[text] [id: lafcadio]

[supraliminally]

Good evening, USA! (◡‿◡✿) It's your good friend from Λευκάδα via Matsue, Lafcadio! Today I've been thinking hard about a subject that I'm sure all imPorts have thought very hard about... what should we do with ourselves in this new world? Normally when a person moves to a new place, they might think of it as a fresh start. That's doubly true when it's the beginning of a new year, right? New year, new me! But usually we end up falling back into the same patterns, doing the same things. Even if you move to a new city, even if the earth moves to a new position relative to the sun, even if we continue to 'move' through the temporal dimension at an ever-steady rate -- doesn't it seem like not much changes?

Maybe that's true, but I'd like to think that this place is different. After all, it's not like this is just a new city. This is a whole new world, where nothing we do has any impact on the goings-on in the worlds we came from. Furthermore, we supposedly return to our original worlds with no memories of our stay here, to the very exact moment we left off, as if nothing happened! In other words, there's no reason for us to feel bound by our pasts in this place, because our past selves have nothing to do with this world. They will continue to live out their lives at home as if nothing ever happened here. We, who live in this world, exist only briefly. Our lives began when we were ported in, and they will end when we are ported out. New life, new me! (✿ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Anyway, all of this thinking about how to go about things has me wondering about the opinions of my loyal readers! So I've decided, just this once, to have a special reader poll to gather your thoughts! Please note that poll results will have no bearing whatsoever on how I proceed, as obviously none of you are as qualified as me to make decisions! Please feel free to vote in the poll, and leave an explanation for your vote in the comments. I'm really looking forward to hearing all of your ideas.

Poll #17866 What should I do with my time?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

View Respondents

What's the optimal way for me to maximize my general enjoyment of life here?

View Answers

Register and become a hero employed by the US military
0 (0.0%)

Don't register and become a vigilante with an appropriately cool fake identity
0 (0.0%)

Don't worry about registration, just laze around all day like always
1 (25.0%)

Become some sort of villainous type and terrorize the general populace (also possibly get rich?)
0 (0.0%)

Other (elaborate in the comments, please!)
3 (75.0%)

As always, thank you kindly for your support -- and remember to subscribe! (〃‿〃✿)

[ There is nothing resembling a subscribe button attached anywhere to the post. ]

Comments

[devoutish]

And what about those of us who like who we are?

[supraliminally]

Not really that interested by default, but I'm open to the possibility that I might be interested.

[devoutish]

Do you not like who you are? You don't sound like it.

[supraliminally]

[ Actually, I'm so profoundly self-centered that I've decided to treat everyone around me like video game NPCs because they aren't directly relevant to my broader life at home, and therefore are so extraneous that I am honestly barely even able to conceive of them as real.

Haha, just kidding. She's not going to say that out loud, that would totally ruin this whole conversation, probably. ]

Don't I? That's sort of funny. What makes you think so?

text

[pummelgranite]

You seem pretty cheerful about life starting and stopping with the Porter.

[supraliminally]

Why wouldn't I be? It's an opportunity, after all. An extra life to live however you like, with no consequences for your real life. Totally free!

[pummelgranite]

Yeah, but doesn't that mean that it doesn't really matter? Not for you anyway.

[supraliminally]

That's right! Nothing that happens here really matters to me.

[dendarii]

Surely there's more interesting things to do than just those options.

[supraliminally]

Oh? Like what?

[dendarii]

There's any number of things to do here. Work to be done if you're into that. And then occasionally we all get kidnapped by Russians.

[supraliminally]

Well, I'm opposed to work on moral grounds, but I recognize that sometimes compromises need to be made. Kidnapping sounds fun, though. I like kidnapping people.

text

[apotheoppose]

I'm trying to figure out the answer to that myself.

[supraliminally]

Fortunately for you, I am a wellspring of good life advice. What do you like doing?

[apotheoppose]

[Tara is dubious, but "lafcadio" seems interesting, at least.]

Music.

[supraliminally]

[ I mean, the unspoken Step 1 to pretty much all of her advice is "be a nigh-invincible demon without a conscience," but once you've got that part squared away it's really solid! ]

So what prevents you from doing that?

[glowsferatu]

thats a really reductive poll
and makes me think maybe you dont understand what registration really is??
among those registered only a fraction feel any inclination to become heroes
and very very few could actually consider themselves employed by the government

moreover i dont see how the only option that doesn't involve either fighting crime or generating more involves lazing about
whats wrong with getting a hobby

[supraliminally]

Polls are reductive by nature. If I had a poll that listed every possible thing I might do with my time here, it would probably have broken a lot of feeds. I guess that would technically count as villainy. Shall I put you down in favor of evil-doing, then?

[glowsferatu]

not at all i chose other because none of the rest sound like good ideas and i stand by that conclusion
if youre trying to distinguish what youre doing now from what you did at home
just what is it you used to do

text

[ret2go]

How do you pronounce (✿ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


[Someone is asking the real questions here.]

[supraliminally]

Open-parentheses-unicode-black-florette-no-diacritical-mark-wa-diacritical-mark-close-parentheses-no-asterisk-colon-bullet-handakuten-unicode-white-four-point-star.

[ret2go]

Well that's a really inconvenient word.

text

[tacticianing]

That is an interesting way of looking at things.

The US government seems willing to make life very difficult for those who haven't registered. If your goal is to maximize your enjoyment life here, I'd suggest against registering unless you have a specific reason to let them know you're uncooperative.

I wouldn't say it means you agree with them or that you are a hero because of that alone. You have additional options.

[supraliminally]

Well, that's what the 'lazing around' option is for, isn't it?

[tacticianing]

For some. There's more options than doing nothing or doing everything the government wants.