Warning: some non-graphic descriptions of violence and gore.
The apocalypse came quietly, when it dawned. There were no trumpets. There were no avenging angels. There was no blood, no fire, no sign of struggle. That would come later. It started, simply, as a scribbled note on a gas station bathroom wall.
Continue readingIt’s the end of the month, which means another round of Pokémon Top 5! This week, we go to the Johto region to visit the second generation of Pokémon games. Gen 2 wasn’t a generation I ever got to play as a kid, and my first real exposure to it was the remakes in Gen 4. HeartGold/SoulSilver are not my favorite Pokémon games, I found them a little too difficult for my usual method of play (only catching Pokémon you intend to use all the way to the Elite Four…somehow, the Pokémon distribution and the gym difficulty don’t really let you do that unless you trade over stronger Pokémon you can’t get until later), but there are still five Pokémon in the Gen 2 dex worth celebrating.
Continue readingI had a conversation with a friend recently that’s led me to some thoughts about happiness.
I struggle with depression, and it is a struggle. Various life choices and circumstances can make that depression better or worse, to say nothing of my anxiety; it’s a chemical ouroboros up in here, one feeding off the other and vice versa. Being happy isn’t a choice I can make. That was taken out of my hands whenever my genes decided “yup, this one’s gonna be a little effed up.” Of course, that’s gross simplification. Happiness isn’t just a choice, or just a feeling, it’s a state of mind, a journey. You don’t wake up one day and find yourself at Happy.
I could go into “what is Happy, anyway?” but I think I would rather dwell on the idea that while it’s perfectly okay to not be happy, it’s a crushing existence when you feel like it’s forever out of reach, always somewhere else.
Continue readingIt’s nowhere near the ballpark of a secret that the Pokémon games are my favorite. Pokémon is an iconic millennial franchise, a staple of the quintessential 90s/early 00s childhood (and beyond!). My family was certainly no exception, though with four kids, our collection was…eclectic, rather than complete: a hand-me-down original GameBoy with Red and Yellow, one GameBoy Advance with Crystal, and two GameBoy SPs with FireRed, Sapphire, and Emerald, with a Blue Version and a Ruby Version floating around in my brothers’ room due to trades with friends. I still have our original Sapphire and Emerald cartridges, with a FireRed version given to me by a friend. Our Gen 1 games are lost to time (along with original Tetris, RIP sweet friend), but thanks to the 3DS Virtual Console I have Red and Yellow again, as well as Crystal and Gold, which I never got to play as a child; never underestimate the tenacity of a baby sibling’s unwillingness to share once they have something of their own, as I learned to my detriment. I have at least one game from every generation, and am looking forward to Gen 8 with the tearful joy of a lifelong fan.
Which leads me to this post: the first of many in a once-monthly series I’m starting, where I list my top five Pokémon from each generation of Pokémon games. The original draft of this post was…frightful, to say the least. For one, I had all my favorites from each generation listed, and once I’d finally gotten all of it down, I realized I needed to streamline for my own sanity as much as anyone else’s. So, to kick it off, here it is, my Top Five for the Generation 1 series of games, taking place in the Kanto region.
Continue readingstaring into space at the phone in my hands
making list after list after list of things that need to get done—
im sagging like old grapes, soft in their skins, turning into puddles with time
I love baking.
I’m not particularly good at it, given my absentminded nature and the precision baking requires, but chocolate chip cookies are easy enough that they’re almost impossible to screw up, and as such have kinda become my calling card. I take great pride in my chocolate chip cookies. It helps that they’re my favorite dessert flavor. So, I thought, why not pit several different recipes against each other and see which one is best? Welcome to PostMordial Soup’s first food challenge: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Gauntlet.
An important fact about myself is my pathological fear of conflict (thanks, anxiety). One of the many behaviors this has spawned is that especially in online circles, I tend to refrain from dipping my hands into the drama pot and giving my two cents. Very rarely I will voice an opinion about political events unless asked directly. But recent (ish) events in the internet community specifically have made me introspective about the roles and dynamics of internet celebrities and how they fit into our current culture, so if this is a Hot Take, as the kids say, then prep the oven mitts, this one’s coming in piping.
Continue readingI am a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am also asexual.
The problem is—the problem is, up to a point, my sexual orientation and my religion get on famously. Law of Chastity? Nailed it. Never once been tempted to sleep with another human being out of wedlock. Within wedlock? Well, that gets a little fuzzier.
Friends, there will be a double posting this weekend; first, this post about the truly exquisite rash of bad luck I’ve experienced this past week, and second, a rather special pre-planned post I hope you’ll tune in Sunday for. It’s going to be incredibly personal and revealing for me, and I’m scared of it, but I think it’s something that needs to be expressed in my own personal context.
Before that, though, here’s a log of the past seven days, detailing the uniquely frustrating set of circumstances surrounding my recent purchase of a new phone, the first Really Big Purchase of my adult life, besides college and health insurance. And my work bag with unicorns on it. There were tears. There was laughter. There was definitely some dark magic at work, and some kind wizards to help combat it. Without further ado, I present: The Great Phone Purchase Debacle of 2019.
It figures that my first real post on my shiny grown-up blog is about Pokémon.
I’ll bore you with the details of my Pokémon addiction in a later post, because right now I’m too excited for Gen 8. UK-inspired region! Cute starters! Dynamax battles! Riding bikes over water! Knife dog! Old lady professor! The Galar region’s hottest club is Pokémon Sword/Shield, and it has everything (maybe literally, with the introduction of Pokémon Home, a cloud-based storage service, coming soon to the Switch).
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