Zandra asked:

Who's your favorite background/minor character in Her Majesty The Prince? (named or unnamed)

Ask me this on three different days and you'll probably get three different answers, but right now I'm feelin' Dusty because her metanarrative role as "the not-as-important one" tickles me immensely. Despite originally being envisioned as a way to backfill the flashback/present day chapter structure and flesh out the setting and Lou's character, the maid chapters have ended up introducing some extremely important characters—Sleeves is pivotal in Act 2, Chiffon is a crucial emotional support for Lou and looks to be increasingly relevant in Act 3, even the at-the-time-unnamed guard who stumbled upon Lou in the halls has gone on to be the storied Soixante Douze.

But not Dusty! Sleeves and Chiffon both know Lou's secret, but not Dusty. Sleeves and Chiffon have both left the city to seek adventure, but not Dusty. Dusty just stays Dusty. She's the archetypal friend in the group who's kind of out of the loop, doesn't really participate in the group chat, but who everyone's glad to see during the reunions. Dusty abides. And I love her for that.

I haven't had an ask in a hot minute. *knocking on ask@nex-3.com* is this thing on?

underappreciated aspect of hanging out with friends irl after a long time is reminding yourself of the particular way they speak so you can read their posts in their voice

the coolest thing the UFO 50 guys could do in a couple years would be to release a "definitive edition" that includes manuals for all the games. ideally with a version where you can get a physical copy of all fifty manuals bound together

I love hot drink season. There's something so nice about serving someone a warm drink that's so buttery it's almost a pastry. One recipe I found called for 1/2tsp butter which is just comically small. The one major flaw with this mix is that it puts in all the water first, which makes it too cool by the time everything's all mixed. If I were to make it again (and I will!) I'd mix all the liquid ingredients separately, dissolve the syrup in half the water, mix the two, and then add the last half of the water to get everything nice and toasty for serving.

One cocktail book I have advocates for just shoving a red hot poker into the glass and heating it that way, but I think that's a little too hardcore for me.

sick of all these watch repair channels. I want to watch someone fuck a watch up in new and inventive ways

Readers may recall that at the Seattle Cohost wake, I helped establish a mailing list—Emerald City Eggbugs—for local COVID-safe events to help keep the local Cohost community intact and allow it to expand into something new in its own right. To help kickstart that process, I've scheduled the inaugural Emerald City Eggbugs event, a showing of the Wachowskis' 1996 film Bound at the Beacon Cinema in Columbia City.

If you're in Seattle and you want a fun, COVID-safe time with cool friends, please come join us! Here's the critical information:

When: 11AM on Sunday the 24th of November
Where: The Beacon in Columbia City, 4405 Rainier Ave S. It's about a 15 minute walk from the Angle Lake station, and the 7, 9, and 50 stop right outside the door
RSVP: On Partiful
Price: $10 suggested donation to @nweiz on Venmo. I hope to make this a recurring event, but renting theaters isn't cheap so this would help me keep it sustainable. But if $10 is hard on your wallet please come anyway! NOTAFLOF
COVID: Please wear a mask (N95 or better) and run an over-the-counter test day-of or the night before. If you can't afford one, Mask Bloc Seattle can probably hook you up. Outsider Comics in Fremont usually sells them at-cost as well. The theater will be selling concessions, but we ask that you eat them outdoors rather than during the film. The theater itself is not a masks-required space at other times, although we will be the first event of the day and I've asked the person running the show to mask and test as well. I'll also be bringing a CR box to help filter the air while we're there

I'll see you there!

• The Coov
• North Bellingham
• The Vancouver, WA of Canada
• The Biggest City on the Salish Sea^[1]
• Nanaimo East
• The Town Whose Urban Planners Refuse to Acknowledge Saskatchewan and Newfoundland as Provinces^[2]
• The Objectively Small But Pretty Big By Canadian Standards Apple
• The City Where Everything Happens but Nothing Ever Takes Place