I don't make salads, but this year i was told to bring back the tradition of "Andy & Ogre Make Mixed Drinks" - where Ogre and I pass out blank notecards for people to write the name of a 'mixed drink' - then we go into the kitchen with a stack of funny names and throw together sugary beverages.

It sucks how often this is the cry of the masses.

Noses are a terrible feature.

So i lit a candle, waited for it to burn bright, and then dropped him in. A tiny pyre for my nameless friend.

I couldn't just throw him in the bin. He died dramatically, and lived honorably. You know, for a housefly. I looked it up, they live about 3-6 weeks.

He'd spent more of his life in this house than i would. Lived more there than I have anywhere. By percentage, i mean.

I tried to focus on cleaning up, all the packing i needed to do, all the chores before i could get in my car and drive the 500 miles back to my bedroom.

But I kept returning to my drowned companion. Who i did not expect to miss.

Dan asked, after i explained my circumstances and demeanor, "What was his name?"

"I don't know. I guess i'll never know."

After Dan had wandered home, i fished my nameless friend out of his sugary grave, and left him to dry on a paper towel.

So, i was one sip into my tea when they did a typical fly-by - three loops around my shoulders - and then, for no discernible reason, went straight into my brew, flailed, and drowned.

I was surprised enough it took a minute to feel sad.

I tried once or twice to usher them out, into what was likely deep space for them, the great out of doors. But i guess this fly enjoyed my home, or maybe even my company, and never departed.

We were together, in some small way.

At least a dozen times during our time together, i'd thought of swatting them. People swat Flys. It happens.

But every time, something stopped me. Maybe it was being alone - completely alone - or maybe it was melancholy from working overtime. Either way, i started to see them as a housemate.

I'd only noticed them after my Dad and brother came up to visit, the first weekend after i'd settled in. It's possible we'd been living together the entire time. But i only noticed them after my family had gone and i was in a very empty house.

But not alone. They were there with me.

One thing that left me uncertain was the echoes of John Williams in the background. Would they bring back that theme? Could they?
open.spotify.com/track/3G5160...

holy shit, they very much did. ngl, this made me cry a little. The moment i heard the theme, it just hit hard.

When i first saw the trailer for Gunn's Superman i was caught in the middle, somewhere between, "no, don't, we're burnt out, we can't do this now" and "omg, we need this character right now so painfully, desperately."

But the possibility in every shot really got me hoping.

For me the core of the Superman mythology is pretty simple: what if you were, at the end of the comic, the strongest, most unstoppable character, and you still cared. About everything. Everyone. What if you had power, but you were not corrupted, and you used it to save people, to save the world.

Guh.

This gives me a fast-and-easy way to find an image i can work with and convert it to a game-useable NPC portrait.

The hard part is not getting too critical of my output - the goal is to make it fast and easy, so i'm not losing time rendering imagery for the game.