Life in Venezuela
Venezuela Beyond Thunderdome
The Venezuelan blackout saga is far from over, it’s going to be one of those long story arcs from the looks of it. Most of the country is now suffering through a very strict “Load Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The first year
Today marks the first year anniversary of our mother’s passing. I’m still trying to grasp my head around the fact that a whole year has come and gone; our lives haven’t been the same without Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Beyond the blackout
And thus here we stand, two weeks after Venezuela went through the worst blackout in its history. We still do not have an official and formal explanation of what happened; Maduro’s regime has adhered to Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Pitch Black
There really isn’t a dull moment in Venezuela; in my previous post I mentioned an unsustainable “Snapshotted reality” and how everything seemed to be stuck and unable to move forward. I’ve also mentioned in the Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Stuck in a moment
Note: This post was meant to go online before the two long blackouts that took place in Venezuela, so with that in mind I suppose that it didn’t aged well lmao. March of 2019 is Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The trick is to keep breathing
Venezuela has been going through a bizarre and excruciatingly long “calm before the storm” period all throughout February. All of the actors (be it internal or external) have continued to move their pieces in the Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Veiled in Uncertainty and Optimism
This is a follow-up to my previous post, Antipyretic. The past weeks have been quite interesting in Venezuela, a new game is now being played and the ultimate prize is the country itself. There’s an Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Antipyretic
The past couple of days have been quite tumultuous around these lands. Usually, Venezuela doesn’t wake up from its Christmas slumber until the 15th of January—but man, we really went into overdrive this time around. Read more…
Life in Venezuela
2019, the year of—what?
Aw yeah boys and girls, 2019 is the year were the Venezuelan government turns the tide. This is going to be the year of our definitive economic recovery! Our Worker-President, Driver of Victories, and Son Read more…
Sword of the Nation
A Sign of Zeta: Sword of the Nation
Here we go, we’re now in 2019 and let me tell ya—I feel fine. I’m actually confident that this will be a bright year. Sure, this country’s ongoing disaster is showing no signs of slowing Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
2018: The longest year
And thus 2018 comes to an end. Without a doubt, this was the longest and most complex year of my life. I lost my mother and my life was turned upside down, everything just fell Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Christmas in Monochrome
Here we are, December at last! Deck the halls with boughs of holly, t’is the season to be jolly; I wish I could say that without sarcasm. I really wish from the bottom of my Read more…
Life in Venezuela
On Passports and Apostilles
“If you truly wish to make someone suffer then put them through the torture of obtaining any document at a Venezuelan public office.” —An acquaintance. Imagine for a moment that you’re the Revolutionary, Bolivarian, Anti-imperialist, Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Panem et Circenses MMXVIII
Music for the Masses Oh yeah! It’s that time of the year again! The office of the Mayor of Caracas has covered all corners of the Libertador Bolivarian Municipality in joyous celebration. Get your dance Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Hyperinflation: Year One
Venezuela might as well be a synonym of inflation and/or disaster. Inflation has been a long-standing problem that predates my birth. However, officially speaking, this October marked our first official year of hyperinflation—and boy let Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The state of Venezuela’s Internet
It’s no secret that every aspect of Venezuela’s infrastructure is in a dire state. Our Internet network is no exception. In fact, it is a perfect reflection of the state of this country: held together Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The Sixth month
Six months. It has been six whole months since the worst day of our lives took place, the tragic day when we lost the most precious and pure thing in our lives—our mom. It only Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
Vidya and me
Ah, video games, an ever-stable plateau in my otherwise turbulent and unstable life. It was through them that I was able to learn the majority of the broken English that I wield today (along with Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Venezuela™ Now with five fewer zeroes!
Boy oh boy! I’m not kidding when I say that there is never a dull moment in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. These past couple weeks have been quite the nonstop wild ride: A new Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
Raison d’être, Humor, and Friends
Life is complicated, it is coalesced randomness in its purest and most distilled form, it is both fair and unfair at the same time; a conciliation of warring forces and often uncontrollable circumstances that when Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Growing up in Revolution
We’re approaching the twentieth anniversary of the rise to power of the Bolivarian Revolution. Twenty years, something that’s easy to say, but those words convey a heavy toll on every Venezuelan. I can’t believe two Read more…
Video Games
World of Warcraft: Legion wrap up
World of Warcraft, despite its flaws, dubious modern “casualization” design choices, and aging gameplay is still the flagship MMO in the market. Sure, the MMORPG genre as a whole has been going through a twilight Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Dude, just axe more zeroes lmao
wew lad, just wew There’s never a dull moment in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; I was trying to get some sleep after being awake for almost 24 hours (hello insomnia my old friend) and Read more…
Life in Venezuela
What remains of us
Update: There is now a narration of this article courtesy of Finnigan Morris. Check it out below. Venezuela, that little place in South America that once upon a time was a shining diamond in the region, Read more…
Life in Venezuela
A Nation of Millionaires…but not really
We finally did it lads, at last, we’re all millionaires in Venezuela! We got so much money that we deal and trade in millions like its pocket change; one slide of your debit card into Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The Revolution & the Cult of Personality
During these two long, drawn out, and exhausting decades of “Revolution” in Venezuela I’ve been witness to the birth of not just this asphyxiating and draconian Socialist regime—sold to us as “XXI Century Socialism”, but Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The weight of it all
This past month has been quite taxing for me, both physically and mentally. From bureaucracy, depression, a little bit of anxiety with regards to the whole panorama, some personal regrets of my own, other personal Read more…
Video Games
Ragnarok Online: A lookback
Once upon a time, before World of Warcraft became the King of Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, the genre dared to offer unique experiences and gameplay mechanics despite the technical limitations of the time. Games Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The first month
It has been one month since my mother passed away, I still can’t believe it’s been a month already, time is certainly fleeting; while I’m glad she’s finally resting in Heaven after three long torturous Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The status quo, the opposition, and the stalemate fallacy
There is an overall sense of malaise permeating this country; we know it’s there, we know what’s causing it, but we can’t do anything about it. After the 2017 protests were over we’ve collectively resigned Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
On Death
I don’t know how to begin writing this, I’m also writing this as I suffer through chickenpox. March 2018 was the most complex month for my mother’s health, it was also her last. Over the Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Longing for Normalcy
I’ve never had a ‘normal’ life—far from it rather. Back when I lived with my Father his family despised me, my mother, and eventually my brother for the unforgivable sin of existing; I was scorned Read more…
General
A plea for help
This post is long overdue, I’m running out of options here and I would be lying if I said I don’t feel desperate and powerless—more often than before. My mother is a Doctor with an Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The C Word
Life is the ultimate rng game, its chaotic, random, unpredictable. You don’t get to choose your starting stats, your passives, character sliders, and racial bonuses; the best you can do is make up with what Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The Media & the mutilated freedom of speech in Venezuela
I remember, twenty-something years ago, back when I was a but a mere child fascinated with shows such as Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, Spellbinder, and many other superheroes and sci-fi shenanigans; happily enjoying the wonders Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Cryptocurrencies in Venezuela: A buoy in the sea of hyperinflation
The Bolivar is dead, and everyone knows it What little value it still retained evaporated throughout 2017, a currency that once was worth more than the United States Dollar is now not even worth Read more…
Video Games
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy – The foundation of a future that never was
I still remember it as if it was yesterday, it was a few months into my Jedi Outcast adventure when my clanmates told me some exciting news. “They’re making Jedi Knight Three!” They said. “Holy Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
2017: wew lad
w e w l a d I did it, I survived through another year in this glorious Socialist Revolution. 2017, Anno Domini MMXVII, Twenty Seventeen, Two Thousand Seventeen, Heisei 29—whatever you prefer to call it, Read more…
Video Games
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, an elegant video game…for a more civilized age
August 2002 The Attack of the Clones craze was still latent on the environment, I was gifted a burned copy of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. I loaded the disc into my brand-new desktop computer Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Paying for goods and services in Venezuela without paper cash amidst hyperinflation
It is now well-known that Venezuela is currently sliding through a hyperinflationary maelstrom from which there is no easy way out. The banknotes that were introduced in 2007 are now beyond worthless; they’ve become nothing Read more…
Video Games
Destiny 2: an exercise in— [DLC 1 Required to view the rest of the title]
I must confess that when I first read about Destiny back in 2013, I was entranced—and quite thrilled—by its ominous and grandiose presentation. Bungie’s first post-Halo game got me hooked with its post-collapse futuristic setting, Read more…
Internet & Shitposting
#SwapACommie – The first month
Welcome to the first #SwapACommie update. Before we delve into the subject matter of this article I would like to thank each and every one of you for your heartwarming support, words cannot express how Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The Medicine Situation in Venezuela
Venezuela is the country with the biggest proven oil reserves in the world, this is a fact that our Government loves to remind us at least once per day in one way or another, it Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Wages and Salaries in Venezuela Surviving the Kobayashi Maru of Hyperinflation
Good evening, and welcome to the first post in the “Life in Venezuela” series — let me begin this series by addressing the elephant in the room: Our now miserly salaries and how they fare Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Venezuela – What we could’ve been
Once upon a time, a there was a country that lived under the subjugating boot of the Spanish Crown, this small country had but a simple dream: to be free from the shackles of those Read more…