Stuff I remember for some reason

• ████ (before the age of 10) saying "I can keep talking if I don't stop to think!"

• that poster in my room of all the ████ of ████

• ████ — first guy crush

• The cave interior in Greedy Zebra (Hadithi, Kennaway)

• The 9 Tasks of Mistry (McEwan), and in particular the Cage of Illusion (bit heavy-handed for that to stick in my memory but hey sometimes you get a freebie)

• The Fallen Spaceman (Harding)

• Learning that breath rates sync up when you're physically close — and observing that experience myself with someone, for the first time

• When I was really young, I was terrified of onscreen animation

  • My mom taught me stop-motion animation with our home camcorder and some blocks, to help me get past it

• When my siblings and I were all kids, we tried to watch The NeverEnding Story (1984), and we all freaked out — couldn't do it

• I remember knowing (middle school? high school?) that a logo should be easy to draw with a single pen — not dependent on shading or color

• "There is no life, I know // To compare with pure imagination // Living there, you'll be free // If you truly wish to be" — that last line feels like a clause, always has

• Always felt straightforward to me that we make games because we're playing one

• Always wondered if animals knew not to look at the sun

• It's always felt like everything has the same core personality, down at the center

  • I wonder if this is why I can't detect evil? because literally no form of consciousness is toxic to me? because I ammmmmmm... well, because "I AM", and that's the level I hang out at?