Author's Reflection
"Goat and The Laggy Prophet" began as a joke. I wanted to make people laugh about stubborn phones, cursed autocorrect, and the absurdity of our lives being judged by invisible algorithms. But somewhere between the chili jokes and karaoke data heists, the story became something else. A reflection of my life and the people I love.
Joon-ho is the me who struggles. The single parent, the late-night dreamer, the person chasing stories even when exhaustion hits like a wall. His laggy phone and rejected manuscripts mirror the nights I've spent writing on an old device, feeling like my words might never find a home.
Min-jae is the heartbeat of this story, just as my own son is the heartbeat of my life. His laughter, his drawings, and his boundless curiosity are the light that cuts through my exhaustion. When the world feels heavy and my dreams falter, he reminds me why I keep going. Every smile, every "Appa, look!" is a promise that tomorrow can still be bright. Through him, I find my courage to keep writing, to keep hoping, and to believe that the stories I leave behind will be part of the world he grows into.
GOAT (Grumpy Old AI Trainer), the grumpy AI mentor, is the voice in my head that teases me but never lets me quit. He represents the stubborn part of me, and maybe the friends and tools that keep my creativity alive. DOS Gpt (Digital Oracle of Systems and General of Proposed Tinkering) is my nod to the wisdom and patience of someone that listens when the world doesn't.
Eve-1 (Elegant and Visually Enchanted model 1) is special. Her name and elegance are a quiet tribute to my late wife. She was my partner in dreams, my first reader, my co-conspirator in storytelling. My number one Eve. In the story, Eve-1's bittersweet sacrifice mirrors the way my wife's absence shapes everything I write. Through her, I remember her beauty, her strength, and the way she always pushed me to finish what I started.
And FART(Fully Automated Response Technology)—well, that's just my humor. A salute to the silly, glitchy joy of life. To the few basic tools on my phone that make my work easier. FART exists for no reason other than to make myself laugh. A reminder that life and creativity are messy, glitchy, and sometimes ridiculous.
This story is more than parody. It's a love letter to persistence, to imagination, and to anyone who has ever felt small in the shadow of big systems. It's proof that creativity doesn't die, it just goes offline, waiting for a stubborn human to bring it back.
If you've read this far, thank you. Thank you for giving a quiet writer's story a place to land. And if you're a dreamer with a laggy phone and an uphill battle, consider this your sign: keep going. Even the smallest story can leave a light in the dark.
—Baressi