"The Portrait of One of Japanese People（ある一人の日本人の肖像）", 2026.

23 x 31 cm Acrylic on paper.

I look through the glass of cars

I see tired women with scarves too tight and migraines too strong

I see old couples driving to doctor appointments

On rare occasions, the window creaks with air and now i can hear when i creep closer to the street

I hear the scratching of scalps full with procrastination, new schedules, and past disappointments

I hear the early arguments of a mother and daughter

One side full of frustration, another full with objectivity coming from youth

I hear the phone call between old classmates meeting up for drinks

I hear the pinging from someone’s bumper close to falling off.

I feel envy through the AC of the car to horns from near misses

I feel groans of tiredness coming from late workers, their slumped shoulders matching mine

I yearn to feel the joy coming from teenagers with cars packed with friends

As the morning dew sets in over the windshield

But alas I stand on the sidewalk, and i move for a multitude of people

People with animals, no insurance to cover them, murmuring to their pets as if asking for BOGO.

People with petulant children and morning walkers alike

I see other people stand on the sidewalk and the road

But still I see and I hear

I even feel

I wonder… do they see—

Though my feet never move, I twitch my lips into a smile at passersby.

To them I am also just a person on the sidewalk with open eyes and closed ears

Never raising my head but keeping turned towards them

Towards you

Now just another passerby

Or did you catch—

“Ah.”

Homeworld time: 0.11 Moon Rotations

WHAT THE EIHC IS A WAFFLE HOUSE? IS THIS A CULT?!

I get honestly ashamed sometimes that other creatures don’t know proper care and routine for their humans, so I’m just whipping up a basic care checklist for everyone who thinks of getting a ‘trendy’ new companion.

1. Make sure they have enough space. 

 - MINIMUM of a 10′ x 10′ sleeping area. If you cannot afford the space for at least this, do not attempt to purchase a human from a store or tame a feral one.

- Exercise space has got to be around 85′ x 50′. It MUST be separate from their sleeping area. It doesn't necessarily need to be the human’s own designated space, all by itself, but it must be safe and secure for your little two-legger at all times.

- Not necessarily a space thing, but, on the topic of human exercise, just let your human run around as they feel like it. They might want to run around at inconvenient times, but there’s a lot of dedication to properly caring for humans. Movement is just as key to keeping humans healthy as it is for you.

2. Make sure they are sleeping

-Sleep deprivation is a big problem for the human species. So, if one wants to properly care for one, you gotta NOT interrupt them if they are asleep. If it is a life or death they have to move scenario, gently wake and move them, then let them rest again.

-If your human isn’t sleeping right, check their sleeping arrangements. Is it enough space? You don’t want to be stuffed into a box either. Is it too much space? We evolved to not sleep under the stars for a reason. Is it the right kind of bed? While nests are adorable, and hammocks are flexible, a sturdy, scale model of our own beds are the best for them. And I’m all for cutting corners and saving pennies, but FOR YOUR BUDDY’S SAKE, BUY A REAL HUMAN BED! It is best for their little backs. And make sure they’re warm, please. They don’t have much fur. 

- It takes time for humans to adjust to their new environments, especially if they’ve been in a store for a long time, or out in the wild. They’ll need plenty of time to adjust, so just make them feel secure in their new environment, and let them adjust naturally. 

3. Make sure that you are PROPERLY feeding them. 

- Humans are omnivorous as a species. It’s what they evolved to eat. 

- Yes, I know humans are picky eaters. Some, even though they’ve been eating it for centuries, do not want to or MEDICALLY CANNOT eat certain meats, if any. If they don’t want the animal flesh, you gotta find a substitute for protein.

- On that note, give them their entire nutrients. Protein, potassium, the whole range of vitamins. Water, they need water, a steady supply of clean stuff. Please do some research and make sure you’re feeding your buddy right. 

- Back to food allergies. They’re more common in humans, and more deadly, than most think. If you’ve adopted or legitimately purchased one, then you’ll probably know. But, if you’ve taken in a stray, it’s trial and error. But please know error can be deadly for them. Stay away from their most common allergies, and if you try, do it in tiny amounts and don’t force them to eat it.

And I cannot believe that I have to say this, but, 

4. Attention. 

-Humans need a LOT of attention. They are not creatures you can just abandon suddenly. (Also a big problem with the sudden fascination of this kind of companion, but that’s a rant for another time) If one cannot put aside some time everyday to care and attend to your humans DO NOT GET ONE.

-They are largely social creature and they need hours of love and care EVERY TWENTY FOUR HOURS. The neglect I see for humans with caretakers who were not committed to the role makes my blood steam.

- And before I got nasty anons, yes, I am aware that a certain minority of humans can thrive off of minimal attention and optimal care, but that is not the case for MOST humans.

-tl;dr Humans need LOTS of LUVS.

The truth of the matter is that everything is governed by fundamental systems. Everything is predetermined, perfectly predictable in either direction on the time axis. Consequently, things like free will and sentience are human constructs, created by the collective firing of the neurons of everyone in a society. 

That’s not to say that they have no value, as intrinsically nothing has any inherent meaning, ergo meaning is what you attribute to something. The human brain is incredibly complex, so the illusion of free will and the choice to attribute meaning to something, though not truly ‘free’ per say, is expected to be a functioning member of a social species like humanity. 

The subjectivity of people is something that continues to baffle me. Things like death and the reactions to it, even from a minor perspective, surprise me. Life begins with the lack of life, literally nothingness, and it ends with nothingness. To convince yourself that the end is literally anything but that which concludes, something which allows meaning to be effectively imprinted on something, is interesting. This is especially when a lot of people react so negatively to a death, even when the net effect of it is essentially negligible. 

I can understand having regrets that cannot be rectified, though I refuse to put myself in such a situation, but that doesn’t make death any more meaningful or impactful than any other sort of removal. Really death was simply used as an extreme example here. Why get upset over something that doesn’t effect you in any meaningful way now, and likely won’t effect you in any considerable way in the future?

I guess what it comes down to is sentimentality in such a situation. Now you can be sentimental over things that do in fact affect your life, in fact I myself am guilty of this, and you can also be sentimental about things that do not. This is something which I am more than likely also guilty of, even if I don’t have an immediate personal example which comes to mind. An objective perspective must be required to differentiate between the two. 

What things seem to come down to is consistency. Morals are all relatively meaningless, but you can avoid being ‘reprehensible’ by consistently adhering to an ethical framework. The important caveats are that your ethical framework is accepted by your social group and that you are consistent with it. What you actually do is less important there. Even if your ethical framework includes deceit, so long as that’s accepted by your peers, you’re not breaking anyone’s trust. 

To cycle back to the lack of free will, can you really justify holding the breaking of trust against someone? I suppose it probably comes down to the severity of the infraction and whatever significance has been applied to the person or thing in question. Even with that considered, your reaction is ultimately a physical one, a cocktail of chemicals and impulses in your physical system that decides how hard you take something and guides your decision making process. 

People don’t seem to get that. Furthermore, people don’t seem to get that nothing happens in a vacuum. Analyzing probable reactions is something that a being emulating free will has to have some sort of obligation to do. Min-maxing the damage that you do should be the ultimate goal. 

In saying that, I don’t mean that your intent should be to minimize the misery in the world around you or to maximize your own vindication. It’s more important that you think before you act, or somewhat more contradictory, think before you don’t act. If something is ultimately nothing, then it is logical to deduce that in certain circumstances, nothing is something after all. 

At some point in time, I eschewed my humanity. I became an observer. Not in the form of a telescope, but rather that of a laser that cuts to the truth of things. That inhumanity is much akin to an analogue slider, more of an ever-changing spectrum than a system of absolutes. Sometimes I’m more human, sometimes I’m less, and that loneliness can be miserable. Happiness, really isn’t the goal however, it’s actualization. Being what you are meant to be, where you are meant to be, accepting that where you are there and now is intrinsic to the fabric of reality. Channeling that is much more satisfying than a fleeting rush of endorphins. 

"The Colorful One (in This Nation)", 2026.

18.2 x 25.7 cm