@3rdwrldbathhaus

Ever since I was little, I've always had this feeling like my toys- mainly my stuffed animals and anything with a face had a soul or was alive somehow. It could have had something to do with growing up with the Toy Story movies, but I'm pretty sure those movies were made because kids grow up thinking that.

I recall a more general empathy for inanimate objects, though. It's something that hasn't truly gone away, I just have an adult brain and adult experiences on top of this sort of childlike reflex. Feeling like my records will be sad if I don't play them enough, or that my computers are all friends.

When I was in elementary school, my pockets were pretty much just decorative. They were fully functional, but they didn't hold any one set of things from day to day. My pockets back then were for anything I happened to come across- maybe a crisp $5 bill palmed to me by a grandparent on a really good day. These days, I carry the same 7 items on my person at all times:

• Phone (Pixel 9 Pro XL)
• Wallet (A wallet)
• Keys (Literal keys on a State Farm carabiner)
• Vape (Smok Novo 2C)
• Earbuds (Nothing Ear)
• Watch (Timex Weekender)
• Ring (It's this silver interlocking ring that I stole from Ayden, pic below)

Now, obviously I carry the vape around because nicotine is addictive- and most of the rest of that stuff serves some kind of function which is why they've found themselves in my pocket every day to begin with. These particular items though, this wallet, these earbuds, et cetera, it's impossible to not feel an attachment to them. If my current wallet broke or my earbuds got lost and I had to replace them, it would really bum me out.

The thing is, even as a kid I knew that inanimate objects like my stuffed animals weren't alive. The feeling still persisted, and continues to persist. I wonder if it's somehow tied to feelings of ownership- like, both have an element of attachment to them. Yes, there are a lot of laptops like mine- but mine has my stuff on it, and scratches I made. That's part of what gives it its personality too, I guess.

Another thing I remember about being a kid that I thought would subside when I got older was being in a sort of passive state of pretending. Again, it really hasn't, it just has an adult consciousness scaffolded on top of it. Being on early reddit and reading rage comics in the format of “what it's like/what it feels like” usually with some mundane activity feeling like something reminiscent of fiction, presumably written by adults gave me the impression that, for some at least, you never really stop playing pretend.

When I was in about 3rd grade, all I would talk to you about was Kingdom Hearts. I was absolutely obsessed with it well into the fourth grade. There were a lot of games coming out around that time for handheld systems- it would have been 2009-2011, so the DS and PSP games. I can't even count the number of times I tried to summon a keyblade into my hand as a kid. I feel like everyone had their version of that, though- like trying to use the force, or reciting spells or something.

I work at a hotel now- I have for a number of years. When I was getting trained, the guy who was training me would frequently use Star Trek lingo to refer to people and things around the office. He called our boss “Captain”, the owner of the hotel “Admiral”, and referred to the phone as the “Comms” for example. For some reason that really left an impression on me; I've never been a consistent viewer of Star Trek but I've seen enough of the show to see how working in a hotel can feel like being on a bridge in a Starfleet vessel. It's hard to unsee every day as I clock in. To be honest, I'm fine with not unseeing it.

I was listening to this on a walk earlier. I've been listening to crafter2011 since like 2023 or so. I really like their stuff, I think their take on dariacore/hyperflip/whatever you wanna call it is really unique and interesting.