"Can’t You Smell That Smell...the Smell of Death Surrounds You"

That run with Scentbird did not last long! My take: they have one thing to do: they do not make the cologne; they just do logistics. I made my order on Saturday. I figured by Monday, I would see status updates as to where it was en route. Reasonable?

Well, Tuesday came around and all I had was a shipping label printout. I might of just toughed it out until I ran across this Reddit thread.

*sigh*

So be it.

At this stage of my life, I'm interested more in designing my own cologne as I did years ago with beard oil. But, I've got my ol' standby vendor whom I delight in if I want to go branded. That said, when was the last time I cared about a brand? When it mattered to be "cool," I did not care about cool. Why would I now? I'm happy to be 46 and be...well...ME!

"There's Always Something There to Remind Me"

Why did I sign up with Google again? It wasn't for YouTube curation; I'm happy with my Feedly implementation. I don't use Google's search engine. Its take on AI blows monkey chunks. In general, email these days is just a place to house spam, webhost notifications, and delivery updates—somehow I went from having humanity in my life to having computers as friends. LibreOffice is a superior choice for a desktop suite. And Google sniffs through your stuff for anything you put on their hard drive.

So why do I do it?

Oh yeah, for a phone. I use Google so as to not cripple my phone. The thing is, I hold a dummy phone in higher regard than this, "Is this really smart?" nonsense. However, I own this Samsung Galaxy so it is free to keep around.

Why do I have a phone? Not for music, not to track steps, but in case a meteorite falls from the sky and obliterates my car...so I can then take a picture. Isn't it funny that there's a societal expectation that we carry around a smart phone...or even have a mobile number? When I gave up everything and just ran a Skype number in the '00s, two-factor authentication via SMS was not as prevalent and still there were times I had to pound my head against a wall.

I fully intend to never own a smart phone again in my life. Who wants a computer with no keyboard with a display that's basically the size of an index card? That's just dumb.

So the tech comes up empty-handed and Google's progressive garbage leaves an empty heart.

Naw, you can count me out on that.

When I broke away from Google, I took the best step forward. Paying Tuta for my email host was the right play to make.

"We Didn't Start the Fire"

I gotta take a step back—nay, run SCREAMING in the other direction away from the news, especially in this season where emotional arguments win the day and make up the platform of leadership. This is no place for the INTJ.

Things are gonna happen and there's nothing I can do. But, then there's another thing: do politics have anything to do directly with me? People yammer on expecting it to matter with me, but in many ways, I am like the United Kingdom, the U.S. can jack up their economy without them having a "vote" (as if votes ever mattered).

Still, there's something more: does it all have a meaningful impact upon my life? I am supposed to invest all of this mental activity in dancing at a party for an elephant or a donkey, whereas I embrace...

Take off your armor, friend of mine
I have no arrows, but I got time
All your sorrow keeps you glued to your seat
Can we get you out of your head and into your feet?
And it's not that the rest of us don't have the blues
It's just that some dance partners need a dance partner, too
Is that you?

-The Midnight, Dance with Somebody (2020)

Does anything they do show up when I embrace the Sun, expand my lungs with the air of a new day, and become fully alive? Do they matter to you when you're the most alive, the most like whom you were always meant to be?

I find folks want power. They are disinterested in how you are really doing. That's why I'm for an EXTREMELY downsized government and industries. Small towns have smaller governments. Global hegemonies suck.

I suspect the more stuff we have (or have hope in the potential thereof), the less free we are.

It is unfortunate how we ignore the ones who love us the most and heed people who do not care whether we live or die, whether models and brands; ideologues and tech; or politicians and governments.

Silence is not the way
We need to talk about it
If heaven is on the way
We'll wrap the world around it
If heaven is on the way
If heaven is on the way
I'm a stranger in this town

-Bush, Letting the Cables Sleep (1999)