Fictionality

And I've finally narrowed in on what bugs me the most about that comment. it misses the most fundamental thing about The Lord of the Rings and Aragorn specifically.

Aragorn is The One True King. He is THE perfect monarch for Gondor and the Numenorean line. He will fix things ("The hands of the king are the hands of the healer"), he will reconnect not just the living but the dead and right old oaths that have been wronged.

Aragorn is the classical example of the king. Not an absolutist monarch, but someone who is meant to be good and do good for all in the kingdom.

"I never set out to write a treatise on medieval governance or the practical burdens of kingship. My work is a mythology an exploration of moral truth, not political mechanics. Aragorn is not meant to be a bureaucrat but an archetype: the just king of legend, much like Arthur. Myth is concerned with the heart of a ruler, not the tax policies of his court.

The question of governance in the modern sense belongs to another kind of story one that I entirely respect, but did not seek to write. Real history is indeed complicated, but myth speaks to deeper, older truths. Power in my world is already perilous; no one may wield it without cost. Even the wise refuse the Ring, for good intentions alone are never sufficient. In that sense, my work hardly denies the burden of rule it only treats it in a different language.

As for the orcs: they are not a people I delight in destroying. Their existence is a tragedy, a corruption of something that was once good. No just king would slaughter the innocent, for even in the darkest creatures there remains a spark of the original creation. Mercy is not weakness; it is the highest form of strength.

You ask questions proper to politics. I ask questions proper to myth. Both have their place, but they need not answer each other in the same terms."

We all know the world is full of chance and anarchy

So yes it's true to life for characters to die randomly

But news flash! The genre's called fantasy

The problem with GRRM is perfectly summed up in this video. I really recommend it. Deconstructs GRRM pretty well.

Very much did in the sense that I literally do not know where my job is at the moment. But, for the time being I haven't been let go because nobody else including the store owner knows where it is either.

So, I don't wanna risk doxxing myself by posting pictures but goddamn am I tempted because this is not a believable event. This is a cartoon problem. For looneytoons.

But yeah, so, I work(ed?) at a kiosk selling boba tea, right? Freestanding kiosk in the mall with full water and electrical hookups and multiple fridges and sinks and a mini kitchen and the works. Fully functional tea shop. Very important to note that it was there last night, The work chat was discussing another issue last night at closing time. I'll get back to this.

It's been showing signs of being on the way out with how business is being handled lately and I've been considering other options, which is probably why I'm not as torn up about this as I should be, but maybe it just hasn't set in yet, but that's not the point. The point is there's been a lot of shit breaking and not being replaced and nobody mentioning anything about it until I walk into work in the morning and have to figure out why shit like the fucking cash register isn't there today. So I'm kinda used to having to ask questions about big things that nobody bothered to update me on. I was out for two weeks recovering from a surgery, so I came to work this morning assuming there'd be some kind of bullshit, yeah?

So, the question I had to ask the chat this morning was:

Not a text I ever thought I'd have to send in sincerity, but there it is. Because what I found instead was a fenced off patch of discolored tiles and a few holes in the floor where my entire place of employment used to be.

And the answer? Nobody knows! It was there last night when the mall closed, and every single trace of the structure and all its contents including drink making supplies and our safe and cashbox was gone when it opened again. And when I say nobody knows, I mean everyone from last night's closers to the actual (former?) owner of the store jad no fucking clue about this until getting that text from me this morning. For once I am actually the first to know. 🎉.

So. I guess I didn't so much lose my job as had it stolen. Not by AI, but good old fashioned hands-on human beings picking it up and carrying it away somehow. All mall security would tell me was that they were instructed not to tell me anything and have us contact our management. Who also don't know anything. And later on I came across some construction workers around the gravesite of the kiosk discussing filling in the holes, asked them about it, and was told that they "weren't at liberty to say".

So, not only is my job gone in the most literal physical sense of the word, but it was taken in some kind of super secret kiosk extraction in the dead of night without any warning or witnesses and nobody is allowed to speak of it. The store owner said she was gonna figure it out 10 hours ago and still no word back.

My mother in law thinks the FBI took it.

Not any of the other stores around the state. Just the one little kiosk.

Why? Because she loves a conspiracy and is just a little bit extra.

Also because she was around for the massive crackdown on Yakuza-owned businesses in Waikiki (in her homestate) that did actually involve the FBI seizing stores (no confirmation of making kiosks cleanly disappear in the middle of the night though).

Still no word from my job on what's actually going on, but the most likely theory so far is that maybe the kiosk was on lease and got repossessed? The mystery continues

According to the owner, based on what she's been able to find out, the kiosk was not removed legally and they're starting a potentially long process of legal action. I hope she gets to sue the shit out of whoever did it but for now at least I know for sure I'm unemployed.

Really hoping for more details in terms of who/why/how, so I'll keep updating if I learn anything.

For now the summary is: An unnamed entity that is most likely mall management (on account of mall security cooperating with them) stole an entire kiosk and all the contents including money and machinery with barely a trace in the middle of the night grinch-style, with zero warning or explanation, and ensured the silence of both security and the construction crew, in an action that was definitely preplanned and illegal, and as far as I know nobody knows its whereabouts.

Enjoy the unintentionally funniest text I've ever sent in my life

Aaand a close-up:

HEY HI HELLO THIS ONE'S MY FAVORITE

blog owner please leave a poll

i wanna see if its exactly 50/50

Shit alright!!!

me at 20: so what I think I want is to have a successful career, and work hard for promotions, and establish myself in my industry, and make a good life for myself, and sure it's not curing cancer but it's more realistic