Personal

It’s no secret that recent events suggest dark times are ahead for the world. How dark those times will be as well as how we might best navigate them are as uncertain as any prediction of our future. To everyone out there, I wish you all the best of luck. We will have to take each day as they come and support one another against powerful forces. There is strength in numbers, and there is no group more numerous than the disenfranchised. As things become increasingly blurry as a result of (social) media manipulation, remind those around you of those who have their better interests at heart, and how they can best utilize them.

I realize that all comes across as vague. Depending on how things play out, “vague” might end up becoming the only way certain thoughts can be safely expressed. So get good at reading between the lines, and do it without becoming a conspiratorial moron. Remember, folks: there are few tools more reliable than Occam’s razor. And give more weight to the words of the educated than of those without.

For example, I am educated on the arcane arts of media literacy. I’ve been putting this into practice via a hefty Pokémon addiction. I beat Crystal, Soul Silver, and Black 2 for the first time, and I’m in the process of completing B2’s post-game. I also completed Pseudoregalia for the first time alongside my friend Stevie. Be sure to check out my review if you’re interested, as I think it turned out nicely.

My girlfriend and I are nearly done with Ocarina of Time, which never fails to be a fun adventure. With regards to other media, I was able to finish Chimp Crazy, which is nice. Not too much to talk about. Pokémon has devoured nearly all of my time, and what remains goes to job hunting and working on this very site.

Professional / Public

In the name of expediency, I’m combining these two sections where appropriate. I don’t have particularly exciting news on the job front, and I see expanding this site as related to my career anyway. This site is both my heart and soul, and my portfolio. As a writer, one of my constant goals is to compromise both as little as possible.

Please don’t take my recent missed days in blog posting as a sign of disinterest. I love working on this site — it’s the most fun I’ve had with a productive project since… well, maybe ever. My focus with regards to any aspect of my life tends to be very narrow-minded, so I go all-in on tasks. If I’m not making a blog post one week, it almost certainly suggests that I’ve been buckling down on articles or general sitewide formatting.

My Pseudoregalia review is one of my newest in a while, but not for lack of trying. As a matter of fact, ever since completing Crystal I’ve been working on a review for the game that now sits at… (clicks through 20 tabs) 12,727 words. That’s a lot, but that’s my brand: thoroughness. My reviews are partly retrospective documentation of my personal experiences as well as analysis of the media in question. Other people may cut corners in some respects, but I don’t. You’re going to get all of me, even if it takes me a while.

The Crystal review isn’t merely long. I’ve been trying to apply new standards. This is the first review that will be split into sections. Each section will have a heading containing the subject, and my goal with these is to make my writing more digestible and navigable. I can often go on tangents, but I understand not everyone is interested in those. When I think I can do it without sacrificing clarity I’ll separate these tangents for everyone’s convenience. Way I see it, my writing ought to hold up on its own. If you don’t want to read every section, that’s my fault for not making it entertaining enough.

Crystal also contains some aesthetics I’m retroactively applying to older articles. It contains the most images I’ve embedded by far, and some contain captions. I’ve also begun using basic separators to make page formats easier to parse. You can see what I mean by browsing the video game directory, as I’ve gone through and added box art and separators to every page! I’m making little changes like this all the time. Feel free to provide suggestions and feedback.

I might have mentioned before that I’m frustrated that WordPress doesn’t allow custom templates. I found out recently that I was mistaken… sort of? WordPress does have a custom template feature, but it does not seem to do what I expect from a template. I made a forum post asking for help, but no one seems willing to read anything longer than a paragraph anymore, so it’s been useless. If anyone reading this wants to lend a hand, please take a look at my post.

All that said, I’d like to get back to working on future articles and general site improvements, so I’ll do just that. As I said earlier, take one day at a time and keep yourself busy. I know I will.