Category Archives: Personal

Why I’m Moving to Denmark

I.

I’ve decided that it’s time to lay out all the reasons I’m moving to Denmark[1].

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Speaking out about my childhood sexual assault

Today’s post is talking about times I was sexually abused. So, yeah, fun times!

I’m doing this because I haven’t said anything about my sexual abuse, not publicly, anyway. I’m doing it because abuse thrives in silence. I’m doing it as a deconstruction of masculinity, which teaches stoic silence in the face of pain is better than admitting when you were hurt as a means to end violence – which is a technique invented by abusers to help cover up their crimes. Those are my reasons, now to what happened.

This happened when I was a young boy starting from the time I was about seven and lasting until I was big enough to tell people to fuck off, so about thirteen (I was precocious in that regard.)  I had a cousin (twelve years my senior, so he would have been nineteen when this started) who would fondle my arm and thigh while describing the times he’d shit his pants and asking me about how I shit and if and how often I had shit my pants.

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Fuck Electric Cars

Let me explain. I ride my bicycle between 4000 and 5000 miles each year. That’s not even counting my ebike, which I use for as many errands as I can, which accounts for another five hundred to six hundred miles a year.

I was reading this content-free article from “cleantechnica”.com where they assert without a shred of, y’know, proof that electric cars are better than gasoline-powered cars. Is it true that e-cars are better than gas cars in terms of energy efficiency? Honestly, I don’t know, but I also don’t care. Like the oil industry, the e-car industry is doing it’s dead-level best to obscure the pass-through pollution – the total pollution the vehicle generates from the manufacture, use, and disposal – it creates.

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To MxR Plays About Jukin Media, or Get Yourselves a Lawdog, Dudes

Dear MxR Plays,

I’m going to say something to you that I doubt you’ve heard very much. In your dispute with Jukin Media, you’re screwed.

The essence of why you’re screwed is clear. You have no idea what fair use is. Let me break it down. Fair use is when you excerpt a portion of someone’s work in a transformational manner. It’s an inherently dodgy concept, I grant, but it breaks down into four things: that your use is a parody, educational, critical, or for research. While there are considerable blurry areas, there are also lots of clear ones, too. To my eyes, you’re not near the line, guys.

Continue reading To MxR Plays About Jukin Media, or Get Yourselves a Lawdog, Dudes

Angry, Rant-y Blog Posts Activate!

I’m going to try to get back into blogging because… why not? I know I suck at it – not in the sense of what I write is poorly written but in the sense that a blog full of a dude’s angry ranting isn’t something people want to read. Yet, a writer must write, and writing is best served writing what you know.

I know angry rants. So, write on!

YouTube now thinks I’m a sexist jerk because I watch video game reviews

I’ve been sick with bronchitis the past couple of weeks – which is a growing and uncomfortable health trend of mine, that every cold turns into bronchitis – which has allowed an interesting picture into the world of video gaming and sexism.

I’ve been watching more YouTube than I should. It comes in easily digestible chunks and much of it is easy to follow. And, honestly, I don’t care if I follow it. Mainly, I watch videos about bicycling, professional wrestling, comedy, and bicycling. However, since I’m sick, I’ve been keeping track of the unfolding disaster that is Fallout 76, plus some other videos by presenters who I found amusing.

Continue reading YouTube now thinks I’m a sexist jerk because I watch video game reviews

Discomfort Grotto – a Bicycling Post!

I am working to post positive stuff! For the past year or more, I haven’t posted because I find I’m doing a ton of personal care because of the fucking news. The news is like a vile music of the spheres – it’s everywhere, unavoidable, but makes you a worse person because you feel like crap all the time. So, I’m killing the news in my life as much as I can, including trying to keep news and political talk and posts to an absolute minimum. Honestly, more unites us as Americans and humans than divides us. I’d instead focus on that.

I haven’t done a post on bicycle riding in a while, so let’s go! I also want to become better at bragging. Why? Because I’m fucking awesome!

Continue reading Discomfort Grotto – a Bicycling Post!

Don’t Stop Believing iPPV from Rockstar Pro Wrestling!

My wife and I just came back from the Rockstar Pro wrestling iPPV event “Don’t Stop Believing.” This is my thoughts on the show.

I can’t make it a proper review because this is only the second Rockstar Pro event I’ve been to. Which means that the storylines are still opaque to me. I’m not even 100% sure who’s a regular to the promotion and who they brought in for their monthly PPV. Noob I am.

The big picture: my wife and I enjoyed the wrestling. Also, seeing something live means you’re seeing it differently. We were in the front row, too, so we got a bunch of it up close and personal. At one point, I was asked to hand a wrestler a chair. I, of course, did, because why wouldn’t I?

Additionally, it wasn’t an arena filled with ten thousand people. There is an intimacy involved in small venues, as anyone who listens to live music knows. You are there. With them. With bigger shows, you’re not even a face in the crowd – you’re a smear and a susurration.  You are anonymous and faceless.  Not so here.

I say this because good wrestling up close is far, far better than highly-produced wrestling seen at a distance. That must be mentioned. I found in a small wrestling venue that the immediate impact on all my senses was more intense than I imagined it would be. The sharp harmonics when someone was slammed on the mat, the crack of chest slaps, the meaty thud when two bodies collided. The spray of sweat, wrestlers spitting blood. Sure, there was no jumbotron, no pyrotechnics, but I’m well past the point of being dazzled by gunpowder and “bigness.”

Seriously, if you like wrestling, go see a show in a small venue.

Perhaps later on, when I have a better handle on the characters and storylines, I’ll go into more detail about the events.  Right now, I do not think I would do them justice.  I would certainly like to thank Rockstar Pro and all the wrestlers for putting on a fine performance. It’s a hard, painful, dangerous profession. These men and women put their bodies on the line to give us joy and I respect the hell out of that.

Also, whenever Fulton comes out, for crying out loud, let’s start changing “blood and souls.” Respect the Star of Chaos!

My other bike: Mechashark!

I’ve given love to my fast bike, Emu, so it’s time to give some love to my slow bike, Mechashark!

It’s a 2014 TerraTrike Rambler.  I got it because, well, at the time I was nearly four hundred pounds, and there aren’t a lot of bikes that can hold a dude that big.  This is the bike that got me over the initial hump of weight loss so I could move on to faster bikes and longer rides.

Now, it’s the ride I use for more casual stuff and local errands.  I’m now a strong enough rider that this bike is useful so I’m not constantly champing at the bit, looking to go ahead of people, so it’s usually the bike I use when riding with other people!

Initially, it was named Shark, but I installed an FSA Metropolis Patterson front drive to increase the gear range:

Now, the front tooth serves both as a 28-tooth ring and a 45-tooth ring.  With the internally geared hub in back, I can spin up to about 20 miles per hour with favorable conditions – which is enough for most rides!

It also has a bike computer mount and a light mount in front.  It’s the bike I prefer to ride at night because of its stability:

Seen from the back, that’s where I put my water and groceries.  The bags hold about two plastic grocery bags worth of stuff, so I do much of our shopping on Mechashark!

The bike is also equipped with fenders for when it’s wet outside, making it my de facto all-weather bike.

While not as sexy as Emu, I’ll always have a fond spot in my heart for Mechashark because it started me on the road to cycling.  So I’m very happy to have found additional uses for the bike in my day-to-day life.