When I was 7 my parents took me to Sea World (it was a long time ago and I was too young to recognize the cruelty of their enclosures). My dad told them it was my birthday and they picked me to be the kid that participates in one of the shows. The whales were rebelling though (obvious why now), and they ended up canceling the show. The trainer held me back though and let me go in the back with him to their home pool.

There was a fat yellow line about 15 feet from the perimeter of the pool and I asked why. The trainer told me to take a step over the line. I did and within 2 seconds an adult male orca crested his eye above the water to look at me, just stationary in the water. It was the most potent flight or fight response in my life and I just froze. Those things weigh 5 tons and can move at 35mph and you can see their intelligence in their eyes.

That quickly ended my fascination with whales as a kid.

As I was writing it out I realized it was the latest book. 😆

Probably exists but I had the idea for a roguelike Mario Kart-like game.

The player goes through a tournament of races, getting currency both on the track and via placement and buying weapons/consumables/upgrades at a shop at the end of races. Tournaments begin showing all the details of the tracks, other racers, and environmental concerns but as you progress to get less information and the other racers get more aggressive. Some consumables/modifications can change the environment (e.g., you can get a permanent rain cloud above you to make the track wet around and behind you which would be helpful if you bought the high traction tires).

Placing in the top three wins the run, so the player needs to manage maintaining their tournament standing with taking a longer route and getting enough currency on the track (or stealing it from others through modifications/consumables).

I read somewhere once that their agent would book them at any festival that would accept them. That lead to them getting booed a lot where they didn’t match the rest of the lineup. People began to anticipate them and became a heel type character to avid concert goers.

The Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals. At one point they had a >8,000 game win streak.