iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Pretty much had to restart Ace Combat 7, lost my save from years ago when I didn’t finish it. As a plus, tho, I got to see the famous dog and also this again. #optionalplaying

A screenshot from an Ace Combaf 7 cinematic. A man’s face, dramatically lit in close-up. Subtitles read, “His real name is Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Blanca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Niketas A. Shilage.”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Did I already have this shirt for my dog? Yes. Is it the correct day for her to wear it to work? Also yes.

A pit bull mix with brown and white fur lies on a textured brown cooling mat. She’s wearing a purple and pink rope harness and a shirt. The graphic on the shirt features “What would Dolly do?” in text, surrounded by big, blonde hair in the style of Dolly Parton.

050

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Spotted this gang of coyotes in the park this morning.

A photo of a wide asphalt street and the other side, taken from a sidewalk. Walking along the other side are three smallish coyotes. Their dusky fur blends in with the earth, so some are a little difficult to spot. Behind the coyotes, there are some bushes and trees.

040

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Now that's more like it. Very cool how going through it with unlimited lives showed me everything I needed to run through Arcade mode.

The final score screen from LOVE. The grad is a B-, shown against a blue background. I finished with 55/100 lives remaining, a time of 19:15.61, and 78 checkpoints placed.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

brutal. don't drink and play LOVE, friends. #optionalplaying

A final results screen from the game LOVE. I may have cleared it, but the grade is an F in a big, capital letter against a red background.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Unfortunately, Mario drops the suit automatically after Bowser flushes himself, so Peach doesn't wind up being rescued by an anonymous "raccoon". #optionalplaying

The final room of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. There’s a hole in the floor where Bowser has gone, after stomping through blocks during the boss fight. An outline of a “tanooki suit” hovers over Mario, now dressed in his usual blue overalls, red shirt, and cap. Normie Mario. Boring. The outline is the same as when the player is hit while wearing the suit, causing it to drop.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I’ve been playing the terribly-titled Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. Finished the main game with a perfect clear, never dropping the Tanooki Suit. While wearing it, the royalty don’t recognize Mario:

The world 7 victory screen from Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. Mario, wearing a full fur suit, is bowed to by Toad. A regal, bearded fellow on a throne says, “Thank you, kind raccoon. Please, tell me your name.”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Saw a coyote in the outfield earlier this morning.

A green field with a slender coyote standing in the distance. A hillside with scrubbier grass and a large tree rises in the background.

020

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Just playing some nighttime Dire Marsh with a pal

A screenshot from Big Walk. It’s illuminated in the foreground, with a night scene of tall grass and flowers. Dark hills rise in the background.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Authenticator’s haunted

Cropped authenticator code reading “666 666” and, in smaller text “Your token expires in 21 sec.”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I played a bit from Anthology of the Killer last night that starts when BB is driven to violent intent by a neighboring apartment playing loud music all night. Then, at 1:30, a neighbor woke me up with a big, loud firework that set off a bunch of car alarms.

A screenshot from Anthology of the Killer. BB, pictured in her most typical outfit of an orange, spotted dress and pink hair, says to her sister, “ZZ, I just wanted to let you know, I’m preparing to walk the demon’s path without honor or humanity.” ZZ (who is in bed, eyes closed), replies, “Alright. Have fun.”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I went to the music of Wes Anderson movies thing at the Hollywood Bowl over the weekend. Lots of amazing performances, but one of the most affecting was Beck and his band playing “Needle in the Hay.” #optionallistening

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I overdosed on hulk honey tonic in Caves of Qud and all the names for everything got replaced by variations on AAAGGHGHH!! #optionalplaying

A screenshot from Caves of Qud. I'm in a dungeon, but the color scheme has gone red. The text describing turns goes from a legible record to a collection of nouns replaced in red text by variations on, "AAAHHGGHHH!!"

Another Caves of Qud screenshot. This shows the inventory screen under the effects of a hulk honey overdose. Names for items have been replaced in red text by variations on, "AAAHHGGHHH!!"

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Great run this evening with the Eagle Rock Run Club. #optionalrunning

A Strava “Best Efforts” screen. New bests for 400m, 1/2 mile, 1k, and 1 mile (for 2026, by single digit drops in seconds over previous bests). Also a 3rd best time for the year at 18:13.

010

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Make a terrible comic (and an ordinary dog joke): office supplies edition. #makeaterriblecomicday

A four panel comic made from sticky notes. Panel 1: a dog has a thought bubble that reads “DOG VISON”.
Panel 2: a seated cat, with a small “meow” written next to it. A thought bubble on the top of the panel reads “THAT IS A FUNNY SHAPE FOR A DOG.”
Panel 3: a possum with “hiss” written next to it. A thought bubble on the top of the panel reads, “THAT IS A FUNNY SHAPE FOR A DOG.”
Panel 4: a squirrel sitting and holdings forepaws near its face, tail raised. The thought bubble reads, “THAT IS A SUSPICIOUS SHAPE.”

060

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Another one of these. Sure, everyone’s poisoned, but it’s a clean sweep!

000

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Playing more Demonschool. It feels like, perhaps, Namako could be more confident. I mean, considering she settled this battle on her own. #optionalplaying

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Rare image of me at the day job

A screenshot from Skate Story. A massive eye, surrounded in large structures resembling bone, is centered in the sky. A large, curved wall of text surrounds it from the ground. More ordinary street architecture like lampposts and fences are in the foreground. A text subtitle reads, “PROCESSING FORM.”

030

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Throwing down with this sweet leverless, c/o @siegarettes.bsky.social

A leverless controller with Evangelion keycaps sits on a table, plugged into a switch 2. The switch is running Cyberbots, in a Blodia v Blodia mirror training mode.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Crushed the morning run. New bests for 2026! Even better, these were done on a casual neighborhood run, not a race, not on the track, with mixed uphill and downhill segments. #optionalrunning

A results screen showing times and records for a run. It includes new PRs for 5k (27:50, down 1m 50s from the previous record) and the 2 mile (17:32, down 41s from the previous time). The 1k and 1mi times were my second best of the year, and the 400m and 1/2mi times were my third best.

030

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Top of the Eng leaderboards (this month, on the second day of the month, on a game I don’t know how many people still play)! #optionalplaying #Shiren

A leaderboard for the tower of fortune dungeon from Shiren 5. The top score is 667,835 at Lv. 34. Below reads, “Best Internet Rankings result - All: 4th Amazing - Eng: 1st King Wanderer”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Closed it out. Now I’m… in the next zone.

Shiren, Jirokuchi, and Koppa stand amidst the wreckage of Reeva’s statue. Koppa, depicted as a brightly smiling ferret, says, “We did it! Shiren! Jirokuchi! We defeated Reeva’s incarnation!”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Deranged sokoban controls here

A screenshot from Dino Crisis. A monitor displaying rows of shipping containers and a cargo hook, overlaid with cards indicating direction, hook, and release. The player must input strings of those commands as controls to an otherwise ordinary sokoban puzzle.

000

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Love this videogame choice framing.

A screenshot from Dino Crisis. Text is superimposed over a room with many glowing monitors. “What will you do? Choose the idea you believe in.

Gail’s idea: Search for clues to find Dr. Kirk.
Rick’s idea: Rescue your comrade immediately.”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Came across this example of targeted advertising while looking for a good Dino Crisis walkthrough:

A large ad banner featuring a dubious rainbow flag with "GAY TEST" positioned over it in white. Text next to the flag reads: "Am I Gay? Take this quiz to find out if you're gay or not."

Above the ad is a page header that reads "Dino Crisis Walkthrough for Playstation - Last Updated April 2020." Below are links to "Walkthrough Home | Dino Crisis UK | Forums | Products".

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Okay so I already liked this Marathon piece on the no escape website, but this zine was worth picking up just for the added textual emphasis of:

Text, in an ordinary sans-serif font, reads, "title of Iron Lord fucking twice, I grappled up to the second floor, flew over a security laser, swung around the corner and fucking" and then in more handwritten, thick, font, "KNIFED MY KILLER IN THE BACK."

040

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Played a few games with the DTLA chess club, today holding it down in a space under LACMA’s new galleries. Lost all of them, but good, close situations in each one. #optionalplaying

In an outdoor space wit a lot of gray concrete (especially overhead, which is under the gallery floor), there’s a crowd of people playing chess. Tables are set up behind a small rope line. A giant-sized lawn set is outside of the line and in the foreground.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Solid splits up a hilly park this morning. Spot the mile where it goes up about 300ft in .4mi.

Splits displayed as a bar chart.
Mile 1 9:47
Mile 2 12:36
Mile 3 9:52
Mile 4 9:41

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

It does generate good screens tho. Won a rook run last night with an "oops, all traps and landings" combo.

A final boss screen from Gambonanza. A sinister, masked figure is shown over a densely-packed chess board. Many (half?) of the tiles on the board have been turned into trap tiles.

000

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

the only Mr. Beast I recognize

An image from Kung Fu Hustle of Bruce Leung's "the Beast."

051

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

And that's a first Gambonanza win! #optionalplaying

A screenshot from the end of a Gambonanza run. Text reads, "Success!" above a list of statistics from the run and a seed number. Icons for the five rule-bending "gambits" are shown.

010

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

My dog Toph after climbing a big hill

A brown and white, patch-faced pit bull mix stands, squinting, on a roadside. A valley drops behind her, with another hill on the opposite side.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I'm Gambonanzaing. Thanks to @aetataureate.bsky.social for the chess game alert!

A screenshot from Gambonanza (2026). A miniature, 5x5 chessboard sits in the middle of a screen. There's a boss, illustrated in green, with four floating hands and a monocular face, emerging out of spikes of green, glowing light. The board has two pawns facing two rooks and two bishops, but I have a queen and bishop in reserve. The boss is named as "Hikarul the Banished."

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

It’s been a while, but I made it to the top of the tower of fortune tonight. I didn’t quite have the tools to close it back out, so I used an escape scroll. Still, I did it once and can do it again. Let’s change some fate. #optionalplaying

A screenshot from Shiren 5. At the top of a tower, with a pink and magenta sunset against mountains in the background, a golden goat statue stands. Dialogue reads, “I welcome you, son of man. It has been ages since a human has come up here with the Dice of Fate.”

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Finally got into the Cryo Archive (the Lose Everything Ship). Did two runs, lost twice, enjoyed both times.

Three Marathon runner shells pose against a digital render of the ruined Marathon spaceship. A dialog bubble for one reads, "I hope we don't lose everything." There's a label on the ship that reads, "Lose everything ship."

030

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The game also has loads of color and style, but I think people knew that already. #optionalplaying

A screenshot from Dosa Divas. Two characters hang, arms outstretched, off a food truck that is also a small mech. In the foreground, a dosa on a plate invitingly steams.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Saw this earlier, thought it was cute. Chalk!

A sign etched in a curved concrete slab, located outdoors. The official carving reads, “Palace of Fine Arts.” In yellow chalk under it, someone has written, “Techies R Trash.” This is in San Francisco.

010

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Hawk on the neighborhood walk!

A photo of a hawk in flight. There’s a scrubby pine tree in the lower right of the image and a blue sky in the background. The hawk’s wings are raised.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Did a bunch of yard work before the sun went down, then cracked into this IPA from Benny Boy. It’s got some of that west coast hop flavor, but the body and some of the ale characteristics are more Belgian-style. That makes sense, given the brewers. #alcohol

A mostly empty glass of beer next to a can. The can has the label of “Benny Boy Brewing - Friendly Persuasion - India Pale Ale - West Coast IPA.

030

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

To be fair, after that blunder, I might just fold, too.

My pawn on f7 moves to take white's queen on g6.

White plays the best available move, which is to move their king from h2 to h3, which blocks my king from advancing.

I advance my pawn on g6 to g5. White's best move is now to move their one white pawn on g2 to g4 to stop its advance and threaten my king.

Instead, they only advance their pawn to g3, threatening my pawn on h4. This means that I can advance my pawn to g4, which is checkmate because my rook on f2 has control of the rank behind white's king on h3.

030

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Absolutely stole this win

A chessboard in the endgame, with only a few pieces remaining. As black, I have two pawns and a rook. White has one pawn, a rook, and a queen.

My king is on g4. White's queen moves h8 > g7 to threaten.

I escape by moving my king to h5. The best move for white is now h2 > h3. White also has a rook on a6, but they cannot simply slide it across to h6 or my king can take. I also have an unprotected pawn on f7.

Instead, white moves queen to g6 to put my king in check. My king can't take the queen, since it's on the same rank as the rook. But my pawn on f7 can take it!

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Went to the bottle shop, picked up this can from a local brewery that I’ve never tried before. Surprised that it tastes like fresh sage! It’s not too heavy, like if you replaced the typical mild hop bitterness in a lager with sage. #alcohol

A photo of the can for Bicycle Toad, a lager from Solarc brewery, next to a poured glass of the stuff. It’s got a kind of transparent honey color in the glass.

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DonE @optional.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Beautiful finish to a Marathon run last night with friends. We hit the extraction and, all standing together, got taken out by a bolt of lightning. We had just enough time to get out of there before the bodies shut down. #optionalplaying

A screenshot from Marathon (2026). The image is largely grayed-out, with magenta streaks and pseudocode overlaying the image from top to bottom of the screen as visual effects. Plastic, robotic bodies lie on the ground. A symbol for bodily failure with a circular gauge is nearly full on the center of the screen. A small block of text reads, “matter transfer in 0.02.”

0282

DonE @optional.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

About to head out on the firecracker 10k! #optionalrunning

A photo from within a crowd of runners lined up on a clear morning in LA. We’re all standing on a closed street in Chinatown. Red banners rigged to metal signs over the street read “start.”

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