Beyond the Chiron Gate part of the “No ICE in Minnesota” charity bundle on itch.io, which is raising money for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.

There are over a thousand other games there (both digital and TTRPGs) so this is a chance to get a bunch of cool stuff while also giving money to help the people being targeted by ICE. (A couple of games in the bundle that I'd recommend are Baba Is You and Extreme Meatpunks Forever.)

#BeyondTheChironGate

Monet asiat on odotuttaneet mua viime aikoina. Tai oikeastaan odotan koko ajan erilaisia asioita. Tylsän luennon päättymistä, Macciksen jonosta pääsemistä, viikonloppua, ystävien näkemistä, rakkauden löytämistä tai pastan keittymistä.

Todella arkisia juttuja. Mutta koko ajan on sellainen odotus seuraavasta hetkestä tai toisesta jutusta. Ettei elä siinä hetkessä itsessään vaan sen odotuksen ja tulevaisuudenjanon kautta. Ehkä se on meidän ajan kuva. On koko ajan kiire. Seisahtaminen ja pysähtyminen on harvinaista. Jatkuvasti ollaan menossa. Kohti seuraavaa juttua. Ja kivatkin jutut tuntuu usein suorituksilta. Se, että tekee paljon asioita on suuremmassa arvossa kun ne asiat itsessään. Tekeminen ja suorittaminen muuttuu itseisarvoiseksi.

Tai ehkei ihan niin kuitenkaan. Ehkä mulla on liikaa juttuja. Tai sellaisia juttuja jotka ei tuo mulle täyttymystä. Että ne vie aikaa ja jaksamista kivoilta jutuilta ja latistaa niitä. Ja siksi on hankala keskittyä hetkeen ja tulee katsottua seuraavaan.

Toisaalta olisi typerää elää vain hetkessä. Ei maailma niin toimi. Tai siis tarkoitan että on tärkeää olla läsnä hetkessä. Mutta pitää silti myös miettiä eteenpäin. Tai ainakin itse vajoaisin dekadenssiin ja totaaliseen hedonismiin jos keskittyisin vain hetkeen. Jos ei ole muuta kuin tämä hetki eikä väliä tulevaisuudesta niin miksi tehdä mitään muuta kuin nauttia? Jatkuvuus ja tulevaisuus pitää mut tiellä. Tasapainossa. Lyhyet nautinnot kuten epäterveellinen mutta maukas ruoka ei edistä pitkän aikavälin hyvinvointia. Ehkä se nautinnollisuus muodostuu siitä odotuksesta ja erityisyydestä.

Sit oon pohtinu tälläsiä odotuttavia asioita, jotka ei tapahdu välittömästi. Sellaisia pidempiaikaisia jatkumoita. Päässä on ollut kaikenlaisia dystooppisia hahmotelmia maapallon ja yhteiskuntien tulevaisuudesta. Pelkään. Että mitä tulevaisuudessa ja nykyhetkessä tapahtuu.

Nää kelat tuli päähän viime syksynä usean jutun yhdistelmänä. Näin ig-reelin jossa joku yritys esitteli isoa pallomaista poliisirobottia. Se pystyy videon mukaan kulkemaan kolmeakymppiä, ampumaan verkon vastustelevan ihmisen päälle ja on iskunkestävä. Ja tietysti on varustettu kameroilla ja kasvojentunnistusjärjestelmällä. Ihan kuin jostain kyberpunk -dystopiasta.

Heti perään Iso-Britannian uusi hallitus alkoi käydä sotaa avointa internetiä vastaan. Online Safety Act, “lasten suojelemiseksi” tarkoitettu lakipaketti tuli voimaan tämän vuoden heinäkuun lopussa. Se velvoittaa palveluntarjoajia varmistamaan käyttäjän iän, jotta lapsia voitaisiin väitetysti suojella väkivallalta ja muulta epäsopivalta sisällöltä. Tämä luonnollisesti on realisoitunut katastrofaalisesti. Esimerkiksi Gazassa tapahtuvan kansanmurhan uutisointi netissä on joissain tapauksissa rajoitettu alaikäisiltä.

Kunnon sähköistä infraa ei asiaa varten rakennettu, esimerkiksi suomalaisen pankkitunnusjärjestelmän kaltaista. Tämän vuoksi sivustot on vaatineet käyttäjiltä kuvia henkkareista iän todistamiseen ja on uutisoitu että useamman palvelun databaseen on päästy käsiksi. Nyt miljoonien ihmisten henkkarien kuvat on myynnissä pimeässä verkossa identiteettivarkauksia ja ties mitä muuta varten.

Miks en oo yllättyny? Poliitikot tekee aina typeriä päätöksiä mitä ne ei selkeästi itsekään ymmärrä. Että mihin ne johtaa.

Sama teknodystooppinen meno on rantautumassa Euroopan Unioniin. Kerralleen kaatunutta Chat Control -esitystä valmistellaan uudelleen. Sama kehys kuin Britanniassa – eli lasten suojelu. Mihin tämä sitten vaikuttaisi? No, esityksessä halutaan skannata kaikki viestit ja sähköpostit ynnä muu verkkoliikenne lapsipornon varalta.

Kaikki viestit ja verkkoliikenne. On hankala käsittää sitä datan määrää. Sitten on selitetty huuhaata siitä miten tämä tapahtuisi turvallisuutta ja yksityisyyttä loukkaamatta. Mutta se ei ole mahdollista. Ajatellaan, että lähetän kirjeen kaverille. Ennen kuin laitan kirjeen kirjekuoreen poliisi ottaa siitä kuvan. Tämän jälkeen se laitetaan kuoreen ja lähetetään kaverille. Että eihän tässä mitään hätää, kyllä se pysyy siellä suljetussa kirjekuoressa turvassa eikä kukaan sitä sisältöä näe. Mutta poliisi otti siitä kuvan jo. Kirjesalaisuus poistuu.

Asiasta ei ole uutisoitu paljoa. Jostain syystä perimmäisiä oikeuksia polkevat esitykset jäävät aina pimentoon. Jännää. Enemmän on keskitytty siihen, kuinka eurooppalainen oikeisto liha-alan lobbaamana haluaa kieltää sanat vegenakki ja vegeburgeri. Huoh. Mutta todella hyvin osunut ja uponnut hämäys. Että näin sitä dystopiaa rakennetaan. Kiinnitetään huomio muualle.

Ja jos niitä otsikoita on nähnyt ja on vaivautunut lukemaan niitä pidemmälle niin näkee korvallakin, että Chat Controllissa ei ole kyse mistään lasten suojelemisesta vaan koko Euroopan Unionin laajuisesta massavalvonnasta. Se tulisi vaikuttamaan jokaiseen, 450 miljoonaan Euroopan Unionin kansalaiseen.

Ja eihän tällä mitenkään estetä rikollisuutta. Se on täysi valhe. Se tulisi vaikuttamaan vain lainkuuliaisiin taviksiin jotka käyttää Whatsappia ja sellaisia. Kuka tahansa voi salata kansioita tai word-tiedostoja verkosta ladattavilla työkaluilla ja lähettää niitä toisille. Se on niin helppoa että lapsikin sen osaa. Ja softaahan voi levittää vaikka kuinka: internet ja usb -tikut mahdollistavat sen. Että jos joku oikeasti haluaa nähdä vaivaa, niin voi salata viestintänsä. Laki vaikuttaa vain käyttäjiin, jotka eivät tietoisesti halua salata viestintäänsä. Laki ei estä viestinnän salaamista. Eli laki ei palvelisi sitä tarkoitusta jolla sitä perustellaan. Tämä onkin kiinnostavaa. Jos alkaisin lähettää viestejä salattuina tekstitiedostoina ja kertoisin salasanan suullisesti kaverille niin tulisiko siitä syyte? Vai saisiko palveluntarjoaja sakkoja? Estettäisiinkö tiedostojen lähettäminen sähköpostissa tai pikaviestimissä?

Pelkään todella vapaan kansalaisyhteiskunnan puolesta. Vapaa ja turvallinen internet on suuri osa sitä. Ja tärkein vapauden takaava keino on otettu Britanniassa pois: Yksilön ja henkilöllisyyden erottaminen toisistaan. Se on mahdollistanut kritiikin, vapaan ja ilmaisen globaalin tiedon jakamisen mutta myös luonut sananvapauden ja jossain määrin yleisesti lakien kentän ulkopuolella olevan villin lännen. Tavallaan ymmärrän poliitikkoja. Ne haluaa kontrolloida ja varmaan ajattelee oikeasti tekevänsä oikein. Mutta ne eivät ymmärrä vaikutuksia vapaaseen maailmaan.

Tälläiset teknologiset asiat saa todella vähän huomiota valtamediassa. Maailma on täynnä erilaisia kriisejä. On sotaa, nälkää, pandemioita ja kansanmurhaa. Paljon sellaisia reaalimaailman juttuja. Niin sitten helposti tällaiset unohtuu. Mutta sosiotekniset järjestelmät ovat osa toimintaympäristöämme. Ja yhä kasvavissa määrin. Kaikki digitalisoituu.

Ei meillä Suomen tasollakaan mene sen paremmin. Kansalaisyhteiskunnan rapistuminen alkaa näkyä jo. Kolmikannan hajottaminen hallituksen toimesta, lakko-oikeuden heikentäminen, ay-liikkeen verovapauden poisto ja koulutusleikkaukset näin muutaman mainitakseni. Varjoissa suunnitellaan poliisille oikeuksia käyttää kansalaisten biometrisiä tietoja rikostutkinnassa. Ja kuten Chat Controllin kanssa, ei täälläkään ole valtamedioissa uutisoitu valvontaan liittyvistä ehdotuksista paljoa.

Tämä tarkoittaisi, että passirekisterissä olevia kuvia ja sormenjälkiä olisi mahdollista hyödyntää rikostutkinnassa. Tällä hetkellä laki ei sitä salli. Lisäksi on ongelmallista, että rekisterin käyttötarkoitusta muutetaan jälkikäteen. Se ei tietääkseni ole linjassa EU:n tietosuoja-asetuksen kanssa, joka muuten ajaa yli kansallisen lainsäädännön. Asia on tällä hetkellä lähetekeskustelussa.

Poliisi on perustellut ehdotusta lasten suojelulla, yllätys yllätys. Hyvin hämmentävää, miten retoriikka on täysin samanlaista kuin EU:ssa. Niinkuin sanalleen samanlaista. Supo puolestaan on perustellut asiaa kansallisen turvallisuuden kannalta. Suuri yllätys sekin. Nämä kehykset ovat aina saatavilla ja ne ovat todella hähmäisiä mutta sellaisia, että asiaan perehtymätön mielellään tukee näitä tavoitteita.

Pala palalta demokratiaa ja vapaata kansalaisyhteiskuntaa murennetaan. Enemmän keskitytään “kansalliseen turvallisuuteen” ja valvontaan. Mutta ei keskivertokansalainen ole tietoinen. Tai kiinnostunut. Ja ymmärtäähän sen. Sitä helposti juuttuu brainrottiin, doomscrollaamaan sun muuta. Viihde pitää tyhmänä. Ja kun oikeisto on ottanut hyvinvointivaltiosta hyvinvoinnin pois niin sitä keskittyy todellisen maailman asioihin. Eikä mieti jotain seurantaa verkossa tai muuta mikä ei realisoidu itselle mitenkään. Kun puhun näistä jutuista mut leimataan usein hörhöksi. Ehkä se kielii siitä että nää jutut ei oo monelle tiedossa. Ja että ne on hankalasti ymmärrettäviä. Ja että mun huolet vaikuttaa kaukaa haetuilta tai epärealistisilta.

Oon kirjoittanut nyt peloistani ja huolistani. Mutta en oo perustellut että miksi valvonta on paha asia. Koska onhan senkin puolesta äänestäviä. Ei kaikki ajattele itseisarvoisesti sitä vastaan. Valvonnan tarkoitus on estää toiminta joka katsotaan valtaapitävien taholta epäsopivaksi. Usein näitä perustellaan että “se on laitonta”. Että laki määrää eettisyyden ja oikeuttaa ja kieltää. Uppoaa moneen mutta ei kestä kriittistä tarkastelua.

Toiseksi valvonnalla pyritään sementoimaan valtaapitävien intressit, asema ja näkemys yhteiskunnasta sekä tehdä muutoksesta mahdotonta. Algoritmeilla voidaan profiloida ihmisten poliittisia ajatuksia ja valvonnalla puuttua muutosta ajavien toimijoiden tekemisiin. Onhan Suomessakin poliisi liioitellut mahdollisen rikoksen vakavuutta, jotta saa oikeuden valvoa Elokapinalaisten puhelinviestintää. Että ei ole ihan tuulesta temmattua.

En usko siihen, että parlamentarismi voi tuottaa oikeaa yhteiskunnallista muutosta. Se vaatii aktivismia ja vastakulttuuria. Kieltämällä ja estämällä tällainen toiminta estetään edellytykset yhteiskunnalliselle muutokselle.

Vielä loppuun kasvojentunnistusjärjestelmistä. Pelkään niitä. Kamerat ovat halpoja ja kokonainen kaupunki voidaan lyödä niitä täyteen pikaisesti. Lisäksi näihin on liitetty käyttäytymisentunnistusmalleja, jotka voivat ennakoida ruumiinlämmön ja mikroilmeiden perusteella, että aikooko joku suorittaa rikoksen tai että hänen käytöksensä on poikkeavaa. Olen ihan helvetin peloissani tulevaisuudesta. Turvallisuutta pitäisi rakentaa luottamuksen ja kollektiivisen hyvinvoinnin kautta. Ei valvontakameroilla.

Odotan sitä, että dystopia realisoituu. Tai enemmänkin pelkään. En odota. Se on liian neutraali tapa ilmaista asia. En halua odottaa sitä. Haluan taistella vastaan. Mutta koen itseni voimattomaksi. Niin suuret voimat ajavat tällaisia muutoksia. Ja kun esmes Britannia, Yhdysvallat ja Kiina osoittavat, että tällaiset järjestelmät ja valvonta on mahdollista. Niin miksi homma menisi Euroopassa mitenkään toisin? Etenkin kun katsoo nykyistä kehityskulkua.

Mitä tässä pitää tehdä? Missä vaiheessa kamelin selkä katkeaa? Että kaikki tulevaisuuden odotus muuttuu aktiiviseksi toiminnaksi. Tavallaan toimin jo. Kirjoitanhan aiheesta, jotta muutkin tulisivat tietoisiksi ja yritän mikrotasolla parantaa asioita. Mutta kun dystopiat alkavat enemmän ja enemmän realisoitumaan. En ole vielä saavuttanut sitä pistettä, että odotus ja pelko muuttuisi jotenkin merkittäväksi toiminnaksi. Vielä jään sitä hetkeä odottamaan.

So this is gonna be a little bit of a different kind of post I guess, I’m right now driving to get some food and I’m just using voice to text to dictate this out. I guess I kind of wanted to somewhat document how buying a house has been, and I guess just in line with everything else that I do here just venting a little bit to put down my thoughts somewhere else. Buying a house has been pretty stressful, but right now the stress that I’m dealing with is actually moving in. There’s a lot of different things that I’ve had to kind of do that are coming off guard, like right now the big problem is the water heater is just not working consistently, I have to sometimes get it working by running a diagnostic code and then turning on the sink and kitchen faucets on hot at the same time for a little bit and then the hot water heater kicks in. I think this is something that can get fixed by talking with like some plumber or something like that and I think that the one you’re home insurance that comes with buying the house should cover pork I think so it shouldn’t be like a horrible co-pay but it still is like $100 probably. It’s also weird because I have to figure out all the existing things that they have such as fuel electrical work for all of the Internet of things stuff. On top of it there are some issues with the Wi-Fi because I don’t actually know where the fiber box is, but they have like a networking closet and so I was able to figure out which wire it was for that with my dad‘s help and then get my Internet working. I also haven’t unpacked anything really yet other than just a bare bear essentials like bathroom stuff to brush and my bed. I don’t even have my computer set up yet. It’s pretty lonely also in the house once E left. I’m also stressed because I’m right now leaving Hash alone for the first time in the new place and I really hope that he’s OK, because I really need him to be able to feel comfortable enough being home alone so that I can do stuff like go to work. I’m pretty stressed I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that before ha ha. There’s also other stuff like random existing electronics that I need to somehow put into my name like the blink camera on the front door doesn’t seem to let me connect to it pretty easily which is gonna be an interesting thing to deal with, and then what’s it called there’s also trouble with the carpet. While moving in a bit of the carpet ripped which really fucking sucks, and then on top of it Hash threw up three different times on the carpet and so there’s a little bit of a stain in one of the spots now. That makes me consider changing to a different kind of floor, but it’s a whole other hassle there.

A while back, the marketing people were talking about “friction” a lot. I can’t remember if this was before or after they were talking about “pain points.” Either way, friction in this context means things that slow you down, that make it hard for you to get stuff done. (I believe online shopping was the prime example here—like every click that stands between you and the “complete purchase” button is friction.)

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because there is SO MUCH friction everywhere now. My stupid TV just updated its OS and now if I don’t like, immediately choose what I want to watch, it starts an AI-generated video of a “cozy coffee shop” accompanied by soothing, AI-generated music. If any member of my family is in the room when this happens, we fly into a rage, which I don’t think is the intended effect.

Speaking of TV, it’s now rife with friction as all the services I paid for because they didn’t have ads are now showing me ads. I tried some sketchy IPTV services, but they freeze up all the damn time, which is actually more annoying than watching ads.

My phone rings: friction. I have to check it every time because there’s a small chance it’s an urgent communication regarding a loved one who’s in poor health. Between one and three times per day, it’s a spam call.

Check my texts: friction. Spam texts come in at a rate of about one per day. More if you count Democratic party fundraising texts. I’ve never once clicked on one, but they just keep coming.

Do a quick web search: friction. Wade through ads and AI slop to try and find some information, only to be fundamentally unsure if the info I’ve found is right or not.

Try to pay my bills: friction. 2-factor authentication necessary to pay most of my bills. (No idea why this is necessary. If you’d like to pay my bills, I will happily give you my login info.)

Mortgage company was just sold to another mortgage company: friction. Old login doesn’t work and neither does the new one. Have to reset my password every month. Could probably be resolved with a quick phone call, but thus far my attempts to get a phone number by talking to the AI chatbot have been unsuccessful.

I could go on—pretty much every aspect of modern life involves either being vigilant against people trying to scam you or being annoyed with ads or having to jump through stupid hoops they just put up. Sometimes it’s actually all three at once, which is a ton of fun.

I think “friction” is actually a pretty good metaphor for this stuff, because friction creates heat. And so because the things that should be easy and the things that used to be easy are no longer easy, we’re in a constant state of irritibility and discontent.

Because life is hard enough! Pretty much every family always has SOMETHING going on that is making life more difficult. And yet they’re using up all our patience on trying to log in to pay our electric bill.

Popular wisdom is that the American people are too comfortable to ever rise up en masse and demand change. Maybe that’s true. But every day we get less comfortable. Every day our overlords push us to see what they can take from us, how they can make our lives just a little bit more difficult. And so every day the fundamental level of comfort that stops revolutionary activity is eroded for everyone in this country.

Just something to think about.

Up Next

Late games like tonight's cause me to adjust my schedule. If I stay up late enough to follow this game to the end, which I fully intend to do, my brain will be too fogged to give my night prayers the attention they deserve. So I'll do some of them earlier in the evening, probably before the pregame show, and finish the rest during halftime. GO HOOSIERS!

And the adventure continues.

I hear it in my practice all the time: “I want to be more confident.” What does this really mean? When I probe, clients usually express something along the lines of not caring what people think about them, and being able to handle anything that happens to them.

These ideas get bandied about in our culture like slogans, but I find they ring hollow. They seem like obsolete echoes of the American individualist ideal, which deprive us of our humanity. What does that life really look like? How can you have meaningful relationships if you don’t care how anyone feels toward you? I could name some people in high places who operate that way, and they’re not figures I want to emulate.

Being able to “handle” anything—this is about control. People don’t want to feel hijacked by their own emotions. They want to face every challenge in life unfazed. Is this, too, desirable? To move through the world feeling nothing, regardless of what happens to us? Most folks would keep only the good feelings and experiences, but how can you have yin without yang? What is joy without pain, or pride without fear?

The Joy Junkies

Avoiding emotional pain has become the American way of life. Much of my work is about shepherding people through their own feelings, helping them accept the multitudes of life’s experiences, and learn that they can live through those experiences and grow. I’d rather be resilient than unflappable, because when I feel things, it reminds me I’m human.

In our age, when so many corporate and political forces seem keen to turn us into robots, it is rebellious just to be human, to feel things. This means defying the temptation to “feel” good all the time by filling our minds and bodies with stimuli off screens and grocery shelves, because that’s not feeling; it’s numbing.

When we treat anxiety in therapy, we flesh out the details of the fear with a constant refrain of, “And then what?” What will actually happen if this person rejects you, or you miss your deadline, or you get sick? Making the possibilities real often makes them less scary. What remains, after this, are fear of feeling and fear of death.

Because when we really experience things, especially if we were numbing before, our feelings can be frightening. Emotions become overwhelming to the point that people develop anxiety about anything unpleasant, not from the details of what’s happening, but from the discomfort itself. And that makes numbing look awfully tempting, so the cycle repeats.

I can’t help my clients feel good all the time, because that’s impossible. Anyone who says differently is a snake oil salesman. And I can’t make the deep fears go away; we all live with our own mortality. But bad news-good news: it’s better this way, because this is what makes you a person. You’re made of flesh and blood and feelings, and that’s a beautiful thing.

The Painful and the Sublime

Pain, hardship, and stress are necessary parts of life, and make it worth living. It doesn’t mean “confidence” should be a bad word, but how can we redefine it? What if it means being open to the richness of life, in all its dimensions? Being able to endure through hardships and grow, rather than avoiding them? Caring and valuing what people in your life think of you, because you value your connections with them?

Living is scary; I don’t deny that. Every day we face uncertainty, and the only certainty we are given is the one we least want to hear. But I choose to embrace death, not run from it. If life were everlasting, why do anything at all? I find comfort in knowing I have a beginning and an end, and it motivates me to build something of value between them.

Directly or indirectly, I work on this with every client. I try to help people embrace their positions at the helm of their own lives, their ability to shape their experiences. Whatever challenges we face, we have choices available to us, even if those choices are rotten. In the words of Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

How things affect us is out of our control. We don’t choose our feelings, just like we don’t choose our bodies, or our families. So have grace for yourself. “Confidence” needn’t have anything to do with these things you can’t control. But it can be about building intuition and strength of character. If you allow yourself to embrace the messiness of life and your own humanity, you can discover some wonderful things, like growth, beauty, sublimity, and love. Your experiences will change you, and you just might find that you’re open to being changed.

Sadly, pervasive numbing has degraded human life and relationships. I touched on a lot of this in my social media piece, so I won’t repeat it here. It’s not our fault, for the most part. We’ve been handed the syringe. But it’s still our choice if we want to keep using it. I’m not immune to temptation myself, but I try every day to feel present and alive. I try to orient my life toward celebrating my experiences and connections with other people. I am defiantly humanistic.

Text and Photograph © 2026 Philip Bender

This journey has been so long It's thrown twists and turns at me I thought I was near the end but when I got through the weeds I found another path stretching ahead of me

I chose this path I didn't know it'd be this long but I can't turn around now so all I can do is take it one step at a time

Step by step Day by day I'll reach the end of this path The sky seems dark now but soon, it'll clear up

And the best part is that I'm not walking alone there are so many people walking alongside me holding my hand so I don't need to be scared

So step by step day by day and hand in hand I'll keep walking this path until it opens up to bright, blue skies

#Poetry #Healing #Friendship #Kindness #Hope

In my neighborhood in 2020, we started paying for security in our HOA fees because of car break ins. People assumed that those other people were coming in and trying to steal what we hard-working Americans had purchased. Oh the irony because although we may not live in the ghetto, apparently my neighborhood is ghetto—and this includes the Homeowners Association. What an interesting twist.

Ghetto is a term I am hesitant to use because people associate it with Black people. And, of course, Black = bad. However, I do not live in a “Black neighborhood.” This is the best term I can come up with at the moment because trash just doesn’t hit the same. People are out here thinking that moving out of the city and into pseudo suburban HOA communities—which are statistically most likely to be populated by whites and Asians—is an upgrade. Yeah, an upgrade in fees and violations of privacy!

The HOA sent this email this month (all emphasis theirs):

Dear Forest Brook Neighbors,

We hope you are having a wonderful week. We are writing to follow up on our recent communications and to cordially invite you to our next Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, at 7:00 PM at the Forest Brook Clubhouse.

Navigating Our Growth Together As our community evolves, we know there have been questions regarding how we handle proxies and meet quorum requirements. We hear your concerns and want to ensure our processes are transparent, fair, and legally sound. To provide clarity, we requested a formal opinion from the Association’s attorney regarding the specific timeframes for collecting proxies and determining when a meeting can officially proceed. The attorney’s memorandum is attached to this email. We encourage you to review it so we can have a productive, informed conversation during the meeting. To further support our community, the Association’s attorney will be present at the meeting to answer your questions and provide direct legal clarifications.

What to Expect: Meeting Guidelines Our goal is to create a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing their perspective. To ensure the evening is organized and respectful of everyone’s time, we will be following these simple steps:

• Check-In: Please sign in with the security officer upon arrival so we can accurately track attendance.
• During the Session: To keep the focus on the discussion, we ask that everyone remains seated. Please refrain from approaching the Board table or walking through the room while the meeting is in progress.
• Your Voice Matters: When the floor opens for member comments, please raise your hand. We will call on neighbors one by one to ensure that every person who wants to speak has the opportunity to be heard without interruption.

A Note on Community Spirit We genuinely value your involvement. Your questions and feedback are what help us serve Vista Palms effectively. We simply ask that all dialogue remain courteous and neighborly. While we have security on hand to ensure a safe environment, our true hope is that the evening is defined by the patience and civility that makes our neighborhood a great place to call home.

Questions before the meeting? If you have immediate thoughts or questions you’d like us to consider beforehand, please reach out via the community website or contact property management directly.

We look forward to a great turnout and a collaborative evening!

Warmly, The Vista Palms Board of Directors

 Memorandumremeetingprocedures1.pdf

Community Website: www.mygreencondo.net/vistapalms

Roger L Kessler LCAM Property Manager E: Rkessler@UniquePropertyServices.com P: 813-879-1139 ext 106 P: 813-879-1039

So now, in addition to our other wonderful community amenities, we get to be ID’d and policed in our own meetings. Welcome to 2026—a continuation and escalation of 2025!

I remember one day I was minding my business outside and someone approached me and asked about my neighbor. Stranger Danger! After a few questions, the person identified themselves as a member of the HOA Board. Then, they provided me with some information. The whole time I engaged enough to appear cooperative, but was playing along responding with details that this person already knew. Why would the HOA put me in this situation?

I didn’t really think about this again until last summer when the roof tarp became my latest hot issue with the HOA (And the roof tarp issue was during the time the HOA was also foreclosing on my house. I am still getting to that story.). This is what the “HOA” wrote to me in a July 2025 email in response to my email query about a violation of which I was unaware (in-paragraph emphasis mine):

Any alterations to the exterior of the home must be approved via an ARC/ARB application. The tarp has been there for a long time and we have witnesses stating that. Any repairs that need to be done should have been done by now and will need to be done in order to bring the issue into compliance. Tarps may not remain on roofs and repairs must be made. What is the scheduled date of the roof repair? This issue was about to be sent to the attorney for further enforcement actions.

Thanks,

Roger Kessler, LCAM

The HOA had sent me an e-mail notice that I had an “architectural violation”. I don’t frequently check my emails over the summer because I spend 10 months of the year checking emails incessantly for work. Also, the CDD emails flood my inbox with junk. So, imagine my surprise while in the middle of the HOA foreclosure, I see a string of emails from them.

In this case, what the HOA claimed was wrong. They insisted that I had my whole house tarped for almost a year. I did not. I got at the end of May—right at the start of that same summer. When I asked them how they know when I got my roof tarped, as you can see above, they said they had “witnesses”.

I went on to inform the HOA that I could provide proof that their witness testimony was false. How did the HOA respond to that? They moved the goal post from:

You have had it on too long.

to

You didn’t appropriately submit an ARC to modify the house.

And so they sent it to their attorneys, Mankin Law, anyway.

The only conclusion I have come to is that somebody wants my house. And they have been waiting to buy it with the HOA’s help.

He never knew the world before. Before the touchscreens, the avatars, the voices behind glass. He learned to speak in prompts and swipes, to ask questions before he could spell them. He is native to the interface.

The Enchanter walks with one foot in the mythic past, one in a gamified, glowing future. He holds the wand of The Magician in one hand and the scythe of Death in the other. Creation and endings are not opposites to him—they are the same motion.

His light:

• Genius for synthesis.
• Born to remix, to rebuild, to reimagine.
• Speaks fluently with both code and chaos.
• Doesn’t ask if something is possible—only how soon.

His shadow:

• Overstimulated. Underformed.
• Trained to perform before he understands.
• Prone to shallow mastery, deep confusion.
• Grows in the shadow of crises not yet named.

But still—he is watching. Still—he is learning.

He sees omens in data. He touches spirits through screens. He is not waiting for the future. He is the future, already booting up.

He is The Enchanter, and his visions arrive early.

They were born under flickering light. A thousand windows, endless scrolls, every answer already halfway typed. Their cradle glowed blue.

The Dreamling is the archetype that dreams inside the maze. They feel too much, too early. They’re hyper-connected and strangely alone, raised on ambient crisis and curated personas.

And yet—they dream anyway.

They are part Star, part Moon: Hope in one hand, hallucination in the other. They want to believe—but know how easy it is to be lied to.

Their light:

• Sensitive, intuitive, impossibly adaptive.
• They read moods like maps.
• They seek healing, not control.
• They name harm out loud, even if their voice shakes.

Their shadow:

• Dissociation, doom-looping, and hyper-vigilance.
• Identity fractured by filters.
• Trust eroded by irony.
• Agency blurred by options that aren’t real.

They grew up watching everyone perform— and had to decide who they were in the reflection.

But they have something rare: the courage to feel in public. To cry on camera. To hold grief and memes in the same hand.

They are not lost—they are listening. And when the fog parts, they will be the first to see the new star rise.

She was told to follow the rules— but the rules kept changing. She was told to wait her turn— but the line got longer. She was told to trust the system— but the system broke on her watch.

The Dissenter hangs in the void between what was promised and what is. Not passive. Not resigned. But watching—upside-down, eyes open, weighing every injustice with a trembling hand still gripping the sword.

She is both Justice and the Hanged One: a seeker of truth suspended by the lies of the age.

Her light:

• Relentless integrity.
• She sees the cracks in the structure and asks who benefits.
• She refuses to call silence peace or policy justice.
• She makes compassion political.

Her shadow:

• Burnout from over-accountability.
• Endless deferral: “When the debt’s paid... when the market’s stable... when the planet recovers...”
• A paralysis from trying to make everything fair before moving forward.

She inherits collapse but doesn’t mythologize it. She wants more—than survival, than slogans, than legacy systems on life support. But she doesn’t always know where to put her fire.

She is held in tension: between cynicism and care, between shouldering blame and demanding repair.

And yet, in her suspended stillness, something radical occurs:

She doesn’t sever the rope. She studies it. She learns how it's knotted. And when the time comes— She cuts herself free.

He doesn't speak unless it's worth the breath. He doesn’t trust easy, and he doesn’t flinch when the wind shifts. He’s already lived through collapse—more than one.

The Wasteland Sage came of age in the gap between myth and rubble. He watched the towers crack: family, church, economy, culture. Not all at once—but one by one, until there was no place left to belong. So he lit his own lantern, packed light, and walked out alone.

He learned to keep his own counsel. To stay sharp in silence. To expect the floor to give out.

His light:

• Resilient, self-reliant, and unillusioned.
• He doesn’t ask for rescue—he maps escape routes.
• He listens deeply, because he knows noise is cheap.
• He carries fire through the ruins, not to rebuild the past, but to keep truth alive.

His shadow:

• Isolation as instinct.
• Skepticism calcified into numbness.
• Belief feels like a trap; hope, a setup.
• He avoids the tower by never climbing it.

He is the child of aftermath. Too late for the feast, too early for the reckoning. He wasn’t handed a torch—he scavenged it.

But he burns no less brightly for that. And while others shout from stages or scroll their lives away, he watches— —not detached, but discerning.

He is the voice that says: Don’t build that way again. I’ve seen what happens when it falls.

He is not waiting to be saved. He is waiting to be asked.

He steps into the spotlight wearing gold-rimmed sunglasses, radiating warmth, power, and charm. You feel like he knows something. You feel like he has something. You feel like maybe, if you just follow him, you could have it too.

The Consuming King rose with the Boomers—children of postwar victory, apostles of expansion, believers in destiny. The world grew bigger for them: more suburbs, more jobs, more airtime, more everything. They were promised the sun—and believed, deeply, that wanting it was right.

He rules the realm of having.

His light:

• The evangelist of possibility.
• He believes in the good life, and works hard to build it.
• He inspires dreams of abundance—homes, cars, love, legacy.
• He can sell the sun and make it real.

His shadow:

• A master of appetite without end.
• He mistakes accumulation for meaning.
• He builds temples to the self while denying the cost.
• He deflects accountability with charm and nostalgia.

His kingdom is bright, but hot. He doesn’t see the forest fire through the dazzle of fireworks.

He is both rebel and ruler. He marched in protest and then bought the land. He said, You can be anything, and meant it—but often only for people like him.

And now, The Consuming King faces the twilight of his reign. The party he threw lit up the world. The hangover belongs to those who come after.

But still: he holds the torch. And maybe, just maybe, he can learn to pass it without burning the hands that reach for it.

Who of us can live with unquenchable flames? —The one who walks in continual righteousness.

ISAIAH:

Woe to you, you destroyer who has not been destroyed; You betrayer who has not been betrayed! When you finish destroying, you will be destroyed. When you finish betraying, you will be betrayed.

O Jehovah, show us favor. Our hope is in you. Become our arm every morning, Yes, our salvation in the time of distress.

At the sound of turmoil peoples flee. When you rise up, nations scatter.

As the voracious locusts gather, so your spoil will be gathered; People will rush on it like swarms of locusts.

Jehovah will be exalted, For he resides in the heights above. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.

He is the stability of your times; An abundance of salvation, wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah —This is his treasure.

Look! Their heroes cry out in the street; The messengers of peace weep bitterly.

The highways are deserted; There is no one traveling on the pathways. He has broken the covenant; He has rejected the cities; He shows no regard for mortal man.

The land mourns and withers away. Lebanon is ashamed; it has decayed. Sharon has become like the desert, And Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

JEHOVAH:

“Now I will rise up, Now I will exalt myself; Now I will magnify myself.

You conceive dried grass and give birth to stubble. Your own spirit will consume you like a fire.

And peoples will become as the burnings of lime. As thorns cut down, they will be set ablaze with fire.

You who are far away, listen to what I will do! And you who are nearby, acknowledge my might!”

ISAIAH:

The sinners in Zion are in dread; Trembling has seized the apostates: ‘Who of us can live where there is a consuming fire? Who of us can live with unquenchable flames?’

The one who walks in continual righteousness, Who speaks what is upright, Who rejects dishonest, fraudulent gain, Whose hands refuse a bribe rather than grabbing it, Who closes his ear to talk of bloodshed, And who shuts his eyes to avoid seeing what is bad

—He will reside in the heights; His secure refuge will be in rocky strongholds, His bread will be provided, And his water supply will never fail.

Your eyes will behold a king in his splendor; They will see a land far away.

In your heart you will recall the terror: “Where is the secretary? Where is the one who weighed out the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?”

You will no more see the insolent people, A people whose language is too obscure to comprehend, Whose stammering tongue you cannot understand.

Behold Zion, the city of our festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem as a tranquil dwelling place, A tent that will not be moved. Never will its tent pins be pulled out, And none of its ropes will be torn apart.

But there the Majestic One, Jehovah, Will be for us a region of rivers, of wide canals, Where no galley fleet will go And no majestic ships will pass by.

For Jehovah is our Judge, Jehovah is our Lawgiver, Jehovah is our King; He is the One who will save us.

Your ropes will hang loose; They cannot hold up the mast nor spread the sail. At that time an abundance of spoil will be divided up; Even the lame will take much plunder.

And no resident will say: “I am sick.” The people dwelling in the land will be pardoned for their error.

ISAIAH 34

ISAIAH:

Come close to hear, you nations, And pay attention, you peoples. Let the earth and that which fills it listen, The land and all its produce.

For Jehovah’s indignation is against all the nations, And his wrath is against all their army. He will devote them to destruction; He will give them to the slaughter.

Their slain will be thrown out, And the stench of their carcasses will ascend; The mountains will melt because of their blood.

All the army of the heavens will rot away, And the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. All their army will wither away, As a withered leaf falls from the vine And a shriveled fig from the fig tree.

JEHOVAH:

“For in the heavens my sword will be drenched. It will descend on Edom in judgment, On the people whom I devoted to destruction.

Jehovah has a sword; it will be covered with blood. It will be covered with the fat, With the blood of young rams and goats, With the kidney fat of rams. For Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, A great slaughter in the land of Edom.

The wild bulls will go down with them, The young bulls with the powerful ones. Their land will be drenched in blood, And their dust will be soaked with fat.”

ISAIAH:

For Jehovah has a day of vengeance, A year of retribution for the legal case over Zion.

Her streams will be changed into pitch, And her dust into sulfur, And her land will become like burning pitch.

By night or by day it will not be extinguished; Its smoke will keep ascending forever. From generation to generation she will remain devastated; No one will pass through her forever and ever.

The pelican and the porcupine will possess her, And long-eared owls and ravens will reside in her. He will stretch out over her the measuring line of emptiness And the plumb line of desolation.

None of her nobles will be called to the kingship, And all her princes will come to nothing.

Thorns will grow in her fortified towers, Nettles and thorny weeds in her fortresses. She will become a lair of jackals, An enclosure for ostriches.

Desert creatures will meet up with howling animals, And the wild goat will call to its companion. Yes, there the nightjar will settle and find a place of rest.

There the arrow snake will make its nest and lay eggs, And it will hatch them and gather them in its shadow. Yes, there the kites will gather, each one with her mate.

Search in the book of Jehovah and read it out loud: Not one of them will be missing; None of them will be lacking a mate, For it is the mouth of Jehovah that has given the order, And it is his spirit that has gathered them together.

He is the One who has cast the lot for them, And his own hand has measured out their assigned place. They will possess it for all time; They will reside in it throughout all generations.

ISAIAH 35

ISAIAH:

The wilderness and the parched land will exult, And the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron.

Without fail it will blossom; It will rejoice and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The splendor of Carmel and of Sharon. They will see the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the knees that are shaking.

Say to those who are anxious at heart: “Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your own God will come with vengeance, God will come with retribution. He will come and save you.”

At that time the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

At that time the lame will leap like the deer, And the tongue of the speechless will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert plain.

The heat-parched ground will become a reedy pool, And the thirsty ground springs of water. In the lairs where jackals rested, There will be green grass and reeds and papyrus.

And a highway will be there, Yes, a way called the Way of Holiness. The unclean one will not travel on it. It is reserved for the one walking on the way; No one foolish will stray onto it.

No lion will be there, And no vicious wild beasts will come on it. They will not be found there; Only the repurchased ones will walk there.

Those redeemed by Jehovah will return and come to Zion with a joyful cry. Unending joy will crown their heads. Exultation and rejoicing will be theirs, And grief and sighing will flee away.

This is the last of the #JujuAwards2025! And of course I save the best for last with #BookOfTheYear.

I read a fair bit this year, despite being busy exploring Australia, studying, hitting the gym again, etc. (Yeah, turns out it wasn't a sustainable lifestyle!) I decided to read more essays and also more short stories. When you like sci-fi, short stories are a very good choice as they bring plenty of ideas in a concentrate amount of pages.

Here are the nominees.

Free by Lea Ypi

In this memoir, the author revisits her childhood in Albania, from dictatorship to democracy, to civil war. There is a lot of humour, notably when the author, who was exposed to propaganda until her teens, discovers her parents used to be bourgeois.

The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu

In this novella, a scientist invents a machine that allows to see the past. He gives access to descendants of victims of atrocities committed in Unit 731 during the Second World War, who witness the horror, which triggers important questions.

Clarkesworld Magazine 223, edited by Neil Clarke

My first edition of Clarkesworld, a magazine of short speculative fiction stories, and I wasn't disappointed. I especially liked Thomas Ha's story, In My Country, which is shortlisted by the serial for best story of the year.

The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas

An essay from the US written before the 2024 election about how, for the progressive side, to win over the other side. Some interesting insights, notably the method of deep canvassing.

Cyberpunk by Asma Mhalla

A book written by a French essayist after the 2024 US election about the technological dystopia that we might already be living in. Of course it's highly topical but the writing is also witty.

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

A sci-fi horror novel from Britain in which agents fight an impossible battle against an enemy that cannot, or actually, must not be remembered.

And the winner is… Clarkesworld Magazine 223! Reminder to support short speculative fiction. And now back onto reviews :)

#JujuAwards #BestOf2025