How am I? Pleasantly surprised this place is up. Out of nowhere I was reminded of VGChat last night, was surprised it was still active after searching for it, thought the email account I had used here was a lost one, was happy to learn it wasn’t and managed to log in.

I’ve been lucky as ****, all things considered.

I’m working in videogames, shipped a few, met the love of my life and now moved to the DMV area (DC, Maryland, Virginia - we tried the actual DMV but rent was too high). Living in a walkable city in America has been one of the best joys I wish I could have been open to sooner in life. Recently visited Japan for the first time and fell in love with it (I know, like typical tourist reaction, but I’m perfectly fine with that).

While I’ve been great, with age comes being angry at how things are in the States. If I could wave a magic wand I’d give everyone education, empathy, and erase tribalism (except for healthy sports tribalism), so we can at least live in the same reality.

still kicking, worked at the same place for about 15 years and its alright. it's retail but i get to sell gaming pcs to people and chat with the general public about vidyagames and meet a lot of cool people. few mental ones too. the day-to-day isnt especially interesting in the grand scheme of things, but 4 times i year i travel down to hang out with a bunch of pc/console/peripheral brands and learn about their products and then have a crazy drunk night out with them all. have you ever done 8 shots of tequila on the norton company card? its a laugh. doing these events is the highlight of the work, being honest. if anyone ends up shopping for this kinda stuff and wants some help, give us a shout on steam or summat and im happy to help out. ive inadvertently acquired a whole lot of knowledge on this kinda stuff, for better or for worse. the pay's ****, but im alive, and ive met a lot of people doing worse than that

free time is generally spent just playing videogames and hanging out with friends when possible. myself and most of my gang are 35 now so we're all a lot busier than we'd like to be, but we do our best to still meet up regularly. i tend to hang out with my coworkers more than my actual friends, because theyre mostly younger than me and have more free time to do so. nice kids, though, but im hitting the age where im thinking i should retire from the nightclub scene. i need a hobby that meets people my own age

2024 was a wild year. while i was at work my tumble dryer exploded and burnt half my house down, so i spent a long time not living there. the most important thing was that nobody got hurt. stayed in a hotel for 4 months and then in a temporary rented house for about 8 more months after. it was a strange time in my life and i only moved back in last year and technically still havent finished sorting it out. the main learning thing there is that house insurance is really good. if you haven't got it, please get it, it was a literal life saver.

on a more positive note, i finally left the uk:

went to albufeira (south portugal) for a friend's wedding. beautiful place, very touristy in the town itself, as it's a very popular place to go for like, stag parties and that, but the scenery outside of that is very pretty to look at. super cool beaches, and excellent views. all of the locals sell drugs, and they'll make you know it. weed? weed? you weed? weed? you want weed? no weed? ah. charlie? charlie? youre a charlie man? you want weed? i remember walking down a street and a car pulled up next to me and the fella started shouting WEED at me. you might find it annoying if you went there but i mostly found it funny. cool holiday, weather was very nice, would go again.

went to bangkok, was also cool. food was good, city was nice to look at if you like architecture, especially if you go visit the temples. it's also crazy cheap for everyday stuff. alcohol in bars wasn't much cheaper, but basic things like buying a bottle of water for 10p or a train ticket for 30p is really good. i was expecting it to be cheap but 10% of my local costs really surprised me. when i went, they had recently legalised weed so the city did have that smell to it, which is good or bad depending on your tastes. when i was walking back to my hotel drunk one night i got stopped outside by some prostitutes giving me the whole "ay pappy you wanna come with me" spiel, and i was like "not tonight ladies" and one of them full on starts necking me! i was flattered but i said no and went up to my room. i realised when i got changed that she stole my gold chain from around my neck! crafty ***** hahahahaha. dont worry, it wasn't real, unlucky love . i went in august and it was INSANELY hot, like the hottest ive ever seen in my life. when you're indoors everywhere is heavily air conditioned and about 40 degrees outside so you literally feel like, a shockwave when you step outside. was mental. cool place to experience, come at a different time of year to me, though.

went to japan (literally straight after thailand) and it was sick. everyone knows japan's tourist experience is really good, and i'm only reiterating that. i spent a lot of time going off on my own just looking around videogame/tech and clothes shops to find cool stuff to take back with me. ended up buying a famicom just to sit on my shelf looking nice, and i bought loads of games for similar reasons. i really wanted a sukajan jacket while i was there and ended up buying two. i shopped so much i actually threw away clothes so i could fit my goodies in. if youre into shopping for stuff you cant get locally, it's really cool. it was also hot, but didnt feel near as overwhelming as thailand did. the food owns, generally the locals were very nice to me because generally you hear the opposite about japan, so it was nice. i remember meeting a guy in a bar who was planning on visiting england, and we spent hours talking about differences between japan and england, kind of helping eachother out in a way. nice guy, i added him on whatsapp and said if he came to the north west i'd come say hello . worth a visit, but bring spending money.

i hope you enjoyed reading this book report as much as i enjoyed writing it

book report enjoyed! from your perspective, was the chain fair payment for that experience? or insult added to injury?

Those are some incredible trips, Kit! I've not ventured outside of the US, but I have some funds earmarked for a Japan trip, give me a year or two, and I'll report back.

Are there any other international trips in your plans?

i look back on the experience and laugh, so i guess they can have it

loads of places id like to go, like id hit the other techy megacities outside of tokyo; so seoul, taipei and hong kong all look to be a great time. the main thing there is funding, as the flights are very expensive from my part of the world. wouldnt mind seeing scandinavia/iceland as the scenery looks very nice, and going somewhere like norway is pretty cheap by comparison. might have a germany trip on the cards for a work thing, but its not locked in yet, watch this space

The real world can be trash and so hard to feel happy about, so my companion and I (Fallout reference, I’m not obsessed…) started training for two different 60-mile bike rides this summer. I’ll be 39 in a few months and never in my life thought I’d be fit enough to actually enjoy this kinda thing.

spoiler: it’s fun to beat yer boyfriend’s time 😎 especially when I had to ride 11 miles and he only had 9. Geese may have been in his way, but fun fact - along the Erie Canal, if you’re biking and yell, “PARD-DON! Par-don! Pardon me!” they actually get out of your way. And hiss. But they move



ohh and, my fallout-themed office:




All this to say.. life can still be fun if you find super fun things to do in it my daughter’s even getting into cycling. My heart is so happy 🥰

amazing stories, all o’ye. ❤️