retrospec | text ❁ alternatively, a youtube challenge in the making

Kit Fawkes shared a photo.
4/28 near Viea Village

I am being abducted, please find attached an image of my last known whereabouts.

Actually, no, it's rather that apparently that my current living situation has become simply untenable to some people I know, and therefore I am now the recipient of an intervention seeking to Do Something About It, whether I like it or not.

On the upside, I suppose a little extra room would mean more space to cultivate a proper garden, including some particularly interesting berry plants we found growing in Bosuma a few months back. Allegedly they render anyone who consumes them immune to toxins for several hours, but understandably I'm not entirely certain how to test that assertion.

One can't exactly ask for volunteers to "eat this questionable berry and then allow yourself to be stung by these ten thousand bees", for example.

...Though now that I say it, I suppose that does rather sound like exactly sort of thing that someone would advertise for on Craigslist, doesn't it?

ETA: Well, I've received at least one taker for the "eat the questionable berry and then drink poison" experiment, contingent on having a magical healer on immediate standby. Is there perhaps a magical doctor in the house?

[OOC: Berry plant link is solely for OOC reference!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You've got a bike? Cool! What's the make and model?
Mine's a 2006 Harley, or it used to be before I modded it to hell and back.

You can call me if you ever need a motorcycle mechanic.
It's only fair if I'm already planning to bother you next time I need an ultra-genius.

Oh, it's a 2012 Kawasaki Ninja 250R. Pre-owned, but in decent enough condition, and all I needed was something that would get me around.

I'll be bringing it to wherever we meet up for this experiment, if you want to look at it before you ultimately drink snake venom on my behalf.

Hell yeah I want to have a look!

How about AFTER the snake venom though.
That will be a reason to keep me alive, right?

(That last part actually was supposed to be facetious)

(Not gonna use an emoji though)

(I'm kinda stubborn about it)

(I'd rather write a series of parenthetical statements instead)

(What is your personal objection to emoji?)

(I'm curious where this principle comes from.)

(Not that I object to the parentheticals.)

(Well if the point is to add back some of the missing visual context like body language or facial expression then it doesn't really meet the goal)

(There's nothing authentic about emojis, they're meant to be caricatures)

(Distorted even more because of image size constraints)

(Then you've got different "fonts" displayed on different phones so you're not always looking at the same picture)

(My face doesn't look anything like an emoji, no one's does)

(It doesn't resolve the communication gap, it just distorts it in a new direction)

(And maybe they look kinda stupid too but that's just my opinion)

(A mechanical engineer and a linguist, I see.)

(I think it's somewhat less of an attempt at conveying a facial expression and more an attempt at adding a dimension of context via an expression of tone.)

(For example:)

(I can't believe this! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ )

(I can't believe this! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ )

(Sorry couldn't type while trying not to laugh)

(Those are way too cute and the use of international language characters is really clever)

(Sorta proves my point though if those are meant to convey anything sincere or serious.)

(Still laughing)

(All the engineering students had to take a course in professional communication. It was basically "Stop acting like an engineer because people don't like dealing with cranky basement trolls even if their designs are good.")

(I'd call that a successful attempt at communication, then.)

(Hold on, they made you take a course in how to interact with normal people in an average social setting?)

(Where was this course for the physics students, I needed this years ago.)

(Professional only, not general setting)

(When you have to spend the entire semester on things like "Don't explain to your manager, point by point, exactly why performance reviews are criminally stupid wastes of time" there's no room for the really complicated stuff like wearing pants in public.)

(Damn. I'm still only at around a 65% success rate at wearing pants in public, so I really could've used a seminar like that to improve my ratio.)

(Why ARE they criminally stupid wastes of time?)

(That was just an example that the TA brought up to the class)
(I never said I personally believed it)

(My personal opinion is that they're good in theory but impossible to implement in a flexible enough way to be relevant for individuals or as aggregate data)

(But I actually passed Professional Communication so I know better than to tell my manager that either)

(You just used the phrase "aggregate data" correctly in everyday conversation, I don't think you get to properly suggest you're inferior to me and my Ph.D. attempt anymore.)

(Of course, now I'm obligated to ask: what are your personal beliefs on wearing pants in public, then?)

(I never meant to imply I was *inferior*, just that I'm not as smart)
(I did manage to get a masters degree though so I did have to pass statistics too)

(I share the general sentiment expressed by the internet collective pop-culture worldwide: Pants are overrated)

(But I'm not convinced that bacon is worth all the fuss)
(I'm a rebel like that)

(Yes, well. The aggregate data seems to disagree with you.)

(And I concur with you, regarding the bacon.)

(We're rebels together, it seems.)

(Then we're not rebels anymore)
(We're a minority coalition now)
(A respectable and dignified part of the democratic process)

(By our very existence we nullify each other's rebellion)

(And thus The Man has won)

(Technically, the democratic process as we know it wouldn't exist without rebellion, as rebellion and coalition are two of the fundamental concepts that secured democracy to begin with.)

(So even rebellion is technically a part of the system, because the system wouldn't exist were it not for the rebellion.)

(Besides, when the rebellion succeeds, don't the rebels by definition become The Man by their very success?)

Edited 2018-04-29 04:24 (UTC)

(You did mention the political science thing earlier so I guess I walked right into that lake of quicksand)

(So in smaller words we still get to be rebels?)

(I think that by definition being a rebel isn't something that anyone can take away from you.)

(If they try, you rebel against it and thus reaffirm your own existence.)

(What if I then choose to rebel against my rebel identity? Does that make me a Schrodinger's cat of rebellion? Does it collapse to a quantum physics scenario?)

(I'm a little more familiar with quantum physics than political science)
(Like a lot more)

(So what were we talking about? I kinda lost track looking at those emojis)
(Now I'm laughing again thinking about those)

text ❁ alternatively, a youtube challenge in the making

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