30-Degree Shift
Reality is a mass of reasons; I’m just here to map the gravity. 30-Degree Shift is a weekly publication of essays exploring the structural irony of the world through a neurodivergent lens. Whether it’s special relativity, the craft of fiction, or the sensory weight of a blue-buttercream cake, I’m looking for how light bends around our baggage.
TL;DR - My brain is a messy equation and I’m trying to solve it on the chalkboard in front of class.
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30-Degree Shift is a weekly column by William T. Torgerson
Four Hit Points and Fourteen Months
The die landed on four—exactly the health I had left.
Fourteen months of play collapsed into a single moment.
I took the shot. The monster went down.
“Roll health.”
I failed. My character lost consciousness.
At the exact same moment, my computer crashed.
You can’t pay for that kind of synergy.
Even still, it wouldn’t have been as powerful without everything that came before.
My Personal Delta
A common theme you’ll hear from me is self-awareness. Not that I’m an expert in the practice, but it seems pretty obvious that until you can recognize something when it occurs, you’re doomed to continue suffering through it. This has a myriad of comorbidities, such as the humility to admit when you’re wrong and the strength to persevere through it.
It’s hard. And that’s coming from someone who feels they have it on the easier end of the spectrum.
This is a memory about my first step into self-awareness.
Seeds Lost in Velvet
The cake smells like skinny-dipping on a cool summer night.