Christy's 5 Questions for June of '23 06/05/23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It's about that time again[1]. *** 1. Describe the most expensive object you'd like to buy. I'd like to purchase a factory for building cars. Is that an object? I'm going to count it. One giant factory, and everything in it, plus enough capital to run the thing. I'm stretching the question, but it's what came to mind. I'd like to own a factory that builds cars with no model years. A modular and unchanging frame, with parts that are as modular and unchanging as possible. Churning out cars that are affordable, repairable, universal, ugly, clunky, and whatever else I find beautiful. The ecosystem would self-generate around customizations, which people would purchase elsewhere and add on their own, or through third-parties. The factory wouldn't ship anywhere, people would come visit to buy their cars, dealers would haul the cars away if they wanted to and could make that fit in the margins. New factories would open in new areas near the buyers. It'd be a private company, with an explicit goal to distribute profit to the workers, avoid growth, and absolute never ever ever cave to any social monsters of fashion. *** 2. What is something the generation preceding you loves that you don't understand? Model year cars. Oh, and local TV stations piped through expensive cable packages. *** 3. What is something the generation succeeding you loves that you don't understand? Vintage computers. My aunt just set aside an old Performa for me this afternoon, actually. I just have to travel 1200 miles to pick it up. I'll be there later this year though, so no worries. Almost no one I meet or know understands vintage computers, actually. Some people a generation or two above me in pubnix understand perfectly, so it's likely not a generational thing. *** 4. What holiday in your calendar needs to be replaced, and with what other observation or commemoration? Every commercial holiday needs to be replaced with Days of Fishing. Religious holidays also need to be stripped of commercialism. It's my own fault though. *** 5. What do you think it means to be redeemed? Have you felt redeemed at one time? Can one be redeemed an iota without the drama of a constructed fiction narrative? Well, there's Webster 1828's No.1 option: "To purchase back; to ransom; to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying an equivalent" I have felt redeemed on many occasions. When I get a raise and paying life's costs becomes easier. When someone forgives my idiotic behavior. When I'm accepted even though I'm different. When a friend is a friend. When something horrible turns out alright. When answers come. When I behave like a good boy and share. Even a hug or a kiss or a smile, given or received, is redeeming. None of these things has ever come with drama or constructed narratives. There's redemption from sin, but that's another topic altogether. I feel that too. It doesn't feel dramatic anymore, I think it did more before I realized that it wasn't some one-time gift but rather something that I'd need all the time. "Oh, you screwed up again tfurrows? Not a problem, I'll pay your tab. You're sort of a pain, you know that, right?" And I do know it. It's redeeming to suck and be loved anyway. Is it constructed or fictional? Perhaps, but I've not felt hurt by the construct. some people have, but I'm not sure they see what I see in it. I'd love to know what they see, without the drama of everyone trying to convince everyone else in the conversation. A quiet, redeeming sort of conversation. Or a loud one even. [1] gopher://sdf.org:70/0/users/christyotwisty/phlog/2023-June-Five-Questions.txt