I’m at the stage of burnout where all my hobbies feel like extra jobs, or at the very least like chores.

Trying to learn how to use Natron felt impossible. It’s a very different approach to what it does and I could not even start to figure it out.

I’m not an adventurous person. I haven’t been to a sex shop at home in decades so I don’t keep up with what’s available out there. But on vacation in Tokyo in 2023, I was at a four story sex shop in Akihabara. The top floor is exclusive to men, no women allowed up there. There are all sorts of fuck dolls and the more intense, expensive dude stuff up there.

Now, what I was not mentally prepared for was the glass display case. I don’t remember much about what else was in the case but the thing that caught my eye was what I can only call “The Device.”

The Device was a very inelegant metal machine that in any other context I would have assumed was some kind of kitchenware. But it had a nozzle on the end and it was incredibly obvious what The Device was there to do. This was not a nice machine, it was a tool with one purpose. I imagine it was incredibly good at that, too.

I was tight on cash for that trip and this thing was listed at 45,000 yen, which was about $375 at the time. I joked with my friends that it would be well worth it. It would have been difficult to get home due to size and I imagine heft. I would have taken The Device back to our rental house and let it suck the soul out of my body. I would have died on that trip and would have had no regrets.

I went back to the same store earlier this year and the glass case had other things in it, The Device nowhere to be found. Someone bought it, took it home, and was claimed by its power. The shelves of the top floors of that shop are now sleek looking plastic and silicon jerk machines that look very user friendly; exactly what you’d expect from a sex toy. But they are probably nothing compared to The Device.

When the power goes out and that fan stops, it’s the quietest thing you’ve ever imagined. It shouldn’t even be possible. I hate it.

This fucking rules.

The Karen I grew up around nails the “karen” archetype so perfectly that when people started using the name like that, I immediately understood what they were referring to. It was uncanny.

These years later, even my boomer family all know the reference and agree, regularly point it out to our Karen.

I’ve been using PCSX 1.7 for ages now. It’s been incredible, they were putting out lots of regular updates for it. It was clearly a ton of work and that work paid off. It’s a really great emulator!

Wow, I remembering having these cards/book when I was a kid. I wonder what ever happened to them.

I’m waiting.

Bring back Strong Zero! Yes, I know they still make them and you can still find them. But they aren’t as convenient anymore. And who knows how long they will last now. I’m sad.

I got to make regular jokes about “being the new guy” and subtly shoot shade at the management team any chance I get.

I was in a very, very rough spot. Was mostly worth taking the offer. It sure beat wasting 13 years of obscure product knowledge at some new job for the less pay others were offering.

Rehired with all my previous tenure benefits with the added raise they would have given me had I been around when they gave out raises.

I was really confident. Then I lost a job to AI. Then they hired me back a few months later after realizing that replacing half the support team with an AI was not working out.

I’m really into JDM cars, which are always interesting to see in America. I had a Toyota AE111 Levin for a few years. Ran into the most unfortunate luck with a large hailstorm and losing my job in the same week. Sold it for a fraction of its value to someone who wanted to fix the hail damage.

That car was the perfect car for my level of skill in performance driving and the style of roads where I live. I’ll never be able to replace that thing.

Professors are burned and jaded so much by students taking advantage of their test taking policies that they fail to see when there should absolutely be an exception. Visible medical emergencies are certainly one of them. They should not only not be professors, they should be fired or arrested for endangering you. It’s crazy that sort of thing can just happen, but it’s absolutely realistic having been through it.

Big Money Salvia on Internet Comment Etiquette makes full on short films for his ad reads. They are pretty great.

I recently learned this is called the Grocer’s Apostrophe.

Pretty sure I specifically heard someone say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker].

It’s actually got a huge area of land called The Great Dismal Swamp. Lots of park land and wilderness in rural Virginia. Someone from the area may be able to weigh in on it. I passed through years ago and the name struck me as hilarious.