Welcome to the Glitch. What wasn’t supposed to be found, found you instead. This archive belongs to no algorithm, no audience, and no approval loop. E...
Somebody said something to me today. Nothing dramatic. No grand speech. No inspirational music. No wise old man appearing from the fog carrying a wooden staff and twelve centuries of accumulated wisdom. Just somebody saying: “If a root is deep enough, you no longer have to be afraid of the wind.” And initially my reaction was basically: Huh. That's pretty good. Then I went about my day. But the…
Day 4 began with a hallway cat attempting to establish dominance. Because apparently this is how Saturdays begin now. Germlin gets out of the Uber. Walks into Haus Morgenrot. Says good morning to the people at the front. Normal human behavior. Everything is fine. Then Germlin reaches hallway-cat territory and encounters one of the local specimens doing what can only be described as: TOMCAT…
There is something almost beautiful about the fact that after everything that happened between August 7 and August 14, Germlin's first proper day back didn't conclude with some profound cinematic moment. There wasn't dramatic music. There wasn't a supervisor standing at the front door saying, "Welcome home, soldier." There wasn't a triumphant sunset behind Haus Morgenrot while Germlin stared…
Technology occasionally solves a problem you did not realize you were going to have. This is dangerous. Because once Jerry discovers that a thing is possible, Jerry immediately begins looking for increasingly stupid applications of that thing. Today's culprit is Any2Text . I originally needed to turn some very long audio recordings into text. Not exciting. Not glamorous. Certainly not the…
There are many ways to protect your privacy. Apparently I selected espionage. For six months, I maintained an entirely unnecessary alternate employment identity. This required wardrobe continuity. Scheduling continuity. Lore continuity. And, most importantly, remembering which corporation the supporting cast believed was currently paying Jerry Silverhand. This was considerably more work than…
There is apparently a dangerous new workplace ideology spreading throughout America. It is called: Showing up. Doing the assigned job. Going home. Experts are terrified. I had mistakenly believed employment worked something like this: Employer: “Here are your duties.” Employee: “Okay.” Employer: “Please perform them.” Employee: “Okay.” Employer: “Here is money.” Employee: “Excellent. See you…
There's an old saying that gets dragged out whenever somebody admits they don't particularly love their job: “Choose a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.” Bullshit. If I had enough money, I wouldn't work a day in my life in the first place. Maybe that's not inspirational enough to put over a picture of a sunrise, but at least it's honest. I've spent almost six months working…
Day whatever. Haus Morgenrot was functioning at approximately seventy-two percent. Hallway cats remained hallway cats. Contraband remained contraband. Someone wanted something. Someone always wants something. Then came... The Side Quest. "Hey." "Wanna share an Uber?" Perfectly reasonable question. Perfectly reasonable answer. "No, no, no." "Thank you, though." No speeches. No drama. No hidden…
"Not every quest marker deserves to be followed." When I was younger, I believed every opportunity deserved a yes. Every argument needed an answer. Every invitation deserved consideration. Every problem deserved a solution. Then life introduced me to quests with terrible rewards. Reward 0 XP 0 Gold +50 Stress Some quests don't build your character. They simply consume it. So now I ask a different…
There is a strange temptation during chaos to believe that every problem has become your problem. It hasn't. Helping someone and becoming responsible for someone are two different things. If a person wants peace, lend a hand if you safely can. If a person wants conflict, understand that you may simply become the next target. I offered the simplest solution I knew: "You could just move." The answer…