Orange December
So we have this thing we do where we keep a fridge calendar. Yeah, yeah, we have digital one, too, and my wife has bullet journals and all sorts of other things. But that’s not relevant. What’s the thing is this fridge calendar. We used to use this particular one—like, for fifteen years? But then the maker of the calendar went full-tilt right-wing nutter, so we stopped giving her the fifteen bucks or whatever it was. I tried to convince my wife to make a witchy calendar, but. She bough this huge paper one from Staples or Amazon or somewhere. Anyway, that was fine, but then we got a dry erase one.
All that is a lot to say that I do not associate orange with December. Wait. Lemme back up.
Maybe it started in grade school? But somewhere in the depths of my memory, there is an image of a calendar on the wall. The months go around like a clock, with December in the 12 position, January in the 1, and so on. And each one has a color associated with it. I realized some time ago that this is how I visualize the year and always have. Well, ever since seeing this, whenever and wherever that was.
The color association is weaker than the position, so I always do that by feel.
Do what, T? you might ask.
Right right right. Well, I’ll tell you.
We mark off the days with different colors. Like, the same color for each month, but a different color each month. Not necessarily a unique color? Like, I might use blue multiple times, just not back to back. Blue can work for December cos cold and “Blue Christmas.” But orange does not work.
So when we used paper calendars, you couldn’t change the color. But with dry erase, you can. Yay! So all of our dry erase colors have mysteriously vanished. All except for orange. Fucking orange. Perhaps my least favorite color. I mean, it’s a color, so, pretty. But I would definitely pick orange last for almost anything. Except October. Can’t use anything but orange for October.
But what’s a gal to do? Not use a color to mark of the day? So I marked them all off with orange. Bleh.
BUT, as I was doing so today, I said the words aloud: “Orange December,” and got really intrigued by the mood vibe of that.
Soooo …
It occurs that some of you may well live in a place where you have orange Decembers. If so, please let us know down in the commies! Tell us all about it. For my part, I will likely make Orange Juliuses and listen to Nat King Cole’s verszh of “Orange Colored Sky” a few times until my wife gives me the look to shut it off.
That’s how my December is going so far. Oh, that, and I got some new color dry erase markers! (Although they’re fine tip, dammitall.) So I went back and erased the orange and—look out!—used two colors this month: red and green. Which seems Xmas-y? Maybe it’s supposed to be the colors of holly or something? I dunno. But I’m doin’ it.
Pointless Things I Am Fruitlessly Excited About
These aren’t proper T-Rex so much as T-Can’t-Wait-Fors. I’ve shared them in other places, so apologies if you’ve already seen me shouting about ‘em.
Furiosa, theaters, 24 May 2024 (23 May in Oz)
So I dunno why they didn’t Charlize—don’t give me that age bullshit, and yes, we can use Charlize as a verb—but if they had to get someone else, Anya seems cool. Like, this’ll work. I can buy it. Hemmy as a villain always sits extra weird with me. I dunno for sure that he is? But it’s Mad Max, and he’s not Max, so. Prolly a villy.
I was nervous this and Mad Max: Wasteland weren’t going to happen cos of lawsuits and whatnot. But this one is already made and is the one I care more about, so. Yay! And chances are good there’ll be more Mad Max movies. Too much money to be made.
Fallout, Amazon, 12 April 2024
This trailer sparks joy in a way I had not expected and was not emotionally prepared for. It is especially good timing since I just replayed Fallout: New Vegas and am currently playing Fallout 4 (more on that in a minny). It just looks so good! Like they got all the details right.
HOWEVER, this is a Nolan—Jonathan, who wrote the short story Memento is based on—and his wife, Lisa Joy. They are … how can I say this delicately? … Hacks. The hacks that brought you Westworld. (Apologies to fans of that show. It’s not for T.) So. I’m worried. But, on the other hand, the Falloutverse isn’t exactly prize lit or anything, so maybe a hack gets it done? We’ll see, and here’s hopin’.
Fallout 4, PS4/Windows/XBONE, 10 November 2015
So yeah. I’m very late to the party on this one. I got it when it came out, oh, eight years ago. But we had a young child, and so the plotline was wayyy too much at the time. So I went back to playing New Vegas or whatever else I was playing. Mass Effect, probably.
Honestly, I’m glad I waited. I’m glad I waited until I was psychology ready because the game is really quite well done. I couldn’t see that then. I was sleep deprived and frustrated by the learning curve of the community building mechanics, by the cross-training failures of switched around controls and shit like that. But I’m eight years deeper into mediation now, my kids are older, and so I was able to approach the game with a high degree of calm and patience, which allowed me to see it for the pretty remarkable achievement that it is.
I should note that I was playing Starfield. Ay ye ye, I could (and probably will) write a whole thing about that one, about how it’s a major regression in voice acting for Bethesda, how it rips off Mass Effect in soooo many ways—some of which are just offensively blatant and pointless. (Ecliptic mercs instead of Eclipse? Wtf?! It’s not that important! Just make a cooler mercenary company name. Their death groans even sound like the Cerberus operative death sounds from Mass Effect 3. Weirdly specific shit like that. But I digress.) I did notice, though, a lot of the core mechanics were pure Fallout 4, so that enticed me to reviz.
And I did! And you should too. Or, if you don’t play games, maybe watch a silent play-through of the main storyline or something on YouTube. Cos it’s quite good. Sure, the plot is riddled with holes and some of the characters are a little stock-y. But it’s excellent for a video game of this size and franchising.
For bigtime Fallout fans, I know some of y’all may have been disappointed with this one because reasons. But here’s the thing: It’s okay to be a bit different. It’s not the only game. Fallout 3 is massively different from the first two, and New Vegas kina crossed-over with Wasteland, so. We can have different entries that add different things. Just please don’t remind me of this speech if Fallout the TV show sucks, m’kay? Cos I won’t be able to take what I’m dishin’ out here, I just know it.
In the Hopper
So I have a few things cookin’ for y’all, writing-wise. They are:
Gaucho
I started work on this serial in let’s see … 2015? I think? Something like that. I was tits deep in Secret of Secrets stuff and—as you probably know from reading my current novel—there’s some really heavy shit in that series. It’s also just layer upon layer of meaning and reference and self-reference and self-referential meaning and … it’s a lot.
So Gaucho was my needed break from that.
With it, I want to tell a relatively simple and straightforward story. You know, for me. Likewise, it’s rather wholesome so far. In fact, some folks have said it’s almost like a children’s story. I doubt it will stay that way, but who knows. It is as it flows out.
The overview is this: a guy named William wakes up in a place called the Station with a talking cat named Pem. He’s trying to figure out how and why he lost his memories and has whimsical fantasy adventures along the way.
You can read the whole first cycle here:
Gaucho, Stage 1: The Station, Episode 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 > 11 > 12 > 13 > 14 > 15 > 16 > 17 > 18 > 19
But T, you go, how is this ‘in the hopper’ if it’s already done?
You clever minx, you! Cos that’s just the wind-up, boo.
In December, I’m putting out Gaucho, Stage 2: Van Buren episodes. About one a week, I think. Probably in the middle of the week. I’ve written some of them already. In fact, I wrote them quite a while ago. But it isn’t finished, so I will resume writing, as well. (Sorry it’s taken so long, Sarah. But hey! We’re back again. So yay!) I have a few different stages planned—at least five. It will likely take at least that many years to get through them. But come join us, won’t you, on this charming amnestic adventure!
Ben Wakeman’s “Same Walk, Different Shoes” Collaboration
I told y’all last time about this project that Ben put together (described here), and the prompts are out! Ben has been a superoverachiever with all this and is wrangling forty-some (42, I think?) of us wild-ass, solopreneur writer cowfolk and has already written his entry. Go on ahead, Benny!
I have not written mine, but it is rising. You know, like yeast. Probably should pick a different metaphor, but.
We the contributors will collectively (but independently, i.e., through our own newsletters) publish our stories under the subtitle “Same Walk, Different Shoes” on Friday, December 29, 2023. I’m hoping Ben will give us a list of participants so I can share that with y’all sometime before then.
Zine-like Thingy
The history of this project is long and distinguished (insert Slider joke here), but I think I’ve finally found a way to launch it. If you are a contributor, thank you so much for your kind patience while I’ve tried to get my shit together and sort out my dad’s death and write a novel that won’t end and all that. Many thanks, sincerely.
If you would like to be a contributor, tell me! I will pay you. Not a lot—in fact, an insultingly low amount, but. Paid is paid, amiright?
If you simply plan on reading along, you can sub here:
Each ish will feature a few free stories—including an exclusive serial of mine, Cosmic reGround, that you can’t read anywhere else—and at least one paid story. You’ll get a taste of it, but then have to pay to read the rest. Hey, look—I gotta pay these folks, ya know? And you’ll still get something like 2/3 of the issue free each time, so. Not a bad value. Not that people really value fiction. Or online fiction. Distributed through email. But still. Some of y’all do, so, we’ll give it a go. And hopefully we’ll do a print issue at least once a year. No prommies, but fingers crossed.
Okay, that’s all for this ish, mah lovelies. Hope your December is off to a red and green start. Unless, you know, orange is your bag. Then rock on, babe. Rock on.
Xoxo,
T
Bee tee dubs: you can always check out loads of free shit, linked for your convenience, babe, in these tidy little corners of the Interweb:
Adventures in Secrecy with T Van Santana back issues
Gaucho
https://tvansantana.substack.com/s/gaucho
T-Rex (recommendations)
https://tvansantana.substack.com/s/t-rex
Teresa’s Backbone (my current choose-your-own-novel)
AiS 0076
