What I’ve Been Thinking
The thoughts in my head this week have been rather unhelpful.
School has been a source of great stress, something touched upon in the Reading section further down. It feels like a triangular diagram with the caption “you can only pick two”
The three points being Sleep, Sanity, and Quality Work. I have none of these things at the moment. In my opinion.
So instead of more personal dread and depression I suggest you move on to the rest of this post. I will endeavor to get past my funk.
What I’ve Been Watching
I binge watched Riot’s Arcane series in the course of about two days this week. I had heard a lot of good about it and had to see what the hype was about.
Overall, the show really is that good… with one major caveat.
In a nine-episode season, the first three episodes all take place covering Vi and Powder’s childhood before the main story and conflict occurs in the following six episodes.
The main issue here is that the show also advertises the main plot as Vi trying to find her lost sister, something that doesn’t come into effect until you start episode four.
The show deals with a story about class differences and society struggling with this underlying conflict… and it’s ok. The main villain becomes a Magneto figure in the manner of He is more sympathetic and has a better point than any of the heroes. The writers can only give him a tragic flaw that is “oh no I wish I didn’t also love murder”.
And who else am I supposed to root for, the person working with a cop?
What I’ve Been Reading
I read an article titled “Journalism isn’t who you are. It’s what you do.” by Wudan Yan.
As someone in journalism school now it just doesn’t miss with its points.
“If we’re so drawn to the mission, then we should be willing to take on tens of thousands of dollars in debt to go to journalism school, accept low-paying entry-level jobs, or even sacrifice our own happiness, sanity, or personal relationships.”
Ouch.
But incredibly true. I debated with myself a lot about going to grad school in the first place, and so far, the administration of the school as well as the mentality about the institution of journalism try to convince you that you are a good journalist if you devote every hour of your life to it.
Journalism is often said to be a calling not a job, meaning you shouldn’t necessarily care about how you are treated as a worker in a business, which all outlets are.
This very week we saw unions and Wirecutter and Buzzfeed News walkout in protest of poor treatment and lack of pay, just to name a few grievances. These things are important but not oft discussed and as someone in the initial stages of a career, it only depresses me.
Journalism idealizes itself to be an institution of truth that brings knowledge to the people, yet it is not able to reckon with its own ethical treatment of journalists themselves.
What I’ve Been Playing
After a long time waiting, Final Fantasy XIV has released its newest expansion: Endwalker. It is billed as being the culmination of a story that started all the way back in 2010.
Final Fantasy is a game that I started playing about a year and a half ago during the pandemic. Since then, I have caught up through all the previous content, joined a community of trans players, and become incredibly invested in the world.
Endwalker, expectedly, has been plagued by server load so I have only had a few hours of time in the game so far. But I love it. I can’t be super subjective; I love this game and the community that it has given me.
All I really have to say about it right now is cheers to the team and to all who are logging in to enjoy the final chapter in the story of this star!
What I’ve Been Cooking / Eating
To keep the mood going, in celebration of the Endwalker release I baked coffee biscuits. The baked good shared between the super fucking gay couple that is Ryne and Gaia.
They taste sort of like a mix between a cookie and a scone and need some more coffee flavoring, but my partner cannot stop eating them, so I guess I did well.
I had them with a cup of royal milk tea that would hopefully make Estinien proud.
And that’s it for the week. Next week I will try to not talk about Final Fantasy XIV but… no promises.