Wholesome vibes–I’m saving this to my computer.
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Yeah, you gotta play it a bunch of times to find all the secrets and extra score factors and figure out how to unlock all the paths before you can really get serious about score.
Edit: I went a little overboard and made this interactive graph of where the items go – it’s fun to look at but it wasn’t actually that much help…
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It’s fun to play with too! Like an interactive virtual sculpture 
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That’s the coolest gift ever! Really awesome your friends are supportive of your hobbies.
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I saw that Rovarsson had mentioned my game VESPERTINE under the category Best Writing in the XYZZY 2022 Nomination Discussion thread, which just about made my day.
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I do periodic backups of my Twine folder, largely because the number of projects grows exponentially and I often stash away snippets of code I re-use: either because I like the way a particularly styled element looks, or because it’s much faster to hit the ground running with my own pre-made templates and to futz around with colours if I’m not in the mood to play around too much with design- a pastel pink might have the slider pulled over towards blue: still pastel, but cohesive to a new colour scheme. (But usually things remain pink, because that was, and remains my major goal with attempting any new styling or authoring tool: how, and what can I make pink? I love the colour.)
I like to reread my own work. Most of it makes me cringe, which I think is just a fairly universal writerly experience. A great deal of them were rightfully set aside, because I don’t have a sense of the direction a piece should move into. (Usually, pieces like this are ground up as grist: some lines or images or ideas might be explored in another stab at the topic, but with major deviations. Sometimes they’re binned altogether, but I always hoard the writing: all writing is good practice, and I can often piecemeal arrange new works from the slashed up bits of old works.)
But sometimes I run across pieces that I really do like, and that make me pause to wonder why I stopped writing them. (Chronic pain, life responsibilities, wanting to spend time with shinier ideas, a social life, acute illness, plenty of reasons…) Other times the rationale is much more apparent- especially when I hew a little too close to my own experiences: trauma and body horror aren’t things I shy away from in writing, but they can be particularly confronting when the horror lingers in things that resonate a touch too true- (abusive relationships, transphobia, coercion, homophobia, stalking, a whole laundry list.) Tonight, I bumbled across one of those works: I’m really happy with the writing, knew a solid story direction to take it into: and just couldn’t bear the pain of actually writing it, because of what it was about.
This last while has been pretty rough. I’ve had some really haunting incidents. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to use it to write something that isn’t necessarily meant to be beautiful, (but if the prose made is beautiful, then I’m not angry about it, nor do I think it detracts from the emotional catharsis) but that primarily seeks to be cathartic, for me, and a cleansing sort of self-exorcism. A major motivation behind writing, for me, especially about the grotesque- is because I find it comforting. I don’t feel like that time, to turn my painful experiences into a particular creative work, is necessarily now, or any time soon. I gravitate primarily to Gothic Horror and Gothic Romance as my genres of interest, but I think a little levity might be due. (And what better time to indulge than the holidays?)
It’s sort of really refreshing to be able to meet myself where I am, and my emotional and psychological needs- rather than the really common self flagellating or falling into despair about not being able to ‘write what I feel like I should be writing.’ The words will always wait. I can always return to whatever topics or themes I’d like- and often return to old favourites over and over again, because I enjoy doing so, and each exploration is a fulfilling experience.
It’s just… sort of nice, to be able to recognize what I need in this moment, and give myself the grace to act upon it. To be able to prioritize my emotional health, even though I sometimes feel like I ought to write on particular experiences or explore particular topics because I rarely see them handled sensitively, or by those who have lived through them and made it out through the other side. Well, I’m allowed to write whatever I’d damn well please, and maybe right now that means silly little fluffy drabbles I don’t show anyone else but are really fun to write, and that’s fine.
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Also, I randomly stumbled across acalvaria while I was Wikipedia-surfing, and I love falling down medical rabbitholes like that. Having a blast reading through medical papers before bedtime. Yippee!
And I got my hands on a copy of Beloved. Maybe something to read on the car ride?
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A house meow sent me this today and said it was me, which I agree with, and frankly, find hilarious whenever people who don’t normally send meme images, let alone animal pictures, (the ever present confusion of Sophia, you didn’t get a pet kitten, did you?! persists) send me some, because I send them so many they just pick up the hang of it. Cute kitty… (I also have him in my like, 11gb hoard of cat pictures on my phone. But it was a nice surprise to run across him again.)
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Today is my birthday. 'Nuff said 
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
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Congrats for your birthday
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Happy Birthday!
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Happy birthday! 
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Having a small slice of bánh bông lan (super light and fluffy Vietnamese vanilla sponge cake, essentially) with black coffee this morning and the combination is surprisingly good. It’s like resetting the sweetness so every bite is the same pleasure as the first. Huh. I’m usually a fan of coffee-that-borders-on-dessert, but this is nice.
Most Asian desserts fall more on the “not too sweet” side of things anyways, (I actually really dislike the usual Asian fruit cakes, but I’m also just not a fan of fruit cake in general- I love cake, and I love fruit, but not together, thank you very much!) but this has a tiny thin layer of vanilla frosting between the two layers.
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That’s one really nice thing about there being a China Town nearby- you can get fantastic fruits you cannot get a hold of in the suburbs, (which is something I will ambiently miss, but the pleasures of good Vietnamese coffee made at home and the luxury of sprawling out to embroider by pale wintry sunlight will suffice to compensate, I think.)
They had in stock some Vietnamese pomelo awhile ago, which was an entirely different experience from the Chinese pomelos they normally have. The flesh was much more juicy, much sweeter, and ranged from a blush of pink to deep pink rather than the usual pale translucent creme, and didn’t have the sort of bitterness I usually associate with the fruit (even after carefully picking away any of the lining, though I do think Chinese pomelo is much nicer when dipped in a rub of chillies and salt, which is also a fantastic combination to eat with crisp mango slices.)
I love the fruit stalls for all the yummy little treats you can get… I’ve always been able to polish off a whole bag of syrupy sweet longan myself, but I also love rose apples (which are like, such a mystifying experience to have for the first time- it’s almost as if water was made crispy, and they smell just like roses if you sniff the skin, the contrast between the green flesh and the rosy skin is really beautiful especially with their bell shape,) and mangoes (both the crispy/crunchy kind you eat with chillies and salt, and the lush, decadent ones you slice up like a porcupine and bury your face into), and jackfruits which are a sensory delight to dig your hands into and squeak between your teeth while being pleasantly sweet enough to not feel sick gorging yourself on, and good dragon fruit which is sweet and delicious and unfortunately difficult to come across but when you do it’s so worth it, and guavas which are super fun to crunch down on, and persimmons which I could probably polish off a whole basket’s worth alone because I love the give of the skin beneath your teeth and they’re so satisfying to tear into and cup perfectly into the palm of your hand, coconuts which are both a delightful little drink and snack you carve along with a spoon, and even frozen durian which when scooped out is rich and creamy and indulgent like icecream…
I like Ontario apples alright, we do have a wide variety and some of them are more enticing than others, but man, the competition just isn’t fair, haha.
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I was talking with a friend awhile ago, and she mentioned something that I’ve still been thinking about. She’s someone I would describe primarily as pragmatic. She’s efficient, sensible, quick to determine the best course of action, knows how to play to people’s strengths and identify weaknesses not as points to tear someone down over, but to improve upon and account for in planning, straightforward and perhaps a little painfully honest at times.
Everything has its place in her life, and she’s able to bounce back from whatever life throws at her with a graceful ease that I really love about her: in the middle of a storm, her calm direction is a strength people turn to for guidance. Whatever happens, she has a great head on her shoulders- and if she doesn’t have all of the answers to work towards a solution at hand, she’ll be quick to find them. (She’s a fantastic manager, though I do find it amusing how her time as back-of-house and as a chef definitely shines through. Reminds me of my dad, a bit, in terms of the levity and puppydoggish roughhousing.)
If you need a practical solution, or a helping hand, she’s the first one to jump into action. And yet- while we were speaking, she mentioned that she isn’t the most sensitive or emotionally available person, so most of the time when her friends are struggling, she’ll think of what I might say to advise and comfort them, as she’s seen demonstrated in our mutual friend group. It was a really beautiful, special thing to hear- and I cherish it. To think of the impact we have in others’ lives- that blooms outside of our own view. It was really sweet, and I really value her friendship.
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Happy birthday!!!
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Happy birthday, Piergiorgio! 
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Sorry for the delay (In italy, Birthday is a day where RL matters…), but thanks to everyone for the felicitations !
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
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