The Winter of Our Discontent (Patreon)

(content note for discussion of US politics and mental health)

I'm having a rough time right now. I'm not remotely alone in this, not even just in the USA where the country re-elected the worst possible person in an anti-incumbent wave that could wash away civil rights, lifesaving regulations, and leave us with a collapsing economy and an increasingly fractured nation.

On top of the election stuff, the end of Daylight Savings leaves me in seasonal affective disorder season where my energy levels drop through the floor, so even when I want to get things done, mustering the energy to do is even harder. And on top of that, Oreo is two weeks into what I'm hoping is just a short-term phase where he'll spend an hour to two hours pacing around the house, creating sensory hell with endless tink tink tinking of his claws on wood and tile floor, making it impossible for me to relax and decompress downstairs in the evening with Meg during the already-limited time we're both home and awake at the same time.

It's pretty much a perfect storm designed to make me miserable. The seasonal problems can be lessened with a light box (currently running off to my right) and vitamins and trying to be consistent with my exercise, but having debuffs to energy, metal health, and ability to recover/relax is very hard to deal with. To the point that while I've got some time to work on the Genrenauts RPG and did make good progress, now I'm at the point of needing more playtesting, which involves the kind of logistics and scheduling work that is hard for me even at the best of times, and largely cannot be done during normal working hours when I'd like to be doing it (around other design work).

In other news, we learned that Microsoft is working with HarperCollins to license books for their not-yet-announced AI model. Right now it's only non-fiction, but no way someone doesn't try to license the fiction from Big Five publishers as well. $2500 per book is pretty measly given how much $$ the billionaire class is funneling into AI systems right now. On the other hand, my books are currently being used to train OpenAI products for the low price of "They used pirated books and never asked for permission, let alone paying me", so Microsoft is at least behaving a little better than OpenAI.

One of the ways I'm trying to prepare for the forthcoming horrors is starting the research for building/buying a new desktop computer. I was already 1-2 years from needing an upgrade (largely because 2 of my 4 RAM slots seem to be dead, which means that upgrading my RAM is very difficult, but also because this computer cannot consistently run Adobe Premiere for editing my new actual plays). I expect a lot of people will be doing something similar this winter, given the threat of tariffs (especially those targeting products from China, where a huge amount of tech manufacturing happens), so I will probably want to move sooner rather than later in case demand drives up prices in the short term before the tariffs drive up prices again. I generally go to NewEgg for research and shopping, but I'm happy to take your recommendations for a desktop system that can handle video editing, streaming, and will run new video games for another 3-5 years.

I'll try to make a more upbeat post about books and games here soon. :)