Category: thinking

  • Genealogy update — 01jan26

    Photo by Warren Umoh on Unsplash

    Those who have been around here know that my mother was born out of wedlock and fathered by a man whom I only have the barest of information about. While it might have been nice to know more about him over the years, the only real incentive to fining out more about him was the surprise DNA results my mother got back, putting her at 33% Finn, something none of us suspected.

    Running her DNA through an algorithm, there was an additional surprise: That some of that Finnish background may actually be Sámi, the reindeer herders of the area. So I set out to see if I could find out more about my grandfather, who’s ghost seemed to be hellbent on avoiding discovery. I eventually gave up the hunt as a lost cause when all roads ended up in dead ends about the man.

    Until Andrea showed up in one of my DNA services.

    (more…)

  • Well, that’s done

    Photo by Mário Rui André on Unsplash

    As I committed to myself and anyone who bothered actually reading the content of my posts about the matter in either sphere, I killed my Instagram and Facebook accounts tonight. A couple of days earlier than some might expect, but my only commitment to everyone was that the accounts would cease to exist in the waning days and hours of 2025. Reach out if you want to stay in contact, I said.

    If I was expecting a flood of people saying “don’t leave us!” (I wasn’t), I might have been disappointed in the response. I was expecting nothing and got a trickle instead, so I count those few blessings.

    I am left with the overall opinion: Good riddance.

    (more…)

  • Solstice

    Blessed Solstice everyone.

    May the next turn of the wheel bring you joy, prosperity and abundance.

    Photo by Miikka Luotio on Unsplash

  • Solstice — an explanation of sorts

    The season of withdrawing is upon us.

    The sun slips lower with each passing cycle and we will soon have the longest night upon us — here, in Minneapolis we will see more than fifteen hours of darkness overnight at solstice, while places like Fairbanks, AK will see closer to eighteen hours of night.

    I’ve decided this year to honor this cycle of nature and reduce my online presence over the days leading up to Winter Solstice, which takes place on December 21 — in accordance with the daylight hours and as my professional career allows (I still need to make money to pay bills, after all).

    (more…)

  • h…-penny thoughts — 16dec25

    Dropping hints.

    Again, my head is off in the outer limits where the ozone thins and this might be one of those weirdo (I’m a creep/I’m a weirdo) kinds of subjects to try and hold a discussion around, but I have my personal reasons for asking about people and communicating in hints.

    (more…)

  • Half-penny thoughts — 13dec25

    Here’s a question for you. I won’t get much into a preamble because it is an oldie (but goodie) that is rattling around in my fat head for some reason or another and I’ve decided that I’m curious on the current state of affairs with opinions on the subject.

    What are your thoughts on the concept of “love at first sight”? Does such a thing even exist, or is it a romantic notions more akin to fantasy than reality? If it exists (for you), does it require the other party to reciprocate that love? Or does it still exist when the feeling is unilateral? What the heck is “love at first sight” anyway?

    As things are wont to do on these 1/2p posts, feel free to go off on your own tangents with your comments, just stick to the concept of “love at first sight”. I have my own thoughts but I am more interested in what you might have to say about it, no matter how mundane or outlandish those thoughts might be. For science! Or, just to satisfy my curiosity.

    And… Go!

  • Half-penny thoughts — 12dec25

    The only thing they feared more than failure was success.

    – appropriated variant of a common phrase, applied to The Replacements

    There are several variations of the above quote from across time; I’m not sure who said something like it originally. There are several people credited with saying something like it. It has been rattling around in my head since I saw it (again), although I cannot say exactly why.

    There’s something somewhat terribly romantic in that notion, isn’t there? That idea that failure is somehow more desirable than success, even if driven by a fear response.

    (more…)

  • Half-penny thoughts (pt 2) — 09dec25

    In completely unrelated news…

    Is it my imagination or are a lot of comments on folks’ blogs starting to look like bots/AI wrote them?

    I was scrolling through a few comments on other sites and I’ve noticed that more of them are increasingly sound “off”. Commentors with this flavor of comments don’t dare add value to the conversations; they seem mostly to confirm and affirm. And the truly “weird” ones seem to miss the main topic of discussion entirely, often glomming onto something said in passing.

    Maybe I’m just paranoid? Or a grump? Maybe I need more cigarettes.

    In still other news:

    I’minlovewiththegirlwhoworksatthestorewhereI’mnothingbutacustomer…

  • Half-penny thoughts — 09dec25

    Odd day today: I found out an old bandmate’s spouse was found unresponsive this morning in bed. Cause of death, TBD. He just woke up next to her and she was no longer there. She was in her early 50s with no real history of chronic illness that I am aware of. He certainly seemed surprised by the news.

    (more…)

  • Half-penny thoughts — 02dec25

    Social network “suicide” is a strange kind of experience when you are doing it, not as a reactionary thing, but as a fully thought-out process with a staged approach.

    (more…)