hcyk notes page

i am a lurker down to my bones. if i had to guess, before twtter, i posted public stuff on the internet around 10 times total in my life, and i could probably name 70% of those times off the top of my head. that's social media posts, forum posts, in-game messages, imageboard posts. that feels sparse to me, especially as someone who considers themselves quite internet-native.

i started posting on twitter about 2 years ago. i don't remember what inspired me, but it seemed like an exciting place. posting was difficult. i tried to post something every day. for many things that i force myself to do, there are a set of motivations i can identify within myself about why i try to do them. posting on twitter had something to do with ~"making a legible record of myself for others to engage with".

i am in my head a lot. this was exacerbated when i've decided to write some things down about 3-4 years ago. i feel like i'm trying to catalog every idea and feeling that i experience. this is not great for my social behavior. i am lucky that in real life, my tendency towards reticence is generally compensated for by friend groups. however, because of that tendency, i don't feel like i've used twitter as-intended (by self-defined expectations). many things feel like distractions.

for better or for worse, i'm going to be trying this instead.

wanting a good life for your children, life's meaning: so that they too may wish for a good life for their children. after all, you as child look back upon your ancestors and think "they fought for this...": the existential IOU is once again compounded
out eating your diet tapeworm...? (he only eats 4 calories a day)
people want their country to do well. but they don't really accept having a bunch of elite immigrants come in and do that for them, or really a ton of change at all for that matter. they want to be involved in building their country. but do they have what it takes? how much agony is incurred by the feeling of defending your country, saying you not only want it to be great, but that you want to be the reason it is great, then failing? perhaps there is a patriotic duty then to go down with the ship, rather than sell it off--drag it into your selfish self-punishment... ~"america is for americans, in sickness and in health, till death do us part"