Why Are Friendships So Fickle?

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Why Are Friendships So Fickle?It’s something I’ve noticed since in the past 20 years.  It’s super hard to make friends.  Providing you find people closer to my age with any common interests.  In my case it seems especially hard to find common interests.  I guess I’m much younger at heart than I am physically.  But when I do think I’ve found a friend, it ends shortly after I’ve been useful to that person.

It’s like people no longer like to hang out and just converse with one another or share an interest.  It’s always they see you like someone they can use to get things done. Once they’ve gotten what they want from you, it’s basically over without any warning.  Should you want to just hang out with them, they no longer have time for you.  Usually by ignoring your calls, texts or verbal requests.

Why is that?  What happened to spending hours just sharing time with a person?  Now it’s do them a favor or don’t bother at all.  Person after person has come and gone in my life over the years and I generally come out feeling used.  I’ve made one new friend in the past 20 years that doesn’t expect anything but good company from me.  It’s great!  But outside of that, time has taken it’s toll on me and I no longer seek friends.  Or anyone to go out with.  Dating is the same way.  It’s use or be used.  Never share and grow.  Hence MGTOW.

It’s a good thing I like solitude 🙂

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Thanks Rockstar..

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Thanks RockstarWell we’ve all seen the videos of Rockstar Games adding BattlEye to GTA Online.  One of the biggest games in the past 10 years.

Videos saying:

  • It works to curb modders
  • It hurts players by slowing down the game
  • Has removed thousands of players who use Steam Deck/Linux
  • Lies about BattlEye not working on Linux when it has for years

The list goes on.  Even DDoS attacks on Rockstar Games servers.  Blah, blah, blah…

I’m one of the affected by this changes as I Game on Linux!  However, I’m saying thank you.  You made it so thousands of players can’t waste any more money on your games.  No more buying Shark Cards.  No need to spend money on the upcoming GTA 6.  Just saves us money all around.  Because your new stance won’t change the majority of Linux users minds about how we choose to live our lives.  There are plenty of other games who’ll let us play their games.  Take our money and even see the reason to support platforms other than consoles and Windows.

You can fix this easily by phoning BattlEye to allow it to work on Steam.  But if you refuse, then me and my bank account thank you!

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My Guitars

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Sometimes I go a little bit crazy.  Sometimes I go a little bit nuts.  Sounds like the lyrics to a song.  For some reason I think it might be.  Or maybe it’s one I wrote years ago and never did anything with.  I can say I do get into things hard even when I no nothing about it.  Just look at my list of cars 😳  Or the fact I own every house in Elder Scrolls Online 😲

When it comes to guitars, I got a little crazy there too.  See, my mom always wanted me to play guitar.  I refused.  I decided I want to play the drums.  Drums are my passion, but not my profession.

2018

But one day in 2018 as I was building myself up from a bad past, I decided that once I had a good drum kit I was going to learn to play guitar.  Fair enough right?  So I bought my first guitar.  I figured since I like Steve Clark and I think Les Paul style guitars are cool.  That’s what I would start with.  I couldn’t afford the real deal from Gibson.  So I got the Epiphone version.

I truly understood why the first Les Paul was called the Log.  This thing was heavy as hell.  But I took lessons at the local music store and learned a whole 9 chords before I set off to find a YouTube education.

2019

I couldn’t take the weight of Les Paul around my neck anymore.  So I sold it and bought 2 mid range guitars.  I mean every guitar player should have an acoustic right?

A PRS Standard 24 and an Orangewood Morgan Mahogany Live.  The Orangewood was surprisingly good sounding.  The PRS sounded good, but something about it felt off.  I didn’t like playing it.

As for the Orangewood.  I hated the sharp feel of an acoustic under my arm.  But this was before I lost all that weight.  Still not a fan of the boxy feel.  But you can’t deny the wonderful sound an acoustic makes.

Still I sold the PRS and gave the Orangewood as a gift to a girl in 2021.

2020 – 2021

The white phase…

I got obsessed with white with black accents.  So my new guitars would have to fit that ascetic.  My drum kit is still white with black and my decor is that, but the guitar thing looked cool, although it’s  hard to find good ones in white.

The ESP was my favorite for a long time.  The Omen was sweet too.  But these were low to mid tier guitars.  Bad fret work, especially on the Jackson kept me from picking them up to play for too long.  The guitars sounded amazing, but just hurt to hold for too long.  I also picked up a bass guitar.  Which I hated so much, I gave to a co-worker to destroy at a private gun range.  The Mitchel however was just pure garbage.  Gave that one away quickly.  Sold the others to my boss.

2022

This was the year I decided to try different brands.  Fender was always a good name right?  Plus they had this acoustic guitar that was the same size as an electric guitar!  I was down to try it out.  Also, I was going to go for better quality too.  Heard good things about Yamaha.  So I got the Fender Acoustasonic and a top end Yamaha guitar.  Along with a Yamaha bass.

This is where I learned a famous name isn’t everything.  In fact, I’ll likely never buy another Fender guitar.  This thing is not only crap sounding, but the fret work is just horrid.  You’ll bleed unless you get the frets smoothed out.

On the other hand, the Yamaha Pacifica has been nothing short of amazing and I love it!  Even the budget bass they sell is really really good!  I’m keeping both of them.  The Fender I’m going to sell or give away.

2023

Good guitars are the thing now.  I can’t afford $5000 guitars.  Well… actually I can.  But here’s the thing.  I still only know the 9 chords from 2018.  I really do want to spend time learning.  I just need time off to do it.  That however is another story.  But I can certainly afford mid tier guitars that are made by a legendary underdog company.   Paul Reed Smith.  I didn’t like the Standard 24 from 2019.  But they revamped the SE lineup and I got my two absolute favorite guitars in my collection!

With my Marshal half-stack, these guitars make me sound really damn good!  Even if I only know 2 songs 😂  I simply love these!

2024

Now to conquer my acoustic problem.  Yamaha has a thinner body but a good sounding acoustic guitar.  I got the lower end one, but in my experience; Yamaha makes good stuff at every price.  So I’m trying out this APX 600.  It sounds and feels good so far, but I’ve only had it a week.

Time will tell.  But I now have 5 guitars and still don’t really know how to play yet.  Yeah, I get a little crazy sometimes.

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Who Decides for Everyone Else?

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Who Decides?I’m sorry I haven’t written in a month.  Working 60 plus hours and having my free time taken away from me by relatives and contractors is taxing.  I hope to do more regular content soon.

However, I want to know.  Who makes all the decisions in this world?  Why can’t we decide for ourselves?  There are things we don’t get much choice in or if there is a choice, sometimes it’s nearly impossible to find the alternative to what is offered.  I’ll give you some examples.

I used to be able to buy shoes with arch support for a decent price.  One day that all just went away.  Several months later, you can buy shoes with arch support, but for a premium price.  Now if I want affordable arch support, I have to buy the insoles separately to put in an affordable pair of shoes.

Speaking of shoes…  Who decided that we all want memory foam insoles?  I hate memory foam.  If it wasn’t for my custom insoles with arch support, I’d have little to no choice.  Plus, they super glued the memory foam in!  Sometimes I end up ripping more than I want off or having to cut off bits that wouldn’t peel off 😑

Who decided that men suddenly want stretch pants?  I love good old fashioned denim.  Almost all the jeans on the rack are a jean/stretch material.  I hate the feel of stretch denim.

Who decided that we all MUST USE AI?  I open my Amazon app, there’s an AI bot to chat with.  My phone suddenly gets an update and now my phone is AI powered.  I don’t want AI.  Why can’t I have the option to turn it off.  Every browser now has AI in it.  Every search engine has AI in it.  I’m sorry, I have an education and it’s done me well without some program doing the thinking for me.  They tell me it’ll make life easier.  I was perfectly happy without AI.  Even my Linux is starting to get AI.  I enjoy programming and making pictures.  I don’t want AI doing it for me.  Yet my image editor is getting AI.

These are just a couple of examples.  I know there are thousands more out there.  I’ve grown sick of suddenly finding out that my preferred lifestyle is forced into change when I was perfectly happy before.  I don’t care if the hot new thing is in.  Not everyone is onboard with changes that profoundly affect their lives.  It’s understandable if a product isn’t selling well and is no longer available.  But to make the new changes the only choice is nuts.  You want diversity in this world, then stop trying to make us all the same with our lives.  Diversity isn’t just about personality and looks.  It’s about preferences too.  I have my life just the way I like it.  Stop forcing me to accept things I never asked for.  I don’t force you to eat bugs or dance only in the dark.  Don’t force me to stop thinking for myself or my shopping choices so difficult.

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My Drums Past and Present

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I always wanted to be a drummer.  I learned while I was in Junior High School on detention while waiting for my stepdad to pick me up.  The music room was impressively sound proof, and yet always left unlocked.  I only picked up the basics on my own back then.  It wasn’t until High School that my friends and I did the whole, let’s make a band even though none of us had much talent at all; thing.  Why do kids do this?  No talent, just a flyby desire to be a rock-star 😅

But we managed to get the opportunity to go into the local music store (Musik Haus) when it was on main street.  The one guy who could play guitar somewhat was amazed that I sat down and put out a beat without ever having heard me play the drums before.  After practicing for a couple of months, I finally got the nerve to start bugging my mom for a drum kit.  I had to take her to practice to show her I could actually play the drums.  Until then, I never told her I could.  Her and my stepdad had split, so she was the single mom barely making it.  But she had a friend who was generous enough to pick me up a used drum kit from the thrift store near him in Detroit.  He brought it up to our house and surprised me with it.

Used Slingerland Drums from Thrift ShopUsed Slingerland Drum Kit (Metallic Blue)

1986 – 1991
Sadly I don’t have a photo or a manufacturer image like I do for my other kits.  So this silhouette will have to do.  I rocked this thing pretty hard.  It had Remo heads and some off brand cymbals I can’t even recall what they were.  They didn’t sound half bad though and I was shocked at how good looking this used kit was.  It was almost pristine.

I unfortunately was married shortly after high school and as a young couple starting out.  We had little money.  Our car needed repairs and I sold the drums for a mere $40 to help pay the car bill.  I had no idea what a drum kit was worth back then and there wasn’t an internet to speak of.

Between 1991 and 2014 I was only able to play drums on occasion at music stores or using kits owned by other people every few years.  But my love of drums didn’t fade, I just kept making bad choices that kept me from buying another kit.

Roland TD-11K-S V-Compact SeriesRoland TD-11K-S V-Compact Series

2014 – 2020
Having returned to Michigan from Virginia after my surviving my triple heart attacks in 2012.  I got this ordered as a bundle kit from Kraft Music.  It came with a Gibraltar double kit pedal and a set of headphones.  Living in an upstairs apartment at the time, I had to find out when the neighbors would be at work or when it was OK for me to practice.  Even though I used headphones to practice.  They can still here the thumping of the kick pedal and batting of the drum sticks to the rubber trigger pads.  I really liked rocking on this and made a few drum cover videos.

Tama Imperialstar 6-piece Complete Drum SetTama Imperialstar 6-piece Complete Drum Set

2020-2023
It was time to get serious and upgrade my drumming to a real drum kit.  This was early 2020 and I didn’t make the good money yet.  So I got what I thought would be a good kit.  Tama being a worldwide leader in drums.  Unfortunately, you get what you pay for.  It was a fun kit, but it had serious tuning stability issues.  The snare and toms would loosen after just a few hours of play.  It was frustrating.  But I did get my Zildjian Custom A set of cymbals that I still use today.  Though I’m considering a Mienl set.  Just need to do some research.  Yes, that was the kick drum art I had put on it.

Sonor AQ1 Stage WhiteSonor AQ1 Stage Drums

2023 – Current
Finally got the best set I’ve had so far.  I hope when I have my music studio finished to be able to do drum covers and more to add to my collection.

I will always be a drummer.  Though I hope to learn other instruments to do even more.

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