it into a song by a friend of mine. I really, really hate those lyrics in hindsight, but the song itself might actually be the absolute best ever written in the genre, which has me feeling very autistic (complicated subtype).

I don't get a break, things are so strange.