DonE

@optional

let me fish out my sociologist card from my old wallet, I think it said it was good for life co-managing ed @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social previous at Unwinnable, Uppercut Crit, Bullet Points Monthly, Wireframe, Polygon, Symbolic Interaction & more

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Bluesky

gamer

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DonE@optional· 5d

Saw a coyote in the outfield earlier this morning.

A green field with a slender coyote standing in the distance. A hillside with scrubbier grass and a large tree rises in the background.

DonE@optional· 7d

Just playing some nighttime Dire Marsh with a pal

A screenshot from Big Walk. It’s illuminated in the foreground, with a night scene of tall grass and flowers. Dark hills rise in the background.

DonE@optional· 8d

Authenticator’s haunted

Cropped authenticator code reading “666 666” and, in smaller text “Your token expires in 21 sec.”

DonE@optional· 23d

I played a bit from Anthology of the Killer last night that starts when BB is driven to violent intent by a neighboring apartment playing loud music all night. Then, at 1:30, a neighbor woke me up with a big, loud firework that set off a bunch of car alarms.

A screenshot from Anthology of the Killer. BB, pictured in her most typical outfit of an orange, spotted dress and pink hair, says to her sister, “ZZ, I just wanted to let you know, I’m preparing to walk the demon’s path without honor or humanity.” ZZ (who is in bed, eyes closed), replies, “Alright. Have fun.”

DonE@optional· 28d

I went to the music of Wes Anderson movies thing at the Hollywood Bowl over the weekend. Lots of amazing performances, but one of the most affecting was Beck and his band playing “Needle in the Hay.” #optionallistening

DonE@optional· Jul 10

I overdosed on hulk honey tonic in Caves of Qud and all the names for everything got replaced by variations on AAAGGHGHH!! #optionalplaying

A screenshot from Caves of Qud. I'm in a dungeon, but the color scheme has gone red. The text describing turns goes from a legible record to a collection of nouns replaced in red text by variations on, "AAAHHGGHHH!!"

Another Caves of Qud screenshot. This shows the inventory screen under the effects of a hulk honey overdose. Names for items have been replaced in red text by variations on, "AAAHHGGHHH!!"

DonE@optional· Jul 4

#optionallistening X

The cover of a vinyl copy of X’s Los Angeles

DonE@optional· Jul 3

Great run this evening with the Eagle Rock Run Club. #optionalrunning

A Strava “Best Efforts” screen. New bests for 400m, 1/2 mile, 1k, and 1 mile (for 2026, by single digit drops in seconds over previous bests). Also a 3rd best time for the year at 18:13.

DonE@optional· Jun 24

Make a terrible comic (and an ordinary dog joke): office supplies edition. #makeaterriblecomicday

A four panel comic made from sticky notes. Panel 1: a dog has a thought bubble that reads “DOG VISON”.
Panel 2: a seated cat, with a small “meow” written next to it. A thought bubble on the top of the panel reads “THAT IS A FUNNY SHAPE FOR A DOG.”
Panel 3: a possum with “hiss” written next to it. A thought bubble on the top of the panel reads, “THAT IS A FUNNY SHAPE FOR A DOG.”
Panel 4: a squirrel sitting and holdings forepaws near its face, tail raised. The thought bubble reads, “THAT IS A SUSPICIOUS SHAPE.”

DonE@optional· Jun 18

Another one of these. Sure, everyone’s poisoned, but it’s a clean sweep!

DonE@optional· Jun 17

Playing more Demonschool. It feels like, perhaps, Namako could be more confident. I mean, considering she settled this battle on her own. #optionalplaying

DonE@optional· Jun 16

message to my haters

DonE@optional· Jun 8

Rare image of me at the day job

A screenshot from Skate Story. A massive eye, surrounded in large structures resembling bone, is centered in the sky. A large, curved wall of text surrounds it from the ground. More ordinary street architecture like lampposts and fences are in the foreground. A text subtitle reads, “PROCESSING FORM.”

DonE@optional· Jun 7

Throwing down with this sweet leverless, c/o @siegarettes.bsky.social

A leverless controller with Evangelion keycaps sits on a table, plugged into a switch 2. The switch is running Cyberbots, in a Blodia v Blodia mirror training mode.

DonE@optional· Jun 6

Crushed the morning run. New bests for 2026! Even better, these were done on a casual neighborhood run, not a race, not on the track, with mixed uphill and downhill segments. #optionalrunning

A results screen showing times and records for a run. It includes new PRs for 5k (27:50, down 1m 50s from the previous record) and the 2 mile (17:32, down 41s from the previous time). The 1k and 1mi times were my second best of the year, and the 400m and 1/2mi times were my third best.

DonE@optional· Jun 3

Top of the Eng leaderboards (this month, on the second day of the month, on a game I don’t know how many people still play)! #optionalplaying #Shiren

A leaderboard for the tower of fortune dungeon from Shiren 5. The top score is 667,835 at Lv. 34. Below reads, “Best Internet Rankings result - All: 4th Amazing - Eng: 1st King Wanderer”

DonE@optional· May 29

Closed it out. Now I’m… in the next zone.

Shiren, Jirokuchi, and Koppa stand amidst the wreckage of Reeva’s statue. Koppa, depicted as a brightly smiling ferret, says, “We did it! Shiren! Jirokuchi! We defeated Reeva’s incarnation!”

DonE@optional· May 28

Deranged sokoban controls here

A screenshot from Dino Crisis. A monitor displaying rows of shipping containers and a cargo hook, overlaid with cards indicating direction, hook, and release. The player must input strings of those commands as controls to an otherwise ordinary sokoban puzzle.

DonE@optional· May 28

Love this videogame choice framing.

A screenshot from Dino Crisis. Text is superimposed over a room with many glowing monitors. “What will you do? Choose the idea you believe in.

Gail’s idea: Search for clues to find Dr. Kirk.
Rick’s idea: Rescue your comrade immediately.”

DonE@optional· May 27

Came across this example of targeted advertising while looking for a good Dino Crisis walkthrough:

A large ad banner featuring a dubious rainbow flag with "GAY TEST" positioned over it in white. Text next to the flag reads: "Am I Gay? Take this quiz to find out if you're gay or not."

Above the ad is a page header that reads "Dino Crisis Walkthrough for Playstation - Last Updated April 2020." Below are links to "Walkthrough Home | Dino Crisis UK | Forums | Products".

DonE@optional· May 20

Okay so I already liked this Marathon piece on the no escape website, but this zine was worth picking up just for the added textual emphasis of:

Text, in an ordinary sans-serif font, reads, "title of Iron Lord fucking twice, I grappled up to the second floor, flew over a security laser, swung around the corner and fucking" and then in more handwritten, thick, font, "KNIFED MY KILLER IN THE BACK."

DonE@optional· May 17

Played a few games with the DTLA chess club, today holding it down in a space under LACMA’s new galleries. Lost all of them, but good, close situations in each one. #optionalplaying

In an outdoor space wit a lot of gray concrete (especially overhead, which is under the gallery floor), there’s a crowd of people playing chess. Tables are set up behind a small rope line. A giant-sized lawn set is outside of the line and in the foreground.

DonE@optional· May 16

Including a segment PR!

A Strava screenshot. Distance 0.18 mi, elevation gain 136ft, grade 13.7%, 02:27 time.

DonE@optional· May 16

Solid splits up a hilly park this morning. Spot the mile where it goes up about 300ft in .4mi.

Splits displayed as a bar chart.
Mile 1 9:47
Mile 2 12:36
Mile 3 9:52
Mile 4 9:41

DonE@optional· May 13

It does generate good screens tho. Won a rook run last night with an "oops, all traps and landings" combo.

A final boss screen from Gambonanza. A sinister, masked figure is shown over a densely-packed chess board. Many (half?) of the tiles on the board have been turned into trap tiles.

DonE@optional· May 11

the only Mr. Beast I recognize

An image from Kung Fu Hustle of Bruce Leung's "the Beast."

DonE@optional· May 4

And that's a first Gambonanza win! #optionalplaying

A screenshot from the end of a Gambonanza run. Text reads, "Success!" above a list of statistics from the run and a seed number. Icons for the five rule-bending "gambits" are shown.

DonE@optional· May 3

My dog Toph after climbing a big hill

A brown and white, patch-faced pit bull mix stands, squinting, on a roadside. A valley drops behind her, with another hill on the opposite side.

DonE@optional· May 3

I'm Gambonanzaing. Thanks to @aetataureate.bsky.social for the chess game alert!

A screenshot from Gambonanza (2026). A miniature, 5x5 chessboard sits in the middle of a screen. There's a boss, illustrated in green, with four floating hands and a monocular face, emerging out of spikes of green, glowing light. The board has two pawns facing two rooks and two bishops, but I have a queen and bishop in reserve. The boss is named as "Hikarul the Banished."

DonE@optional· May 2

It’s been a while, but I made it to the top of the tower of fortune tonight. I didn’t quite have the tools to close it back out, so I used an escape scroll. Still, I did it once and can do it again. Let’s change some fate. #optionalplaying