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Still on Facebook, far too often, checking Marketplace for a very few pieces of furniture that will complete my apartment.
And I end up on their videos. Treasure videos, because sometimes I look at the ones where they're looking for gold in the outback or digging up giant quartz crystals in the Mt. Blanc, Alabama and Mohawk Valley.
There's a lot of good stuff to be found.
The problem, I'm guessing, is there's just not enough of this going on, and so a whole pile of Tik-Tokkers have gotten in on the trend, making increasingly outlandish videos, some of which I watch, because, well, I just have to...
This girl is great, Asian, I'm guessing somewhere in China, she wades into the stream, looking for clams, when she finds one opening it to find no end to preposterous treasures. The happy face tattooed on her middle finger suggests some cultural alliances...
Of course the green heart shaped diamonds weren't enough, other clams gave were filled with pink heart shaped diamonds, brilliant blue diamonds, green pearls, blue marbles or bath beads, I mean, if you ever wondered where Dollorama got it's craft supplies I think I've figured it out...
These can become addictive, with the mental consequences somewhat akin to the physical consequences of a diet of only McDonalds.
I mean, there are metal detectorists that have no idea how to use a metal detector, people hauling up - what if were real - 1000lb gold bricks and vases with one hand, there are the "Cross-Cultural" vocalizations like "Wow" and "Oh My God" and "200 Kilograms" (as he's lifting it out with the claw of a hammer), the heavy breathing, the breaking open of a 200 lb gold nugget only to find that it's in fact a giant sapphire, giant clams filled with colored pearls that have already had the holes drilled...
And given the dispersal of the videos, there are content farms from Russia to Asia and Africa, and, given the numbers of views (some in the millions) these are clearly where the real treasures are.
I find this curious, my own tastes, there are perfectly real videos of people digging up Smokey Quartz points on Mount Blanc, gwindels, as well as on Pikes Peak and in Alabama, but they have the merest fraction of views, the real treasure lies in the generating of mindless content, monetizing it, dragging out the length of the video for "maximum engagement", not a "get to the point mentality", or "this is how / where we do it and what we find", it's appealing to an innate deep seated desire to find treasure and become rich beyond our wildest dreams.
Anyways, I had to share, my tastes are seriously being dumbed down by the internet and I'm greatly not getting out and digging up more treasures this summer. Although, looking around the apartment at all the rocks and I'm realizing I've dug up quit enough...for the moment at least.
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Coffee, the usual at John Ward. A girl comes into the café, nondescript in every aspect, clothes, face, mid-30's I'd guess, if I had to. She coughs and begins:
"Can I have you're attention please? My name is ...... and I'm here to tell you that there is going to be a nuclear armageddon in the next few days, and the world is going to be made anew...
On November 28th all those who've repented and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal saviour will ascend directly to heaven. It will be painless and there's nothing to fear.
I thank you for your time."
And then she's off, out the door, doubtless spreading the word to all the other cafe's and restaurants on Baker.
The café, a few eyebrows, otherwise nothing. Kind of her to give fair warning, but I didn't get the feeling anyone was taking her too seriously.
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Was I out last year? I don't remember.
This year, there are a hundred diversions and parties around town. It's make a choice. I settle on a Dosed Party for Friday Night, Saturday night to recover.
Take your meds, head out.
The evening, fantastic, a giant sub-basement, 2 DJ's, stilt-walkers with nothing on, "light spinners" (flames being forbidden indoors), naked girls writhing on beds, in cages on the dancefloor, they're investment in this is spectacular, meet people, chat...
The crowd, well, the theme is "Circus Freaks" but nobody got the memo, I got the memo but have no costume or inspiration and so merely put on a waistcoat and trousers, I'll be a "suit", this terrifies the men and draws in the girls...
One woman, older, full BDSM regalia, leather corset, mask, boots, stocking, she's spread in a chair, surveying the crowd...
It's a good look. There are lots of good looks here. And the mask, a smart touch, keep your party persona separate from your public persona, it is a small town.
The younger girls, a few touching on the same theme, unmasked, they don't care if they're recognized, it's good advertising.
I'm old school, from the age of discretion. I should have a mask.
Meet people, Jeanine, Jess, Akacia, I don't know why I'm getting names as I'll never put them to faces, the faces, they're all melting with the mushrooms anyways...
The night passes. It's an extraordinary party, but this town, it's got that going on once a month at least and the problem becomes rationing one's indulgences.
Saturday, recover, it takes a full bottle of Vodka to bring me down. And while out getting the second half on Saturday evening there are again revelers out, the streets are full, the bars are packed, and how can anyone do this two nights in a row? Probably easier without the Vodka. But it get's expensive, this.
Tuesday, a screening of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", I go, no desire to see it (again!!!), but I'm curious as to the crowd.
Of course they don't disappoint. They've a contest for all they people who dressed up, in character, and they've pulled them onto the stage. There's one, a bit younger than me perhaps, he's kind of sheepish, he's been dragged up and is winning the applause, his costume - it is presumed - is that of "Brad", only - I've seen him around, this is how he dresses every day of the week, probably he's never seen this movie, and now, he's on stage, the audience is going wild with the voting, they've cottoned on to the joke, and he's growing more and more sheepish, in the end he wins second prize.
Now, time to recover and get back at my projects...
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And being prompted by my brother to play chess online I accept the offer and promptly lose 3 games. Simultaneously.
Which rather wounds my pride, although to be fair I haven't particularly been paying attention.
But it annoys me to the extent that I begin working on my game.
Now, my game, it's a combination of mistakes, blunders, errors, all of them, taken together and shaken up, and if ever I've won a game it's been a result of hard searching for a less worthy opponent.
Time to change that. I've got to up my ante.
So I play quick games vs the computer, my lightening quick moves showing me error after error...and there are a lot of errors.
Games, it would seem, are the long way around to learning this. I mean, it takes 10 minutes a game only to realize Blunder one, two, three in that I'm going to lose, and this is not boosting my ego. But it does explain the losses.
So I'm onto a different learning tack - that of the Chess Puzzles.
And this has vastly improved my game (not to good, just better).
I'll explain it like this. IN a game you're invested in the narrative, you're building up a defense, offensive strategy, and it frequently blinds you to what's going on everywhere else on the board. Whereas the puzzles, you don't have any investment, you simply have to see the board for what it is, and make the best move.
That is not always apparent, and there's been a couple of the puzzles where I would probably contest the will of the judges, but my contesting this is a little like ... well, I know there are many better players, and so maybe I'll just solve the puzzles as best I can and hope that the "reasons" or logic becomes clear to me as I go on.
I do enough puzzles, back to the games with my brother. Now, 6 games in a row I've won, a very slight effort at sharpening my skills has vastly improved the outcomes.
Only he's stopped asking me to play chess...
Probably he's working on his skills...
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Finally, yesterday, I make the push, the last couple of hours cleaning, moving things under the bed (there be monsters) or into closets (more monsters), some sort of reorganizing will be necessary, but better would be to start ploughing through the hundreds of projects I've started and made no progress on...
I've gathered enough art supplies to see me into my twilight years, there's no need for my to acquire more (at least until this apartment - and the locker in Calgary - have been thoroughly emptied, which optimistically will take a few years...
Anyways, it's a big load off my mind to be able to sit in my chair and not look upon the mess, some attention, now, to be given to the heap of books next to the chair, but this bothers me a lot less than did the rocks, crystals and tools. And the island is cleared, a barstool, place where I can set up my computer and work, and I'm beginning to feel a little more settled...
Subcategories
Dating
OK. I've been on a few internet dates. I confess this with the same reluctance I would admitting to masturbating, adultery, or excessive drinking and drug use.
This is a list of some of my best -- AND WORST -- dates ever. Note that you gotta go on a lotta dates to get this kinda list, this kinda discouraged. And my online dating thing has been sporadic - an every few years kind of thing at best. Some of these dates go back 10 years, others are a little more recent. And to answer any people who might argue "It beats hooking up at the bar", well, you don't have to hook up at the bar, and at the bar you can see what your getting...
Anyways - apologies to the countless normal, decent dates that I went on but just didn't hit it off with. Memory is selective, it tends towards the extreme, and in this you will find the extremes...
Dear Osama
In which I write everyone's favorite advice columnist.
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