<blockquote>I’m here to make you doubt
<br>
You wish I weren’t.
<br>
I hold no answers in my loaded heart.
<br>
I only sit
<br>
and wait
<br>
and wait
<br>
and wait.
<br>
<i> - from the ending of “As the Last I May Know”, copyright © 2019 by S.L. Huang</i>
</blockquote>

I was inspired by the poem at the end of this short story, which won some awards a while back. I'm not too much into reading anymore, not for any lack of trying to get back into it. Anyway, as I was saying.
<br>
I was inspired by this poem, and decided to go back to writing some of my own. Here goes... something.

For all my tries to get the prize
<br>
Of a healthy, painless life
<br>
All I got was a tangled knot
<br>
In my stomach, lined with strife.
<br>
**Time to reboot.**

`xen: Booting virtualized kernel under dom0...`
<br>
Virtual. Not real. Not exposed.
<br>
So that it doesn't hurt.
<br>
You virtualize to mitigate vulnerabilities.
<br>
In a way... So do I.
<br>
I am a `virtual void()`.
<br>
No interface, no vulnerabilities.
<br>
No interface, no point...
<br>
**Time to reboot.**

`xen: Booting virtualized kernel under dom0...`
<br>
`systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module social-firewall...`
<br>
The answer is in limitation.
<br>
Social distancing at its literal.
<br>
Allow-list: Three people. Drop all other traffic.
<br>
...
<br>
Eight months later, someone on the allow-list undermines my kernel's integrity.
<br>
*Panic.*
<br>
`CPU: 2 PID: 2 at drivers/emotion/love/uncond_love.c:483 - assert "significant_other.emotional_support != null" failed [emotion_engine]`
<br>
**Time to reboot.**

`xen: Booting virtualized kernel under dom0...`
<br>
`systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module social-firewall...`
<br>
`systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module iface-fake-emotion...`
<br>
`socialtables -t nat -A POSTROUTING --out-interface fake-emotion -j MASQUERADE`
<br>
`socialtables -A FORWARD --in-interface emotion0 -j ACCEPT`
<br>
No one comes in anymore.
<br>
...
<br>
*No one comes in anymore.*
<br>
It's getting lonelier by the minute.
<br>
*Why do I have to make these stupid fucking hacks anyway?*
<br>
**Time to reboot.**


`Booting paravirtualized kernel on bare hardware...`
<br>
`Broadcast message from person-f1a830b3df@outside-world (pts/1):`
<br>
Go find help, please. You need it.
<br>
`Broadcast message from person-1cedb817eb@outside-world (pts/1):`
<br>
You're acting really weird and you're creeping me the fuck out.
<br>
`Broadcast message from person-84dcfb24df@outside-world (pts/1):`
<br>
Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?

Oh. Right. Now I remember.
**Time to power off.**