2025, dec 19 - nice people

[droqen]

i went to starbucks today for my free drink (it's my birthday) and i was surprised to be met by such friendliness.

also i went to the bank to deposit seven dollars in small change and the person at the counter had a cool watch ring and cool nails--honestly i don't know how people deal with having nails but they were silver and black and one was like a little 3d silver sun with rays radiating on black... it was cool. anyway.

then i met someone who was selling an apple trackpad for cheap, we'd made a previous deal before and it went poorly because of some confusion, but we'd resolved it just fine. this time i think it went well, but i'll have to double-check and make sure it works.

anyway, i got this drink and chatted with the employees because i didn't know what to order and it was my birthday etc. and then my mom called me so i answered her, and altogether i just feel like i had this day of intrusive small nice social interactions. i had nothing planned for today.

yesterday i thought about creating small opportunities for people to do things that they want to do. agency. empowerment. not inside of a game-world, but real things for real people using real materials. time is a real material.

i just don't want to waste people's kindness for one another.

it remains saddening to me that game-making is so indirect. that i can't be like those starbucks employees as a game-maker, just being nice to people in the course of my work.

[droqen]

happy birthday, droqen!