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Weekly Update, April 5, 2021

Greetz internet friend and welcome back to this weekly update. Last week was special for me because it marked a year of straight updates and today I am starting this at 11:14 in the evening. That means it might need to be short to get it in on time, so without further adieu, let’s go! Pitter patter!

Professional

On vacation, nothing to report.

Politix

Hard pass this week.

Black Lives Matter

Once again I don’t have much to add except to reaffirm that Black Lives Matter and if you are a white person, invest some time every day in making sure you listen to the voices of BIPOC.

Personal

Last week I spent a bunch of time skateboarding. First with the morning skate/walk with the dog, then I’ve been skating around the neighborhood. I’ve been learning with no particular stance and skating from street to street through the community. First street I will put my left foot forward and kick with my right, next street I put the right foot forward and push with my left. My wife pointed out that some skaters do a kick before they push and when I tried it, I was able to push faster with more ease. I also had this realization today that when I push I should be focusing most of my mental energy on keeping the front foot planted and stabilized on the board. I discovered I could even make small turns and changes while pushing, which I found interesting and surprising.

I’ve not started trying to learn any tricks yet because what I’ve been reading/watching suggests that it is better to get the fundamentals down before trying to learn tricks, and given how many times I’ve already crashed and hurt myself, I’m not in any hurry to start adding more pain by learning tricks. I’ve gotten much more confident on the board though, and I am now to the point where I have two ways to go over speed bumps without bailing off my board.

Last week was also my four year wedding anniversary! I got my wife a GoPro camera because she’d been asking for one since Christmas last year and she got me a Cat Clock and a flute! For the last few days I’ve been practicing just making the mouth part make a sound because a YouTube video suggested that was an important place to start. I’m now to the point where I can make it go “toot toot” and it’s just about time to start putting the thing together and seeing if I can make it make more sounds! It might need to be serviced but for the time being I can at least make the mouth go toot.

I’ve also been spending lots of time with my dog lately and he has become more or less attached to my hip. Today he was behaving badly because I dared to take a nap alone and he wasn’t having it! We’ve been watching this show on Hulu called “Letterkenny” and tonight Bruiser was getting mad at my wife for staying up too late – he was ready to watch our show!

It’s funny to me because I was the one who kept us from getting a dog for years and now Bruiser is my best friend. It’s almost a meme of big tough fathers with small wimpy little dogs, but now that’s my life. From the first few times I ever tried to skate I brought Bruiser with me so we could learn together. There have been a few times where I crashed and he was on me a second after I hit the ground to lick me and try to help. That dog would do anything to protect me and he loves me unconditionally. He used to get mad at me because I wouldn’t take him for walkies, and now I will take him alone and clean up his poop – something I swore I would never do.

Anyway, I could probably keep writing about the dog but I think I’ve made my point. There is one last thing I want to share, and that is that we invested some of our stimulus money in buying a combo pack of Pokemon Sword and Shield. I took Sword and gave my son the digital copy of Shield and it has been so much fun!

Technically, my first Pokemon game was Go, but many don’t consider that to be a “real” Pokemon game, so if you are one of those people, Sword would be my first Pokemon game. I felt a little to old to start playing when it first came out but this has been the year for me of trying things I’ve always thought about but never tried.

From the Heelys to skateboarding to now playing Pokemon with my boy, this has been the year for doing new things and 2021 has even more to come! My new years resolution in 2020 was to try new things and I have managed to keep it going through the next year as well. I even started therapy this year, which is another thing I swore I would never do after bad experiences in the past.

Now I’m looking at the clock and it is 11:30, so I am going to finish up and edit this and post it. (Note to my future self, I was able to edit all this in 10 minutes and I am about to post around 11:40 – not bad! From when you first started writing these you are much faster, this one took less than a half hour from start to finish.) I hope you’ve enjoyed what I had to share, and if not, that’s cool too! One last thing, there was a new Dude and the missing rugs single that dropped the other day, so if you want to see the type of music I’ve been making lately, this one was dedicated to my wife as an additional anniversary gift and I hope you dig it – she seemed to!

People to follow (on Twitter)

Bernice King - The daughter of Dr. King

Martin Luther King III - The son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

@cetolyne - great friend, awesome programmer, super helpful!

@blenster - cool maker, very positive, well worth a follow!

Marley - first place champ! Marley is one of the best on Twitter!

Null Coder - another awesome person to keep an eye on!

@EvilMog - creator of the DC MUD and an interesting person to follow.

TrakoZG – an internet friend who tweets excellent things

Sofia Rune – brilliant scholar who shares things that are both insightful and valuable

MildThrone – up and comer with a small following for now, but I think this account is on the rise!

Johnny B. Ill – Brilliant musician with wisdom to share for those smart enough to listen

Tiffany Collins - This is my wife, who is making cool art and is well worth a follow!

One last thing – for the music and art lovers

If you want to find what I am doing on other platforms, this is my TikTok here is my YouTube channel and here is the music project Twitter. Finally, if you want to listen to the full songs that I’ve recorded, you can check out my Spotify or search most music platforms for, “Dude and the missing rugs.”

My wife is making incredible art, and this is her website here is her TikTok she is also on Instagram and Twitter and you can buy her art on Etsy – she has some very affordable prints as well as even more affordable and cool stickers! Finally, if you like her art you can support her on Patreon as well!

That’s it for this week, internet friend! Thanks for reading this far! I hope you have a very nice day and a most excellent week.

Cheers!

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