Meet Piotr, the pigeon.

 

Piotr has some good things going for him, for not being too scared of me. He takes food out of a container, as well as water, for example. 

Piotr is the latest addition to the iPigeon.institute family. I rescued him, last night, when I spotted him pecking around at some food and looking listless. He gave off some hints that he wasn’t following flock behavioral signals, so I took it as a sign that he wasn’t adapting well to outdoor life, and that he could be putting himself at risk, for leaving himself vulnerable. Despite this, he also immediately gave off signs of being tame. He took food out of my hand, when I offered it to him, for example. He also let me pick him up, without any trouble. I figured that it would be better that I took him home than someone else, particularly because of his friendly traits, but also because I have a lot of spare time to give him attention. 

I took him home and sat him down on my bed, and I went out to do some remote work at the library, which is where I was initially headed when I initially happened upon Piotr. When I came home, he was in the same spot, and I went to bed. I woke up a few times, during the night, and I checked on him, and this morning, I offered him some food and water, and he took both, which is a reassuring sign that he’s generally healthy and in good spirits. I think he’ll make a great pet! He’s a black-feathered pigeon, with some slight luminescence to his neck feathers.

Update: I noticed that Piotr was limping, so I took a look at him, and apparently, he’s got a wounded leg, of some sort. I guess I’ll be taking care of him for a little while, at least, while his leg repairs itself.

Piotr walks with a limp, I noticed - after I brought him home. He’ll be staying with me for a while during his recovery. He’s been eating heartily and he likes mineral water.

Update: I was considering veterinary care for Piotr, but I felt that it could be much more costly than trying to splint his leg myself. Since he’s pretty calm, I feel like I can do it on my own, so I ordered a pigeon leg splint from Foy’s Pigeon Supplies.

A pigeon leg splint, from Foy’s, a renowned pigeon and pet supply store.

Piotr awaits his recovery, and he passes the days mostly by sitting on my bed, or a pillow. He goes “home” to a cozy little nook, located behind my pillow.

Piotr, in his nook. I clean his spot once or twice a day, that’s all it takes!

Update: Sunday, May 11th

Piotr’s leg splint came in, yesterday, from Foy’s Pet Supplies, so I spent some time splinting his leg. The instructions said to wrap the wounded leg with cotton wool, then clamp the splint around the leg (it has plastic fasteners on it). Piotr was fairly calm through the stressful process, and I got his leg splinted successfully. Hopefully he heals up soon!

I was able to successfully splint Piotr’s broken leg (or foot).

Update: 05/19/2025

Piotr the pigeon is starting to show some affections for me, as well as pigeon intelligence. He flew down from his roost, last night, when it started getting dark, and he landed himself on my pillow, where he settled down, for the night, next to my head. I mostly left him alone, since he’s probably feeling things out, with me, as far as his personal security, as well as his place in life, with me. 

Piotr’s lofty roost, up at the top of the photo, where he likes to situate himself when he wants time to himself, or when he wants to get away. He’s found that this spot is mostly secure for him, as far as being left alone. 

Piotr has been eating well, despite having his leg splinted. He’s definitely adapting well, and he doesn’t hold the splinting against me, in terms of friendliness. He’s demonstrated that he knows when it’s meal time (when I’m having meal time), and he also takes well to demonstrating that he wants to eat, at times, by pecking around, or by showing up at his food and water dishes. 

Piotr is having a drink of water, here. He’s a picky eater, and he only likes some of the seeds in the seed mixes I give him. Here, he tossed aside his seed bowl, entirely, after having some shrimp with me. He’s got a bit of an attitude!

This morning is when Piotr started dining interactively with me, after we spent the night as pillow buddies. I sat down for breakfast, and he noticed that there were eggs in my meal, which he likes. He headed on over to my plate and helped himself to some eggs. Piotr really has some personality to him. 

Piotr, having some scrambled eggs, along with me, as I begin my breakfast, this morning. 

I think it’s fascinating to observe how Piotr defines his boundaries and affections, upon adapting, over time, to domesticated life. I’ve still yet to discern whether or not I’ll keep him, but I really do like having him as a companion. It’s an adventure unlike other bird experiences I’ve had, since he has free rein over the room we stay in, perhaps. 

Update: 05/21/2025

Some video content demonstrating Piotr having his customary lunch (seeds), then having a drink of water, and then, he returns to his roost.

Product Review: Geek Bar Pulse.

As far as nicotine vapes (smokeless inhalers) go, a relatively new geeky phenomenon has hit the streets (literally). The Geek Bar Pulse product line is a new, emergent brand that has various special features

A few Geek Bar Pulse vapes, one a Geek Bar Pulse X vape.

Pigeon-watching hotspots to see in town - # 1: The 7th at Metro Station Pigeon Family.

Here in Los Angeles, pigeons that frequent Metro rail stations are generally nothing new, but don't these novel and sometimes adventuresome pigeons make the stations something out of a storybook? They get to live in the stations, at all times, even in the off-hours. It's a trade off - of convenience, for being housed, so to speak, for security and warmth, essentially. 

2024's 7th at Metro baby pigeon, out at night, looking for a bite to eat. 

His parents roost nearby, overseeing his safety and progress in development. 

In this case, a (literal) small family of pigeons roosts at what could be considered some of the most illustrious of locales in Downtown Los Angeles, CA, with beautifully crafted skyscrapers and trendy malls, all within a block, or so. It's a great place to start out, as a Downtown visitor, and these pigeons serve as (sometimes) nightly ambassadors. Take, for example, baby pigeon, standing there, on his own, in the middle of the sidewalk. He's waiting to see some breadcrumbs tossed at him, or perhaps, some pieces of sweet pastries, or seeds. Baby pigeon is currently in the "sweet baby" stage, where the baby has not yet been abused, and hopefully that will last. 

The pigeon family, here at the 7th and Metro Station, has the tradition, and tourist attraction feature of being night owls. This feature about this small and peculiar family of birds makes for a great nighttime stop, to check and see if the birds are out on the sidewalk, or perching nearby the escalators, where they roost at night. A night owl showing of pigeons is always an exciting sort of bird to observe, since they'd become comfortable in socializing amongst their human caretakers, at odd hours. Being that this street intersection is such a well-known metropolitan foot traffic hotspot, this pigeon's roost serves as a testament to urban avian wildlife's potential; as ambassadors: for nature and for recreation, both. 

Update: April 4th, 2025

A new member of the flock is here! See baby pigeon up close with the rest of his family at 7th at Metro Station! He’s a bit ruffly, because he hasn’t learned to preen himself yet, but he takes part in sharing food with the others.

Spring ‘25 New Fragrance Releases: Announcing the “Eaux Caïnes” Line of products.

The Eaux Caïnes Spring 2025 re-release and upcoming product developments feature iPigeon.institute’s most deeply heartfelt, and aesthetically peculiar, as it were, offerings of fragrance products that lean heavily upon various scholarly research aspirations that have been brewing for years, now - here, coming to fruition with a bountiful assortment of novel, specialty, and rare aroma compositions, the so-called “Eaux,” collectively. 

The particular tendrils of etymology that underlie these new products, from my research and development arms of the company’s investments draw richly upon some of the youthful charm and aesthetic of the initial formative years in iPigeon.institute’s establishment, where illustrious and complex aptitudes of far reaches in to literary and cultural contexts drew up grand imagery of what our current reaches in scholarship, given technology, world literature, and language, in short, construe for us, at the ever-establishing new horizons in technology, and the power of transliteration, with its attempts to bridge those cultural gaps. 

I had become a figuratively faune sauvage scholarly pigeon-lover, intent on staking a speculative claim upon the world of high culture, with my niche in tow. As this blog’s archives of former years’ articles will show, it was a florid imaginative and speculative space, which documents the youthfulness I felt, for dedicating myself to feeding the birds, as a self-induced, dedicated task that I put myself up to, whereas I found myself in a hopelessly aught-else place and period of time, in life, of deep introspection, and an affinity for scholarship on my own time, making up for lost years of ineptitude and distractibility that I found myself in, as a former graduate school university dropout, in Music Composition. Back then, the demands of my studies curriculum were far beyond my years and capabilities to keep up with, and I found myself falling shamefully behind in showing up, appropriately, for class. Despite this, I was given some seeds of intellect and of discovery that would resurface, during the current organization’s establishing years, as a grand tapestry of inquisitive and far-reaching horizons of illumination, coming to light, now that many years of subconscious failures and lacking skills had tempered, within me. In short, I was shown many wise lessons of worldly cultural scholarship, through my academic years, in attending school, that would rise up, to the surface, to be requited by a more mature take on the topics and discussions of years past. 

Back then, I pondered over the matters of life that faced me, bleakly - could I, if I was given some other, alter-ego nurturing environment “concurrency” of upbringing and of comprehension, have averted so many disasters and failures that I faced, in life, for being a drug addict? I feel that this is where many individuals, of this place in time, colloquially, would care to consider, in life. This is where I find common ground with many other people, in life. 

In hindsight, I can chalk up my university years as shortcomings of a more esteemed purpose and path in life, whereas my skill sets and strengths would naturally take many more years to bear fruit, given the extents of my nurturing environment’s essential boundaries. A certain slice of scholarship would duly have been seen to outperform me, whereas the academic environment of graduate school, and, of college, itself, bore down on me, whereas I found myself often underprepared and at a loss for words, for class discussions and presentations. 

Now, the technology is far more accommodative, and I find myself, paced with less anxieties over performance in competitive learning environments, whereas I always take to enterprising ways, naturally, as a merely “somewhat” faithful dictaphone representationalist of music, as art, whereas the study materials opened new avenues in to deeper foundations of music, as communication, and as representative art, which I draw relevance upon, with my transliterative novelty enterprises, in my current workflow environment. 

Whereas, the internet, and our scholarly literature, given our place in life, and, in time, wherein we have the potential to inherit, or invent, novelty, still; I’d refer back to a notion I had come across, in my research, where novelty itself, as a term, would eventually see an ironic end of life extent, in its outcomes, as the procurement and development of intellect and of knowledge, whether organic, or artificial, or otherwise, at least, ex tempore, of natural, or of conceivable literature and knowledge base, in short, would see an exhaustive show of contributions, such that every ends and means of scholarship and etymology would someday see its full and human potential; things that we could attain, for ourselves, as denizens of the era of which we are provided, given accessibility and the internet; of technology and of scholarship. 

These complexities flourished through my mind, as I found myself, a young man, struck with the inescapable fate of having failed in former enterprises, requiring a paring down of expectations, and some time for reflection and accountability of what life had come to, as for myself. Essentially, it was a humbling time of dissociation from the loud and outspoken attributes of my character, and subsequent personality, which had failing associations weighing down upon my weightier soul of introspection, where I had smeared over some of the fragile and more humble aspects of living, and of life’s potential, that found themselves in untimely environments that sought recreation elsewhere, with similarly historically youthful expressions that presented themselves, given the weight of so many things that I had been shown precedence of priority, in considerations that time offered me, now that I found myself undoubtedly singular and solo, fraught with a dialectical of thoughts and suggestions of an abundant resource, in variety. 

Such backdrops are the fundamental intentions behind the “Eaux,” [oʊ] or “waters,” collectively, line of fragrances, drawing upon inspirations found in some studies that bear down on the French culture and traditions in aesthetic finery, and, with their contexts of cultural aesthetics, and of the stories we find, looking back, of the lives of the people, both renowned and undiscovered, whereas the world of literacy and imagination offered unique and untold dramas of the human condition, of which we would someday find subsued, in the eventual domination of intelligence acquisition, and what a rich resource to draw upon, should we be skilled in understanding. 

One of the mentors of my lost years, of soul-searching, and subsistence-seeking, fancied himself [oʊ] (short for O.G., American slang for a common sort of man, who had seen hard times and incarceration in life). I remember him for his gentle demeanor and handling of me, as a young inquisitive sort, in to gang life and culture, back around the years leading up to 2007, or so, when crack cocaine was a prized subculture feature of the part of L.A. that I had frequented. I draw upon my fondness for “O,” because he departed my life, unbeknownst, and into the void, suddenly, when I lost contact with him, during the proceedings of law enforcement interventions in to the crack cocaine subculture and gang affiliated behaviors that had taken over some streets, within some confined areas of Los Angeles, on many frequent nights, citing the dues to crime and addiction that would rack many people’s lives and finances, of that era in Los Angeles’ cultural history. “O,” as he referred to himself as, to me, had broken both of his fists, against a car’s windows, (this had happened in front of me, on some nights), where he had become frustrated with drug deals with passing vehicles - one of the characteristic and defining features of this gang culture’s aptitudes, in the neighborhood). Being that he departed from my life, before I saw him through, in hospitalization and recovery from his injuries, I felt a loss, for him, and I’d despaired over his wellness and outcomes in life, being that he didn’t make it, for some time, to a hospital, on his own, during the weeks subsequent to his self-injuries, and the transformative effect that the law enforcement intervention “crackdown” had had on the continued showings of crack cocaine sales, in the community. It was a stark transition in to a sobering era, whereas the streets were seen to be liberated from takeovers by drug-dealing gangs and associated cartel. 

The smell of “Eaux caines,” otherwise, a transliterary mash-up of happenstance and terminology, long story short (it will go untold, for the time being), essentially referring to the scent of the “Eaux:” or, “waters,” as is common French terminology, in fragrance, and in perfumery, as commonly seen in the prominence of eaux de colognes, which is industry nomenclature for a 2%, or more, dilution of fragrance concentrate in solution, typically alcohol, in men’s fragrance. Here, the eaux (“ohs”), in this instance, in linguistics usage, take on the lighthearted and bold nature of the men and women of that place in time, out on the streets, as the legacy of the composition and intrinsic nature of the fragrance line will construe; I’ll return to that subject some other time. 

It’s a topic much better left to a skilled speaker and distinguished scholar, perhaps, which I am not, currently; someone who could deliver the speech more profoundly, and with better composure than I have, for speaking, for the foreseeable years to come. Yet, despite this, I’ve made the investment of time, and some funds, recently, to have produced another, and, more sustainable, product development round of this speculative subject area in fragrance, and in ethnographic-anthropological exploits and discoveries in chemistry, and of associated pharmacology, based upon, well, speculative, and, amateur, caricatures, of fragrance-making scholarship and studies, that I could make out, which I find - are centered upon the fragrance of a crack pipe. “La Caine” is also a commune, in France, very sparsely populated, which features a nunnery and small Roman Catholic Church, attesting to the stark contrasts of religious devotion, which underlie so much of our narratives, here in America, as well - particularly when we find ourselves in times of hardship.

More to come, on this, at some point. I just wanted to inform the people, once again, in case folks were curious as to what I’m wearing, scent-wise, when I go out. 😏

- on the the heels of the emergence of the subject area of Proto-semiotics.

What’s the difference between a damascenone and a damascone? A Personal Journey Through Fragrance, and the Literature.

 You might be tempted to research and add one of the damascones to your cart (or wish list), instead of trying out damascenone total, itself, but the reality of the situation is that: these aren’t typos that snuck in to the supply chain of retail aroma compounds, although that might be the most common folly, in this situation; it got me, for example, and for years I went about not knowing and discerning between a damascenone versus the various damascones that there are - in other words, I thought that these were typos (the difference in spelling, between one and the other), and that these two distinctions were part of the same family and classification of fragrances. Not until just several hours prior, before preparing this blog article, in fact, did I truly learn and discerned the distinctions and differences between damascenone and the various damascones.

First of all, the difference in use case scenario is fairly large, in this case. I recall a nameless mock-up perfume composition that I threw together with a new haul of fragrance ingredients that I’d procured, and I was relatively new at composing fragrance mock-ups. As such, I had much less familiarity, or sense, for that matter, about the suggestions and or significance of the IFRA limitations upon many various fragrance and flavor compounds, offering guidelines and limits, in percentages, or in “parts per” (million), for example. For that matter, damascenone is used as both a flavor and as a fragrance molecule. In this mockup fragrance composition I had made, years ago, implementing damascenone, I had employed what would be considered an “overdose” amount - the compound is very powerfully fragrant. Here is what the literature has on damascenone.

The article feels timely, seeing as how we’re on the heels of the latest Valentine’s Day, this year (2025). 

As well, here is what Google’s AI-augmented search came up with, when I asked what the difference was/is between damascenone and damascones, since I had gotten things mixed and mushed up, in my mind, until just earlier:

Here, although, absent of smelling the aroma compounds in question “in person,” it would be a far cry from simple, to really invoke the senses in a way that would constitute that the readers could mock up damascenone, for one, and the damascones (there’s a few, at minimum). Regardless, we see that it is the case, that the two distinctions are inherently separate families, separate molecular forms, and different classifications of materials, both chemically and in an olfactory sense. I personally have had a former in-person sampling of damascenone 93%, which I employed in the fragrance composition I had touched on, earlier, and, as well, I recently purchased beta-damascone, thinking that that was the compound that I had employed, previously (without checking my receipts, as notes; therefore, I was wrong). Damascenone is, as well as damascone, distinguished, in composition and form, in the “beta” distinction (it’s known as beta-damascenone, and there are different aesthetics, dependent upon the degree of purity of the beta molecule, versus other variants of the same compound). 

The original haul in question, where I purchased Damascenone 93% from the now defunct CreatingPerfume.com (they’re now at CreatingPerfumeStore.com).

Now, having made my recent mistaken step, in trying to reclaim some of the scent legacy that I had once created, just for the olfactory nostalgia’s sensibilities of the situation, but also, that I felt that that particular historic nuance of the fragrance composition I made would be a distinguished role to fulfill in my latest composition, Eau Pigeonoid (I lost my fragrance collection, years ago, when my belongings, including over 300 fragrance ingredients and oils, were swiftly removed from my possession. As such, I “miss” some of my fragrance compositions that I’d made). In this case, I’d been feeling that my latest make of Eau Pigeonoid (my latest fragrance composition) is “pretty good,” meaning that it’s tolerable for myself, and, conceivably, for others, as well. I can tell, because I sometimes have to admit that I find myself stuck, at times, with fragrance compositions that make me a bit nauseous or embarrassed, being that they don’t smell all that refreshing. Here, I have a pretty good composition that doesn’t make me sick or fatigued; I just feel that the composition could use a bit of smoothing out of some of the slight let-downs that it has, as-is, so I wanted to audition Damascenone Total next to my working composition of Eau Pigeonoid, even though I might only use just a slight amount for it, in the end, I just wanted to sample the two fragrances together, as well as Hedione HC, in which case, I’m opting for the cheaper (and equivalent) Methyl Dihydro Jasmonate HC. Despite that Eau Pigeonoid is touted, currently, as a men’s fragrance, and these are floral-esque (or, moreso floral) effects, I’m just whittling away at slight facets of the fragrance, Eau Pigeonoid, at the moment. Most of the primary and formative work has already been done on it. 

Updating…

02/17/2025 10:11 p.m.

I placed my order for the materials, finally, and I threw in some patchoulol crystals, to see how they are. The price worked out to be just right, for my budget. 

As an aside, I have some other oils on order from Sheer Essence, on Amazon. I checked out their website, as well, to view their full catalog, and, in this case, I ended up going with a bottle of cardamom essential oil, as well as Melissa officinalus. Right now, I have a fairly (what I might estimate to be) aldehydic fragrance, with recent additions of vanilla, pink pepper, beeswax absolute, and a “named” aldehydic mandarin scent, with Mandarinal. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the type of quality that a Dior fragrance might have, yet it brings out the sensual side of my days, as a quick reminder, here and there, of an animalistic nature, lying beneath the surface (probably also owing to that I haven’t done laundry in a very long time - although, I did a quick run, to make sure I wasn’t too bum, just the other night). What I mean is that body odors would arise, in my senses and periphery, yet, fragranced with the sweetened odors of beeswax absolute and other components, I found it compelling (I know, doesn’t everyone, of themselves?). Anyways, I’m currently cleaning my room. I ordered a new mattress, and it’s a size upgrade, so I have to move and repurpose a bunch of stuff in my room, on this evening. 

“Dior?” You might be remarking. “He compares himself to Dior?” And I know, sure, it’s a bit youthful and unrefined a composition, yet, as I stated, my composition, I would say, to reiterate, that it simply has “some of” the qualities that some Dior fragrances do have. I found it a bit affront, to have landed, stylistically, in a fragrance space that’s already occupied; that’s why I’m seeking new ingredients, perhaps; I’m seeking to surge forth and find my Eau Pigeonoid niche, with a finished prototype, something fantastic and unique enough to stand on it’s own, even though - <_<… it’s not bad, as it stands, right now. 

In fact, I suppose, on second thought (now that I gather my thoughts, a bit), that Eau Pigeonoid was slightly built upon a supposition of that I could, at this stage, in my perfumery knowledge, make a slight mockup of something that smells somewhat like Dior Homme Sport, so I guess that that rightly stood as some of my formative inspiration, in crafting Eau Pigeonoid. Now I’m going with some Cardamom and Melissa, some damascenone and Hedione, with a dash of patchoulol crystals, if it suits; attempting to craft a bit of spicy, a bit of lemon freshness, and I want to fill out and round out the woods, with an aim to barter good intentions for near-cosmonaut euphoria highs, upon smelling my own fragrance (Hopefully? That’s my goal, anyways, with this stuff). I’m hoping that Damascenone and Hedione HC are perhaps the missing actors in making my fragrance composition a fine show of things.

The reason I reopened this project was a drive to explore the undiscovered (by myself), which is always the case, when procuring and experimenting with new aroma chemicals and fragrance compounds. Even if it’s a familiar scent, that I’ve encountered, or know, from experience, smelling it as a bottled product, ready for mixing, is a whole other experience. By the way, I do highly recommend Sheer Essence for procuring some fundamental essential oils, carrier oils, etc. You might be thinking, “well, they ship from India, how do I know it’s good? What if it takes a long time?” The answer to those fears are that, surprisingly, the packages take a much shorter time than expected, and the quality of their oils is fantastic. I recommend that readers try them out. They’re perhaps one of the best bargain merchants in the entire world of natural fragrance materials - not that bargain, here, means “cheap.” As I said, it’s surprising; both the quality of the oils, as well as the promptness in receiving the shipment. Perhaps a week or two, at most, to receive it in the United States. As you can see, from the screenshot below, I ordered a fragrance on the 6th, and I reviewed it, after receiving it, on the 14th of the same month, or earlier than that, that I received it and reviewed it.

Update: I received the fragrance ingredients, and I added them to my fragrance composition, which I tentatively call “Eau Pigeonoid.” Even with around only 1/4 to 1/3rd of a milliliter, of the Damascenone, that I added, it stands as a very prominent feature of the composition, with a relaxing, natural, fruity floral effect to it. I feel that I rested better, after spraying some of the fragrance in my room, as I slept. I’ll plan on waiting for the cardamom and Melissa essential oils to arrive, from India, before I plot out the final and finishing touches on the fragrance, once again. So far, it’s been through it’s fourth cycle of development, since the formula was originally concocted, out of 8 ingredients (now, there’s more like 20 ingredients, some of them just trace amounts, but I wanted the damascenone effect, that I remembered, from my past compositions, and Perfumer’s Apprentice’s Damascenone Total (Firmenich) doesn’t disappoint. 

Baby pigeon’s first day out with the flock. (LAPL Central Branch).

 

Here’s baby pigeon, on the lower right portion of the photo. Today was his first day out, that I’ve seen him. 

The pigeon flock at the Downtown LA’s Los Angeles Public Library, Central Branch, feature just one newcomer baby pigeon, for the past year’s late season mating period. I noticed him squeaking around, on the ground, below me, as I gave the birds their lunchtime daily meal. This baby was pretty adept at taking care of himself, already, as far as eating goes. Sometimes the baby birds don’t know how to eat food on their own, yet, when they come out with the flock, while they’re still young, and they go around squeaking for help, to the older birds. This one knew how to peck for his food. He hasn’t learned to preen himself, yet, though, so his feathers were a bit ruffled. When the flock was done eating, they flew off, almost in unison, as they typically do, although baby pigeon wasn’t quite used to being in sync with such a nuanced trait of flock behavior, yet, so he stayed behind, for several seconds, probably wondering at what had happened, but eventually, he flew off, to join the rest of the flock. 

I didn’t try to intervene in baby pigeon’s mealtime and first day out, with the birds. Pigeons are naturally frightened of humans, as wild birds, on account of our size differences. I figure that if baby pigeon is meant to be a show bird, he’ll learn the behaviors from the members of the flock who have been showing confidence and dominant behaviors towards me, lately, in that they started using me as a perch, which you can see in the next blog post. This had just started recently, and some of the more senior members, such as Snooker, the senior Pakistani High Flyer of the flock, even took on this advantageous behavioral trait, for themselves, just to try it out, and he perched on my arm, for a moment, before flying off. I say advantageous because the ones that perch on me stand to be rewarded with premier picks of the meal supply, provided in my hand, for them to peck out and nibble on. In some cases, when they perch on me, as multiple members of the flock, they flout their pigeon idiosyncrasies and social order behavioral traits, such as competitiveness over who gets to pick the food out of my hand, or not, and who gets to stand where. 

This behavioral paradigm is promising, as it suggests that some members of the flock have become quite comfortable around me, for themselves fact that I’m the primary feeder of the flock. With this being the case, some newcomers to the flock adopted this behavioral trait of flying up on me and perching on my arm, or climbing over my grocery and food bags, and my legs, while I’m seated on the ledge, to feed them. The fact that Snooker tried out perching on me, the other day, was a subsequent promising gesture, on top of that birds started perching on me, at all, since previously, before a few weeks ago, or so, this trait did not exist, in the flock. It makes for a unique sensory experience for human participants; offering the hand, to hand feed the birds, and feeling their feathery texture of the birds’ crop area, above the chest, and just below the throat, as they peck frenetically and pick out which seeds or peanuts they’d like to eat. It’s a humorous thing to be so close to the action of their meal time, since they have poor manners, and they even jump on top of each other, shoulder their way in, and stand on top of each other, even, to get to the food supply. Sometimes, the birds even prefer to eat out of my hand, since it’s more efficient than eating off of the ground, which is their other option. I figure that baby pigeon might likely some day take part in this social behavior of the showier birds in the flock, and I’ll just be patient and reinforce the occurrences of repeating this feeding ritual, for display, for the other birds to perhaps mimic, each and every one of them, that feels like it. Beyond that, I feel that it would be a new challenge, to bring discipline and orderliness to their meal time. Meal time is where they really go wild, after all, which is part of the entertainment value of feeding the pigeons, to begin with. 

Now I have a new training gesture to offer the birds; holding my arm out, parallel to the ground, to stand as a perch, for the birds, and some of the birds accept it, and readily and playfully fly up on my arm and perch there, to demonstrate and participate in this training. It was a heartwarming moment, on this day, when a disfigured-legged pigeon flew up to perch on my arm, to eat food out of my hand. It showed that even physical disfigurement, from former misfortunes in life, doesn’t discourage the birds from trying out new behaviors, in interacting with their caretakers and handlers by perching on them, to receive hand-fed meal portions. 

Pigeon chat, with ChatGPT (12/22/2024)

 note: originally published with a typographical error in the title and web address; the title has been corrected, whereas the web address is permanent, as is, and I don’t want to take this post down and republish it. 

Transcription: 

The pigeons are acting out so wonderfully. Today, some of them were exuberantly hopping up on to my arm, as I was preparing their meal for them, and they perched there, on my arm, and ate food out of my hand.

What a delightful moment! It sounds like you’ve built a wonderful bond of trust and familiarity with the pigeons. Their hopping onto your arm and eating from your hand reflects their comfort and appreciation for your care. Moments like these show how animals, even pigeons, can form meaningful connections when treated with kindness and consistency.

Have they always been this comfortable around you, or is this a new behavior? It’s such a lovely example of mutual trust!

It’s a relatively new behavior that had started around a month ago. I’ve been feeding the flock for seven years, and some of the newcomers to the flock are braver than the older regulars to the flock, as far as eating out of my hand and accepting hand contact from me. One of them let me pick them up and give him a hug, briefly, and he wasn’t scared. 

I finally got an iPad Pro back in my life.

 I probably vaguely covered the topic, as well as that I vaguely disappeared from updating this blog - I'm referring to last year (2023) around the beginning of July, which was when I woke up in a nurse's dorm, completely naked; I was the victim of an overdose (apparently). 

I struggle to recall the precise details of where I went wrong, leading up to this occurrence, after the fact, and I swear that I had identified that my personal belongings were somewhere in the nurse's dorm, yet I was too much out of it, at the time that I was transported to the main part of the hospital by the emergency medical transport personnel, to make certain that my belongings weren't lost in the shuffle, being that these were items most surely attached to my body (I wore my iPad Pro, at the time, inside a bag that I never took off). I can recall that I found a fentanyl-tainted methamphetamine sample inside a  silicone container, nearby where I slept, back then, as a homeless person, but I recall that I consumed it without issue, at the time, and that I went about my day just fine, at the time - not quite in fine form, as I had to resort to shopping-carting around, since my baby stroller broke down (I used the stroller to transport my items around town). The reason I reported to the shopping cart was, ironically, related to my iPad Pro, of back then, to begin with - I had a delinquent bill, with AT&T, and, as I was, at the time, I could only imagine making payments for the device, and for my service, with recycling money (collecting and redeeming recyclable bottles and cans). 

Nowadays, things are different from all of that, lifestyle-wise, and to my benefit - this model iPad Pro is the latest model; it had been a while, since I was out on my own, without an iPad Pro to prop me and my project aspirations up, and make things presentable. My financial situation, on top of my housing circumstances, are much more well-supported, at this point. On one hand, looking at my own iPad Pro, after experiencing, first hand, an Apple Vision Pro, which is fantastic, and a heap of fun to play around in - it's challenging to portray the experience to somebody else, but, in short, it is a truly immersive augmented, camera assisted, operating system, run primarily on eye-tracking technology, whereas the controls of the device (keyboard, scrolling, etc.), unless the user implements the Dwell option, which means, essentially, that the user's gaze, and a certain amount of time afterwards, upon a single object, such as a link, the corner of an app window, a menu list of items(s), basically any individual selectable item within the operating system and apps is gaze-able. The cool thing about the Vision Pro, though, is the augmented reality feature of resizing screens, such as video screens, as can be imagined, I fancy, by referencing my iPad Pro, in my room.

The Christmas season 2 episode of Ted Lasso, a show I came to be fond of, after trying out the Vision Pro.

Now, imagine that the iPad Pro screen is resizable, up to virtually the entire visual field, and all of it (apps and VisionOS) is controllable by camera-tracked fingertip pinches. The resizing feature of it would amount to that there is now a 100-inch projection screen in front of the viewer, all done virtually, with some simple finger gestures, done in thin air. It's quite fantastic, and it makes watching media on smaller devices a bit dull, although the iPad Pro does have a gorgeous color profile to it, and great apps, which aren't matched by other platforms - that's what I really missed about my lost iPad Pro - the accessibility and the diversity of activities that I could achieve in the iPadOS platform, with an iCloud backup installation of an iPadOS that dated back several or more years, which I had been building upon. I lost access to my backup, this time around - I guess that I was fooling around with tightening up the security of my device, out of paranoia, I'm sure; I became convinced that somehow, people were tunneling in, or had peeked over my shoulder, on the bus or train, for example, and I changed my password in to something hopelessly complex, prior to losing my device, due to the hospitalization. 

Anyways, here's to a new season of better photo captures and high-resolution video, as well as advanced graphic and image creation, for the Sticker Time collection. Who knows what'll be next?

Anyways, I purchased up the iPad Pro in-store on Cyber Monday, and it arrived near the end of the week, and I picked it up. I was expecting to slip right in to my trusty old iPadOS installation and configuration, with over 700 apps neatly organized in to folders, if I remember correctly, but I apparently did some screwy stuff with my iPad Pro that I had previously, right before I had my misfortune last year, when I lost my device, and I locked myself out of getting the configuration, itself, (which amounts to a lot of work - the configuration of the apps in to folders). I must have changed the password on myself, or something like that, because I couldn’t sign in with my previous iPad password, for my old device; hence, I lost that section of the work I put in to the device, but it amounts to only the encrypted information on the device, itself, not iCloud-stored information. So, I’ve got to make out a new, or makeshift, configuration with a new set of folders, but I’m definitely glad to have the device back in my hands - this one’s thinner than ever: Apple calls it “impossibly thin,” and it’s practically true, yet it’s a very sturdy device. One of the first things that I did was LiDAR-scan my room and port over my video game accounts, that I started playing on my other, Android devices, and, as luck would have it, the progression ended up being a passing of the torch, completely, from an Android tablet experience - not a bad one, with this Yatiom model tablet, “for kids,” it had been marketed as, yet, it came with 10 GB of RAM: pretty competitive, as well as intelligently put, although my new device has 16 GB of RAM. There were some processes that I was running, in audio, on my old device, that pushed the limits of throughput and available memory (apparently), and I encountered an app crash, from out of running those processes on my old iPad Pro, which only had 8 GB of RAM. In any case, somehow, serendipitously, my Yatiom Android tablet got it’s screen broken, the next time I looked at it, after receiving the iPad Pro, so I’m lucky to not have had a lapse in tablet format and a higher-RAM-running operating system.

R.I.P. to my broken YATIOM Android tablet, which gave out, just as soon as I received my new iPad Pro.

Pigeon-watching hotspots to see around town #10: Figueroa at 4th St. Underpass flock.

This flock is a delight to visit (for me, at least, because I'm training them). They are currently (October 2024) becoming trained on the clicker, for "come." One of the birds swooped down in front of me, just earlier, today, as I arrived. I was positioned in an unfamiliar place, for feeding's sake, so it was especially flattering that the bird recognized me by the clicker. 

Some of the pigeon flock at Figueroa at 4th St. Underpass. 

This flock is particularly charming for its resilience in the face of challenges. Several of the birds (much more than by averages of other flocks) have visible battle scars, in the form of deformed and swollen feet, from having string tied around their feet, by former trappers that frequented the area, although they're here no longer, I seem to notice. I'm not well-versed in trapping the pigeons, to save them from their plight, at this time. I just show up and feed them. You can check out some of their quaint and isolated behaviors (although fairly common fare, for pigeons; I just felt that they could be a control flock, eventually, in psychological terms, with their progress and development in mind, on account of their isolation) in some video footage I captured while socializing my deceased pigeon friend that I brought along, and wrote an article on, a couple of weeks ago, below. 

Here, you can see my pigeon friend is being investigated by one of the males in the Figueroa at 4th St. Underpass flock's regular members.

Regardless of being new to the place, my pigeon friend felt right at home with the new birds, and he took to some sharing of the same meal as the other birds, while we visited. 

This bird, (unnamed, so far) is one of the more charming of the flock. He had a broken leg happen to him, several months ago, and it hasn't quite healed properly, but he could potentially heal up and be just fine, some day. 

The location is fairly quiet, lately, and, as I noted, isolated, but it's ideal if you happen to show up with food for the birds, and you can spot them roosting on the light poles. They'll swoop down and accept food, if they spot you tossing some out, in many cases. If you have a clicker, that's even better, because they're becoming trained on clicker noises. 
 

I just recently saw a former friend in porn + some back story surfaced.

 As that I'm single, right now, I'm still drawn to pornography, at age 42. It's been a rough set of years in dating, as a schizophrenic, with several bad breakups preceding my schizophrenia onset, as the backdrop to a row of horrors that ensued. This particular incident dates back to the beginning of my dating years, which was back in college and university. There, I was with one girl throughout my college career. I hear that she hangs out with the guy whom I saw in the porn video; a mutual friend. After I realized that the guy is, potentially, recognizably, the same person that I was friends with, back in university times, some melodrama unfolded. I hear that the purpose of me hearing it was that I'd been done a number on, so to speak. 

According to the allegory, my ex-girlfriend and ex-fiancee had moved back to my college home town, of back then, and had been settling in, with friends, there, meanwhile, I'd heard nothing of it. I'm not all that much attached, any more, and there's a lot of sore feelings that go along with processing this sort of thing, which, usually, lately, I'd not give much credence to, yet I found that the story satisfyingly enough fulfilled a dark hole portion of my mind's memories, coming up to the present day. She was upset that I never came back out to try to find my way in life, with her running around town, but I guess that that's where things get fanciful, in believing the story. I have to maintain some restraint, since the girl remains distant to me. 

There were a bunch of short tales of misdeeds leading up to ruin, in their own lives, likewise, as I'd experienced. It was like a lucid dream, that I'd had, in hearing this stuff out, while I'm trying to get to sleep. I'd been ailing over the notion of becoming old, as a single person, lately, since I find it hard to socialize, and all of my former relationships, whether they be guys or girls, are largely all broken ones, so it's a bit awkward, starting over again. I just have to keep faith and persevere through this; I've been through a rotten bunch of years, but when things are good, they're good times to be had, for sure. I'll just have to wait things out. I don't get very far, in contacting people, from long ago. It tends to exacerbate my symptoms. In general, though, I've been on a good path towards rehabilitation, and I've been feeling better, and more on top of things, in my life. The pigeons help keep me stable, because they show affections towards me when I show up to feed them. 

Update: Now, a couple of hours or so after writing this article, I have new voices in my head, feigning possibilities about the pigeons' fate, should I ever choose to leave town, which, I figure, could be plausible, being that there's a train that runs out to Riverside, from Downtown Los Angeles (I went to UC Riverside). They're saying that they could keep the pigeons fed, in my absence. Perhaps I'll be able to figure something out that works with the schedules and needs of all included, within this issue, daydreaming aside; I still would like to finish up my Master's Degree in Music Composition, being that I've had plenty of years on me, at this point, and I have, as well, some cool compositions that I've worked on, over the years.

I found my own personal pigeon friend.

 Yesterday, when I was out feeding the pigeons, I noticed that one of the pigeons stayed behind, while the other birds left, after their meal. He was puffy feathered, which indicated that he might be under the weather. I tried picking him up, and, surprisingly, he let me pick him up. 

I'm not sure why he's not flying away, but I took him to another pigeon-feeding spot, and I let him wander around, with the new pigeons, and, after their meal, he let me pick him up, again, so I took him home. 

He's an adorable puffy pigeon. He slept next to my bed, and I gave him a water dish and some cookie crumbs, while I'm out, for the day. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep him, for the long term, just yet. I have to figure out if his condition is temporary, or not, and see if he stops letting me pick him up, after a few days, or so. He seems fairly healthy, aside from the puffy feathers, and he might make a good housed pigeon, for me to keep. 

Update: the pigeon succumbed to whatever was ailing him, and he passed away, 2 nights ago. I had one day with him, which was nice :)

Some fond memories of my adorable little black puffy pigeon:

If you're interested in adopting (purchasing) your own personal pigeon friend, yourself, I recommend Farid's Pet Shop, at the corner of 6th at Maple in Skid Row, Downtown Los Angeles. He has a variety of pigeons, from time to time, and he currently has some pigeons (Late October, 2024) in stock, I saw them just yesterday. It's a good start to establishing your own small pigeons and avian pet friends hobby, with hand-feeding the young, as the next step in having a tame bird as a pet. As you can see, pigeons are adorable birds!