“Renaissance.”

Yup, I’m back. Again.

So this place is a bit of a mess right now; for those who haven’t been keeping track, when this site turned 10 years old in May, I figured it was finally time to start filling in the blanks, after many months of radio silence. Thus the SHIN REVIVAL OF THE FORT90 DOT COM WEBSITE REBUILD PROJECT COMMITTEE ANNOUNCE CLUB, PLUS ALPHA, FOR MATCHING SERVICE initiative was born, designed to recap a year’s plus worth of happenings, before a combination of burnout and technical difficulties set it.

Right off that back, that was a lot to go over; was hoping to maintain a decent enough pace that I’d be caught up soon enough, to finally talk about what had just happened. Though I also tried to stay somewhat current, at least the weirder side of game culture, in the form of weekly YouTube round ups. Managed to fit in one random game related image dump along the way. And for a while, things were going great! That was, until this summer proved to be most nut-so yet, and kinda threw everything off.

The plan was then to regroup after I was back from Seattle, after my most recent art show, and then something distracted me. Which I’m not going to bother to go into details about, but let’s just say that I was recently exposed as being part of the super secret game journalist mafia/illuminati. And the ensuing fallout from that has been positively… silly. Anyways, got a new plan: will continue to play catch up while also post whatever major happenings are occurring in the here and now.

Like the New York Comic Con, plus New York Super Week which precedes it! At the very least, will do a recap at the end of each month, like right now. Oh, and am also going back to doing those weekly YouTube round ups as well. But first…
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September was an especially surreal month, and not just because of the aforementioned internut drama I found myself being sucked into (once more, have chosen not to make an official statement and instead am letting Jeff Goldblum do all the talking). Long story short: I’ve been on a ton of dates, thanks to the hottest singles app at the moment, Tinder. Some have been enjoyable, whereas others, not so much!

It has been suggested by numerous friends with whom I’ve shared my experiences with that I write it all down for the rest of the world, but this too is something I have chosen not to broach around these parts. But I will pass along the following, which has been the worst experience thus far…

Many believe Tinder to be a straightforward hook up app, and that was indeed its original purpose. Though most folks who actually use it, at least here in NYC, approach it like any other dating tool, including myself. But there was one time in which I really did think it was going to lead me straight towards casual sex; after all, this one woman wanted to meet at 11:30 on a Saturday night.

Still, I insisted that we meet at a bar first, cuz going straight to her place would have been super awkward (as well as potentially dangerous). Now, this particular woman was a lawyer, and in an attempt to get to know the other person better (I still wanted it to be a date in my mind), I asked what she did to unwind, and for her it was mostly watching television. Sound totally normal thus far, right?

Well, the first red flag went up when she asked if I watched any as well:

”Sorry, but I don’t. I cut the cord years ago, though I am well aware what the hot shows are, and have even downloaded a bunch, plus I know that a lot is readily available on Netflix. I mostly don’t have the time! And it’s actually kinda frustrating; I know if given a shot, I’d totally love Game of Thrones, True Detective, etc. The funny thing is, I was such a TV addict back in the day, and right now the medium is going through this renaissance…”

“Renaissance.”

Now, I’ve recited the exchange above to countless parties, and no one else believes that I used the word wrong, nor do they have any idea what this woman was talking about. Perhaps I should have asked for clarification, but it was this super awkward moment that I felt best to simply move away from, hence why I immediately changed the subject.

Which, BTW, was not easy since one of my biggest pet peeves is when people correct others on their usage of the English language, primarily during casual conversation; how people use certain words is often a reflection of who they are and where they come from, and worth exploring, maybe even celebrating, instead of just going “WRONG!” But moving on…

Later she asked me about my connection to video games, and I usually state the following sentiment on pretty much every single date:

“I am indeed heavily involved in the world of video games, though I am mostly interested in games as a tool for artists. Not sure if you know this, but there are countless musicians and filmmakers out there who use games as their canvas! Am also interested in games as a tool for educators. Because, and I’m sure you will agree, the American educational system is somewhat broken and…”

“It is not, and we have the test scores to prove it!!!”

Yes, she literally screamed that last statement at me. It was at this point in which I decided that I wanted nothing to do with this woman, which meant tossing aside one of the most fundamentals on a first date, which is never to get angry and get into a fight.

Though after explaining that I strongly take issue with her sentiment and how my viewpoint comes from being friends with a number of teacher of varying grade levels and all across the country… including one who told me how that morning she had spent $600 of her own money to furnish her classroom… the lawyer just rolled her eyes. The same way a Fox News anchor does before concluding the interview to cut to a commercial break.

So yeah, Tinder lol! Well, moving on… though instead of detailing the rest of this past month, am going to save that for next time! Especially since I just realized that the date above actually took place in mid August and therefore doesn’t really count? Oops. Will be back in just a few.