Welcome to Pony Pickle

HI EVERYONE :D

Welcome to my blog, PONY PICKLE <3 ponies and pickles are two of the only constants in life, so it's only fitting that this is my blog name. Why did I make a blog?? Well, life is fleeting so we might as well write about it. I'm going to tell you about my life and secret thoughts and share with you my doodles and stories. I should also mention I was inspired by my awesome 叔叔, who has been posting regularly on his blog since 2006. This is the first (of many) blog posts, so stick around to see if things get interesting.

Since I'm contributing to the growing archive of virtual characters, it's only fair that I talk about a book I read earlier this month called Coming of Age in Second Life by Tom Boellstorff. Second Life is an online platform where people can basically create a "second life" through their avatars. You can buy land, build, socialize, shop... pretty much anything you want. It's interesting to see how Second Life residents are so preoccupied with "place," creating a temporal reality that exists only in the virtual.

But what does this say about our increasingly digital world (and even the metaverse)? Boellstorff explores how identity is mediated through the virtual, and he even goes on to argue that this isn't new. He argues that the idea of the posthuman is misleading — it's in being virtual that we're human. So without further ado, the rest of my January recap:

Snow!!! It felt like -700 degrees, but I still walked two miles to get bagels (plain toasted w strawberry cream cheese). Don't you ever get the chaotic urge to do something so difficult for no discernible reason?? Life is just a fun little game.

Anyway, bad decision. I fully contemplated calling an uber when I was only four blocks from my apartment, but I decided to brave through the cold when I saw that a 10 min ride was **$27**. That's enough for five bagels?!!!! Side note: bagel prices were raised by 25 CENTS :( God damn you, capitalism...

A BIG PILE OF SNOW :D 

Me after spontaneously cutting my own hair with kitchen scissors two weeks ago (sorry Mom)

Started my new job at le law firm :3 There's actually always quite a lot of people in the office, which is so different from my other job at a research center. They could work on the snack selection though...

I LOVE EXPLOITATIVE REALITY TV. There. I said it. And you know what... it's O.K. You can read Sartre's Nausea AND watch grown women tear each other to shreds for wearing the wrong shade of white to a dinner party. Deny yourself a matcha oat milk latte then splurge on imported Hello Kitty stationery. Do self-care meditation then sleep at 4 am. Bake your doorman sugar cookies then fight hapless strangers on Reddit. We're complex beings. We can embrace duality. That's what life's all about.

Flowers from D0B !!! They shall be immortalized forever on this blog post.

Forgot to mention these random snow figurines I saw during the Snow Day. I have so many questions for whoever made these... Who are you?? Do you just walk around with a penguin and dinosaur mold? Why did you put them all on this ONE bench? And most importantly: CAN I BE YOUR FRIEND????

Last but not least, the spring semester started last week. It feels so weird to be back in lectures after a whole six-week break. During one of my digital humanities lectures, our prof asked if anyone had thoughts on the reading. A girl behind me raised her hand and — I kid you not — she READ A LINE FROM MY POST ON THE CLASS DISCUSSION FORUM. I thought I misheard her at first because (?) who does that???? But probably also because she has a high phlegmy like she drinks a lot of milk.

Lol everything aside, I really miss my classes from last semester. Howeverrr, I am glad to have a regular routine again. So there's def much to look forward to.

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I think that's all for my January recap ~~ I hope you enjoyed reading my unfiltered thoughts. I might be forgetting a few things here and there, but that's the gist of it. Stay tuned for my February recap (*^‿^*) 

To endless more,

C