i first read the essay is it imposter syndrome? or are we all imposters? when it was published a little under a year ago, when i had just graduated and my only workplace had been the grocery store. coming back to the piece now, after having returned from my first visit to the physical office, every word resonates and stings. maybe we're all the imposters on this spaceship!

the animated anthology memories is so, so good. the first story, magnetic rose, is a particular standout with its purposeful clashing of space tech and classical european visuals—but i was also enamored with the bizarre, militaristic world of cannon fodder and the juxtaposition of life and death in stink bomb. this anthology reminds me of game jam entries lol. there should be more of them!

i have taken the dive and am steadily working my way through the 179-episode podcast the history of rome. i was hoping for more of a focus on the daily lives of ordinary people (was very excited to learn that there were guys who just waited around for the public bathhouses to open, and then stayed in the baths until they were kicked out), but i appreciate it for what it is (detailing the battles and soap opera dramas of the ancient roman emperors).

toronto is slowly being overtaken by the goo^[1] in the marigold, a slow apocalypse that eats away at the city's infrastructure and its citizens. like many novels that feature multiple POVs, i found myself speeding through certain chapters, while dreading others—but the POVs that interested me in particular (a public health inspector with a cool helmet and an increasingly resigned rideshare driver) kept me moving towards the story's bleak but inevitable conclusion.