The weight of Christmas Past pulls at my mind, a melancholy anchor I drag around. In its wake an odd mix of bitterness and joy. Joy at the memories, bitterness at the fact that such memories won’t stay buried.
The Season demands pleasant greetings—though false and egg-shell deep, subject to crack as soon as the revelers drift behind me. I’d as soon skip to March or April, avoid all of this. Yet there exists this tug at the wire that wraps my heart. There is a yearn to recall past holidays and the happy frolic they no doubt enjoyed. It’s the music, mostly, like that of a syringe full of boiled smack, I slap my forearm and stab the dial. “O Tannenbaum… It’s beginning to look… Dashing through the snow…”
Maybe that’s what I need, a long bump of snow and a shot (or twenty) of heady aquavit. Or ouzo. You know I love that licorice-anise flavor. And screw you if you don’t. But, an endearing, merry screw-you, you know?
But hey, it’s Christmas, right? Or rather, the Holidays—gotta be Politically Correct. I favor Saturnalia, the death of the old year the birth of the new one, full of empty potential.
Here’s some AI imagery for you. May our future AI Gods award us an equally cheerful season, if nothing more than to keep us, their human servants, jolly, dulled by alcohol and nostalgic thoughts of the past.
A joyous forest christmas scene full of christmas trees, presents, beautiful colored lights, in the foreground is a devlish imp, in the style of Dali
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Anonymole - apocryphal agitators 
Get serious. Said the guy who did soundtracks for SIGGRAPH. https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.midjourney.com%2Fshowcase%2Frecent%2F&data=05%7C01%7C%7C8cea65dd952c4940521b08dae6f4179e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638076233277769842%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=a7YjeqY3xYNlSvYBM6tOhTZkZAErJJKdTeema%2FJg48E%3D&reserved=0
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For me the sadness comes with the fact that memories and losses are cumulative. The joys peak early but the losses never quit. I think we long for the times when we weren’t preoccupied with losses.
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Jesus. What’s all this win or lose shit? The game goes on. It’s not like racehorses where we turn up lame and they shoot us. Encounters and events are linear, or more accurately pinball. Not what I used to be, not what I wanted to be, not what I thought it would be… not, not not… to quote the author “don’t don’t don’t”. Look at what’s leftover. Or give the rules the finger and be what you can until it kills you. But letting the rear view mirror kill now for you? Damn, you two… that’s bullshit.
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Maybe Mole can design a Chat AI that turns anything a person writes into something depressing and miserable. You can say Write it in the style of Anonymole.
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Lordy Lordy. I have THAT book review in the can!
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Love it!
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Original: “Life is a beautiful butterfly opening its wings the first time 🐛⚘️🦋❤️❤️❤️”
AI-nonymole edit: “Fuck this shit.”
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ChatPH: I eat cliche’s for breakfast and shit clever dialog for lunch. Here’s a plate, dig in.
AI-nonymole — that’s good!
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Omg, if the AI learns to imitate PH without detection, then we are all screwed and should bow down to our new overlords.
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I like that idea.
There were (relatively) worry-free times in our youth. Maybe even responsibility-free times. Recalling those times, or at least the sense of them, through music and decorations and the togetherness of family, may sooth our minds with a nostalgic balm. And of course, we’d long for such times.
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You know how you look back and say Ah those were the days? It’s terrifying to think that someday the future will be so bad that THESE are the days right now!
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Ah… misery. I say?
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Which AI generator is that one? Those images are very cool and specific!
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Dall-E.
MidJourney is a pain $ (Discord), and Stable Diffusion I’ve not figured out. OpenAI (Dall-E) gives me 15 credits / month. So, yeah. And, for now, with OpenAI I get ChatGPT.
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I’ve been using Stable Diffusion and really like it, but I’ll try this one too!
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It is a big clump of unrealistic expectations, isn’t it? At least until you’re old enough not to have any. Then it can be OK.
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Merry Christmas and Happy Saturnalia Mole!
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