some lingering thoughts (Patreon)
Content
I have to confess some things. I had the script for SWFTD beta'd last year by some editors that were a lot older, and a lot more experienced than me. I wanted to avoid the common pitfalls of contemporary stories by getting the perspective of an older generation, and I came to some realizations that kind of fucked me up. None of the feedback was bad, the criticism helped me to address major problems in the script. It feels like the structure of the story is a lot stronger now, but I started to mentally and emotionally decline since then, more than ever before. Some of you who have been around since the beginning know about the past posts I've made talking about this. I'm beginning to think it might be permanent fixture of my life that I have to cope with.
Part of the decline was because I moved far away from my family to force myself to adapt to living alone and being more independent. The other part of it was realizing that yes, the world has changed in ways that have dramatically reduced the quality of life for a lot of people, but so what? So what if I'm aware of that and I want to write a story about people fighting against it? I felt like I made this big discovery about life, and the response to finding out these truths was "welcome to reality."
I've felt a strong sense of nihilism since that. I started playing the new update for Stardew Valley recently and I got really emotional looking at how the creator designed the town. No one, not even the homeless guy Linus, was alone. The Wizard lives next to Leah and Marnie's family. Linus lives next to Robin's family and the adventurer duo near the mines. The blacksmith Clint lives next to the Gunther at the Museum, Elliot is next to Willy at the beach, and so on and so forth. Everyone's always present on the holidays and special events. It's so wholesome and how healthy, thriving communities should be, and I just have never experienced that.
I have some neighbors that I have good relationship with. I occasionally bring flowers to an older woman since I don't see my mom anymore, and I also bring food and liquor to her husband because they've helped me out a lot. They never expect the gifts, but I keep doing it because it feels like I'm fostering a sense of community, even if it's with a single household. The importance of community and human connection is so vital to a well adjusted society, but growing up, I see it less and less. People are so disconnected, families are broken, newer generations are increasingly becoming atomized, and it just makes me feel really sad.
I've refrained from sharing these thoughts and feelings because it's my duty to provide escapism and comforting content from the crazy world we're living in. It's just getting tougher and from what I understand, even mental health professionals are feeling the effects of all of this. I've been losing some weight and attempting to make myself more presentable to keep myself afloat, but it feels like the cracks are starting to show. I don't know...can you sense it from my work? I was thinking of pausing the Patreon [no charges/ not accepting payments] for a month to get myself together, but I'm afraid I'll spiral if I stop now.I'm going to share a few more songs here just because~Nameless Song - Dark Souls Soundtrack
Song of the Ancients - NieR:Replicant 【Live Cover】
"And what if I can't? What if I'm not worthy of her ideals?" - Fire Emblem Awakening
Keyshia Cole - Love (Alt. Version) (Official Music Video)
Playboi Carti - 9 AM in Calabasas (prod by adrian)(slowed and reverb)
Travis Scott - SDP Interlude | Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse [AMV/Edit] (FLASH WARNING)
Miguel O'Hara is so hot, just saying lol