I've been trying to figure out precisely what I don't like about KRZ's writing so I can properly communicate it. "lack of cleverness" is pretty close but I guess it's also the fact that it's like, the pastoral/quiet imagery of it is offputting to me since I had to live like that for large chunks of my childhood and I hated it
my deep lore is that when I had to live in muskoka every summer without internet I would download wikipedia articles using the free wifi at the laundromat, then spend the rest of the week reading them until I got to go the next time. it fucking sucked to go without stimulation for so long. it got a bit better after I started working 40-60 hour weeks in the local kitchen but I still hated the quiet nights and overwhelming lack of people.
@suricrasia in a sense i can really relate - the time frame of that 486 was while we were in a really tiny rural town, and by then i was already accostumed to busy urban places with everything at our reach. it was a really bad time for me but one that in retrospect it made me develop a lot of survival skills
@mavica_again yeah there's definitely something about living with no internet while being a techie that gives you an appreciation for offline-aware software features. it would suck even harder these days because it seems like most web developers have forgotten that some people don't have internet 24/7—or they simply don't care