My friend handed to me unwrapped physical copies of Diablo II and Starcraft while telling me that they were “low key” his favorite. The Diablo game came in the regular box however Starcraft was packaged in some kind cardboard envelope. Apparently they were shipped in this format when they unexpectedly had to increase distribution back in the day and ran out of the standard packaging.

I walked downstairs to the kitchen when my cousin asked me if I had eaten yet. I said I was fine even though I was feeling a bit lightheaded. I ended up collapsing and passing out on the floor.

I was at an anime convention that was held in multiple buildings connected to each other. I was making my way to the performance venue which had been relocated at the last minute. I found myself at the top floor of an art museum and went down the stairs expecting to find the exit. When we got to the bottom floor, we found that the glass doors were locked using a bike lock from the outside.

I had arrived onto the tropical island by boat and no longer needed a torch because I was able to conjure fire. I headed towards the library in search for a volume of the Watamote manga. More specifically, I was trying to track down the source of one of the panels that I had seen out of context. I asked the librarian if they knew which volume it might’ve been in. I tried to describe as much as I could remember about it: there was a quote about using video games to stave off loneliness.

I was handed a camera and instructed to take photos to document the event. Somehow I was seeing the back of the camera whenever I looked through the viewfinder. I tried to wrap my head around how the physics behind it worked when I mentioned my problem to someone. They told me that I forgot to flick one of the switches on the body of the camera. I needed to take pictures of the previous day’s brainstorm session.

I had my sights locked on the plane in front of me when I hit the switch to fire the missiles. However instead of launching anything forwards, I realized that I had instead dropped a nuke onto the mostly empty desert below us.

I was walking through the streets of an old Chinese village. I held in my hand a hand drawn map of the area I was in. I counted the number of “tiles” I was walking in my head as I made my way towards the marketplace.

Everyone had gotten a gift for my friend except for me. “Thanks Clark” he smiled as he looked my way. I froze in place, unsure how to respond as I let feelings of anxiety and awkwardness wash over me.

A large cat was chasing me through the dimly lit hallways. When it finally caught up to me, it sunk its jaws into my left hand. I started bashing at its head with my free hand in an attempt to break free but it wouldn’t let go. The cat’s skull was surprisingly fragile as I could feel bits cracking and denting under my fist. I thought that the bones felt “lifelike”. I looked up at a bedside clock which said it was currently 8 o’clock but I wasn’t sure if it was day or night.

I was at Exilecon and Rory Rackham was giving a talk about enemy design in Path of Exile. Apparently talks in the past had not been too popular due to the amount of personal information one had to give up in order to appear on stage (and on camera). But at some point in time “a desire to be seen [overrode] the concern of data harvesting” and people started attending. Someone in the stream chat was trying to get the event cancelled by spamming disruptive messages. The camera cut to black.