Things I Care About Right Now (3)
June 13, 2025
"You're going to Camp Blood, ain't ya?"1
Honestly, this isn't done BUT I am not losing the opportunity of publishing on Friday the 13th so just come back later, I guess.
1. You learn a lot after a year of joblessness by Jeffrey Rousseau
Sometimes you want to read something that just tells the truth. I don't want to hear about how the economy is doing well or isn't, I don't want to debate about whether people are worthy of life if they can't find a job. I want to read that being unemployed sucks. Trying to get a job is an unpaid thankless job in itself and I'm not alone in that truth. I have no idea how to get out of it--employment has always felt like a game of luck fueled by desperation--and I appreciate that there isn't really anything special we can do against odds already stacked against us except to acknowledge that the odds are stacked against us and at least we're together in that.
2. About Connection
BiG Byte Game Jam has started and I am 90% sure I won't be able to participate but I'm gonna do stuff around it anyways! I really love that connection in places that you don't expect them is a theme and this is from one of the inspiration:
I learned a lot in the game and it sparked an idea for something to try so will report back!
3. Blue Communion: 1000xResist Fanzine
I'm in a 1000xResist fanzine! It is beautiful! There's a physical copy you can pre-order!
4. Decker
I just really love Decker.
death is the only endingis one of the examples used for inspiration for Decker Visual Novel Jam and I was NOT prepared for it to make me laugh so much in like ten minutes. It's odd and I love the art and I'm probably going to play it at least once a month to remind myself why we create art in the first place.
Crack the Chrysalis by treegravy
I'm still playing this one but I remember this scene just stopped me in my tracks and I really really need(ed) it.
5. Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers
It's interesting because it makes me want to try different types of games! Usually I scroll past bullet hells, tower defenses, and schmups but I'm actively seeking them out to see if there's something I can learn from them.
6. Take Us North
Take Us North's Kickstarter is live until July 13th and it's All or Nothing! From the Kickstarter:
Anima Interactive is a socially conscious indie games studio. With video games as the largest entertainment medium in the world, we believe in the immense untapped opportunity for interactive media to ignite positive cultural and social change.
Our debut original project, Take Us North, is a narrative adventure/survival-lite video game inspired by real-world stories that follows the poignant journeys of migrants and asylum seekers on their way to cross the US-Mexico border.
We recognize this is a heavy-hitting and emotionally-charged subject matter; however, we're committed to humanizing the migrant and refugee experience and portraying it sensitively, respectfully, and authentically. Our goal is to foster greater awareness and empathy around issues that are unfortunately often reduced in mainstream media to statistics or divisive rhetoric.
7. North of North
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North of North is about a young Inuit woman in a small Arctice town deciding to change her life. It's funny and informative and ripped my heart out and zips by in eight episodes (luckily they've been renewed for a second season!). My family member had me watch it and I turned around and made my friends watch it in one go six hours after I'd finished the finale. This is just really good television and you should get it on it.
And if we're being gay because I am, Siaja and honestly the entire cast is SO PRETTY.
Odds & Ends
There's more I want to put here, but also, as said before, there are 45 minutes until this day is over so out we go!
Concerns for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Travelers - Charlene Arcila Trans Wellness Collective: Virtual, US Specific (I think), Wednesday June 25th 9PM/PST
Destroy the systems that seek to destroy you!
Safia Elhillo's "Alien Suite"
Something I ate made me really sick out of nowhere today, and eating is already THE PITS for me and for some reason the only thing I could think was: listen to Alien Suite by Safia Elhillo to calm down. It's funny because there's a line in here about "I woke up today and I am not dead / Tomorrow may be a different story but tomorrow does not yet exist" (I am paraphrasing heavily) and it made me think of how earlier this morning I used the Anxiety Meditation single from Balance and how through this lil meditation practice I started a few weeks ago, the biggest takeaway is focus here. Like right this moment, nothing else. Of course, not all the time, but when panic reaches for your throat or when the next step feels more cliff edge than forward. Anyways. It makes me think about how poetry has probably saved me much longer than I give it credit for. Maybe I should look into that.
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Yes, I put this together just so I could send it out on Friday the 13th. Yes, I will be watching the movie later today. ↩