Michelle Travis

@samuraiko

Tech writer. Gamer. Game designer. CITY OF HEROES/RIFT video geek. Critter. Hates fascists. So smart I'm stupid. She/her. Same handle on FFN and AO3. PFP by @morgankit.bsky.social #CriticalRole

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Bluesky

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Michelle Travis@samuraiko· 17d

August 2026 primary ballot submitted! #GetOutAndVote

A white speech bubble on a blue background.
Inside the speech bubble it says, "i voted!" (the i in red, the voted in blue), with the King County Elections icon and name below it.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· 17d

Still relevant...

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· 18d

If you see this, post a smiling OC. This is Agent Andrea Blake of the Star Patrol. Resident psychic. Daredevil. Avatar of the Netherworld and near-immortal. Looking for a good time, not a long time. (From the MMO CITY OF HEROES. Art by @studiobliz.bsky.social.)

My OC Agent Andrea Blake, from the MMORPG CITY OF HEROES.
A red/pink-and-white chibi sketch of a superheroine. She has long hair blowing back from her face, a wide smile as she laughs aloud, and is dashing toward someone off-camera with her hands out in front of her like she's ready to tackle them with a hug.
She wears a spandex superhero outfit (and spandex mask covering the top half of her face) with armored shoulders, gauntlets, and boots, plus a Batman-esque utility belt.
Art by @studiobliz.bsky.social.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· 20d

What's it like living in your head?

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· 21d

I might like HADES and HADES II just a bit. (FYI - I was gifted HADES by my husband in Sept 2021, got HADES II at full release.) And as a Classics major, you bet your ass I was all over these games looking for Easter eggs. (AND I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT DARREN KORB'S MUSIC FOR THESE GAMES!)

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· 24d

My brain out of nowhere: "If they ever did a live action adaptation of Campaign 4 of #CriticalRole, I think Ben Whishaw would make a great Occtis Tachonis." (Hey, @alexanderward.bsky.social, what do you think?)

Actor Ben Whishaw in his role as Q from the James Bond films.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· 24d

Sepia-toned screenshot of a woman embracing a column with the caption I LOVE THIS POST.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 12

Screenshot of someone else QTP:
"They'll lose.
Then England will rush south to lose to France.
It's written on a tapestry."
Followed by me commenting:
"The hilarity of the timing, considering that the Bayeux Tapestry has just arrived in London for an exhibit at the British Museum."

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 11

OMG, on a lark, I checked my email to see if I have the stats of the first computer I bought with iBuyPower (2008) vs my current rig (purchased in 2020 and still going strong, though I did upgrade the power supply and had to replace ONE case fan).

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 9

He's got some beautiful pieces. A few of my other faves of his are:

Jim Buckels' PRINCES KEPT THE VIEW.
A lithograph showing beautiful terraced villas built on the hills of both sides of a river. A crescent moon is slowly sinking toward the horizon.

Jim Buckels' DREAMERS AWAKEN.
A placid reflecting pool, surrounded by arched marble colonnades, with a black concert grand piano in the center of the pool. In the distance are sere mountains and hills, while a waxing moon rises in the sky.

Jim Buckels' SEVENTH TORII.
A stylized rendition of a Japanese castle in a mountain pass, with waterfalls and bridges leading switchback style up the mountainside to a brilliant red torii arch. The haze of the sky makes it difficult to tell if the sun or the moon is rising or setting, lending a timeless feel to the piece.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 8

I first saw this piece when I was in high school. I never forgot it.

Jim Buckels' BLUE RUIN.
A completely still reflecting pond, surrounded by crumbling Greek columns and statuary. It is late twilight, the sun fully set, the sky lavender and purple and blue with stars just beginning to appear. A large marble boulder juts out of the water, and a glossy black concert grand piano sits to one side, within the reflecting pool. Cypress trees adorn the edges, with the faint lights of a distant sprawling cityscape in the background.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 8

@luiscarazo.bsky.social The local ice cream parlor in my community has this as one of their flavours of the day and so naturally I thought of you. :D

A screenshot from the Swanky Scoop Ice Cream website, with a cartoon image of an ice cream cone:
COOKIE MONSTER
Vanilla ice cream with spirulina, chocolate chip cookies and dough, and Oreos.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 3

And please let the rebuttal be:

A two-panel image - the top one shows a very adorable kitten mewing and looking like it's laughing, captioned "HAHAHA". The bottom one shows the same kitten looking very serious, captioned, "No."

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 1

Make them play this version.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jul 1

And I am immediately reminded of one of my favorite poems -- specifically, Anger's monologue from Arthur Symons' "Dance of the Seven Sins". (All seven sins have great monologues but Anger is my favorite by far.)

My robes are red with blood ; my name
Is Anger. The delicious flame
Which burns within me shall not die
Till the last lover has put by
The last kiss ; for it is the fire
Of love, which with extreme desire
Burns out the heart that love has lit
With the extreme desire of it.
I love so ardently, I know
Not love from hate, not joy from woe.
I, when I love, am wroth awhile

With love's delight, if that can smile,
With love's desire, that can abate,
With this most pure and passionate
Moment of moments, if that last
Less than to measure all the past
And all the future. I am sad
Only for this, that I have had
No other hatred so intense
In justice and magnificence
As that self-hatred which I press
Against my own unworthiness.
Could I so dear a hatred prove,
That rapture would out-rapture love.
I walk on many a steep path,
Yet without weariness; my wrath,
That strives against all mortal strife,
Is as a well-spring of new life.
I sharpen in the lover's heart
Desire, and when the pointed dart
Has flown, and quivers, turn afresh
The barb in the delighted flesh:
The flesh cries out and thanks me. I
In hearts am also jealousy,
Which is love's anger against love

For love's sake. It is I who move
The hearts of men that they refuse
Sought gifts, and women, that they choose
What they desire not. Love becomes,
Without me, as a rich man's crumbs
Unto a poor man; Love with me
Is the rich man's satiety
Of his spread feast. I am in these
Mother of madness, the disease
That proud men die of; and in those
Mother of wisdom. There arose
Many, by me, that have gone far,
And, for a perilous pilgrim star,
Have left their hamlets in the vale,
And have found kingdoms. Mine the tale
Of those who, having overturned
Kingdoms, and unto ruins burned
Strong cities, have sat down thereon,
Forgetting to lay stone on stone
That they might build, and wall about,
Mightier cities. I cry out,
In glory, on the topmost towers
Of the world, exulting that the hours
Of the world are numbered; and my voice

Is louder than the confluent noise
Of the four winds that hurry forth
From South and East and West and North.
Come hither, all that are the slaves
Of any bondage: of the graves
Wherein the dead bury their dead,
Or of youth's bubbling fountain-head;
Come hither, bondslaves of content,
You, bondslaves of that indolent
Languor of love too satisfied;
Drink of the spirit of my pride,
And I will free you of your chains,
Yea, I will light within your veins
An inextinguishable fire
Which shall consume even that desire
Of bondage. Who shall set me free,
Lastly, of my own slavery?

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 30

Oh, FFS, @repdelbene.bsky.social... REALLY?! You caved on this one?! At least @jayapal.house.gov, @emilyrandallwa.bsky.social and @adamsmith.house.gov had the decency to vote NO.

Screenshot from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/119-2026/h228 showing the WA state reps in the US Congress and how they voted on the H.R. 7757: KIDS Act.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 25

Yep!

Photo of an apartment wall (interior/exterior wall) with an AC port pre-installed.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 24

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 16

There is one strip in particular that I have loved for DECADES and if it were listed, I'd be outbidding everyone, but alas it's not up for sale. :(

The September 28th, 1981 Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis (3 panels).
Panel 1: Garfield is listlessly curled up in his box under his blanket, staring at his full bowl of catfood with the thought bubble, "I'm bored... Bored, bored, bored. I hate Monday. I hate routine."
Panel 2: Garfield's eyes are suddenly wide open as he grins with an idea.
Panel 3: Garfield comes dancing in from the left with his full cat bowl upside down on his head, getting food everywhere, as he shouts, "RUMBA RUMBA SNORT RIP" while Jon looks at him with a resigned expression saying, "It's going to be one of those weeks."

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 14

Me: I really should be productive today. I think I'll unpack a few more boxes. 21 boxes later... (Why, yes, my husband and I are still avid collectors of physical media, why do you ask?)

Photo of 21 empty bankers boxes stacked 7 high in 3 columns

Photo of two LARGE media shelves - the left one is chock full of CDs (albeit haphazardly organized), the right one is chock full of DVDs and Blu-Rays (also haphazardly organized).

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 13

Screenshot from Facebook:
On this day
8 years ago
Was anyone else cheering for the MPR raccoon? I was watching the twitter updates for most of the day, but ended up falling asleep before the little mo-fo actually made it to the roof.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 11

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 10

There may be only one goth allowed at a table at a time, but gods bless @laurabaileyvo.bsky.social for giving me both my favorite goths in one thumbnail for this week's #CriticalRole episode.

YouTube thumbnail for Critical Role's upcoming episode 29 from Campaign 4, with the thumbnail featuring (L-$) Alexander Ward, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Taliesin Jaffe.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 8

Oh, you mean THIS Marco Rubio?

Screenshot from the US Senate Roll Call:
Roll Call Vote 119th Congress - 1st Session
Vote Summary

Question: On the Nomination (Confirmation: Marco Rubio, of Florida, to be Secretary of State )
Vote Number: 8
Vote Date: January 20, 2025, 06:35 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2
Vote Result: Nomination Confirmed
Nomination Number: PN11-13
Nomination Description: Marco Rubio, of Florida, to be Secretary of State
Vote Counts:
YEAs 99
NAYs 0

*Information compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate bill clerk under the direction of the secretary of the Senate

Washington:
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 8

I can get behind this.

Your closest counterpart
The Virtuoso
later 1600s · England · experimental philosopher
Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanical

You trust the thing you can build, run, and watch over any grand system. You think the way to settle an argument is to rig the apparatus, gather honest witnesses, and report exactly what happened.
Representative figuresRobert Boyle, Robert Hooke, Margaret Cavendish
Read more

Primary: Robert Hooke, Micrographia (1665)
Secondary: Shapin and Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump (1985)

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 5

I'm going with a visual for this one. This is my TTRPG bookshelf. This is *AFTER* two large purges of our gaming shelves. We originally had a second full one of these PLUS another half-filled shelf. :D There is a grand total of *ONE* D&D book on it. (BTW, that's a 9-lb bag of dice on the shelf.)

A photo of my current gaming bookcase (five shelves filled with books, the sixth holds board/card games).

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 4

Post an album you've listened to 100 times.

The cover of Pink Floyd's A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON album.

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 3

Two of my most commonly used ones. "What the fuck" by @pyperhaylie.bsky.social "What is this eargasm" -- it's credited as confessionpink.tumblr, the earliest appearance online is May 30th 2012, but exact artist unknown, and that tumblr is no longer online.

3-panel cartoon of a woman saying "What... and I can't stress this enough... the FUCK" (Art by @pyperhailie.bsky.social)

A 3-panel doodle of a person putting on headphones, listening to music on their laptop, and then mouth wide open and screaming, "HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THIS EARGASM I'M HAVING" -- art credited to confessionpink.tumblr

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· Jun 2

✨QRP with your Pride flags!✨ (And Happy Pride Month to all us "shiny rainbow motherfuckers," in the immortal words of the immortal Taliesin Jaffe.)

Michelle Travis@samuraiko· May 14

Here we go, how about this?