Bideo Games

January 25, 2026

• So much to say about the current political situation in Minneapolis and beyond. I've spent the entire weekend thinking and talking about it.

  All I can really bring myself to write for now is that it's absolutely insane that an estimated 50,000 of us marched peacefully in Minneapolis with no issues and no violence on Friday, yet the next day another person was murdered simply for having their phone out near ICE. It's almost as if the moment ICE gets involved, things get violent. Shocking that untrained wannabe soldiers would be the true violent, terrorist agitators.

• OK I've been trying to write longer, less disjointed posts so that I can actually finish a thought for once. But I'm just not up for it today. So let's talk about something else. One of my favorite foods is toast, especially toast topped with interesting items, including but not limited to avocado. If you have a favorite toast, let me know. I will try it.
• Video games aren't my go-to activity usually, but there are some that I play sometimes when I want to check out from the world for a while. This weekend I ended each evening with Switch 'N' Shoot, an arcade-style shooter game.

  If you aren't familiar, it's just this: you press a button that simultaneously shoots and changes your direction as enemies fall down the screen towards you. Power-ups intermittently fall along with them, incrementally giving more firepower. When you go through each level of power-up, they start over in a new stage of the game. Eventually, you make it to a boss. Beat it, and everything starts again.

  I bring this up because one of my goals for this year is to reach 991 points in the game, thereby beating the highest score on the high score table (owned by Matt, the creator of the game). Only then can I retire from Switch 'N' Shoot once and for all.

  Another minor piece to the game is that you're assigned a new, random name each time you play (I've been meaning to make a list of my favorite Switch 'N' Shoot names). I believe that those who reach this score should be able to put their own name into the table.

  But my inkling, since this world is not just, is that this is not what actually happens when you reach 991. So I will just have to announce my winning score here when it happens. And, like, get my winning name tattooed on my body somewhere.

• In case you're wondering, the other game I've been playing regularly these days is Downwell. I'm a fan of quick, simple games like this (ask me how many hours of Tetris 99 I have on my Switch). I can beat Downwell pretty consistently; right now I'm just trying to get faster (20:28 is my fastest time).
• When I think of video games, I always think of this kid I tutored who, when asked what he did last night after school, always said "Biiideo gaaaaames." It was so cute.
• I'm reading Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino right now. Enjoying it.
• When I go to thrift stores, I always look for fun old printer paper. By now I've accumulated several different ones. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with them yet, but something. Something snail mail related? I don't know. Any ideas? In 2020 I had a postcard club that was pretty fun. I'm not sure a weird old printer paper club has the same ring to it. Still brainstorming. Need justification for buying my fun old papers.