iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 02/10/2026

More or less exactly how september ended and october started for me...

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 01/10/2026

Is #firstdraftfall truly a thing? I seem to start my books around now, probably an old holdover from... that previous event. Anyway, maybe I cheated by starting a day or two early but honestly, it's felt very fall in Sweden for the last month. You can follow along here: yafn.jordanthayer.com

yafn.jordanthayer.com

Yet Another Fantasy Romance Novel

Welcome to Yet Another Fantasy Romance Novel.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 30/09/2026

Was using henna to test drive something.

An apple with a k in the center drawn in henna on a honkey's arm.

021

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 29/09/2026

Hahahahah! Someone I don't know personally (I think) bought my book. A great success! I have now made something like a fiftieth of a penny per hour on it, but who gives a shit? Someone is reading my stuff~

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 26/09/2026

I am watching my daughter play FFVI, and unlike previous attempts at SNES rpgs, she can read enough now to enjoy it. I am so excited to share this with her.

030

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 25/09/2026

I am beginning to think we have taken the pumpkin spice thing a bit too far.

Pumpkin spice flavored lube sits on a store shelf.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 25/09/2026

I don't understand why they always put balls in the foam of my coffee...

A latte with art olin the foam. it's clearly a slightly misshapen heart, but photographed with the point up such that it looks a little like a scrotum.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 25/09/2026

My hair looks like a marbled rye (positive valance)

A lady with blond and purple hair wearing her hair in braided pigtails. She is also wearing large hoop earrings the look like they are covered in tiny candy beads and purple glasses.

A closeup of a purple and blond braid. A sweater and washcloth dry in the background.

020

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 23/09/2026

Uncooked brick of ramen while I wait on the hair dye to process. I have re-entered my 20s. And 30s for that matter.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 19/09/2026

The Scribblehub folks also seem quite nice, judging by comments on the first chapter of Little Black Notebook. Seeing the view number go up is good, but getting comments is *amazing* drip feed: www.scribblehub.com/series/25531... fire hose: jordanthayer.itch.io/the-little-b...

jordanthayer.itch.io

The Little Black Notebook by Jordan Thayer

A slow-burn T4T fantasy romance across worlds

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 18/09/2026

Reading an academic paper from before 2005 and its like pre-nuclear steel or whatever the idiom im supposed to use is. The writing is so... very, very, very different (positive valence) the the modern trough of slop I waded through so far in my return.

101

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 18/09/2026

I had forgotten how magical the Katamari Damacy games were until last weekend, when I picked them back up. This feels especially pertinent as I am starting to plan for my first tattoo, and I want it to be the prince as Sisyphus with the predictable Camus quote getting rolled up into the katamari.

110

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 17/09/2026

We did a research lab retreat like, last week? A colleague I respect gave a talk on the value of wrestling with a problem and the work of research in developing new research scientists. I wrote something with a similar sentiment, if stated somewhat more crassly: jordanthayer.com/you-have-to-...

jordanthayer.com

You Have to Give a Shit – Jordan Thayer

021

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 16/09/2026

Posting my stories on Ao3 has been like one of the best things for my soul. Things are being read! People say that they like it! It is a delight.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 10/09/2026

I'm going to start referring to my pre-transition days as "When I was younger and had more hair" The hair in question is my beard, if it isn't obvious.

A sad young pre-transition Jordan with long blonde hair and a thick blonde beard. She's standing outside with the dead eyes and poorly forced smile you've come to expect of this sort of picture.

Recent, happy, post-transition Jordan, with long blonde hair and no beard, wearing a black and white striped dress.

011

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 09/09/2026

Packed and ready for the lab retreat. Also, yes, I am a grown ass woman who travels with her giant stuffed animal. The magic of being trans is realizing people will judge you for literally anything; may as well do silly things that make you happy (There aren't other ways to that epiphany ofc).

A pink dufflebag and a stuffed shark sit on top of a chair in a university office. Part of a kanban board is visible in the background.

150

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 09/09/2026

I've been working on swedish with the kiddo. Practicing for her first spelling test has caused tears a number of times. Once, it was even her. skämt is not pronounced how you would think, the first of many cruel jokes that swedish will play on my american ass.

011

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 07/09/2026

Buy my book! Buy my... I mean, actually, you don't have to. It's PWYW, so you can just kinda have it. But do _read_ my book. I'd like that very much. jordanthayer.itch.io/the-little-b...

A cardboard cutout of the titular character from the cartoon "The Critic" holds up a copy of his recently released book. Though it is a still image, we can all kind of hear the repetitive clipped voice of the cheap animatronic, "Buy My Book! Buy My Book!"

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 03/09/2026

Growing up and respectability remain the two largest cons society ever pulled on us.

Jordan crouched in front of a sign that reads "slutspurt" while giving double peace / victory signs.

030

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 03/09/2026

This bullshit is a big, big part of why we moved our family.

020

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 02/09/2026

Like the proverbial Igor (Eye-gor?), I have thrown the fucking switch. "The Little Black Notebook" is a slow-burn T4T literary fantasy romance about a trans woman who discovers that her tabletop RPG character is real, then falls in love with her. jordanthayer.itch.io/the-little-b...

jordanthayer.itch.io

The Little Black Notebook by Jordan Thayer

A slow-burn T4T fantasy romance across worlds

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 01/09/2026

And of course there's a cover, comprised of all of the individual tarot cards my wife did, as well as something you might recognize as a composition notebook. Will anyone complain that a composition notebook as a little black notebook? That Tabitha isn't holding a comp notebook? Who knows!

The cover to "The Little Black Notebook". A digitally rendered composition notebook is the major background. The title of the book is written on the comp notebook in red sharpie. In the foreground are three custom tarot cards: the heirophant, the fool, and the lovers. Each features characters from the novel, rather than the standard imagery.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 31/08/2026

One last card that Rachel did for the cover of the book. This one is the lovers (I mean, hey, it's a romance, so ofc you're going to get the lovers). The elf friend Christopher looms in the sky blessing the union of Tabitha (left) and Jess.

The Lovers card. An elf (Christopher) hovers in the sky blessing the union of a blond woman in pajamas (Tabitha) and a mage in a tunic and long boots holding a staff (Jess). Water color with light digital enhancements (saturation, hue, etc)

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 29/08/2026

Marginally related to my last train of thought, I stenciled the back of my journal recently.

A yellow Leuchtturm notebook in a5 size sits on a coffee table. A stencil is applied in black sharpie. It is the silhouette of Sisyphus pushing a boulder.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 29/08/2026

My larger point is that in our rush to do shit, we seem to have lost the idea that effort effects change in a person, and that was thing with any fucking value in the first place.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 28/08/2026

More generally, and more relevant to the current moment: Much of the value of a document is in its construction, and the rest, obviously, is in its consumption.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 27/08/2026

An idle thought: a mindfulness exercise achieves nothing if you just fucking pencil whip it.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 25/08/2026

And here's another painting my wife did. It's Tabitha's friend and confidant, Kelly, playing the role of the hierophant.

A man sits in a gaming chair, wearing a pair of headphones. With his left hand, he is throwing a pair of dice. Snake eyes are visible. His right hand holds a cell phone. A roman 5, V, hangs in the air above his head because he is in fact the heirophant.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 21/08/2026

My darling wife did some watercolors as cover art for the novel I'm finishing up. Here's the main character, Tabitha, as the fool. She's got a little black notebook (hey, that's the title of the novel) in one hand and a crown royal bag full of dice in the other.

A riff on the fool card from a tarot deck. A young woman walks towards a cliff. In one hand she holds a little black notebook. In the other, a crown royal bag full of dice. A small cat, rather than a dog, tugs at her heels to prevent her from stepping over the ledge.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 06/08/2026

Another big bonus of Sweden is that it is very easy to partake of a hotdog on Fridays.

A copy of the principia discordia. Bot the simple yellow edition, a glossy cover with two faces, a male on the left and a feminine face on the right, gazing lovingly at one another in front of a snow globe or something. A jester runs through the sky above them.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 04/08/2026

Solo RPGs, and especially solo journaling RPGs, are the writing equivalent of paint-by-numbers exercises.

120

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 03/08/2026

"You are the only person stopping you from dressing like a film noir protagonist" was advice I gave to a specific person, but is probably generally applicable.

021

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 29/07/2026

The news out of the FFXIV fanfest makes me wish I had the time and energy to get back into it. It's just that every time I do, I inevitably bounce off some 100 hours in. I think I knocked off between endwalkers and shadowbringers last time, so I'm still many xpacs behind my friends -_-

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 24/07/2026

We all start somewhere.... so start!

pre-transition jordan, circa 2018. Big beard, sad eyes, thinning blonde hair, sweatervest

post-transition jordan, circa 2022 - fuller hair, brighter eyes, no beard, big gear earrings and a fairy necklace.

0282

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 20/07/2026

Did I take only one ridiculous forced perspective picture while visiting the Eifel Tower? Surely you jest.

My friend and I pose in a forced perspective shot around the eifel tower. We are each on one side of the tower, leaning in, high fiveing up top with both hands, so I suppose high tenining.

001

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 18/07/2026

Sometimes I remember that the entire chapter of my fraternity will always trace their lineage through my trans ass, and I laugh, and I laugh.

020

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 17/07/2026

One more of the tarot cards in progress. These are the main characters, Jess and Tabitha, portrayed as the lovers, because, well, it _is_ a romance novel after all. Jess' adventuring buddy Christopher is off in the background, blessing the union.

pen and ink creating a stylized version of the lovers tarot card. Two women are up front, one in modern pjs, the other in adventuring gear. A man hovers above them, blocking out the sun and blessing the pairing.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 15/07/2026

Another one of the tarot card elements my partner did as part of the cover art for the book I'm polishing up. This is Kelly as the hierophant. I'm sure the dice, cellphone, and headset symbolize something other than his role as GM and confidant of the main character in the story

A man sits, rolling dice, holding a cellphone, and wearing headphones. Black ink on paper. Pencil sketch lines are still visible on the sheet as well.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 14/07/2026

It's a really lovely, if bitter, piece of writing. I've had the good sense not to express my feelings on the passing of the senator in ways that are archival for reasons :tm:. Still, seeing someone talk about how angry they are to have been made to hate... that's a fine way to put it.

020

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 13/07/2026

Notes towards... something: With the advent of LLMs, many of us have turned large portions of our lives into idle games. Waiting on an action to complete or to gather enough tokens to push the button again. Related, idle games have precious little game, though some have neat things to say.

010

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 11/07/2026

I really like our new home. This is a nice nature preserve a short bus ride away from us. Nice hiking, gorgeous lake, just lovely.

A picture of a lake from the shore. The sky is blue, the clouds are fluffy and white. Trees line the distant shore.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 06/07/2026

What videogame is my lamp from?

A black lamp hangs from the ceiling. It looks like a stylized exploding sphere.

A closer view of the same black exploding sphere lamp.

100

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 06/07/2026

I used to read about writing style, pantsing, plotting, etc. I'm more like the "Men Who Stare at Goats" guy, the one who keeps trying to run through walls? Usually I hit the wall. But sometimes, well... Anyway, I have an essay convincing myself throwing away thousands of words is ok, out on Wed.

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 04/07/2026

My local bookstore has crazy selections of things. I picked up up a copy of tacklebox, but they had a solid collection, including some cool solo ttrpgs

030

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 04/07/2026

Happy 4th. I think 'Merican by the Descendents about covers how I'm feeling. In case you haven't heard it: youtu.be/VPxOTzEj0xA?...

youtu.be

'Merican

YouTube video by Descendents - Topic

000

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 02/07/2026

Impromptu piercing after my first conference back in academia. A little souvenir to remember Dublin by.

A blonde trans woman with a Harry Dubois earring fro disco elysium, purple cats eye glasses. And a new eyebrow piercing.

030

Jordan Thayer @jordanthayer.com · 02/07/2026

It's terrifying when the government uses the word "eliminate" with respect to, you know, you. Anyway, if you're out there arguing they really don't mean it, or that it's ok to enrich people that drove the panic against us (Rowling, the NYT, Twitter, etc) then from the bottom of my heart, fuck you.

The whitehouse press release about the recent title IX decision. "Supreme Court Bolsters President Trump's Push to Eliminate Transgender Insanity"

010