Blog

  • The missing Bottlecap drone missions, and other ramblings

    What do you do when your cat up and disappears for two days, is wearing an AirTag, and you’re in the middle of nowhere (so there’s no one to ping the AirTag)?

    We received a ping the morning of the 3rd day, went outside and she was hiding right on the edge of the soybean field. I’ve never seen her drink so much water and she’s been even more cuddly than usual.

    Walking and riding my motorcycle through the soybean field did indeed trigger allergies like a mofo. My legs itch from the scratches of the dry plants and they are pokier than you think.

    I took a children’s dose of Benadryl yesterday morning along with a nasal spray (heck, just did a dose of nasal spray just now). Adult dosage is 30mg with a max dosage of 50mg. I took 12.5mg then a second dose by noon. I was already tired from worrying about Bottlecap the previous night and it triggered some light disorientation/dizzyness. After a spot of panic, I went the fuck to sleep for 3-4 hours, like a cranky child LOL.

    I made it to bed earlier last night and now I’m up at 7am. Had to kick on the central heater in the living room as it’s quite chilly. The fields are foggy and it seems to be overcast. Looks by next weekend it’ll be a proper chill:

    We plan on leaving again by Monday, it’ll be time to pick a random campground and go for it. The first snow, historically, shouldn’t be until December 15th or so. I think if I seriously commit and drift around, especially when we hit our first campground that shopping in a different city is closer than Logansport, that it’s the thing, the next step to continue to make progress.

    Lol, Bottlecap just walked around, slow crawled a bit, then meowed and jumped in her litter box; must be having a Taco Bell morning.

    Anyway, I think it’s time to make some Decaf and get some Farming Simulator in. Let’s grow some soybean and corn

  • Lost in the woods

    We leave tomorrow morning, the weekend has gone by quickly! I got some good sleep in last night, not perfect, but good. France Park has a completely different vibe when there’s hardly any people here. I think that this may be the first time I’ve visited during the week.

    I’m tempted to extend our stay, but we do have a few things that need done before it rains. Better get it done and we can head out afterwards, the camping season seems to be pretty dead in Indiana come Fall. Our goal is to be out as the leaves change, wherever that may be.

    My wrists hurt from riding the electric bike yesterday, I don’t fit it well and much pressure ends up being put on my arms. I may actually pick up a brace just so I don’t damage things further when typing.

    I did manage to get lost in the woods and had a mini meltdown, but I think I handled it well. Eventually made it back to trail head and all was well. Had some derealization for an hour or two after getting back, but some Farming Simulator fixed that right up.

    I made it pretty much behind the beach lake

  • Fall, France park, and Forward Momentum

    I took my advice from last night and now I’m at France Park! The drive was chill and felt pretty short, which is awesome.

    I’m loving the new iPhone’s camera, my watch was super handy to GPS mark the campsite and make it back after out wandering. Got here around 6pm or so, my body feels tired from all the activity today. Got busy around 11am cleaning and organizing stuff, got the truck put back together as it had sit for the last few months. Was very nearly ready to get rid of it, but decided not to at the last moment, and I’m happy I did!

    Very low to no sway with the rear tires inflated to max to minimize sidewall movement and the weight in the trailer reorganized. I do need to get a valve stem replaced, Ford didn’t replace them when I had new tires put on for some reason and one ripped randomly. Thankfully, the spare is full size and I had them put a new tire on the spare as well.

    I should do spark plugs, possibly transfer case and rear transaxle fluid swap. Brake fluid and coolant would also be nice. It was a company/fleet vehicle so I consider that the oil changes and other maintenance was kept up with. For the plugs, not sure if it was due to running E85 or just needs them due to the smallest tinge of rough idle here and there.

    But anyway, I’m le tired, so take a nap

  • It’s fall, hello again Apple & processing some emotions at 1am

    First day of fall. The bedroom is a bit chilly and Bottlecap is clinging to us for warmth. After what seemed to be a long wait my Apple devices arrived. Hello again, iPhone. Hello again Apple Watch. Hello again iPad.

    Beep beep of the heater as I turn it on 72. It isn’t entirely cold overnight, but my bones are chilly.

    Here comes the humidity due to the dew point change and moisture that was on the coil. Hands are now a bit clammy. I’ll need to keep moisture in check this winter to keep mold from growing. Not so much from the heater, but the warm air coupled with the cool walls.

    I don’t know if I want to dive deeply into my emotions and possibly give them more power. Not that I’m running from them, well maybe a little bit. A good cry would do me well I think. No, I just woke up and had a few sobs coming out of sleep.

    I’ve been thinking about how much further I could be along by now if I had stuck to a meditation practice. I know how much it helps me and anxiety. I’m not totally sure what the resistance is there. If I had to guess, I think it’s kinda like the fear of some unaddressed/not fully addressed things that may find me there as the last time I was in practice was more in spiritual intent during the pandemic.

    I’m not really interested in the spiritual intent or scope anymore, at least, not in the way that I was. I’ve maybe pulled tarot less than a handful of times over the past two years and while it can objectively be a tool to talk to oneself, overall, my experiences have been tainted due to the psychological mind space I was in.

    I went over to the old RV earlier today and accomplished some sorting. By god do I have a ton of electronics, boards, wires, sensors. To think that’s what we have here and not including what we have in storage is wild. I can’t even remember what we have in storage.

    Which reminds me that I need to call tomorrow and ensure the payment, etc is all still good. Reminder set.

    Moving south just seems so remote, but I keep telling myself it’s the same distance I used to drive at least once a month, with full blown anxiety, when visiting Elaine’s family in Michigan. There’s a part of me that’s terrified, and a part that’s excited. I wish I had been more disciplined in the last year and done more of the work, though.

    But I also have to tell myself that practically, it’s not very different than it has been here. Yes, it’s been nice to be home for the past week, spending time with family, but it’s not like we weren’t at the campground for most all of the other time we’ve been in Logansport.

    I’m actually sad about it. It fucking sucks that coming home was kinda ruined for me and moving here was so incredibly stressful. I had it in my mind, and planned to take this time after being away for years that I’d come home and actually get some good quality time in and get to know my sisters, family a bit better. I had loose plans to come up here and hit the road with family once mom retires here soon.

    But fuck it, heck, I’ve been away from home more often than not since I was 18 and never stayed home for more than a month or two at a time. I don’t have to think about why I’ve sought out and clung to partners as hard as I have during my life and why my divorce last time around was one of the hardest things I’ve been though, so far. I managed to build that fragile feeling of stability and security, at least for several months.

    Not that all else and everything was perfect, though, but that nest egg, that belonging, that’s the feeling that I couldn’t quite grasp that I’ve wanted again ever since Grandpa was alive.

    Dang, I did manage to get into those feelings, huh? The divorce stuff is ancient news by now and I don’t generally think about it on the daily. I think it’s just fall and some of those old memories creep in.

    No, I’m just scared of the drive, that’s all it really is. It isn’t so much about being there or if it’s boring, or whatever. It isn’t about being trapped or never being able to leave. It’s just the drive. Panicking on the interstate, being scared. The stomach upset and nausea. Pacing around being terrified of vomiting, even though I haven’t done so since like.. 2015?

    Anyway, storage has indeed been paid for the month. Hooray.

    I need to get the old RV fully cleaned out and put together. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with all of the stuff in there. I think I’m going to implement a litmus test that if I could replace it for under $50 and it isn’t small, I should donate it. I’ve already bagged up two bags of stuff and threw away some things that are clearly trash.

    I think we should indeed go to Indianapolis and stay for a half week or so and go through storage. Lo is 14 mins down the road and breaking up the drive feels much more accomplishable. It’ll be the same drive I just made to make it up here.. about a year ago. It’s wild that it doesn’t feel that long ago, we came up in.. December?

    No, but real talk, I think it’ll be an excellent test to see how I do. I’ve pretty much exhausted exposure in town, I’m relatively good with going anywhere in town, even alone. It’s time for the bigger trips and the only way to do those is to go do them.

    So here’s the plan. Get the RV ready, take it out to France Park. Go enjoy France Park, then go enjoy a random campground on Hipcamp. Get as much exposure in as I can between now and then.

    And with that, I’m going to bed.

  • Holy shit, it’s cold outside

    It was hot, hot, hot then BAM. Mid to low 70’s and in the 40’s overnight. Welcome to Indiana and welcome to Fall allergies. I’m so happy to have found my nasal allergy med, my sinuses/nose has been killing me lately (and my sleep schedule).

    I made it to bed around 9pm, I was a tired bitch and it’s currently 6:30am, I just couldn’t sleep anymore. My decaf just finished brewing, excite!

    Currently tapping this on my new MacBook Pro. Yes, again. As much as I dislike Apple’s anti-consumer, anti-enviorment, e-waste business practices, I just can’t escape the ecosystem. This silly bitch sold his last MBP for a ASUS G14 with a 4060 and a Samsung Fold 5 and I just can’t do it. Last year I did the same and tried going Lenovo Thinkpad and a Fold 3/Pixel 7. Sigh.

    I’ll skip the typical junky/malware/tracking/jank comments on Windows/Android/Samsung and just say this, it’s easier to get my work done on Mac. It’s easier to do development on Mac. And if I have a Mac.. might as well go iPhone so I get my messages and photos and notes and reminders and calendars and contacts… and non shitty photos and videos in messages as everyone I know runs iPhone.

    iPhone is finally getting USB-C, though. Fucking. Finally.

    But anyway.


    I have an idea for an App, it’s an agoraphobia exposure app. Think Pokemon go, but you get points and levels based on how long, and how far you travel from a start point. You are at your front door, hit record, then it tracks your time and distance and rewards points with the distance from home driving the multiplier value. For walking, the multiplier is higher as you don’t walk as far from home and driving, lower.

    I want the app to track how you are feeling before and after the exposure, rate your anxiety on a scale of 1-10, set a goal. Compare this to before and after and track your progress over time. I want to have a big red SOS button the user can tap and have panic resources on tap if needed during their exposure. Much of this is from CBT such as the mood tracking, etc. Eventually, I could create a companion app for therapists and they can coach you on your progress, assign goals, etc. The possibilities are endless.

    So far I have a map

    I found some example walk tracker apps on Github.The hardest part is going to be literally learning app dev, it can’t be that hard, right? 😉

    Lastly, just about two weeks to go until I move! I’m trying as hard as I can to not predetermine my experience or think about the drive. I think it’s gonna be really good for me once I settle in.

  • A very happy, productive day!

    Started out my morning with going to the coffee shop, smells JUST LIKE any of the little artsy shops in Nashville, IN and took me back.

    Ended the day with driving over to Peru!

    This little bar has drag shows every other weekend and Drag Queen brunches every other! I’ve been wanting to go for awhile now!

    Somewhere in the middle I got some good miles in on the little Trail 125! I love this bike!

    I actually traded a good guy named Ron outright that I met on Facebook, it’s the bike that I wanted all along, but is so hard to find!

    I also went to Rural King, alone, to get a Pool Noodle

    I feel like I can do anything right now, ha!

    To the motorcycle dealership, did panic a bit; stopped for a few. It was one of those moments where I just said fuck it and went anyway. My panic and anxiety just pretty much immediately went away the moment I stepped in the door.

    I’ve made real progress and it feels good! We can do hard things, even when uncomfortable.

    I also highly recommend this, it’s been one of the more helpful books/audiobooks I’ve consumed so far in my healing journey. For the record, I’m still emotionally here; connected – no longer the stoic robot who buries his feelings. Tbh, having feelings and living in your body sucks some days, but it’s getting better knowing how to nurture and keep them safe.

    I came home and slept right after to build those neural pathways, ended up sleeping two hours. No lingering stress or sensations other than having a headache from the adrenaline and excitement, that too has passed after my nap.

    I feel like if I keep doing this, heading south by this fall is certainly doable. I wanna get lost in the little shops in Nashville, drive a tractor on a farm, cry in the forest and watch the leaves change.

    Until next time