Product Review: I got packed, at CiggiesWorld.

 Typically, I’d say that I go with the flow, and I complain about things minimally, largely based on my participatory roles and level of influence, but also because I commonly don’t pay too much attention to emerging issues. Given that, one of my pet peeves is how smokers dropped the ball when the legislation to ban flavored and menthol tobacco products came out, and the law was passed. It’s a mostly sorry time, where I live, when it comes to tobacco, but, on the other hand, it’s a flourishing time of open-air settings, where entrepreneurs sell cigarettes (menthols, even), in these dire times, so I went a long time without doing anything about this issue that ruins my smoking experience. 

Being that I’m also homeless, and recently coming from living on the streets, I picked up the bum habit of diving for “good” cigarette butts that I pass by, on the ground. This is no small town, and there’s hardly any benefit to trying to scale the social status ladder, especially for someone like myself, I figure, so I go ahead and do it, but tasting full flavor tobacco, and, commonly, cheap varieties, for that matter, left a bitter taste in my mouth too many times, so I went wandering around, in this arena of cigarette butts lying around, on one hand, and cheap varieties of whole cigarettes going for as cheap as 25 cents each, on the streeet. 

I have to admit, the ground-scraping cigarette butt diving persona had its perks, mainly, in that sometimes, (but regularly enough), I would get a taste of a higher notch of tobacco, small that it might be, and sometimes, they were exotic varieties, even - these were just cigarette butts that had been lying around, on the ground, that I picked up and smoked. Recently, I started to become aware of exotic varieties of Marlboro cigarettes being floated around, somehow, when I came across a couple of Marlboro “Forest Mist” cigarette butts on the ground, at a filming location in DTLA. 

After finding some Forest Mist Marlboro Vista series cigarette butts on the ground, I became intrigued with discovering what I could about this exotic flavored tobacco variety. Here, I have a pack of my own, now. 

I went online and searched around for what information I could find on Forest Mist Marlboros. I found some Reddit forums, some social media pages that mentioned the cigarettes, and I came across some purported suppliers. After mulling things over for a couple of months, or more, I came in to a time in life where I had some budget surplus, and I decided to bite the bullet, so to speak, and decide upon how, and where, I would go about in procuring Forest Mist Marlboro cigarettes of my own. 

I happened upon several websites that claimed they provide the cigarettes, internationally, but I had to do some sifting through potential scam sites, and I settled upon ciggiesworld.ch, which, ostensibly, would be based in Switzerland, although I’ve now found that they operate out of South Korea and Indonesia, two countries that I’ve come to know as that their people really, really like their tobacco, and, apparently, flavored, at that. The politics of the naysayers are such that they’d put a global ban on flavored tobacco, altogether, yet, some of these countries, where resistance is minimal, put forth a fertile grounds for tobacco companies to flaunt their latest and best (in tobacco). 

The Vista series of Marlboro cigarettes is essentially a variety of shapes and flavors of cigarettes, which have the feature of having flavored pop balls in the filters, to flavor the smoking experience, at the time of smoking each cigarette. There are dozens of rebranded and remarketed Marlboro cigarette varieties for sale on Ciggies World, and they carry what I found to be an intriguing variety of flavored pop ball cigarettes by Marlboro, as well as flavored ball cigarettes from other brands. Their site, although not perfect, is designed well enough to be an e-commerce establishment, I figured, so I went ahead and tried them out. 

Another aspect of the global politics of tobacco is the price. For example, the pro-smoking countries see much cheaper prices on tobacco than we get, here, in the United States, due to legislation about things such as associated health care and advertising that comes with tobacco use. On Ciggies World, most of the premium brands are priced at $6.90, or so, for their popular varieties, yet some of their offerings are even cheaper. 

Marlboro Tropical Burst has emerged, from my buying haul from Ciggies World, as my favorite amongst the variety that I sampled from them, with a basic clove flavor to a slim cigarette profile, with two added tropical burst flavor capsules. The price per pack is less than $5.00.

The checkout for the site, while fairly standard and automated, which people would expect, comes with some unusual requirements, such as that the buyer self-manages the payment for the transaction, after figuring out the fees for shipping, in combination with the price of the packs selected. One of the quirks of the company, I’ve learned, is that they do not ship more than 10 packs per box, regardless of how many more packs the buyer purchases. For example, I bought 13 packs, the total for shipping and the cigarettes came out to $130.60, or about $10 per pack. Not bad, for premium flavored cigarettes, especially comparatively, given that they’re not available in America, but the shipping price goes up, incrementally, (I think), based on multiples of 10 packs, so it’s more so worth it to buy them in multiples of 10. So I made the purchase and sent a bank transfer of the funds to Ciggies World, via a Zelle transaction, and I waited. The waiting is an aspect of the transaction that was a bit nerve wracking for me, being that I knew I was going to have to wait for my tobacco to arrive, whereas I would have liked to smoke the flavored tobacco immediately. I read the forums, though, and the people said that the company is reputable, and there were numerous good reviews about Ciggies World. 

All in all, it took a couple or a few days, or so, (it seemed like) for the company to acknowledge my payment and get the items shipped. Once the shipping labels had been made, there was an additional wait for tracking information to show up, which was kind of irksome, but, once the first shipment arrives, all of the anxieties and nervousness subsides. Their products are good, and the variety of cigarettes you can buy is top notch. They specialize in flavor capsule cigarettes (more popular in South Korea) and clove cigarette varieties (which are popular in Indonesia). The shipment, from the time of purchase, to the time of receipt, was about 10-14 days, or so, which beats the site’s estimations. The cigarettes are shipped via Airmail (I got them as registered mail and priority mail, but the shipments both arrived on the same day, despite the tracking saying otherwise, during the process). The buyer has to sign for the shipments upon receipt. A tip on shipment tracking: 17track (the company’s recommended tracking software) will track the shipment until it reaches the destination port - something like that. My two shipments tracked differently from South Korea and Indonesia. If you check the USPS site with the tracking numbers, once they’re shipped, you’ll see more detail after the item reaches US customs, whereas support on 17track stops, at this point. 

Smoking the flavored tobacco is a pleasure. The slim varieties are a bit like a “snack” of smoking, and they’re tempting, to smoke them incessantly, for a little while, although I think I’ll get over it (I just picked up my shipment from the post office earlier, yesterday). It’s nice to have a variety to choose from, and hopefully, the cigarettes I purchased will last a while. 

My packs of cigarettes, in bubble wrap. Packed!

Reviews of the flavors:

As I mentioned, I purchased 13 packs, this time around, and the main attraction to purchasing from Ciggies World was the slight discount - about 15% or so, on cigarette packs, as well as the added feature of having dozens of packs and brands to choose from, which, amongst them, include flavored capsule varieties of packs - a feature that is banned in the US; it’s required to source flavored cigarettes internationally. Some of the varieties had a 3 pack minimum purchase quantity, per order, namely, in this case, the Marlboro varieties. Here are some notes on the other packs that I got from Ciggies World.

A pack of Marlboro Vista Tropical Splash cigarettes.

Marlboro Vista Tropical Splash - $6.80

At first, I was kind of on the fence with this citrusy mango menthol-flavored cigarette, but the flavor capsules grew on me, and, even aside from popping the capsules, the flavor of them is slightly imparted on to what otherwise would be a fairly standard 6.0 mg tar 0.5 mg nicotine Marlboro full-flavored cigarette - not bad tasting. I found that popping one or the other capsules gave less of an “ice” menthol flavor, and, as the cigarette burned down, sometimes, I would pop the 2nd capsule, for an icy finish effect of the smoke. 

Marlboro Vista Summer Splash is more of a berry-minty flavor.

Marlboro Vista Summer Splash - $6.90 

The names get kind of confusing, since both this pack and the first pack have “splash” in the name, and they are generally similar cigarettes, in and of themselves - a standard Marlboro cigarette that has two flavor capsules, except, in this case, the flavor is more berry, with the second capsule a bit citrus-minty. Actually, once again, the effect of both capsules, when they’re both popped, is kind of strongly icy minty, and I started to pop one at a time, with this one, as well, so I could learn to distinguish and choose which flavor I wanted to start with, and perhaps I’d finish off, popping the second one. This one has 3 mg tar and 0.2 mg nicotine, according to the Ciggies World site. 

A clove cigarette, by Djarum, with a cola flavor capsule. 

Djarum Super MLD Fresh Cola - $3.50

Many people who smoke cigarettes have been familiarized with Djarum “cloves,” which are actually labeled as little cigars, and they feature brown or black paper, here in California (Ciggies World has dozens of Djarum varieties on the site). These, by comparison, are much more bright and smooth cigarette tobacco ciggies. The cigarette is flavored as a clove, as is, and the cola flavor is very mild and not very noticeable. Regardless, it’s a cheap pack, and it’s not bad, especially for the price, and for the smooth tobacco flavor and experience.

The Marlboro Vista Forest Mist cigarettes are amongst my favorites, out of the packs that I ordered.

Marlboro Vista Forest Mist - $6.90

These slim cigarettes, with 1.5 mg tar and 0.2 mg nicotine, are very enjoyable, quick little treats of a smoking experience, with a flavor capsule that imparts a berry, floral sort of flavor. I wanted to smoke one after another of these, at times, but thankfully, I had a variety of packs of cigarettes available, so I could alternate and distract myself from smoking too many of these, too quickly. 

Another tropical-themed Marlboro cigarette, but this one starts off as a clove.

Marlboro Vista Tropical Burst - $4.90

I mentioned earlier in this article that this one was my favorite, but, I suppose, all in all, I like the variety and choice of having several various packs and flavor options to choose from, and I enjoy switching between packs, to have different smoking experiences. Wouldn’t that be the point, sort of? This one is a mild clove cigarette, as a basis, with tropical and minty citrus flavor capsules, with 12 mg tar and 0.8 mg nicotine, per cigarette. The clove cigarette, on its own, is bright and smooth, and the flavor capsules provide a good compliment to the smoking experience.

The Esse Change Applemint cigarettes are just okay.

Esse Change Applemint Capsule Superslim Kretek Cigarettes - $4.80

This is another single-capsule clove kretek cigarette, like the Djarum pack that I purchased. I didn’t really notice, all that well, the clove flavor of these cigarettes, but the website says that it’s a clove. I thought that it was just a standard superslim cigarette with an Applemint flavor capsule. The flavor of these capsule is okay, it’s a bit too minty and icy for me.

The Esse Change Icy Double is a very tasty clove kretek cigarette, with a minty option.

Esse Change Icy Double Kretek - $3.50

Oddly enough, the Icy Double Esse Change Superslim Clove Kretek cigarettes are less icy than the Applemint. The first impression of the cigarette is that it’s a fairly standard cigarette, and the orange capsule gives it a nice, fragrant clove flavoring, while the second, blue capsule, gives it a minty freshness. I really enjoyed tasting this cigarette, and I’d definitely order it again, especially since it’s currently on sale!

Final thoughts:

Having flavored tobacco is a much more novel and enjoyable experience than plain old full-flavored tobacco, without any flavor options. It makes the smoking experience smoother, and the flavor capsules might help cut down on the smell. I recommend trying Ciggies World out, for yourself, with these reviews as reference for packs that you might try. 

Product Review: Wegovy (Semaglutide injection, weekly) for weight loss.

 Recently, I had put on up to over 20 pounds, for having moved in to temporary housing, and for being offered 3 square meals a day, whereas my mealtime was previously more sparse and erratic, and whereas I was previously living a more active lifestyle. I had tried out Metformin, which is another diabetic drug that is also given to patients who have been experiencing weight gain, but I was interested in Ozempic (alternately known as Wegovy, by another maker, which I’ve currently been prescribed), which had been trending recently, in news articles. 

My experience with Metformin was short-lived; since it was prescribed to me as a twice-daily pill, I found that I’d regularly forget to take doses, and so I would sometimes double my dose when I did remember to take it, but I was still missing days of taking the pills, on a regular basis. The backdrop to my interests in maintaining my weight, recently, were mostly of that I was concerned about how quickly I had put on the weight, and I’d been suffering from bouts of feeling nauseous, for going out, which I’d somewhat associated with starting to donate blood plasma, at a donation center, which I’d begun doing regularly, since I moved in to the new home, where I’m still staying. The weight gain happened over about 2-3 months, and, being that it was 20 pounds, and I’d gotten up to weighing 210 pounds, being a 5’8” guy, in height, it was starting to measure strongly in to the obese category. I’d been more used to being around 185, which I’d maintained for a few years, at least, consistently. I was worried that the weight gain would continue, uncontrollably, perhaps due to the changes in lifestyle that I’d taken on, and, coupled with the nausea I was feeling, it had become a prominent concern.

I was excited to hear from my primary care physician, on my Medi-Cal subsidized health plan, that I could receive weekly shots of weight loss medications such as Wegovy, or Ozempic, as it’s otherwise known (it’s called semaglutide, as a generic; all the same), since I’d been reading about people’s experiences with the drug, such as in topics like “Ozempic Face,” which is in reference to a drooping of the face, associated with fast weight loss, over a short period of time, apparently. The reality of the situation, as it seems to work out, at least, in my case, is that patients might feel more full, on a consistent basis, throughout the day, thus requiring less of a feeling of even a need to eat meals on as regular a basis as three meals a day. GLP-1 agonists, which help manage blood sugar levels in Type-2 diabetes patients, are the class of drugs that medications like semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic) belong to, and they’ve even been purported to show promise in treating a variety of conditions, such as alcoholism. Even though I don’t drink alcohol, myself, I found these reports to be intriguing. 

I mostly have the impression that a person’s appetite is reduced, with less discomforting side effects of actually skipping meals, as a result. Here and there, I get some effects resembling indigestion, heartburn (burping feelings coming up, from my stomach), etc., but I’ve actually started to have less nausea, and fewer substance use cravings, perhaps akin to the reports on alcohol intake that have been showing up in news headlines. It’s a small price to pay for comfortably being able to skip meals, in order to take the weight back off, and I don’t mind, much, if some parts of me start sagging, due to sagging skin. I’m getting older, regardless. Getting a comfortable pass, from my body’s take on things, coupled with an associated feel of cooperation, in my mindset, that lends itself to weight loss (I’ve already gotten down to 200.8 pounds, after 2 weeks, or so, of using Wegovy). The results seem promising and fast-acting, and I’m optimistic about future quick gains, in losing weight.

Single-use weekly Wegovy injection pens that I was prescribed, to start out my treatment, using semaglutide. Injections are easy; they’re pain free and not difficult.

The iPigeon.institute Sticker Time art, illustrative, and photography miniatures collection, with annotations.

Welcome to the iPigeon.institute online slight exhibition and annotations for the Sticker Time sticker collection.

The "Friends" TV show logo, "Pigeons" Sticker Time version. Credit goes to fontbolt.com and Gabriel Weiss, for the generator, and for the font, respectively. Created 11/25/2024, on the heels of the 30th anniversary of the show Friends, which was on September 22nd, 1994.

Trivia, 2024.

The Sticker Time art miniatures are an ongoing and updating collection of images, illustrations, photographs, and digital renders of (mostly) pigeon (or “bird,” in general,) images, as well as images that have, or have become, contextually, seasonally, or otherwise, relevant, in terms of content, research, and development.

Sticker Time comes out of best practices in branding. My experience, in working with the circular form, comes mainly from an exercise I went through (which I can’t find, online, at the moment) which was hosted by Google, similar to this article; the essential concept being that some essential message of the brand could be delivered through symbolic, illustrative / graphic, or alphanumeric form. Here, with Sticker Time, the same theme as a branding logo is employed, yet the form of Sticker Time takes a more lax and lighthearted approach, given that the brand is already established (the brand has its own sticker, as well, for that matter). 

Here, in this online collection, I feature the entire set of iPigeon.institute Sticker Time images, with annotations. Enjoy! 

One last thing, though: a how-to for printing out the stickers, if you'd like to do so, at home.

Using a standard graphic design app will invariably cause off-center prints. The paper and interface template that I use for this project is Avery 22807. 

To start, visit the avery.com website, and search for 22807, to get the 2-inch, 12 per page label template. 

The avery.com search page, after querying 22807, in the search box. 

You can make a login for the Avery website, at this point, and you'll see a page pop up, featuring different design templates, for the round labels (stickers).

Here's the page you'll see, after logging in to the Avery website (you can also log in as a guest, I believe).

Here, we're going to be using the blank round label template (the first option, at the top left). You'll see the design interface pop up,after selecting this template. 

The Avery 22807 round 2-inch label template.

What's great about this template is that you can standardize the entire sheet, based off of one single design input - or, there's also an option for inputting a different design on each numbered sticker. Just select "Add objects" at the bottom of the page, and center each sticker around the edges of the circular template. You'll want to perhaps have some bleed, surrounding the template's edges, in order to ensure that the eventual printed sticker does not come out smaller than the actual paper cut size. 

Once the template page is finished, you can export the the project to a photo or pdf file, and, if you don't have a printer, like myself at the moment) you can visit FedEx Office, or some other print shop, or office store, and you'll be able to print the page(s) out. For FedEx Office, for example, you can send the prints over to "printandgo@fedex.com," which is the online way to transfer the project data over, for when you visit FedEx Office to do the print job. Their printers make nice stickers out of these prints.

A bunch of stickers that I printed, using FedEx Office's printers and professional paper-cutting tool.

https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/live/ads?sz=640x480|300x600&iu=/21748173425/CPM_ipigeon.institute__Banner_300x600/ipigeon.institute__Side_Banner_300x600&ciu_szs=300x600&env=vp&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&url=[referrer_url]&description_url=[description_url]&correlator=[timestamp]

“Golden Tropical” glitch line art pigeon, rendered by Vector Q app, (2023)

“Sprightly Sparrow,” glitch version. (2021)

“Flattened Rat,” glitch version. (2021) 

“Poppin’ Pigeons.” 2021

iPigeon.institute brand logo for Pinterest. 2021

Baby Sparrow at feeding time. 2022

Curious baby pigeon in Pershing Square. 2022.

Chimera Sparrow. Created with Chimera Painter, a Google AI project. 2021.

Injured winged pigeon, kaleidoscope glitch version. 2023.

Baby Fruit Bat, glitch version. 2021.

Navy Stripes Cheetah pigeon illusion (masks). Rendered by Vector Q. 2022.

Preening pigeon (triangles). Rendered by Vector Q. 2021.

Wired lighting fanciful bird caricature. Rendered by Vector Q app. 2023.

Vanilla planifolia vine, Harajuku Doll version. Rendered by Vector Q app. 2023.

Ernst and Young Plaza, Downtown Los Angeles - Curious over a Fried Egg. (Artist unknown - George Herms?). Rendered by Vector Q. 2023.

Cute baby pigeon in hand, Tarot version. 2023.

Originally from:

Despite our best effort, either he’s calmer today or he doesn’t have enough energy. Gave him food and medication and misted his feathers a bit because he has some dried food below the beak. I’m sad but if he passes away soon at least I know he did with a full crop. pic.twitter.com/CDTlr6fOq8

— Tortolita Dove🌸Art For Healing (@angeliciart) December 13, 2022

2023 California superbloom wildflowers.  

Romantic pigeon, glitch version. Poppy flower adapted from Dior artwork. 2023.

Romantic pigeon, standard version. Poppy flower adapted from Dior artwork. 2023.

Common pigeon x The Matrix. 2023. Background from WallpaperCave.com.

*Go on try and hit me*
Black-headed Gull and Woodpigeon
Slimbridge Wetlands Centre #Gloucestershire #March2015
📷 Mike Lane. pic.twitter.com/BLWZsJxR2s

— a_london_pigeon (@a_london_pigeon) May 5, 2023

'French Pigeons’ painted in oils in 1952 by Milton Avery (American, 1885-1965). The sketch for this painting was done at St Tropez #French_Riviera pic.twitter.com/qSFLvb9W8d

— a_london_pigeon (@a_london_pigeon) May 4, 2023

birds restaurant, Hollywood, CA. Rendered by Vector Q app. 2023

Scientology Celebrity Center, Hollywood, CA. Rendered by Vector Q. 2023.

Sketching exercise, primitives of pigeons, glitch version. Glitch by SCN app. 2023.

Broken-winged pigeon, tropical poppin’ glitch version. Line art by Vector Q. 2023.

Ashy rover beetle. 2023.

More to come! Stay tuned, for updates!

June 24th, 2023 - Baby pigeon imagines Pizza Party!!! rendered by PinksCam app, by siyuan Lin.

Checking in: What’s happening, and what’s there to look forward to, at iPigeon.institute.

 I’d been a bit absent, lately, 

in recent months. This has been due to personal difficulties, on account of various things:

• Back and neck pain
• Budgeting challenges
• Poor weather
• Perceived, or actual threats, to my personal security
• Persona developments
• Remote sensing acquisitions of my time

The truth is, I’d become a bit apathetic, and worry-worn, due to constant challenges and negativity surrounding me, essentially drawing a dark cloud over previous years, in which I’d had eccentric bursts of creativity and prolific resource of novelty and humor. These days, I find it difficult to drum up the same personal rapport and morale, being that the situations suppose, even more than I’d experienced, previously, since I began suffering from bouts of hearing persecutors voices, and from then until now - largely, now, have a distinctive dark taint of familiarity, amongst the characters whom present themselves to me, as harassers, which envelops my subconscious mood and fears of ever establishing yet another dysfunctional relationship, that I bring myself in to.

To be sure, it’s mostly guys that do this to me. With women, I’m much more optimistic, of that they could be “fixed,” perhaps, if necessary, or set aright, in some manner, if it came to that - it’s just sort of a feeling, more than that anything’s materialized; encounters with females are scarce, and not much of anything, although I have been feeling sparks of inspiration, in romance, in recent days and weeks, I’d suppose, and I guess that I’ve been working myself up to dipping my toes in the water, once again, so to speak. It’s a raw deal, that I run, being that I’m fraught with such a defensive and secluded personality framework spectrum of “possible” me’s, which I could make available, and secure some kind of workable sociability profile, for a lady, being that I’m picky, I’ve got formative standards and boundaries set for myself - I don’t tolerate much of any kind of conflict, or distaste, or aversion, to something that’s “not right,” or worse, in a relationship setting, being that I’m a very high 99th percentile degree of honest, and forthcoming, in life, I “don’t smoke (any drugs),” I’m very much present, in the moment, when it comes to opportunities to judge people, and on top of that, my neurotic spectrum of tendencies is still of that I’m generally shy, not much really capable of coming up with a right way to casually wedge my way in to some young lady’s life, and circumstances, and, furthermore, I’m somewhat expected to not even try to date, while on the job, for various reasons and rationale:

• I’m a bum
• My clothes are oftentimes messy
• Sometimes I sweat a lot
• I have a bunch of baggage - literal, bum and pigeon-feeding bum sorts of carry-along baggage
• My nose leaks and drips, endlessly
• I feel like crap, as far as limber qualities - I carry a lot of bags, as I’d mentioned
• A lot of people (women) could run circles around me, in socialization standards
• I’m there for the pigeons, and I can’t afford to look like a creep
• It’s a better trade-off, to be silent, keep to myself, and persist, in feeding pigeons
• I run a strictly fairly conservative Christian Protestant profile, of not much talk, or socializing
• I just keep to myself
• I have to protect my iPad Pro
• Sometimes, I feel like people are following me
• I have people making appearances in my mind, all the time
• I feel like some people definitely don’t like me, categorically, and sometimes, they show up, in town
• I feel like it would look funny, or scandalous, if I somehow materialized some kind of idealized female counterpart, at my side
• People put my personal private time at issue, and they criticize ostensible things that I do (or not)
• I have to do a sit-in job, while out and about, of performing licensed talk and behavioral therapist, marriage and family therapist, some sort of amalgamated public and mental health capacity type of fill-in, sort of work profile, lumped in
• Maybe these are just the “toilet can years” of this pigeon-feeding gig’s enterprise

The importance of classical music education.

Oftentimes, 

I’m issued an obscure, yet demanding task - to contend against invisible adversaries who speak down towards me, in my mind. Far be it from me to feign the belief of that everyone can understand my plight, and dilemma, yet I feel that there is a strong subset demographic operating amongst us, who secretly, and intently, contribute to this obfuscation of the facts (plus more), as singular, or collective, remote sensing interlopers. 

On one hand, some contingent factors must be kept in mind, at all times - one of them, is the understanding, and expectation of that not “everyone,” per se, would reasonably be included within any off-hand remote sensing event, or experience. In other words, it’s important that observants, subjects (of focus), and or participants in remote sensing occurrences keep the potential for grandiosity to flourish in check. Similarly, I commonly observe that some participants, in remote sensing events, at times, brazenly disregard the genera public, and the potential for their communications and participation to fall upon unintended audiences’ “ears,” or, more rightly, their “minds,” since these are aural experiences, perceptually, yet they can not be recorded, via conventional technology means, at least, at the consumer level, at this point in time (March, 2023). 

Other considerations aside, what a tragedy it is, that many people are wrongfully wrought up, in to cult-like sects of sadistic ritual abusers. It’s an unimaginable travesty. 

Rather than focus on this type of occurrence, as a phenomenon, I’d rather maintain objectivity, and rationality, yet the aforementioned dilemma largely prefaces my current underlying circumstances in life, as I find writing to be a self- and identity-affirming practice, through the process of composition, in and of itself, and I largely only get around to writing, textually, these days, although I do make some small gains, here and there, for upcoming and developing musical projects and works to be derived, later on, from future practice and learning, within a musical context. 

Music is truly one of the fundamental intelligences; to be certain (although, this is a time in which shoddy journalistic and publishing practices dominate former standards in intelligence; therefore, valid information of our youth’s learning and education becomes much more of a challenge to discover, for reference, on the internet). Recent seminal works had documented musical intelligence as one of the 9 primary areas of intelligence, for example. We must not diverge our resources available to us, and cast them to the wind, so to speak, by allowing inferior intelligence streams, whether it be our own search patterns, on the internet, or through our news feeds. Yet, this being the case, it’s somewhat all a fluke, given that musical intelligence is something of various forms of virtue - hand-eye coordination, memory and recall plays a significant role in performing and in thinking about music, fine motor muscle skills are developed, through musical training, and musical practice assumes a disciplined lifestyle and household, to at least some degree, in order for musical learning to take place, and take hold, in the mind. 

Much of many people’s discontent and “acting out,” which I find to be prevalent, in my most near-to-me proximity (or, for that matter, as commonplace, in my remote sensing event occurrences, lately) border upon suggestions of modeling of society, itself, now, as an anarchistic domain, to become developed. Are we in our end times, for the sake of a lack of trying to do better? There’s very much a large helping of apathy, amidst discontent, whereas music, whether it be experiencing live or recorded musical pieces, or through practicing and playing music, oneself, both in solitude, and amongst others of a musical inclination. There seems to be so much detrimental, in attitudes about society at large, as a suitable “victim” for one’s own inequities and shortcomings, in life, whereas, I feel that music would fulfill that gap, and need, in life, which we all have, and that being said, it is a blessed offering to ourselves, our wellbeing, and for others. 

Lifestyles of the group home (transitional) transients - freon-huffing, post-cloudz 🤯

 Man, oh, man, these housemates of mine really pop off, for the start of a day - a workweek Monday, for that matter.

Having spent some years in transitional living homes, after doing some time, immemorable, of some form, around the time I was evicted from my Section 8 apartment, for excessive crumbs and knickknacks crumbs and knickknacks awrr rawr rawr, I’d (fearfully so) had become acquainted with some transient group home types, much more down to home and in-my-face, err, (some other) mental health detriment, some other personality disorder. 

That being said, I do have some reasonably good and well-read psychology chops, so I commonly moonlight as a public health operative, out in the field, or, at home, much the same - that is, to say, that these demographics are much like common folk who are out and about, and I hear that many of them are equitably to be found in sober living home settings; it’s a certain branch off-shoot of that lifestyle and placement, by public and mental health, as well as social service and local government organizations. 

This is transitional living.

I’ll keep it short, and to the point - these folks share their knowledge base and resources, however well-resourced, somewhat fairly freely, amongst each other, and, in my case, they find me the “gay” one - the one to pick on, for being well-groomed, well-dressed, clean cut, etc., so they direct a significant amount of inappropriate attention towards me, once I leave home, to head out, and feed the pigeons, for my work day, or, perhaps, they do it somewhere off in the periphery. 

But anyways, this is the memo. The drama, of an ongoing nature, I’ve come to (re-)discover, through “hearing” stuff - something along these lines, I’ll say, tantamount to a strong air-pressure leakage, from a holding tank, perhaps of a commercial, rather than personal, -sized tank, such as for Freon tank refilling, or installation. 

Essentially, it seems to allow for the users to become exotically more so euphorically intoxicated, with blissful renditions upon life, at a strange hour, in life, (comparatively), such as perhaps just prior to 8 a.m., through 9:30 a.m., or so. I did “similarly,” yet not “huffing” stuff(-ly) so, types of things, back in college, when I had a girlfriend, but I was, comparatively, embarrassed, when I realized that my neighbor could hear me, from across the way. 

How to rig a bum cart for success

Doing a bum cart life gig is a palpable common bum identity commonly flaunted in a metropolitan district such as DTLA (downtown Los Angeles, CA, USA). The benefits of doing bum cart life are manifold over other types of transitive bum personae such as the bicycling bum and the bag'ged bum, « on foot. »

This one is bum life at it's most flaunch; stylistically. A bum cart with all the trimmings - a unicorn cosplay costume head sticking out - to denote the playfulness and good humor of the bum's identity,

Along with needful trimmings, such as site-detoxification utilities, sweetened powdered milk jug for bread-feeding the pigeons, luxuriant toiletries from various boutique retailers of finery Los Angeles and beyond, hand sanitizer (useful in a post COVID-19 outbreak world), and a daily usage recyclables collecting bag, up top.

Many various-use bags can be tied alongside the ridges of the handles and top of the cart, for sorting the daily necessities of bum life. 

One thing to make sure of, though, is that you don't overload the bum personal tote cart too jaunted - the cart could potentially break down, at the axles, particularly going down a curb. 

Update: Sunday, August 14th, 2022:

I’ve discerned, lately, that a fair-enough degree of bum-looking-ness, for a cart, will earn a person “not” having their bum cart stolen, in downtown LA, while sleeping in certain areas, or, for leaving it outside of Ralph’s, while grocery shopping, at least, during certain hours, or days of the week, while out shopping. I’d stayed out, for the entire week, and thankfully, food stamps had come in, earlier today, so I went to the grocery store. 

Update: Thursday, September 8th, 6:56 a.m. - new incarnations on of bum cart aspirations - now, with a dolly. 

I’d tried out tote carting a whole plenty much, and the things always break, after several weeks, or less. For me, it’s tough on my budget, to try and replace these sorts of things, so I was fortunate to come across this sturdy-looking dolly | hand truck rendition of the similar notion; the bum tote cart. 

With this version, I’m capable of having a compact form, for the cart’s travel time, and I can fit it in to my food-carrying backpack (also pictured, since the cart can fold flat. All convenient features of this combo. I’m going to add some new noiseless wheels, so I can go about my tree-watering work by night, hauling jugs of water, and watering the trees; that’s my plan for this backpacking lifestyle aspiration. I can’t wait to try it out!