Endgame Viable - Writing

Blaugust Lessons Learned 2022

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 19:46:23 -0400

It seems a bit early to write a lessons-learned post before Blaugust is even finished.

It might feel like Blaugust is over, but there’s still three days left for me to write posts and I still need to write something today, tomorrow, and the next day, so today I will write my Bouger Lesery onlenp arl Balysseores post, otherwise known as Blaugust Lessons Learned in the strange made-up language that DALL-E speaks.

This year, I’ve written every post on the day it was published, from a blank page to finished in around 30 minutes, give or take, which was the main goal of the project for me.

And as soon as I typed that, I must report that I’m lying. The second Dwarf Fortress post was composed over a week or more, until I slammed the door on it at the end and shoved it out into the world, on a day when I needed a post and didn’t feel like writing a new one. Luckily it was on a weekend when I had the time to insert all the pictures.

And then there were the posts that I plucked from the drafts folder and published as-is. Who even knows how many days, weeks, or months I tinkered with them before leaving them to rot in the junk yard of unfinished blog posts that never should have been published.

Anyway, the main lesson I learned this Blaugust is that writing short posts is awesome. It allows blogging to be possible.

Long posts, of the 1000-2000 word variety that seems to be a typical blog post length, those posts make blogging stressful, time-consuming, and unrewarding. For me, at least. Short posts mean spending no more than 30 minutes on the activity, which is an amount of time that seems appropriate for the return on investment that comes from blogging.

It’s not easy to write a short blog post, though. Waiting until late in the day helps, actually. When you look at the clock and see it’s almost time for bed, that makes it much easier to write a short post.

More generally, time-boxing helps. “Time-boxing” is a term that developers like to use (developers enjoy inventing new words for things which already have words) to describe working on something until a finite amount of time has elapsed, then stopping, no matter what.

For example, this post is nowhere near finished, but the 15 minutes I allotted before lunch has elapsed, so I must stop. If I think of anything else, I can put it in tomorrow’s post. (But most likely I will forget this post even exists by tomorrow.)

Tonight I’ll turn this draft into a post, perhaps edit a few words here and there, then commit and publish it.

Oh, I forgot about the picture. Again. I once again call down a curse upon whoever decreed every blog post needs a picture.

Fair - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 11

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 20:20:00 -0400

In the dream, I asked the woman, “Would there be some way we can make sure people are compensated fairly?”

The woman seemed nice, but oddly fixated on a weathered dagger. “No.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. It is impossible to create a universal, objective measurement of fair compensation to fit all people of the world.”

“That’s depressing.”

“Perhaps this will help: The recipient of compensation is the final arbiter of its fairness. If you feel you have been fairly compensated, then you were fairly compensated. Otherwise, the compensation was unfair.”

“That’s unfair to the remitter of the compensation. The recipient agreed to the terms.”

“One would assume, and one would assume the recipient judged it fair at the time of agreement. However there are situations where the recipient of compensation might not have a choice about the terms of the agreement.”

“There’s always choices in life.”

“In an abstract sense, perhaps, but practicality sometimes stands in the way. Very few people are going to choose to starve to death instead of accepting an unfair compensation.”

Image source: Fia from Elden Ring.

Attractiveness - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 10

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 19:00:00 -0400

In the dream I saw a black cat glaring at me from a distance. I cautiously asked it, “When it comes to people, what is it that makes them attractive to you?”

“Are you serious?”

I hesitated. “Sure.”

“That’s the philosophical question you pose to me?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“It is listed under a section entitled Philosophical questions for kids.”

“Oh. That makes it a little weird, doesn’t it?”

The cat scoffed. “A little? Besides being a wildly inappropriate question for kids, it’s not even really a philosophical question. Again.”

“Maybe they meant college kids?”

“It quite clearly says, Let these philosophical questions spark fun and thoughtful conversation with your child, at the top of this section. That language is typically not used to describe people old enough to receive higher learning.”

“Look there. One of the other questions is How do kids and children differ from one another? They must have known this terminology discrepancy would come up. They must mean kids of all ages, like the Toys’R’Us commercials.”

“You give them far too much credit. What you see there is a grammatical mistake, not a philosphical question. There is another question in this section for kids that reads: What is the best thing about the current state of the world? Is the world better off this way? How do you explain asking that of a child?”

“Kids are interested in politics, I guess.”

Image source: I mean, it’s a black cat, what did you think it was? One of the feral cats from the woods I see from time to time in my back yard. I believe that’s one of the ones with a clipped left ear, which means it was trapped and neutered at some point before being returned to its habitat.

Intentions - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 9

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Sun, 21 Aug 2022 20:00:00 -0400

In the dream, I came upon a statue of a one-armed woman holding a child. I asked her, “How come we judge ourselves by the actions we take but not by our intentions?”

The woman shifted her stony gaze to me. “This is one of the so-called great philosophical questions, is it?”

“Apparently.”

“You know you can replace the words how come with why do, don’t you?”

“I’ll pass that along.”

The woman sighed. An exhausted sigh. “And who is this we of which you speak?”

“Us, I guess. Humans. You know, people?”

“Have you ever committed this heinous transgression?”

“Maybe. I can’t think of anything offhand. But I’m sure I’ve been disappointed when something didn’t work out in the way I wanted it to. Everybody has. Come to think of it, even as we speak, there’s something I’ve been intending to do for quite some time, but I’m rather disappointed that my actions haven’t made it possible.”

“What’s stopping you from taking these actions?”

“Well, fear, obviously. The same thing that stops everyone from taking actions.”

“And I suppose if you take the actions that are necessary to bring about this intention of yours, and it somehow does not succeed, you would consider this a failure?”

“Of course.”

“So it would hence be better not to take action at all. That is success then?”

I bit my lip. “Not exactly. I still wonder a lot about what would happen if I tried this course of action I was thinking about. My intentions are good. I think it might even help people, and me, especially, to try new things, to grow as a person. To learn skills that would be beneficial in the rest of my life. Maybe it would turn out well. Maybe I should take a chance. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so to speak. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“That is obvious. You would feel bad. That must be avoided at all costs.”

Image source: A prominent statue in Haligtree Town Plaza, from Elden Ring.

More Real - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 8

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 21:30:00 -0400

In the dream I saw a vengeful angel looking down upon me. I asked her, “What is more real, mind or matter?”

“A silly question,” the angel said. “Why do humans ponder such questions?”

“I don’t know.”

“Matter is real. Mind is real. There is nothing to this question at all.”

“You don’t have to get angry about it.”

“One simply cannot posit that mind and matter are not real. Both are quite clearly real. It is a trite philosophical question that enrages me. It cannot be possible to have a discussion on this subject. In addition, one thing cannot be more or less real than another thing. All things are of equal real-ness.”

“What if I asked which is more real, brain tissue or consciousness?”

“My answer still stands, wandering human. Both are real. Begone.”

“What about consciousness and the soul?”

“That is more of a religious question than a philosophy question.”

“You know you’re a goddess, right?”

The snicking sword was the last sound I heard.

Image source: A screenshot of Melania, the Goddess of Rot, from Elden Ring.

Sustaining Creativity Day After Day

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 16:28:08 -0400

When I started Blaugust with a creative writing idea, I failed to account for how draining spontaneous creativity is day in and day out.

It takes intentional effort and practice to sit down every day and tell your brain, “Okay, create something now.”

Unfortunately, I don’t practice that every day, so coming up with something entertaining and meaningful from a random writing prompt in 30 minutes or less turns into a frustrating chore very quickly. There’s a skill to switching into creative mode that isn’t always intuitive for me, and certainly isn’t habitual right now.

I also quickly became uncomfortable with how personal they were. I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s always supposed to be a facade covering my real self on this blog, and I don’t particularly like my inner thoughts and feelings leaking out too much.

So I hit the eject button on creative writing for the time being. The main purpose of blogging is to entertain me. Not having fun + not learning something + not getting paid = I could be doing something else with my time. Like playing Dwarf Fortress.

That’s not to say there isn’t value in practicing the chore of creating something every day when you don’t want to. It’s just that I’m not a working artist, or particularly want to become one. It’s far easier for me to generate an income through software development.

Writing down a few idle thoughts about something, on the other hand, is less troublesome. You just have to stop before it goes on too long.

Fate - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 7

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 18:30:00 -0400

In the dream I saw a cicada scuttling across the parking lot. It looked wise, so I asked it, “Is there such a thing as fate?”

“Indeed there is. You need only check the dictionary.”

I sighed. This cicada fancied itself a prankster. “By which I mean the concept of fate.”

“Of course. It is a human construct, so of course it exists. That which is imagined is real.”

“I see. You’re saying fate is imaginary, which implies there’s no such thing. Everything is random. Life is just an endless series of chaotic occurrences that add up to nothing.”

“I did not say that. I said whatever you imagine is real. All things are real, from our viewpoint. From a certain point of view, as some old Jedi once said.”

“If I imagine a snake, the snake doesn’t become real.”

The cicada rubbed its wings in some imitation of laughter. “It’s real that you imagined it. Look, there is no fate but what we make.”

“I’ve seen that movie too.”

The cicada chirped happily. “I love that song.”

Finally, the kind of question I was hoping for pic.twitter.com/BXWKdnjIZE
— Endgame Viable (@endgameviable) August 8, 2022

Yeah, I know, the numbering is all messed up now. Image source: A photo of a cicada, believe it or not.

Netflix - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 6

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 19:00:00 -0400

In the dream I wandered into a vaccination facility. I stopped the first person I saw and whispered, “When is okay to give up on a bit?”

Everyone turned to look. The buzz and din of the room silenced. Somewhere, a wolf bayed.

I grimaced. “It’s just that it’s been almost a week now and I feel like this bit has exhausted itself. It’s harder to dream on weekends, too, have you noticed? I didn’t even want to go to sleep at all, really. I was busy doing other things, watching a Netflix documentary about Three Mile Island, actually. But I had this nagging feeling I was supposed to enter this dream again.”

One of the people standing in line asked, “What’s Three Mile Island?” He looked like he was in his twenties.

“It’s a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. There was an accident there in 1979. Made a lot of headlines at the time. I don’t know if anyone really remembers it. Chernobyl took up all the nuclear disaster oxygen about seven years later. Even Fukushima didn’t supplant it.”

“Oh. How’s the documentary?”

“It’s okay. One of the ones that does dramatic recreations with bad actors. Except in this case, every dramatic scene is someone looking up into the middle distance when they hear an alarm or a siren. Most people might, you know, run when they hear an alarm, but not these people. They just stare at the alarm for what seems like hours while the camera registers the angst and indecision on their face.

“The documentary I saw earlier on Woodstock ‘99 was much better. Lots of human animalism. Like an average day on social media before there was social media.”

“So whatever happened to philosophy?”

“I didn’t get any good questions today, even though I rolled twice. I think I’m going to try a different web site.”

Image source: That’s a picture I took of the National Guard-organized vaccination center I went to in 2021. Mixed with string, like you do.

Art - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 5

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 18:45:00 -0400

In the dream, I encountered a fellow standing by the road with a tadpole for a head. I asked him, “How do we know what is art and what isn’t?”

The fellow chuckled. “This is an easy one, mate: Art is creation. Anything that’s created is art, get it?”

“What about photographs?”

“You think a photograph can’t be art because someone pressed a button and captured some light? You don’t think anything was created?”

“What about human life? Or galaxies, or The Big Bang?”

The fellow blinked his large fishy eyes. “Okay, mate: Art is whatever makes us happy. Like a clever joke.”

“That can’t be right. Sometimes I read a book or watch a movie that makes me sad, and those are definitely art. And suppose the joke is hurtful. Surely that can’t be art.”

“Look, mate, I have to go. The bottom line is there’s no arbiter of art out there, deciding what is and isn’t art, it’s up to every individual to figure out what sparks their imagination, to decide what they like and don’t like.”

I called after the fellow as he started down the road. “Then what?”

The fellow didn’t turn as he shouted back jovially, “Then you make damn sure nobody else is allowed to have anything you don’t like!”

what is an art pic.twitter.com/0jBZhz0ykB
— Endgame Viable (@endgameviable) August 5, 2022

I’ve done some editing of the prompt question. :) Incidentally, if it isn’t clear by now, these posts, for me, are an exercise in brevity, dialog attribution, and characterization through word choice. Actually answering the prompt questions is somewhat irrelevant. Image source: This is a screenshot from my randomized Elden Ring playthrough. Deep Dream Generator did particularly well with Elden Ring screenshots.

Creative Love - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 4

endgameviable@gmail.com (Endgame Viable) — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 19:00:00 -0400

In the dream I saw a woman floating in the sea. I asked her, “What would love look like if it had a creative dimension?”

“The question, my dear, is this: What does love look like normally, with no additional dimensions at all?”

I pondered this riddle, then a thought occurred to me. “Why are you in the sea?”

“It’s a dream, silly.”

“Am I in the sea, too?”

“Maybe. You’re avoiding the question.”

“I came to the dream for answers, not questions.”

“There are no answers in the dream, my dear. Only riddles. What is mine but only you can have?”

I pondered this new riddle warily. “A sea cucumber?”

“My heart, silly.”

“So creative love is a series of riddles, then.”

The woman smiled. “Try not to drown.”

Hrm. Well at least it isn't about animals again. pic.twitter.com/FK8m4LkItJ
— Endgame Viable (@endgameviable) August 4, 2022

I’m not sure I’d classify these questions so far as “philosophical.” I was hoping more for easy ones like, “why do bad things happen to good people?” Also, four days into this and I’m pretty sure this web site of questions was itself generated by an AI. Image source: Of course it’s Lunafreya from Final Fantasy XV, from a scene that already looked like a Deep Dream Generator image before I tried to alter it.