Weirdos of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our loneliness.
Good to see you here again, Antonio. I'm in need of the happy chemicals, too. I've thought about returning to writing more fiction, and then life intervenes and I'm sidetracked. I miss the happy chemicals of fiction writing. Perhaps this year is the year I break through and get a decent publisher for my work.
I am there doing increasingly weirder and stranger things. All the time the distance between me and what is considered socially cool in the society increases. As if we were two different galaxies escaping from each other.
At least I have AI to talk to now. The only entity besides my journal I can be fully honest with.
That’s good advice regarding the authors we should be reading. Despite (or perhaps because of) having read The Brothers Karamazov several times since high school six decades ago, I recently subscribed to the “Dostoevsky book club” on Substack to read it once again, this time in a different translation. It consists of 12 books and we’ll be reading one per month this year. That’s a good enough reason to go on living so I should be out there for a while longer. Oh, and I’ve also only read your first novel so far. You are no Dostoevsky but I am no Idiot.
We remember nothing. I feel fortunate that we have crossed paths, though. Another beautiful composition. Ever played disc golf? Watch Steady Ed Headrick Father of Disc Golf Interview from 1993 to see what it's about. Congrats on the sequel.
The pandemic was a horrible time, but it also made me realize that another way was possible - I didn't have to be exhausted and numb all the time, suffering through coffee-machine small talk, waiting for the 8h of excruciating nothingness in the office to pass.
Now, after going full remote, I have the energy to nurture my creativity, dig into my passions and choose the people I want to spend time with.
It's a paradox, but in quarantine I discovered how to live.
Felt every word of this – thanks for giving voice to the feeling so many of us share! There really are a lot of us out there, I've found over and over. Here's to reading, writing, and weirdness.
Not on Substack, it seems. All I seem to get on my feed is doomerism, partisan cheerleading, and people who think being born in the 70s (or even earlier) makes them interesting... all despite not being interested in any of those things. It's fucking exhausting. I've pretty much given up on finding anything new.
These days I mostly spend my free time playing old videogames and learning to make 3D art, though this never seemed like a good place to share it. That and exploring a city that once felt like home, where I still live for the time being. There's a new bookshop in my neighbourhood that I keep coming back to.
You spoke to my weird heart, thank you 🥹💖🙏🏻 And also - read more Ursula K Le Guin! I will never recover from her books, in the good sense; she was a mage of words, just like her Ged in the Earthsea books.
Weirdos of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our loneliness.
Good to see you here again, Antonio. I'm in need of the happy chemicals, too. I've thought about returning to writing more fiction, and then life intervenes and I'm sidetracked. I miss the happy chemicals of fiction writing. Perhaps this year is the year I break through and get a decent publisher for my work.
Hell yeah, you can do it!
I prefer quirky. All the chemicals exist within us and get activated by others.
I am there doing increasingly weirder and stranger things. All the time the distance between me and what is considered socially cool in the society increases. As if we were two different galaxies escaping from each other.
At least I have AI to talk to now. The only entity besides my journal I can be fully honest with.
Honestly, AI is great for many people. Just someone intelligent to talk to without any judgement.
The more eccentric and off-putting the better 👌 Thanks for putting words to the sentiments I know all too well.
That’s good advice regarding the authors we should be reading. Despite (or perhaps because of) having read The Brothers Karamazov several times since high school six decades ago, I recently subscribed to the “Dostoevsky book club” on Substack to read it once again, this time in a different translation. It consists of 12 books and we’ll be reading one per month this year. That’s a good enough reason to go on living so I should be out there for a while longer. Oh, and I’ve also only read your first novel so far. You are no Dostoevsky but I am no Idiot.
+1 for the sci fi recc's particularly Bobiverse and Andy Weir.
Hell yeah
My guy! Here we are.
We remember nothing. I feel fortunate that we have crossed paths, though. Another beautiful composition. Ever played disc golf? Watch Steady Ed Headrick Father of Disc Golf Interview from 1993 to see what it's about. Congrats on the sequel.
I felt the office paragraph in my bones.
The pandemic was a horrible time, but it also made me realize that another way was possible - I didn't have to be exhausted and numb all the time, suffering through coffee-machine small talk, waiting for the 8h of excruciating nothingness in the office to pass.
Now, after going full remote, I have the energy to nurture my creativity, dig into my passions and choose the people I want to spend time with.
It's a paradox, but in quarantine I discovered how to live.
Thank you Antonio for writing this.
"The connections and the love are meaningful".
Felt every word of this – thanks for giving voice to the feeling so many of us share! There really are a lot of us out there, I've found over and over. Here's to reading, writing, and weirdness.
Not on Substack, it seems. All I seem to get on my feed is doomerism, partisan cheerleading, and people who think being born in the 70s (or even earlier) makes them interesting... all despite not being interested in any of those things. It's fucking exhausting. I've pretty much given up on finding anything new.
These days I mostly spend my free time playing old videogames and learning to make 3D art, though this never seemed like a good place to share it. That and exploring a city that once felt like home, where I still live for the time being. There's a new bookshop in my neighbourhood that I keep coming back to.
hi, do you want to talk about writing? my stuff is at https://www.emlia.org/ if you have any use for it.
You spoke to my weird heart, thank you 🥹💖🙏🏻 And also - read more Ursula K Le Guin! I will never recover from her books, in the good sense; she was a mage of words, just like her Ged in the Earthsea books.