iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Panicked advisor: "No, no Senator Schmitt! I said people were concerned about 'self-owned businesses,' not those 'in the business of self-owns.'"

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

OK. So... finally have the first draft of book 2 to my super awesome reader. Now, maybe, I can get my head around actually searching for an agent for the series? Maybe??

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Every video of this guy is so delightful. This one made me cry. I hate that "being a kind human" is such a high bar for public figures, but here we are.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Had a dream last night where I finally got an X. I had been dreaming of an X, and I was so proud and delighted that I had an X. I was going to put stickers all over the X, and it was going to be my most important possession ever. Then, I woke up, and I have no idea what the X was.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Not on my Bingo Card today: A spirited argument amongst me and the Piggly-Wiggly cashiers about the merits of The Cranberries.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I do not understand Panda Express. Every once in a while, I forget lunch and am so starving at school that (if I cannot find the Taco Truck) I go to Panda Express. Every time, I feel like shit afterward. BUT THEN, I crave it for like a week! What addictive substance do they put in there?

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

First soccer game of the season. Tuscaloosa summer weather with 90+ degrees, 200% humidity, and not a cold in the sky. WHY did I get my kid into this sport instead of something indoor like basketball or competitive tiddly-winks.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Got some grading to do tonight, so I was looking to see what games were on. Actual internal conversation: "Rams v 49ers. In Australia. Jet-lagged contenders sounds interesting. Where is it...? Netflix? Huh. I wonder if Florida A&M has anything going for them this year..."

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Today a student said I have “girl dad energy” which I am going to take as a huge compliment.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I am teaching Large Lecture classes this semester and have six GTAs. I had not realized how much I was going to be subjecting them to the fucking pedagogical firehose, explaining not only what my class policies are but WHY they are in place from 25 years of experience. Constant walls of text.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

"What is needed to challenge and finally break a system based on nothing but decorum, one built on tradition rather than laws, is an absurd little chaos goblin who thinks rules do not apply and who feels no shame. Enter George Santos and Lane Kiffin. In this essay I will..."

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Just got a spam text saying "We are offering huge roof repair/replacement discounts in your area" and it is taking all of my energy to not respond, "Sorry, we do not have a huge roof."

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Reposted by H. Austin Whitver

Keith Bergman @keithbergman.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Please make Coyote vs Acme so big that "I have a limited number of signs" becomes accepted neurodivergent shorthand for spoons-related issues

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

If I (somehow) got social media famous, the one person I would absolutely need to have on staff would be someone inside my hubristic bubble willing and able to tell me "maybe that is a bad take and you should remove it."

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Reposted by H. Austin Whitver

William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 25/08/2026

[Exit Queen.]

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Reposted by H. Austin Whitver

Premee Mohamed @premeemohamed.com · 24/08/2026

What if we...

a button design: button is yellow and black for aposematic purposes, and reads 'if you use a.i. don't talk to me, i will bite your face clean off your skull.' in the middle is a bitey-looking beetle with a little skull making a sad face above its mandibles.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I guess we can boycott all Kit Harington movies and projects now like.... um.... well.... give me a minute.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

This is killing me. No idea on the source.

The (fake, not actually in the game) quote from Final Fantasy Tactics "If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law only exists for the lower classes," with Mamdami as the speaker.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I am having to build PowerPoints again as part of teaching a Large Lecture, so I am going back through my Covid era slides. I really love how it is clear that my brain got progressively more cooked over the course of the semester. Still, even from the start I was having fun.

A slide from my Power Point for "The Wanderer" with John Travolta from "Pulp Fiction," looking around the room with his arms outstretched.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I did not know what caused the Breakfast Burrito discourse today; now that I have seen the picture, I wish I had remained in blissful ignorance.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Got to meet my GTAs for the Large Lecture course this semester. Teaching a Lit LL is unnerving (feels like it will be the unfun parts of teaching without the fun bits), but at least it looks like I am going to be able to do it with a really strong crew.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Got some interstitials to work on and obviously all the bracketed bits (you know [[This river needs a name]] or [[Fix this you dumbass!]]), but the rough draft of Book 2 is DONE. Now time to pivot back to really looking for an agent for the first one! Finding comps is HARD!

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

This needs to be hammered over and over. Defeated, impotent, and cowardly. Hitler hiding in a bunker. Jefferson Davis fleeing in a dress. It is a language his cult speaks.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

As I close in on the end of book two, I am really noticing a pattern (for me). Openings are not too hard as they have been baking for a while. Middles are a miserable, slow, slog. But then the endings are absolute pleasure as past me has spent years just setting up balls on tees for me to launch.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Onto the final chapter right as the dial on book two clicks over to 100k. The finish line of this marathon is in sight.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I am STILL on the next to last chapter of the book. It keeps adding sections, like I propagated mint in the field and it has taken over everything. Two more broke off this morning; fingers crossed that these are the final two.

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Reposted by H. Austin Whitver

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

dear local business owners, nobody is going to tell you they’re bailing on your business because of the AI ads. they’ll just stop going. in a year you’ll have run out of customers and you’ll be totally mystified as to the reason

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Tremendous sympathy. He did not understand why his brain did not work right and just assumed he was made wrong. Does not mean I would not enjoy going back in time, explaining a few things, and then rhetorically kicking his ass for failing to stand up for things he knew in his core to be right.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Thor: Dark World is unfairly maligned as a film. It is a solid early Marvel film that could have been brilliant with better editing and a reshoot or two. Cut all Malekith POV scenes; make him an inscrutable cosmic horror. Add more Loki / Frigga to anchor and more Darcy / Selvig to humanize. Done

Norman Rockwell's 1943 oil painting "Freedom of Speech," used here as a meme to denote an unpopular opinion.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I don't know how to explain it, but Matcha tastes like hollow umami to me, like something that wants to be savory but just came up empty.

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Reposted by H. Austin Whitver

Lisa Guerrero @lisaguerrero.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

If you’ve never posted anything about the WNBA or women’s sports before last year and are suddenly concerned about Caitlin Clark or trans kids playing sports, you are either a racist, a bigot or a misogynist.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

2,300 words for this week. A really solid number. If I had been doing this all summer, book 2 would be long done. Instead, the semester is going to hit before I get there. The summer is so frustrating. It seems like it is going to be so open, but it is always just non-stop chaos.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I just rewatched Project Hail Mary, and while the whole thing is brilliant and wonderful, I absolutely melted down emotionally during the karaoke scene. I cannot hold it together there.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Film you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli. [[As an autistic dude, this is a super easy question. Probably dozens of films in this category. Let's go with ...]]

static.klipy.com

Dark City: Free From Grip

ALT: Dark City: Free From Grip

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

This pass is so absurdly brilliant that, if I saw it in a video game, I would call bullshit. My favorite bit is how she is so supremely confidant in every ounce of her being that there is not going to be a rebound. She just bounces off the defender with a "meh."

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

If I ever win the lottery, I won't tell anyone. But there will be big, train car sized signs.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

My ONLY good habit as a writer is I leave myself gifts, characters and threads that do not go anywhere yet. 9 times out of 10, when I get stuck later, one of those threads will bail me out. Thank you past Austin for Edmund Joiner, the pudgy 7 year old, anxious about playing with the other kids.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

My pickup soccer squad (mostly people in their 30s and 40s with me on the high end at 49) bafflingly added some college age folks. Played this morning and now I feel like I have been worked over with hammers.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

A month later (and a panicked final edit of the first draft done), I am finally ready to send out the Agent query letter this week. All fingers and toes crossed for the long process ahead.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Second anxiety dream in a week about being late to teach on the first day of the semester. I guess summer is over for my brain.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Olivia Miles is legit my favorite athlete right now.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Do all writers just alternate back and forth between thinking themselves deeply clever and then the most miserable hack to have ever lived? I am hesitant to even group myself in the "writer" category, and I need to know if 1. This is imposter syndrome or 2. I am an imposter.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

At a cabin retreat with two other families. Literally the only one who cares about sports and so I am just watching it in my iPad. No one to vent to here about how this game is going EXACTLY as I feared.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

This semester, I am teaching the Early British Survey (a class I have taught for decades) for the first time in a Large Lecture format. I just did the preliminary cut (required by reduced in class time), and it is too the bone and beyond. This one is gonna hurt.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I announced this would be a writing account for the summer and then posted no updates. I want to just clarify that this is not because I have humbly avoided announcements. I have simply had a train wreck of a summer on the writing front. Trying (starting tonight) to salvage the little left.

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H. Austin Whitver @majikmouse.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Egypt to VAR with that second goal:

Trinity from The Matrix with a gun pointed to an offscreen agent's head, saying "Overturn this."

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