#me: forgot that All hange narrative has to be stuffed with Extra Thoughts

[prodigialis-blog1]

clings to hange. "hey"

@patchtorn​ || random cuteness? always accepting.

     –ah?

     they’re sitting on top of a low wall overlooking one of the training areas. below them, recruits are sparring, overseen by ness and his second. hange’s fiddling with a broken grip as they listen to the sounds of the training – it was abel’s, but it won’t fire right anymore. good thing it malfunctioned during training and not on an expedition, or he’d probably be titan food right about now.

     they think they can fix it, if they take it apart to see what’s interrupting the trigger system – but it also gives them a good opportunity to mess with its insides a bit. they keep wondering, every time they see levi and his reverse grip, if they can’t modify those triggers, make them easier to use no matter how you hold your blade. it’s gotta be pretty damn tough, operating it with a pinky instead of an index finger, and hange’s already modified levi’s grips to put less strain on his fingers, but it’s just an indication, isn’t it, that the whole system needs an overhaul–

     hands wrap around hange’s arm, halting that thought for the moment (or, at least, dimming it; in the back of their head they’re still pondering), and they glance up to see petra clinging to them, all bright hair and bright eyes. “heyyy, petra,” they grin, shifting over and patting the space beside them so she can sit down properly. they toss the grip slightly in front of them, then snatch it deftly out of the air. “hey, you ever wish your blades were more versatile? the trigger kind of gets in the way, right, forces you to hold it only one way? i’ve been wondering about that ever since levi joined, him and his weird reverse grip–” they grab petra’s hand, slipping her fingers into the holes in the grip. “would you change it, if you could?”

[y4s1-20192020]

A Mindful Society

A narrative approach was chosen for this phase by developing the critical argument around a story set 10 years in the future. In a hyper automated world where everything can be done almost instantaneously, technology is making us distracted and dull. Sometimes, we don’t even have to think anymore because everything can just run on automatic mode. Humans need to find ways to use external services to be more creative and focused and achieve internal equilibrium. To do things by hand, more mindfully and manually.

Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemongrass

It was Wednesday again. As I fired up the engine of my DID, its screen flashed once. SCRTNW, it announced in a slightly tinny voice. I almost forgot -- the grand release of MCU’s SCRTNW was today.

Wednesday and Saturday evenings were Zen Launderette days. Sometimes it was physically tiring, especially after a long day of tutoring. But what really put me off was the socialising. Those rookies, they didn’t even know how to make the basic cold-process soap; all they knew was melt-and-pour soap. That isn’t even considered soap making! They were only here for screen time for their popular IGTV.  

“Now everyone, I’m gonna add some lavender oil to the mixture!”

“Wait, retake that, my hair was messy!”

Oh, how fake. Zen Launderette was about the sensuality of doing laundry. How could you convey those through a screen? The fragrance of the essential oils, the warmth of the clothes being set dry, the slipperiness of the soap against the roughness of a cotton towel.

I’d joined Zen Launderette on impulse, unlike those girls. On the weekend of my thirtieth birthday, I decided I would do something I had never done in my twenties before. Something different. Something radically different. Zen Launderette was a forty-minute drive from my apartment; a little nondescript shophouse with a sign that said Zen Launderette: The Mindful One. Below it, was a thumbnail-sized QR code to their Facebook page. I had seen the place on one of my aimless walks around the other side of town. It looked curious, but I never bothered to check it out. 

On Wednesdays after work, I would grab a quick bite at SFG and head to Zen Launderette right after. SFG was the king of flash-grilled patties. Tasty in a jiffy. My order at SFG was always the same: a chicken patty rice-burger with tomatoes and pickles. It was automatic; I never made any decisions for these kinds of things.

It has been nearly ten months now; my subscription was due for renewal in slightly over two months. I wasn’t sure if I should renew the subscription. The subscription fee was hefty, and my pass only allowed me to go twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  But why do I bother myself with manual laundry? I wondered sometimes. All the other household chores were automated anyway. There was no need to sweep, mop or vacuum the floor; there was ZB for that. There was no need to wipe any windows, tables or surfaces; there was GB for that. Pre-Zen Launderette, there was no need to hang, fold or iron my laundry; there was LB for that.

Hmm...the swiftness of LB seemed appealing. It would give my arms a little break tonight. Override route. Take me home instead. I instructed my DID.

ROUTE

CONFIRMATION

REQUIRED

flashed onscreen. Shang Chi’s somersault was rudely interrupted in mid-air.

 ------------------

 I took out LB from beneath the kitchen sink and gave the button on the front a little push. The lever holding the lid sprung up, scattering grey dust upwards and into my nostrils. I stuffed two pairs of jeans, two shirts and three sets of underwear into LB. That was about all it could take. After some rummaging in the bottom drawer, I found the last packet of liquid detergent. It was the kind that came in a dozen, each one a clear polyethylene terephthalate cup in which you could see the liquid sloshing around inside. It reminded me of the instant soup stock packets that mom used whenever she needed soup base. I never used those myself – I had enough of those growing up.

4:22

4:21

4:20

My LB was v.1.3. Quite a granny by today’s standards. The latest was v.5.1, released just last week. MAGIC LAUNDRY IN THREE MINUTES AND THREE SECONDS! The ad was plastered all over YouTube, Spotify and Instagram.

0:02

0:01

0:00

I’d almost forgotten what LB clothes smelled like. It had the instant smell, one of musty warm rubber faintly masked by generic laundry detergent. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but it was nothing like the soothing smells of a fresh batch of laundry from Zen Launderette I was accustomed to. 

Oh, the eucalyptus bar I made four weeks ago would be fully cured today! It would be good for the upcoming flu season.

Oh no, Martha! I was supposed to help Martha with the aloe vera detergent liquid this week. Aloe vera was my speciality – no one could make as smooth a gel as I could. And my detergent liquid had a little sparkly sheen to it! Martha’s daughter in law would be expecting in a month and the aloe soap was meant for washing the baby’s blankets.

Ahhh eucalyptus, lavender, aloe vera, lemongrass. 

No, actually the LB smell was sickening in comparison. Somehow the laundry didn’t feel as clean. Certainly it was laundered, but it didn’t feel fresh. I couldn’t envision the joy in putting on these clothes in the morning.

 ------------------

 With the laundry done early, I had time for a couple of rounds of GOTL while binge-watching the entire season 7 of DW. I had 67 tabs open on my 42-inch, touch-wave split screen monitor and another three channels on in my head:

One more corndog left. I’ll need to drop in at Tesco to stock up on corndogs on my way home from work tomorrow.

I’ll have to wear LB smelling clothes for the next three days. Ughhhhhh.

Should I get a scarf or an AV for Jeannie’s birthday?

No, no, don’t fire you twit! It was no use anymore, that had been our last round of ammunition and we were effectively dead. I threw my hands down in frustration. The little brown patch on my left pinkie brushed against the edge of the side table. I got that scar just a week into my second month at Zen Launderette – I had been talking to Martha while stirring the lye water and the mixture splashed over the edges of the bowl . The spot was no longer painful, but the skin was still tender. I thought of the soothing cool aloe gel against the scar. Now that the game was over, I only had 66 tabs left. I looked around the room searching for something.

Zen Launderette was a forty minute drive from here. It was a little insane, I know. But if I could speed over there in twenty-five, I would still have time for two pairs of jeans, two shirts and three sets of underwear. And maybe an extra towel? It wasn’t a full load like I did on Wednesdays, but it was something nonetheless. I hesitated a little. A rare moment of indecisiveness.

Racing to my wardrobe, I grabbed the perfectly folded clothes without any plastic casing. These were the ones I had washed in LB. They were impeccably straight, with crisp fold-lines that lingered slightly when I first put them on. I used to flick the shirts a few times before putting them on in an attempt to get rid of the fold-lines. 

My favourite part of Zen Launderette was drying the clothes. They had a standalone washing machine, similar to the kind from the 1990s. When the washing machine gave a little beep, I would take out the clothes from each machine, and proceed to set the scents with a handheld dryer. Each piece of clothing needed a unique amount of heat, depending on the fabric and the scent used. The clothes had to be done in a particular order; as in wine-tasting. With the clothes that I laundered at Zen Launderette, I always made sure to place them in individual plastic cases to prevent their scents from being transferred to each other. Not for LB clothes though, they didn’t need the casing. 

In my left hand, I grabbed a stack of empty plastic cases and clambered down the stairs into the basement carpark. Just another one of those days the lift was faulty. As I gave the fuel indicator a quick glance, I steered off into the darkness of the cool night, leaving a single parking lot vacant. 

 Glossary

AV Amazon Voucher

DID Daimler Intelligent Drive

DW Doctor Who

GB Glide Bot

GOTL  Game of the Legends

LB  Laundrobot

SCRTNW  Shang-Chi: Return to New World

SFG Shacky’s Flash Grill

ZB Zipbot