Voices in the Choir

Portland sidewalks:





And, POV of trying to write in a Portland brewpub on a summer night:


I actually took that last shot because I got bothered by a fucking Elon Musk fanboy in Lucky Lab of all places. Rather than explain Lucky Lab, I figure I'd just take a picture. I took this after he'd gone to be a creep on the patio, he is not in the shot. Anyway, fucking weirdo was trying to get people to make eye contact with him. I am from the suburbs of Connecticut outside New York City. You cannot make me acknowledge your existence unless I choose to. He was just like trying to get people to engage with him and I was not having it.

I don't know what is wrong with some people, and I don't want to know

* One of the shows I am watching is a playthrough of Parasite Eve on youtube. I saw a scrap of a video essay on it and immediately wanted to play it, but it doesn't have a PC port and I no longer have my PS2. I haven't found a great playthrough, but it's something.

I've heard of the game, but realizing it was a horror-RPG from Squaresoft set in 1990s NYC... yeah, you had me at 'pixel art NYC' It's deeply relevant to my interests. I'd rather be playing, but I'm not getting getting a console and tracking down working discs just for one game.

* I am watching Criminal Minds because of Connor Storrie. I am curious if it was always this bad? I used to love the show, but stopped watching during a bunch of weirdness going on behind the scenes and also the show's realism tanked.

Some of the dialogue on the show would have made sense back in season 1 or 2, back in that era. Now it's just nonsense. When the very forensics-focused shows were taking off, forensic science was genuinely going through a period of 'figuring things out'. Lots of innovation, what should be SOP, etc. The show acts like it's still in that era and it's not.

Also, serial killers were more of a thing back then. Like there was this whole serial killer spike and they are super rare these days.

Is the current show a watered down version of something that worked in the mid 00's, or was it always this sloppy? I might watch try to watch a very early eps just to see, but if I do I might fall in love with Spencer Reid again and cry over how his character was developed.

*checks IMDB*

He was still on the show until last year? He did 325 episodes?? Holy shit

* Glad it's not just me. Someone was asking on the mm romance subreddit about finding reviewers and the consensus is that's finding one is a mess. A highly upvoted comment said "When they all rave about one book multiple times something's up". Basically, it's all algo bait.

* We did pick up one FA today, more likely for the Firebirds than the Kraken... but he a 6'9 boy, Curtis Douglas. He big. And he likes to take part in initiatives to start conversations about mental health.

Also, in hockey fandom is it so wholesome when a player goes to a new team and someone makes a primer on him for fans of the new team. Curtis Douglas primer. They are so sad to lose him and they make a power point about it.

* We used to have a big player on the team, nicknamed Big Rig. Biggest player in franchise history. We lost him today to the Canucks.

Here is both Curtis Douglas and Big Rig back when they were both prospects for the Stars:


Which is which? 2 is Big Rig and 1 is the new squid.

Curtis dwarfs Big Rig, who makes Bobby McMann look tiny. Dear God...

(I need a picture of him next to Vince Dunn)

* Marchment to the Sharks? Are they just throwing money at his because of his dad? Wow, that's a weird fit. He likes to start shit and not finish it. A few of the Kraken injuries last year were due to his stint with us. He started shit and hid behind our top scorer, and then our top scorer was out almost half the season.

Sharks fans are like 'oh, he's a vet, he'll protect the kids!' No, I promise you, no. The way he'll help the kids is by giving their PK teams lots of work outs. His stats are good, but like, there is a lot more to a player than stats.

When Mush went to Seattle last year, I don't know if that was a Francis or Botteril deal. If I knew for sure it was Ron Francis, and I think it was based on timing, I'd be even more happy for next season.

* Jaden Schwartz to the Avs. He was an OG Kraken, first to sign with the team in free agency and reportedly wanted to stay. Sad to see and a lot of fans are upset. He just made no sense for the current state of our roster.

No movement on Oleksiak, Tolvanen or Murray yet. Thought Tolvy would go fast. Not sure what is up with Murray.

Update: Oleksiak to Vancouver for two years at 5 mill. That is insane. Good on him. Maybe he'll be great up there. For the previous season on the Kraken he was invisible most of the year and seemed to finally wake up in the last few weeks. Not sure why.

Wow, we didn't pay him that much. I would not have been surprised if he'd slip to AHL after last year. But, I don't know the BTS of the situation, maybe there was a good reason he was a ghost for us most of last year and that's been resolved.

* As a newer fan which players I am attached to is very different from the more established fans. Hard day for people who are long time fans. My faves are all very likely to stay in Seattle.

* Luke Prokop is UFA, so I am keeping an eye on him and hoping. Our AHL team deserves nice things, and we could use defensive defenceman depth.

* Fuck, Blues did it. They signed Dube. Morale with that club is low and they are so desperate they sign him? That sucks. Don't want to deal with VGK 2.0 on top of VGK.

* Sharks throwing money around on 4 and 5 year contracts like they aren't worried about the big re-signings in two years. Darnell Nurse?

* Can someone explain to our fanbase that we have an AHL team and we also need to get them players? We are about to do terrible things to their roster.

* At Kraken development camp we make sure players have essential skills, like making sure our goalie prospects can shoot the puck.