Today's Wednesday. Friday I close on this beautiful buxom babe. Already have a roommate, their deposit, and their first month's rent. Monthly mortgage is about the rent I'm collecting. The neighborhood is on the up-and-up, and that's only a little bit wishful thinking. Baltimore isn't the conception of the next it thing but we're benefitting from a few promising trends. Moreover, I fucking love my city. Just didn't think I would be buying a house so soon. :) I don't have a stick of furniture yet but that's ok. Someone is moving and giving me their lightly used bed and I have three friends hovering on their neighborhoods' listservs looking for good deals. I'm giddy like a ten year old on Christmas morning. Almost there!
Dude. That is the house you're buying!? Gorgeous! And you're probably in a good spot by not being the next it thing. Sooner or later the northwest housing and rental market is going to crash and it's going to crash hard.
The insane hype has actually made it to Baltimore, albeit nowhere near the extent elsewhere. Even though the Census recently released data that Baltimore's population still hasn't bottomed out--it just hit the lowest it's been in 100 years--there are still neighborhoods seeing a lot of construction, primarily in the form of big apartment buildings holding hundreds of units. But that's more a point for the thesis that the hype is stupid, less that Baltimore needs new apartment buildings.
Agreed! That place looks amazing. Tons of character. Congrats blackbootz
Didn't get the fancy job I wanted, but things are good at the warehouse. I'm feeling confident and comfortable with my life. Midway through a few shirts, will probably post them tomorrow. Album is nearly done, recorded all day yesterday. Looks like this puppy's gonna be out by the end of the month.
Adulting like a motherfuking adult. My house is on a private street, and is one of 8 houses on the street. Last night I got four of the homeowners together to look at bids for repaving our private street, as well as putting in new drainage, and gas lines to every house. Ballpark, it looks like it will be about $5-7k per house, for the whole project. But the road will be good for the rest of our lives, and the nice road and addition of gas service to each home will raise the value of our houses. Next step is an email to all 8 homeowners, inviting them all to participate in the next meeting, where we will review more bids and put together a proposal. My plan is for the project to be done in 2018, but, if we can get everyone on the street to buy-in soon, we might even get it done this year! There is only one rental house on the street, so we shouldn't have a problem getting 7 of the 8 houses on board with the plan. And the docs everyone signed when they bought their homes explicitly states that they are responsible for their part of the street, and cooperating when maintenance is needed. Fingers crossed. Might have a plan in place by May. That would blow my mind... I thought this was going to take MONTHS...
Wow. That is downright inspiring. I hope to be as proactive a homeowner and neighbor as you.
Technically, yes. The reasons are kind of arcane and not very interesting, but basically my property line goes all the way to the middle of the street, and I am responsible for maintaining my part of the street. This, in theory, makes the neighbors all equally responsible for the upkeep and periodic repairs to the street. Practically speaking, it is a bit harder than that. It takes negotiation, and some peer pressure to get stuff done.
2:13 AM: The bakery delivery guy set the alarm and walked out the door without locking it or closing it all the way. 2:14 AM: The alarm goes off and I get a phone call. 2:23 AM: I arrive at the shop, ready to chop a motherfucker up with a machete. Not a bad response time but I could shave a minute or two off it. After that, look at the alarm codes, piece the whole thing together, make an angry call to the bakery voice mail (wonder what I said, angry and only half awake), smoke a cig and drink a soda water. Go home and try to get back to sleep while suffering the remains of a cold. Not going to be fun calling them back today, been pretty much hating on them for fucking up my orders the last two weeks. Had trouble with some street drinkers yesterday at the shop, was pretty certain that they had smashed in my window, I suppose I'm glad it was the delivery guy. Going to get coffee and breakfast now.
Bad brain day. Read a long tidder comment about the small and large scale implications of the student loan crisis and it really set me off. I'm Patriarch of my immediate family. My parents don't know how to parent my younger brothers, and continually make poor parenting decisions just from the fatigue of it all. Neither of them have anything like a retirement plan, and they've basically stated that they are pinning all their hopes on me to be able to support them when they are unable to do so. I know that the best use of my 20's at this point is to try and maximize my own potential. Maximize my ability to provide value/utility/improved quality of life/earning potential. Take care of myself well enough to survive the process, take care of my brain well enough to not hate each and every waking second. I intellectually understand that I need to be sort of more self-centered. More willing to put myself and my interests first, so that I can get to a point where I can be generous and not miss what I give away. Last year I learned that I can't loan out necessities when I can't afford to replace them. That lesson is still being learned in monthly $200 increments. Every time I pay my car loan I take a minute to reflect on the things I can and cannot do without. I reflect on who I can trust, and who I cannot. Plans have not changed. But I have a lot of acid and anger boiling in my head today. After work I'm going to get as much work measured in kilogram/meters out of my body as possible and hope that it exorcises some of the demons from my mind.
There's nothing like a somber snapshot of the state of things to start the day off on the wrong foot. That's why I aspire to a morning routine with a news diet. Lord knows I fail too much in this regard, but aspirations matter. By the way, I haven't told you this but I have copped your phrase "bad brain day." It really helps compartmentalize especially anxious self-criticism. It frames the troughs my mood passes through as temporary. Thanks for that.
You're welcome. It's a big help to me too. It allows a bad day to just be a bad day, and not a bad forever and ever. I still can't reconcile in my head how to be informed about events and not be constantly furious/defeated. The more I learn, the more I become angry at others, especially those in positions of authority who refuse to learn from history.
We got chicks last Thursday! There are six of them and today they moved out of a big rubbermaid container into a bigger box so they can spread their wings. https://wobscale.chat/_matrix/media/v1/download/wobscale.chat/LcqfnsIDmoghYWuyUboInsOn They are SO PRETTY https://wobscale.chat/_matrix/media/v1/download/wobscale.chat/dVoBGbEbkkXNIrJjTfWiZqLn
Books I've got, like, maybe 10 pages left in The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley. I agree with mk: I also waited too long to read this. After I finish it, I'm going back to War and Peace for the second part, and then... not sure yet. I'm trying only read one or two books at a time, where as my inclination is to have three or four going and jump back and forth between them. My list of books to read is ever expanding faster than I slurp off of it. Audiobooks Steph and I are halfway through Cooked by Micheal Pollan. It's interesting. At this point I suspect I'm just a fan of his, although both audiobooks of his that I've heard have landed on the reading list above. Audiobooks are great for getting the gist, but I'm terrible at noticing the details: quotes, recurring figures, remembering mentioned works.. Cooking Cooked has made me realize that there is a lot of types of cooking that I rarely turn to. I bake. I fry. I boil. I turn things in a skillet. That's mostly it. I want to learn more slow cooking. Braises and smoking. I want to learn to pickle. To make my own sauces. To cook closer to from scratch, and to do a better job of doing it seasonally. Small Stuff I've started making more of a point of checking out all the stickers and fliers stuck up downtown. There's always something interesting.
It's an interesting time for me. I'm gaining some fame over VK, the Russian social network. I've been posting comments to places, and those've been appreciated: I'm still receiving notifications about a new "like" every once in a while. Just now, someone has reposted one of my wall's posts - one of the longer, thoughtful ones - to theirs. First time my writing has been shared online. Feels good to be appreciated. I've been more in tune with myself lately. More focused on goals, more willing to put in effort to achieve them, more expressive and confident. More willing to move forward, whether to move on from someone or to get closer to something. It feels completely normal, yet it's far from what I've been like even a week before. Recognizing I've not been the best person helped me become kinder and stronger. I did something big today, though it feels perfectly normal: I complimented a girl. Someone I didn't know or have ever seen before. We were riding the same bus, opposite each other, and our eyes met a few times. Either of her irides was an emerald, no less: rich and beautiful. I told the girl as much, concisely. It feels right to say what you think, more so when it makes another person feel good. You let go of it; it being unexpressed bothers you no longer. Imparting good faith makes you a better person. There's more, but I don't think you're going to be excited to hear my ramble about personal discoveries. Have it well, Hubski. It's a great place.
What kinda things do you discuss? Genuinely curious. :)I'm gaining some fame over VK, the Russian social network. I've been posting comments to places...
Mostly linguistics. I don't have many things I'm subscribed to over there, but linguistic humor is something I can get behind. It helps that people there are genuinely curious about the subject and sometimes ask good questions and make good points. Most of them are well-meaning and sincere, too, so it's a good crowd to talk in. Used to be a part of a Marvel/MCU community. Can't remember which, can't remember why I left. Used to connect the dots for people: remind them what's what, tell them something new I learned recently. Then there's the "Recommended" page. It's a section of the feed that makes up recommended posts for me to see based on my friends and their choices ("That gal liked this piece of media? You might enjoy it, as well. Here you go"). Sometimes I reply to clarify things I know something about. Sometimes I cheer people up. Sometimes I reproach Russians for being so damn hypocritical and full of themselves, waiting for their problems to be solved 'cause shit's hard. Depends on the draw every time.
Starting to have some serious trouble keeping everything straight. Too many people coming to me with too many things to validate, verify, or otherwise find answers to. Because that is one thing I'm good at, if I don't have an answer on-hand, I'm good at getting it in a pretty quick time. Even if it's not something that's in my field. Outlook tasks are really starting to pile on... Outside of work, same exact thing. Between running, working out, volunteering, moving, seeing folks, it's getting to be a lot. I have a whiteboard calendar now, and that's good, but things are still falling through. Example: Have a sticky note with 5ish things to do today outside of work/during work but unrelated. Eeeeeeeeeeee.
Competence breeds stress, so play dumb sometimes.
Well, I just made a call for Baker Lake and left a message...hopefully I'll get in. Have to make a call tomorrow for Merlin Meadows... If that works out, I'll be in Banff from July 19th through the 21st or 22nd. Edit: oyster, got the sites (fuck yeah)! I'm also going to have 21st and 22nd, any recommendations? I might extend the backpacking trip to the 21st but definitely want to do a "normal" site somewhere, or right at the lodge at Lake Louise, on the 22nd before heading back to the state.
Kind of figured that it would be crazy in the summer. Are you going to be around?
Living that job-free independant life is getting harder with the bank account dwindling. (thankfully, airBNB season is coming to save me a little). Last push until September, working on various side-project but if nothing gives, i'll start looking at some part-time gigs. Otherwise, i'll look like a lazy person doing nothing for 2 years on my CV, and it's honestly getting a little frustrating how may projects have basically been stuck on the same level for a while. I think I'm just not working hard enough, but motivation has been lacking lately. Got to put some systems in place to be more productive.
Work Ugh! Movies Watched the remake of The Magnificent 7 last night. The first half of the movie, while not fantastic, was pretty okay. The second half though, the whole battle in the city, was not good. It was basically violence for violence's sake and was not visually compelling like Fury Road or Dredd. To make matters worse, while the first half of the film was fun, there wasn't much there to attach you to the characters, so when shit finally does hit the fan you're not emotionally invested in their well being. It honestly makes me wonder why they even felt like making the movie in the first place. That said, I loved Vincent D'Onofrio's character for being a burly mountain man with anything but a burly mountain man voice. So, props for that. Cars When the Sixth Gen Camaro came out, I wasn't really impressed with their styling design. It really felt like an update on the Fifth Gen's revision. Now that it's been out for a while and I've seen more and more of them on the road, I've changed my mind. They look good. Friends I don't know if I said this previously, but another one of my friends finally quit their shitty job and is working for the county's Job and Family Services office now. So excited for them. They're gonna kick ass.
I am so fucked in the head about cars right now that I'm actively considering a Gen6 Camaro. I am also actively considering a 996. That the stereotypes of both drivers are anathema to me, I find myself more disquieted by this turn of events than I should be.
Honestly? I can easily see you driving a Camaro in the sense that there aren't a lot of stereotypes around them anymore. They, along with Mustangs, are like the blank template for cheap performance car in much the way a Civic is a car or an F-150 is a truck. Besides the usual criticisms you'll hear for Camaros and some complaints about visibility, I haven't heard anything too bad about this generation. You might want to give it a test drive. You never know. The 996 though? I hear the upkeep on them isn't a pain like it used to be, but they're still not cheap, and I can imagine you wouldn't like that after a while. Know what European car brand I could see you driving though? Jaguar. Every Jaguar owner I ever met has a hint of old school "punk" about them. You strike me as the kind of guy that rocked denim, patches, and Docs in high school.
It seems like the last Pubski was a couple of days ago! Let me look back through the mists of time and see what I've gotten up to... Not a whole lot, really. Working down at the sister's house - underfloor pipes are now fully down. There's not really anything to do until the floors go down, so the old man put me out the back spraying algae-killer on the walls and digging moss off the pavement. It was a lovely sunny day and I was happy to be outside. I was working on Saturday and Sunday night in the pub (bank holiday weekend on account of Easter, so a lot busier on Sunday night than usual). Everything was fine until the suggestion came up to head next door (to the hotel) for a quick after work beer, but in the end we couldn't get in, so we returned to the empty pub and had hours of conversation over a rake of beer, then upstairs to the boss-man's apartment for more. Up on the roof doing impromptu 'acting' sessions, and then he cooked us some breakfast. I was destroyed; didn't leave until half-ten in the morning. Then I went to a local Easter egg hunt event and spent a few hours managing the kids going on the bouncing castle, whilst dreaming of going home and falling asleep. Loooong day. In a few hours I'm going out west to speak to some younglings about my walk. Dreading it; not very practiced with public speaking and not well prepared (I'm kind of going with a general list of stuff I want to cover rather than a stuffy monologue). So we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow helping the old man unload a container of pipe and then heading off to the pub. It's good to be busy, anyway.
I have personally signed five incredible photographs of our historic and massive inauguration. I’d love to send you one, kleinbl00. Please just contribute $3 to be automatically entered for your chance to WIN a piece of history. No one will forget the historic 2016 election -- a time when our heroic citizens rose up to take our country back. I am deeply honored and humbled to sign this terrific photograph in celebration of the forgotten men and women who will be forgotten no more. And you could own this piece of history forever, kleinbl00. Please just contribute $3 to be automatically entered for your chance to WIN a piece of history commemorating our historic inauguration. Thank you, trumpsignatureheadshot.jpg Donald J. Trump President of the United States I'm wondering if I'm one of the least alarmed liberals I know because I'm the only liberal I know on Donald Trump's mailing list. It's really something to behold - Didja see him calling Trump voters "heroic citizens" as if they stormed the beaches at Normandy or some shit, all for a three fuckin' dollar sweepstakes entry? And I guess it's working - didn't he raise something like $70m for his re-election campaign? This is what he sends his supporters - this is what comes out of Trump HQ. Bigly winning heroic citizens. Syria? Dialtone. North Korea? Dialtone. I think I got an email or two about Gorsuch but I mean they sent out more Easter shit than Cadbury, probably because it was a party. People keep making comparisons to Mussolini - I think he's more like Ron Popeil in a bad mood. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Uploaded a pre-score mix of the film so that's done until the composer resurfaces. Had a rippin' yoga session. Tore the overgrown cotoneaster out from the walkway, as well as mowing, overseeding and fertilizing three lawns just before the rain came. That means I'm writing again for the first time in like a year and going over this book I think it might not be a stank-ass piece of shit which is a rare attitude for me to have. And now I shall get back to that.kleinbl00,
i'm on the mailing list but that's bc i tried to do one of those protests where you reserve a seat to a rally at a university and then not show up. it's almost worth it for the absurdity of the emails.
Work Week and a half left of classes, then a week we call "dead week" around here, and then finals week. The home stretch. We're building mapping software in my CS class for the final project, which is pretty neat. Uses OpenStreetMap XML data and stuff. Playful work Rockets! More rockets! Rockets all around! also there's an election tomorrow for leadership in that club so please vote for me in your heads Coffee Sermon from Verve Coffee Roasters. MmmmmmMMmmmMmmmmm. Life Feeling good. Tired, but hanging in there. Visiting my girlfriend and other close friends in New England in less than 50 days! It's sunny outside. Maybe I'll take a walk later.
OpenStreetMap is my jam. I'm curious to see what you come up with when it's done. If you're looking for a fun way to contribute, check out the app StreetComplete. It lets you do little QA tasks just while you walk around your town.
I've been using italics for headers since #thesundaypaper days. but bold is cool too :)
Anyone lose a dog? A brown dog was running westbound with evident joy on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail this morning. I assumed it was with the woman and leashed white dog, but soon encountered some concerned dog walkers wondering about the loose dog.
I signed up to the gym. Bought some new shorts for it. Induction session is tomorrow evening. Looking forward to getting my health back on track (too sedentary). Work is going well. In late September I'm going to go to the west coast of North America. If anyone is free at that time and in the general area it would be so awesome to meet up.
Na, man, it's perfectly reasonable for you to break up with someone if they're not putting in the same level of commitment. Within reason, obviously. If you bust your arse to make time and she doesn't, there's a mismatch of priorities that won't get any better. Plus it's the principle of the thing - that they don't think it's a big deal is often more of a big deal than the thing itself.
I feel consistently on the verge of collapse. I think trying to deal with feeling is probably what my definition of adulthood is for awhile. On my head is the relationship between my ADHD and depression- at least, I'm beginning to realize that there is a relationship between my careless moments of ADHD causing a lot of anxiety and the ensuing depression caused by the looming inevitability of fuck ups. Does anyone want to hear my epic fail of a virginity story? I told it at a storytelling show: I have complex thoughts about how I feel about how it went. The problem is that I was invited to tell this story after the producers heard the one time I told it amazingly, with a highly reactive crowd. This crowd was so lukewarm in comparison. The idealized version in my head will always have precedence, I guess.