#moose adventure

[harpsicalbiobug]

Ok, so! Normally my nightmares are pretty convoluted and arise out of the mishmosh of daily stressors, and they aren’t very plot driven. They’re usually a little gory and existentially awful and there’s not much to learn from them, but yesterday while reading at the marshy state park campsite we were staying at, I looked up from my book and made direct eye contact with a cow moose and her cinnamon perfect baby calf who were ambling straight towards me and were, at that point, less than 15 feet away.

“Oh, fuck, what?” I said intelligently. Dimly, I thought how moose are my least favorite species to encounter on the trail and much louder my brain asked what one does when pleistocene megafauna enter your campsite and calmly flick an ear in your general direction while you and your squishy primate body are within trampling range. Strangely, I felt less fear than indecision, as my stupid brain took in the fact that the 900 lb calf defender was currently calm, so of course she’d remain calm, obviously, that’s how wildlife work (it is not).

Then my partner yelled at me to get in the car and I bolted. The moose and calf ignored me. The cow delicately sniffed an open can of Wild Basin Hard Seltzer™ (Yumberry flavor, it tastes ok) and the baby peed in the beautiful sunset grass, while my partner set off the car alarm on purpose and I alternated yelling, “MAMAM PLEASE LEAVE,” and barking (? I think I was reaching for a scary non-human noise?) at her to try to startle her away. No startles were achieved. Eventually the pair walked off into the brush, but it was with the reluctance of animals that are far far too habituated to humans Later we learned from other campers that these moose had been eating trash off other people’s campsites (this is why you don’t leave out food or food smelling items folks, Leave No Trace, a Fed Bear Moose Is A Dead Bear Moose, etc) and then even later on it it was the middle of the goddamn night and I had to use the bathroom. Except the moose came by, cracking sticks under hooves, and looming in and out the dark shapes that I struggled to differentiate between waving foliage and wandering moose. I kept my headlamp off and opted to let my partner sleep through another close encounter of the cervid kind. The pair did leave eventually but I needed to get to the pit toilet down the road and I had no idea how far off they had gone. This will be fine! I lied to myself. I will be on the road in a populated campsite, which will of course dissuade the human acclimated trash eaters. I’ll walk real loud! I thought, as I put sandals over my socks and flipped on the headlamp. Headlamps always throw weird shadows. The foreground of your vision ends up looking like a photo where you’ve left on the flash, while the background is full of shadows that jitter with your head movement. It’s great for avoiding tripping when out at night. It’s not great for a pattern sensitive visual primate who is now jumpy about deer of unusual size. I did walk loud. I walked scritchy scrapping my sandals across the gravel road, kicking up puffs of dust that wavered in the headlamp light. It’s only eight campsites up, I thought. The shadows bounced among the living and beetle killed lodgepole pines with each step, and the LED light bounced back from parked cars at each campsite.  The baby moose calf moved like a cinnamon teddy bear on spider legs. I saw it unfold in a second and lurch into the trees. I made a sound that was more groan than scream and sprint stumbled into the ditch in the opposite direction. I did not turn but listened for cracking branches, the animal movement of the mother charging, as I stared into the dry dead trees hoping I could climb or at least shelter in any of them. There was no crash of maternal protection. It was quiet, and the calf was gone, and the stars were still overhead. I stood in the muddy ditch, ruining a little freshwater habitat with my feet. My socks are soaked through, I finally registered. I still need to get to the pit toilet, I thought. The return trip was nerve wracking but uneventful. My shoes dried outside the tent. I watched the shadows outside the tent until I fell asleep. So! It turns out I can have plot driven and specific nightmares! The rest of the night I did not have gory, byzantine dread filled nightmares. Instead, I dreamt of one thing: a cow moose, pursuing me at all costs. Up concrete stairs, charging after high speed cars, lunging out of the woods, hooves slipping on linoleum as she emerged from elevators, head lowered and ears tucked in threat, rushing at me.

She was relentless. My brain made her relentless. These few moments of alarm and environmental context mixed with my risk assessment and subconscious made me dream a terminator moose to re-enforce that I Should Avoid Moose. A lesson I had already fully learned, but that some part of me decided needed a little reinforcement, given barrage of moose encounters I was clearly not avoiding. Avoid Moose. Thanks brain.

[mooselybased]

With the finale sorted, I figured it was a good time to post a compilation of my Steeplechase travel posters. Congrats to Justin on a fun season, and I look forward to seeing what comes next. But until then, never know when to stop dreaming!

[zzoomacroom]

If I had a nickel for every time I fell in love with a queer, fictionalized depiction of a real-life 18th century thief played by a washed-up, middle-aged comedian in leather pants, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[gacktova]

[the-barn-rat]

July 22, 2021

July 22, 2022

July 22, 2023

[melociraptor]

[poison-into-positivity]

Watching The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. It’s funny but it’s making me miss Stede Bonnet

[teratomat]

Why on earth would I want you to express your individuality? No. I want you to play your designated roles.

[m0ose-idiot]

The incomparable @hookedatweiss got wind that I'd never had candy corn before and went to truely heroic efforts to send me some! Thank you thank you! 😍 I don't know why, but I expected the texture to be hard, but it's not! It's such a fascinating flavour - it keeps getting sweeter after you've eaten it. I got so excited I had to make a candy corn opossum 🧶❤️🌽

[mizar113]

[miniimoose]

i want to watch fiona and cake but i didnt finish adventure time back in the day (got sick of waiting for eps to release, just for it to be filler until the finale/opening of each season)

i must find.... a watch guide i think... so I know whats happening before starting fiona and cake...?

[mooselybased]

Sorry I haven't been able to post much art lately, but I had to take time out of my busy schedule to draw my current favorite TAZ NPC

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

This morning I didn't want to get up at 5 am to go outside for a walk, my belly ached and my head throbbed (so much moisture from all the rain give me bad headaches) and I just felt gross.

But I made a commitment to myself that when I had the time, I would get up and go. Today it paid off, notably did my headache mostly go away and the nauseous feeling, Tika and I got to watch a moose feeding for a few minutes before she took off.

[bughead-in-the-comics]

Betty and the gang cheer Jughead on as he embarks on yet another burger-eating contest in Midnight Snack, Chilling Adventures in Sorcery (2021).

[morewhatnot-lessnaked]

[belongsinthetrash]

What interesting things have you gotten interested in, in these past few interesting months, my interesting friend

Well, well-well-well-well, welllllll, a few thing-a-ma-bobs. But it's mainly been 4 fandoms that have come and intergrained themselves in my grey matterspace.

Disco Elysium is pretty obvious with some of my recent posts, BUT I've really only gotten 5 or so hours into my first playthrough so far and from what I can guess, it is nowhere near the end for me. I'm gonna try and get back to it sometime soon, but it's just been a case of notyet getting into the mindset to play a deeply written detective-human psychology-political story novel, to the surprise of myself. It's highly enjoyable, don't miscontrue my words, but it's an undertaking.

Speaking of politics, guess which underwater, steampunk, civil war simulator franchise I've played and has shot to the top of favorite games of all time? Yeah, Bioshock 1 and 2 had knocked my socks off with their presentation and story than I had first expected. I knew the games were classics, but I had just thought they wouldn't interest me since I'm kinda lukewarm on the steampunk genre admittedly. But Rapture as a whole had made me engrossed with every inner working and system in the sunken city, not withstanding the competing and aggressive interactions between the personification of political stances called Andrew Ryan, Sofia Lamb, and Frank Fontaine. Lovely games and my heart is sent to every Big Daddy and Little Sister down there, specially Delta.

Oh, and Infinite? ...i-it's fine. Like, I liked looking at the grim alternate history of Columbia (which is another reason Rapture had grabbed me) and I got used to the gameplay and feeling of being akin to Half-Life 2, but the ending kinda fell super flat on me and I wasn't a fan of how they intergrated parallel worlds into the story. And less said about Burial at Sea, I'll give you as many sugardoodles as need be.

Now back to our normal scheduled program, and by normal, I mean bizarre. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Good segueway, I know. But yeah, Jojo has occupied a lot of brainspace in me too recently, which is rare for an anime to do so for me. But fuck me, did the story grip me by Part 2. I had felt like it had finally start to get it's narrative grip by the time I had seen the Pillar Men emerge to be cool, strong, honorific yet bastard vampire dudes. It may have also been the gay talking and Joseph being iconic. But what sucks about my situation is that I'm not far into Part 3 because I've been watching through it on a friend's behalf and her schedule hasn't aligned for it for the past month, so I'm stuck in a purgatory of waiting to get the full context of scenes through the actual story while I tiptoe around spoilers when watching content made by Jojo fans, and it kills me more when I slowly feel like I'll fucking ADORE Parts 5, 6, and 7 when I get to it! Basille, you bitch (affectionate), WATCH JOJO WITH ME!

Ahem, sorry bout that, let me get to the last thing right quick. Risk of Rain was yet another thing recommended to me by a friend and I've had my fair share of enjoyment playing through both of the games. The first game's style is wonderfully Terraria feeling for a guy that knows that Terraria is not my speed in the slightest, and I had a fair bit in fun in completing the game with every survivor. Risk of Rain 2 has been even more fun but also more infuriating as another result, since I really like the transition into 3d and how the game feels much more smoother to play, but I've grinded myself at trying to beat the game even once after 30+ attempts that it has burned me out even when I get a good run. Maybe it's just because I complete stages too slowly, but I can't help but wanting to complete shit. I've gotten to Mithrix once and have been waiting to taste that wonderful feeling again. And what is another kick in the pants is how RIsk of Rain Returns has released but isn't on consoles beside the Switch and I want it!

Oh, and I don't know if I had said this outright, but I had seen Ultrakill about a year ago and have been still into that, but even moreso now, soooo I guess that counts?