A Few Good Things Happened

What else is a masterpiece game? Okami, Xenoblade Chronicles, Disco Elysium, and all Zelda is.

This post might contain some minor Blue Prince (game) spoilers.

In this issue:

Good News
Plague News
More Good News

So, a few good things happened. Most of this post is good, some is excellent.

Good News

In November, I achieved eight years of sobriety from alcohol.

In December, I reached a decade without cocaine.

This is a big deal. I don't even know if people knew I had a problem with cocaine. I started doing coke when I was fifteen.

I used to drink a pint of vodka everyday (at least) for eight years. So it feels like I've been sober for the same amount of time I've been the most destructive. I have no idea why I am alive sometimes.

I have never wanted to write about this in detail because it's fucked and people say stupid shit about it. Most people who have reached this level of fucked up are dead.

I had a custom coin made from the online store: The Achieve Mint. My seven year coin was minted by them. They are wonderful and their work is quality.

The Achieve Mint - Premium Achievement Coins & Tokens

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The Achieve MintThe Achieve Mint

Last summer I began playing the puzzle video game, Blue Prince. This is one of my favorite games of all time now. Puzzle or otherwise Blue Prince is a masterpiece game.

What else is a masterpiece game? Okami, Xenoblade Chronicles, Disco Elysium, and all Zelda is.

I played Blue Prince alongside my partner, and about three notebooks filled with notes. The number eight is significant in the game.

A custom AA token on a miniature dollhouse floor painted rainbow. The chip is black with silver engraving. There are eight gems displayed on the chip and in the center the chess symbol for the black queen. The words OVINN NEVAREI are written on the chip. There is a Lego rat for scale.

In the first few years, I used frequent video game metaphors to describe the getting sober and sobriety experience:

Traversing spiked platforms to seek help in a maze medical system before and after getting sober. Maintaining health care while trying to survive at rock bottom. Praying to a god you don't believe in while constantly jumping, dodging fireballs aimed at your head. Cascades of coins dropping from your pockets when you get hit. Levels of increasing difficulty. The Emergency Room.

You only have so many lives to spare.

As a super empathetic person, I cannot tolerate AA but have a lot of respect for the meetings and organization. I will take you there no questions asked if you need an escort.

I like collecting things though, and I realized entering Year Three I could have my own custom AA chips made.

The back side of the same coin. The words Eight years Sober are written in different fonts in the styling of the game. There is a large infinity sign in the center of the chip. — The coins are on the floor of the Moomin dollhouse.

Good News (continued)

In the past two months, five of my poems have been accepted for publication in multiple journals. Six poems, if you count the one that went twice.

Sometimes this shit doesn't work out. If it does (and it will eventually) this will be my first poetry publication. This is also a big deal, especially for me. I am a superstitious piece of shit so I will not get into this much more until these motherfuckin poems are out the door and published.

I have been trying to publish seriously since 2022. I started sending heavily refined poems out in late 2024. I have written poetry my entire life and have been a featured performer in some big ass shows. Back when I was in shows. I have a creative writing B.F.A. I've done everything with it, but publish it.

I am facing harrowing existential crisis after existential crisis, and I do not want to feel the regret of sitting on a life's work of writing. One of the poems is twenty years old, another poem is ten, another is about a year old. Two are about drugs.

Thank You

I plan to keep writing essays at Rhinestone Mice for the next year, with the occasional update like this, and the occasional plague news, which I will visit now.

Thank you for sticking with me for a year as I settle into the style of writing I want to do with Ghost. I also have been freelancing and trying to find full-time work.

I won't complain if you want to donate some money. There is a cost to maintain and I plan to keep this blog free and accessible. I appreciate it.

Make a Donation

Plague News

Easiest step to take is be sure you are updated on your vaccines. Another line of defense and in addition, is to wear a mask; a high-quality and well-fitting respirator.

If you want to purchase high-quality masks and PPE, I recommend Bona Fide Masks. If no one else is going to say this shit, I will. It's important and I love you.

Let's start with the worst map I've ever seen in my life:

I'm sorry for his face, I really am.

This is what I wrote last time which is relevant:

Bonus

Here are some photos of my recent work on the Moomin dollhouse:

This is a reference to the song "Little People" from Les Misérables

The Blood Cultures' Skate Story soundtrack is the greatest album I've ever heard in the past six months.

I am reading DJ Fat Tony's memoir I Don't Take Requests. I recommend it and relate to it, especially the part where he gets kicked out of a party for playing music over and over again (see above).

If you are interested in my mice drawings you can read about them here:

And little people know
When little people fight
We may look easy pickings
But we've got some bite
So never kick a dog
Because he's just a pup
We'll fight like twenty armies
And we won't give up
So you'd better run for cover
When the pup grows up