my journal: various subjects, opinionating, CW at times
The title explains itself.
If you're interested in the ramblings of a middle-aged man with chronic conditions who, at times, sees things a little too clearly for his own good, then read on.
Sometimes I get political, but it won't be all the time.
I don't mind comments in general but if you're going to differ with what I write, that's fine--as long as you can explain your position clearly & reasonably. Rants, shouting & general incoherence will be ignored or flagged, depending on the situation. Try to remember that not everyone else in this world holds your beliefs.
Every so often I may post art or snapshots of projects I'm working on.
If you're still interested after reading all the above, great. (I do wonder at how much time you have on your hands, though)
Thank the deity of your choice for whoever invented long-play ambient soundtracks.
When you have Meniere's or a similar condition, sometimes you can't get any kind of a break without it.
Errrgghhh...
...well, sh!t.
Think I'm coming down with a cold or something. Given the weather forecast for my area (one word: rain), it's obvious I won't get out much this week.
I'll be back when I get back.
@slowdecline48 Oh man having a cold sucks! 😞 I hope it doesn't get too bad. Warm weather colds are the worst. Feel better soon Slow and take good care of you!
@mytwistedsoul Thanks. It could be cold, or a sinus infection...I tend to get sinus infections at certain times of the year. One of my talents is growing bacteria--without even trying! 😂
@slowdecline48 Oh that sucks worse than a cold. Living in a humid place probably doesn't help. Is there something you can take to help prevent them? Like probiotics help good bacteria? *omg my phone has emojis for that* 😂
Not-so-random thought: Why is it that in the far east, hand planes all have their handles on the sides?
This occurred to me while I was bumming around on You2b this afternoon. (Gotta do something when you're stuck inside the house with a sinus infection...) To see what I mean, take a look at the following:
@slowdecline48 I never realized that they're different in other countries. Yeah I'd totally be busting my knuckles open using those 😬 Pretty cool info Slow
Thanks, I do my best.
For the rest of you, here are some examples of western-style planes:
English "razee" jack plane, approx. 18th to 19th-century tech
"continental" (European) smoothing plane, 16th to 18th-century tech.
"Bailey"-type jack plane, mid-19th century to now (& my personal favorite).
Note that all of these, like Chinese & southeast Asian planes, are built to be pushed along/on the work, away from your body. The exception is Japanese planes ("kanna"), which are like other Eastern planes except they have no handles. At all. You use them by gripping the sides of the "toe" (front end) of the plane & pulling it toward yourself. For this to succeed, the kanna's blade must be hair-flinging sharp & you must move fast since the kanna itself doesn't weigh very much...not much mass behind the blade.
So yeah, no.... It's cool to watch eastern masters do it, but if I'm gonna plane something I need a proper handle.
@slowdecline48 I prefer the last one too. I didn't know this but they actually have wood planing competitions. I mean of course - why wouldn't they lol They have competitions for everything else but I was never aware of how big it actually is!
Yeah, I saw one on You2b a while back. Don't get me wrong, it's impressive as h€ll...but I'm still not gonna buy one. 😄 Even a kanna of mid-level quality is expensive; ones with a top-grade traditional blade & iron can cost $1K or more.
That's one nice feature with Continental-style plane: German & French cabinetmakers & furniture builders usually pushed them to make a surface flat. But if pulling something feels more natural to you, a Continental plane can work fine with that handle on the toe. Just cup your other hand around the plane's heel & you can use it like a Japanese craftsman would. (You can do that with any plane, of course, but Continental ones are the best option)
Still sick but not quite as much...I'll get through this. Haven't been k!lled by any disease I've caught so far; there's little reason to worry about it now.
My current lease expires in August. Depending on what I can afford & how much time it will take to get it all done, I may just renew it for six months. Will figure it out soon enough. It all depends on what I find out there.
A few things I do know:
- Have had more than enough of living in this anthill of cinder block, siding & beige paint full of people I have no relationship with. I hate it here...been hating it for a while now. Once I leave, the place could get hit by lightning & burn down for all I care.
- I need a place of my own. Doesn't have to be a house as long as I can erect living quarters of some kind on it until I can build a proper house. It just has to be mine.
- I don't want to live in town. Jax has some nice things about it (no, really, it does!) but while I grew up a city boy, I am no urbanite now. Was out in the sticks for a while in my past...now I can't go that far but I can get outside the urban core. Which would be great...just a place to do my art, maybe some woodwork if I'm up to it, grow old & d!e there.
My health has its problems but at the same time, in certain ways I am far more capable than most city people. If an EMP ever fried our Net & cell phone towers, I'd be one of a small minority who would not panic right away. Even half-crippled, I probably have a better chance of surviving the first week of that than most of the locals under 30 years of age.
Have adopted the following as my theme song: Off the Ground
@slowdecline48 It can take the phone and the Internet. There would be a lot of unhappy people because everything is either in the cloud or there's an app for that. I put in a pellet stove and there's an app for it. I didn't get the app but it's there. Cars have so much electronics in them. So the older the car the better. I would miss my iPod though 😕 Which that's a good song! I added it to my playlist
You named one of my ideas. Seems like a storage container house is a better choice in places that can have high winds. Those containers are bulletproof steel boxes that can be welded to I-beams set in concrete...no way would that ever go anywhere. A single-wide trailer home? Fergit it. Those get destroyed all the time.
@slowdecline48 Tbh I did think about a trailer but I remembered you live down south and being in a tin can probably wouldn't be the safest thing. I've looked into storage containers myself just because I think they're cool lol and I can buy one and have it delivered for under 3 grand. You'd be safe from just about anything nature could throw at you
Everything's gone but my cough...not sure why. I may get checked to make sure I haven't caught Covid. I sure as f*** hope not...right now that's the last thing I need.
On a brighter note:
The price of silver in a year's time, as of about 25 minutes ago. If you buy any then you missed the move but right now is still a great time to get into it. A 1-oz. American Eagle can be under $40 if you're careful as to what online metals dealer you get it from. (Avoid eBay. Seriously) A silver Canadian "maple leaf" will likely go for even less. If you can afford it, do it!
[CW: my unfiltered thoughts]
What's up with that guy??
D. works for a local real estate firm. We've e-mailed each other a couple times. I was all set to see him in his office, then D. calls it off because his assistant needs to gather some more info (or so he said). Since then I haven't heard from the guy. I called & left a voicemail this morning. He should know by now which parcels I'm interested in.
I get that he's busy. For real estate in Floridastan, you have to be. But I'm as important as any other client out there. Why not more so since I'm not trying to qualify for a mortgage & can purchase a parcel outright? Is that the reason why he's slow? 😒 I don't know much about real estate firms, but I'm guessing there are incentives to getting a client to sign up for a mortgage & make payments instead of buying with cash on the barrelhead...that sweet, sweet intere$t. Especially now, when rates are up. Unless he's just an average fool & I'm expecting too much...or some combination of the foregoing factors.
I can get it now. Money is not an issue for some of the parcels listed. But I cannot buy more f**king time. No one can, not even Soros.
Either it's something about me or it's just Florida. A laid-back culture is fine when you need or want to vacate & relax, but when it comes to getting s**t done on time, good luck. *smh* From what I've heard, only Mississippi & Louisiana are worse. But they're basically part of the Third World of the US.
Maybe I'm trying to do this deal with the wrong man. The guy I'm dealing with is a realtor--he handles transactions involving houses. What I'm looking at is land, not a house. I've heard about people called "land agents"...maybe that's who I should look up instead.
The app I downloaded is keyed to D. Presumably I can change that...or should I work back from the parcel itself, see who owns it & deal directly with the owner instead? That could be risky, but if I can do that successfully it would avoid agent fees altogether. Decisions, decisions--& not enough time.
I hate it when average worthless people drag their feet. Let's get it done already, gad-d.a.m.n.
June 12th Edit: The dude finally got back to me. We should be able to meet soon...he said I'd have to qualify for "pre-approval". If he means for a loan, fergit it: I don't need a loan. I can just liquidate some assets & pay whoever I need to out of that. Hopefully he will be amicable to it. If not then I'll have to find another way...
In other unimportant news, I finally got around to sewing up holes in a few socks tonight. Got a friggin' appointment at 1130 hrs...as usual, I'm not getting enough sleep.
A few minutes ago I got news that might change things a bit...more about that later. In the meantime:
Christ & Moses in a Cadillac, I hope so...
"Still, some nights I grieved. I grieved as much at what I knew must be the fleeting nature of my present happiness as any loss, any past. We lived on some edge, if we ever lived on a rolling plain. Who knew what attack, what illness. That doubleness again. Like flying: the stillness and speed, serenity and danger..."
- Peter Heller, The Dog Stars