gru:Bz
Average millennial living life on the edge (of the Midwest). Probably too immature for Micro.blog but I like it here.
What makes a blog personal?
What are the rules? Do you have to choose between a travel log or daily journal entries? Or should you focus more on essays explaining your personal philosophies on life and the universe?
The great (American?) firewall
I love that people are migrating from TikTok to Red Note in droves. Our oligarchy is banning TikTok under the guise of national security; never mind the fact that any American reading this post is likely doing so on a device manufactured in China.
Never mind the fact that SHEIN and Temu are both Chinese apps that collect the same data as TikTok but no one cares because there’s no actual threat. Nothing beyond what Facebook or X does with our data anyway.
They’re banning TikTok because it’s the biggest social media app that the US government has no control over. So people are directly, knowingly and willingly handing their data over to an app that actually is controlled by the Chinese government in protest.
What a time to be alive 🤭
Elon Musk is being sued by the feds over the way he bought Twitter - The Verge
It’s hilarious that this is even a news story. Like as if it will have any repercussions whatsoever for Elon. It’s no different than how Jack Smith decided Trump is absolutely 100% responsible for the Jan 6th insurrection and if he was anyone else he’d be serving hard time, but in reality he doesn’t even get a slap on the wrist. Instead he gets to run the free world into the ground.
It’s just a thing that happened followed by a bunch of meaningless media coverage that translates to static.
It makes for good filler in between multimillion dollar advertisements, but it’s no different than watching an episode of Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones on digital cable.
They could fine Elon Musk $100 billion and it would have absolutely no noticeable effect on his life or his power as an oligarch.
2024 Word of the Year Is “Rawdog” - American Dialect Society
The verb rawdog is defined as “to undertake without usual protection, preparation, or comfort.” While the word originated as a vulgar slang term referring to having sex without a condom, rawdogging ended up crossing over into mainstream usage for a wide variety of activities, like the travel trend in which a passenger sits through a flight without any distractions.
Hmmmmm 🤨
Crazy to think the golden age of streaming has already came and went before we even knew it. Now it’s all corporate mergers to make executives richer while regular people keep paying more and more for shittier service.
They’re turning the internet into cable tv.
TikTok got one thing right (its ads)
Crypto Platforms Like Polymarket Now Taking Bets on Los Angeles Fire Devastation
Wow crypto bros have hit a new low o.O
I’m not going to get any sleep tonight. I’m sitting here checking the weather like a giddy school kid hoping for a level three snow emergency so I get off work tomorrow 🤞
My new favorite drink 🤯 so tart and sour! I like the original Bubbles a lot too, it’s a Rosé cider but this is the most unique tasting cider I’ve ever had. Super good Ohio based craft beer company 🍻
A dumb week for Apple
We’re living in a surveillance state run by oligarchs, but the surveillance is mostly to serve you the finest targeted ads. We are in the dumbest possible timeline.
I don’t know why I’m surprised about anything anymore lol
🔗 What to know about Apple’s $95 million settlement of the snooping Siri case
🔗 Apple CEO Tim Cook donates $1 million to Trump inauguration
Feels like the anthem for 2025 - Time Hard by The Selecter
Thoughts on Kagi, The Assistant
I resubscribed to Kagi recently, only this time on the Ultimate plan with The Assistant.
I swore off of them for a while after the little bit of drama about integrating Brave Search, but who really gives a shit, you know? You gotta pick your battles. Separate the art from the artist.
I’ve been fighting this respiratory bug for the last month. It almost completely cleared up for about a week, then it came back full force. I decided I was going to urgent care today but they’re closed.
Still had a great Xmas and managed to get pretty hammered for New Year’s Eve last night while watching Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen with my better half <3
We have a lot of terrible shit ahead of us after Jan 20th but I’m still optimistic about 2025. They say it’s always darkest before the dawn.
I hope everyone’s having a good day off today and I wish you all a happy 2025 🎉
I think I’ll have a shot of Mucinex now.
Clay Aiken says it was crucial to come out when he did even though he lost half his fans
“It was the first decision I made as a father,” he said at the time. “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”
This is one reason I’m so open about my bisexuality even though I’m in a straight relationship. I could hide it to fit in better, but I’d rather be honest about who I am. Also some straight people like to say a lot of terrible shit when they think a gay isn’t in the room with them.
Retro vibes, pop culture and a little nostalgia
I was jamming to The Selecter this morning and it got me thinking…
Bands from the 80’s and earlier are a different breed than the pop stars of today. One obvious thing is the whole debate between analog vs digital recordings, vinyl vs cd’s and other digital formats.
Every time I walk in the room and make a little noise, this little tarantula runs and hides as far as he can under a piece of bark in back of the terrarium. I feel you little buddy <3
Bugs: a new year resolution
MAGA civil war pits Ramaswamy and Musk vs Cernovich and Loomer in immigration fight
Elon Musk’s X is the town square for the MAGA movement, and by stepping into that square and firmly criticizing American culture – while praising the immigrant work ethic and parenting model – Ramaswamy threw down a gauntlet.
I thought they’d at least make it into the White House before the real infighting started 🍿
Raw honey and concrete geese
Holiday reflections
I’m writing this around 11pm on Christmas. I’m sick as a dog with a respiratory thing so I wasn’t able to go out with my partner to her parents house for the holiday stuff this year. Pretty bummed out about it!
I got the spider from my stepdaughter (!) and my partner got me a refurbished Apple Watch and some Air Pods. Super fucking thoughtful gifts from everyone. I thought we were just doing little things this year and not making a big fuss but man they really blew me out of the water.
This is cheesy but the biggest gift I got out of all of this was feeling loved.
I don’t know why it took so long for it to hit me, but we’ve grown so much together over the years. When we met a little over six years ago, we were both spending most nights out at the bar getting shitfaced and going home to our terrible apartment in the hood with obnoxious room mates. Now we’re living in a nice little neighborhood in a three bedroom house of our own and the fucking cats even have their own room. This is the first Christmas we’ve had over here.
Life gets so busy you don’t really feel anything changing until you’ve already been there for a while. I feel like Adam Sandler coming to in Click. I feel like I just got hit with the goddamn ghosts of Christmas.
I try so hard to act like all of this is just dumb capitalist bullshit; I’ve never been big for celebrating holidays or exchanging gifts but it’s a downright emotional experience exchanging thoughtful things with people you love.
Even though I’m coughing my lungs out and missed out on a lot this year, this has been the best Xmas I’ve had in a long time.
Not sure if I’ll post this tonight or tomorrow but I hope everyone’s doing good out there <3
So my daughter got me a pinktoe tarantula for Christmas! I’ve been watching this thing all day. Fed it a cricket last night and then transferred to its new enclosure when it was done. It’s mostly been hiding behind some bark since last night, but now it’s making a little web at the top of the cage!
It’s too young to determine the gender right now but I’m hoping it turns out to be female. They live up to 12 years while males only live for maybe four if you’re lucky.
It’s a bizarre thing but it’s one of the most thoughtful xmas gifts I’ve ever gotten 🥲