• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 20:26
CEST 02:26
KST 09:26
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon8[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent10Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview12[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway13
Community News
SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia3Weekly Cups (Sept 1-7): MaxPax rebounds & Clem saga continues23LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments3Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?39Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6
StarCraft 2
General
What happened to Singapore/Brazil servers? SC4ALL: A North American StarCraft LAN Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time
Tourneys
SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia LANified! 37: Groundswell, BYOC LAN, Nov 28-30 2025 RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 490 Masters of Midnight Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast
Brood War
General
ASL20 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ alas... i aint gon' lie to u bruh... BW General Discussion [ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro16 Group B Small VOD Thread 2.0 [ASL20] Ro16 Group A [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread The PlayStation 5 General RTS Discussion Thread Iron Harvest: 1920+ Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Games Industry And ATVI UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s)
TL Community
BarCraft in Tokyo Japan for ASL Season5 Final The Automated Ban List
Blogs
The Personality of a Spender…
TrAiDoS
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1297 users

Cardboard Orange Lights

Blogs > Shiverfish
Post a Reply
Shiverfish
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Canada95 Posts
May 15 2011 21:59 GMT
#1
Here’s a sort of short story I wrote. It becomes rather disconnected later on, and I had no idea where I was going with it. No secret that Mogi is pretty much me, but I thought it would be easier to write it as not me.
***

Even closing his eyes was too much effort. Mogi’s eyelids would slowly slide apart to reveal the blurry yellow light overhead. His vision was unfocused, but there was nothing to see. He couldn’t really see anything without his glasses anyways. Mogi lay on his back on the wooden floor of the empty room, his head propped on his hands. It would have been more comfortable in darkness. He was grateful for the makeshift lamp cover shielding the light bulb, preventing the burning luminescence from searing his retinas. He had accidently shattered the original ceramic lampshade months ago, and in its place affixed a cardboard cereal box with a hole punched in the middle. Mogi let his body relax, and sleepiness set in.

It was a sunny day, the sky a vivid blue. Such weather was a rarity, and Mogi felt obligated to go and appreciate the short-lived luxury. He stepped outside, pausing at his doorstep. People were enjoying themselves, running, playing, socializing and laughing. Mogi wanted to share in this exuberance and vitality, and approached a group of familiar looking faces. Their eyes turned on him as he walked up to the circle, then their gazes fell back to the center. He put on a smile to express his friendliness. Mogi stood for some time and found that he had absolutely no interest in their topic of conversation. He remained and suffered politely until an opportunity presented itself and drifted away from the crowd.

Mogi stood off by himself, glanced around, and found that everyone seemed to be engaged in something. He decided to give himself the appearance of purpose, and started walking. Mogi saw someone else standing alone on a bridge, looking to be in the same position he had just been in. Mogi made no attempt to connect with this stranger he was very sure was someone he could relate to. Mogi’s legs were on autopilot with no intention of slowing down as he carried past the solitary soul. They shared a mutual understanding of that same attitude, one which precluded them from the burden of conversation. Once he walked far enough away, Mogi glanced back at the stranger before moving on.

Mogi wandered near another circle of friends. The group opened up and warmly welcomed him in, just by virtue of being from the same local area. Mogi attached himself to the group for a while, grateful to be acknowledged, and content to observe quietly as the flow of conversation swept around him. While it felt this club truly accepted and respected him, Mogi was not able to reciprocate the camaraderie. Eventually the crew decided to relocate to another site. Mogi considered the invitation to come along, but was hesitant to make the sacrifice of time and energy, and said goodbye. He longed for some kind of fulfillment he was unable to sense from this crowd.

Mogi wondered whether he could ever find company in which he felt truly comfortable. He certainly had deeper personal connections with certain people, but circumstances dictated that such encounters were short lived. Few people appreciated his way of thinking, and matters that weighed the heaviest in his mind were seldom appropriate to be shared.

As Mogi walked along, he admired the greenness of the grass, the sway of the leaves, and the wind blowing through his hair. Knowing the fleeting temporariness of the natural sensations pressured him to appreciate everything all the more. Several hours passed, and Mogi found that his legs had taken him back to the door to his room. He did not want to go back inside yet, but had nothing left to do outside. He stepped inside and lay down on the floor.

More time passed and the sky turned dark. Mogi sat up off the floor and gazed through the window, seeing the white moon glow through the clouds. He stepped outside once again where the dark night landscape beckoned. The streets were vacant, cold and quiet. Once again, he felt obligated to take in the twilight scenery under the mystical lunar illumination. This time Mogi felt immensely more at ease and relaxed, with no other people to confront. The streets belonged to him alone. There was no one around to judge or care about what he did. Even those he passed by would be unable to see him as anything more than a faceless shape.

He always ended up lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. The light bulb’s orange glaze peaked out from behind the cardboard. Mogi wrestled with unfulfillment and resentment, emotions that never ceased to plague him. Being unable to deduce the source of his troubles only maddened his grief. He did not need to stare out into the starry night sky to be reminded of his insignificance in the universe. Yes, in the big scheme he was small negligible speck, but this speck was the only thing he had any control over.

Mogi’s goals in life were simple; or, at least he thought they were. To get rich, fall in love, have the love reciprocated, and die painlessly were what he wanted. He would gladly forfeit all of them in exchange for the last one only. He was working towards the first one which was all he could do. Many of his closest friends would be starting their working careers very shortly, but Mogi still had some more time to go before reaching that stage. He knew his happiness was heavily influenced by the relative success to those around him, and it naturally came to be that those around him were successful people. Mogi’s pride and confidence convinced him he should be emerging at the top of the fray. His primary motivation was spite, to crush those who challenged his assertion of success. At this stage of the game, score was measured in dollars and Mogi was steadily falling behind. The power hungry egoist was wagering that his chosen path would take him to the top in the long run.

Everything else that detracted from his goals were trivial. Yet those goals did not consume one hundred percent of his time, and Mogi was left with copious amounts of idle emptiness. Time left to tend to unavoidably trivial matters. Obsessed with painting the big picture, he could barely stand to confront the minor challenges of everyday life. How could he tackle the large issues? He couldn’t, and so he resigned himself to writing angst riddled blog entries that others might find meaningful. Mogi was reminded of the loner standing on the bridge, and noted that sometimes reaching out to make connections was easier if they remained faceless.

*NOTES*
The title comes from a funny personal story. One day, I was putting on a shirt and lifted my arms up to thread them through the sleeves. I unknowingly reached over the ceramic lampshade and brought the dish crashing down as I lowered my arms. The lamp shade shattered into pieces on top of my foot, but luckily no cuts were suffered. Now the light bulbs were too bright when I looked in the ceiling’s direction. Being the lazy but resourceful bum I am, I got the idea to stick a flattened cereal box in the shade’s place. I poked a hole through the middle of the cardboard and twisted the cover into place. It’s not quite translucent enough, but it does the trick, and is still there now. During my daily exercise routine as lie on my back, I stare blankly at the cardboard orange lights on the ceiling as I catch my breath.


**
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 9h 34m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 152
JuggernautJason94
ProTech71
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 457
LaStScan 105
Dewaltoss 87
ZZZero.O 33
sSak 31
Dota 2
The International113920
Gorgc10985
PGG 33
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K509
flusha195
Super Smash Bros
Liquid`Ken4
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu500
Other Games
summit1g4359
Grubby3288
fl0m632
shahzam174
C9.Mang0173
SortOf136
PPMD46
XaKoH 35
ViBE28
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1719
BasetradeTV25
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta20
• sitaska18
• Reevou 7
• RyuSc2 4
• Kozan
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki13
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1360
• Ler71
League of Legends
• Doublelift3220
Other Games
• Scarra1483
• imaqtpie1062
• Shiphtur187
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
9h 34m
Classic vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs Maru
Online Event
11h 34m
Kung Fu Cup
11h 34m
BSL Team Wars
18h 34m
RSL Revival
1d 9h
Maestros of the Game
1d 13h
ShoWTimE vs Classic
Clem vs herO
Serral vs Bunny
Reynor vs Zoun
Cosmonarchy
1d 15h
Bonyth vs Dewalt
[BSL 2025] Weekly
1d 17h
RSL Revival
2 days
Maestros of the Game
2 days
[ Show More ]
BSL Team Wars
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Snow vs Sharp
Jaedong vs Mini
Wardi Open
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Light vs Speed
Larva vs Soma
LiuLi Cup
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Copa Latinoamericana 4
SEL Season 2 Championship
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1

Upcoming

2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL Polish World Championship 2025
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
EC S1
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.