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 - My First Haul (and shopping experience) with Poshmark.

 After getting my new Nike Trail Running shoes, I felt a little bit bland with the limitations I have on my change-of-clothes options in my wardrobe, particularly in the hot Southern California middle of the summer. I’ve been opting for golf shorts and moisture-wicking, antibacterial fabric tank tops that I got to sample, first, through Amazon Vine. I bought a second set of these, in other words. The clothing purchase and the shoes purchase coincided on one day, mostly, so the colors match, but still, I felt it was a little bland. I wanted some neon pink, of something, and my mind wandered back over to my most recent high-end jacket and long sleeve purchases that I had made, during the pandemic. 

A Nike Trail sticker, featuring the Nike Trail series graphic, in pink.

I started out searching for a neon pink Windrunner, which is the name of a Nike athletic sort of windbreaker, with a special 26° trim coming down the front of the jacket. It’s made of polyester, and it’s lightweight, but Nike makes them with cool designs, every now and then. I went with Google Shopping, to begin my search, like I do with most of my online purchases, when I want to comparison shop. I came up with several neon pink windbreakers, some of them notable second-place mentions, a couple of them Windrunners, but they were not my size, and I became attached to the notion of having a real Windrunner jacket again, since I’d lost mine, somewhere along the way. I got a cigarette hole in that one, anyways. I felt more confident that I could preserve and maintain my clothing better now, at this point. I felt like I’d made a good decision, in picking out nice shoes for me to wear. 

I had considered this pink kangaroo pocket windbreaker, but in the end, I guess it wasn’t quite the right pink for me, I was going for a bit more on the fuchsia side of the spectrum.

So, I went comparison shopping, on Google, and I visited a few new-to-me marketplaces, and picked out some of my favorites, and I set them aside, in the tabs of my browser, and kept searching. I found a Nikelab jacket ad that intrigued me, so I clicked on the inventory ad, and it led me to Poshmark, an online marketplace that I had never really visited and shopped at. The jacket was only $30, and supposedly it was marked down from $1,000 (probably an exaggeration, but it made it seem like it was a killer deal, at the time). Since it was affordable, I went ahead and purchased the jacket, despite it being summer. I had been staying out late, on some nights, and it would get a bit chilly, so I recalled wishing that I had a light jacket during those times. 

Once I made the purchase, Poshmark invited me to start a profile with the site, and I could track my order, get deals, etc., so I made an account. I figured that putting my money in to some new clothes was a good move, and I might eventually come back for more. Quite soon after starting my account on Poshmark, I started getting News notices. I was getting a bunch of followers! Poshmark is very much a social buying and selling platform, which you can see from some of their screens. I really got in to the premise of a socially adept, interactive website and app, where users can post and shop for clothing and more, make offers, message each other directly, view more items from seller closets, and comparison shop, with such a fashion-oriented purpose about it.

Poshmark’s home feed splash page, where user-hosted shows are featured.

My Poshmark News feed.

A search for the latest Nike product listings on Poshmark pulls up a feed like this.

Once my shipments arrive, later this week, I’ll update with some photos, and see how they look on me!

Update: The next day.

The Nike Electric Orange Chalk Windrunner Parka Jacket, next to my LED spotlight, featuring the type of neon pink that I like, somewhat a rose/fuchsia tone.

Don’t you love it when mail and packages arrive early? I do, and this oversized jacket/parka from @lazo_co arrived swiftly, and ahead of schedule, from Colorado to Los Angeles (the package was mailed out on Saturday, and arrived on a Tuesday). I liked the bright colors and lightweight material, and it’ll do well for me on days when it rains. It’s the first of three items that I ordered, over the weekend. Check out Hana Z’s store on Poshmark for tons of other cool athleisure fashion finds for men and women at great prices. I found some more bright-colored golf shorts that I like, at a glance.

The sea foam green golf shorts caught my attention.

I love the aqua blue turquoise color of this pair of golf shorts. 

In the days to follow:

The next day, I received my second jacket that I ordered off of Poshmark. This one was the first that I ordered, as it features the shade of pink that I was seeking, along with a giant Nike Swoosh logo, across the chest, in red, with the bottom portion in orange, to contrast. There were some things that I hadn’t considered, in ordering off of Poshmark, such as Chinese counterfeit Nike gear, which, I believe, this piece is, and it says “Made in China,” on the tags, yet it features YKK zippers, and there’s no mesh lining to the jacket, which I’ve known Nike to do. It ends up being a little bit messy, when wearing it, during the summertime, when I’ll be sweating a lot, since the jacket is 100% polyester. It wasn’t labeled as a Windrunner, just a windbreaker, but I still expected the same quality I’d known before, in their other jackets. 

The Nikelab windbreaker I purchased. 

I like the colors on this piece. 

The next day, my third piece arrived. It’s a sweater, and I bought it with cooler weather in mind, or nighttime outings, during warmer months. It features colorful sleeves and flanks that go with my shoes; that was the attraction to this piece. 

This sweater seems like it’s vintage, with old school fonts on the tags. 

I deposited some more money in to my bank account, and I ended up buying the seafoam green shorts that I liked, as well as some shorts that matched the color on the bluer shorts that I also liked, since the original pair of shorts had gone missing. 

Product Review: Nike Wildhorse 10 Trail Running Shoes.

 

Nike Wildhorse 10 shoes.

Out in downtown LA, going out and feeding pigeons, and all, I encounter all sorts of challenging terrain. This being the case, I like to have good, supportive footwear to help me power through my outings. It was time for a new pair of shoes for me, recently, so I went online to check out the Nike website and see what was new. I found several different shoes that piqued my interest, and I checked my bank account, and I found out that I had more money in my bank than I’d expected. I thought, “oh, goody! I can splurge,” and I ventured on, within the catalog of shoes online, and I let my imagination roam a bit more freely. 

I’d previously tried out high end casual / running shoes like the Vapormax flyknit shoe, which features shoes on top of bubbles of air, as the soles, and, while nice, I wanted to try something new. I didn’t feel like spending $220 (they are currently $187.97, on the store’s website) for shoes, and I’d already tried them out. I had been wearing the Joyride sneakers, which feature foam balls in the soles, for cushioning, and they’re also casual running shoes, but here, I had an opportunity to branch out in to fancier shoes with more features. 

The main attraction to the Wildhorse 10 shoe ($165), in Nike’s trail running series, is that it has a springy ReactX foam midsole that is purported to return energy to the wearer, along with a grippy outsole design that provides for sure footing in all types of trail terrain, whether it be uphill, wet, or over various types of ground. 

My Wildhorse 10 shoe outsoles. Clearly, this is a shoe for serious trail runners.

Upon first trying out the shoes, after receiving them on Monday, after I ordered them on a Sunday (impressive - Nike used a custom courier to deliver the shoes within 1 day), I could definitely feel a spring in my heels, upon trying to bounce and walk around a little bit. It’s unlike other shoe experiences I recall, since it’s foam, instead of air, that’s being used as the cushion. I felt that there was a lot of design input that went in to making the shoe, and it’s got a legacy of design behind it (Nike skipped #9 in the Wildhorse series, and went to version 10, from 8, but there are internet articles that talk about previous iterations of the Wildhorse series). The ReactX foam is truly “responsive,” as it’s termed, and I could definitely see how this model of shoe would assist me and keep me comfortable on future daily hikes out to feed the pigeons around town.

The shoe comes in a good variety of many different color options to choose from, and there’s men’s and women’s versions of the shoe, as well. I chose the funky pink neon, white, black, and light blue version, because I like bright colors. I could foresee keeping the shoes clean as being a chore, as I’d have to watch how I move and handle the shoes, when wearing them, so that they don’t get scuffs or stains on them. Even so, I unfortunately spilled some soy sauce on one of the shoes, on my first day wearing them out, and I nearly freaked out, but I had some water with me, and I gave it a quick rinse, and once I got to a water fountain, I was able to rub out the stain completely, with a little bit of soap, so the fabric is a little bit forgiving. 

All in all, I feel like like the trail running series fits my lifestyle and fashion choices, and I got a compliment on the shoes, on the first day I wore them, which was nice. I ordered a complementary set of shorts and a tank top that matches the color of the shoes. I’d highly recommend the shoes, as a luxury novelty, for the bouncy soles, as well as for active lifestyle trail running (walking, in my case) types, when the shoes can be afforded, financially. 

First long distance outing thoughts and reflections:

Now, I’m sure that many of you who came across this page and article could debate the point, as to whether or not 18+ miles is considered “long” distance, but I’m just saying… for convenience’s sake. My standard daily goal is 10,000 steps, which comes out to about 5 miles, or so, and here, I put in some dedicated hours at the track, to see if I would suddenly become more skilled and adept at running, given my new, specially designed for trail running: Wildhorse 10 Nike shoes. 

When I showed up to Los Angeles State Historic Park, neighboring Chinatown, DTLA - my nearest metropolitan-scale nature and dirt trail park, there was a huge soundstage and concert installation for what ended up being a college students’ progressive trance music show, with anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 young people attending. I was dismayed that I wouldn’t be able to run the track, because of the concert, but there was a small straightaway of dirt and rocky track stretching from the entrance of the park to the concert gates, maybe 1,000 feet or so. I eventually shook off the anxiety about pacing the track, back and forth, for hours on end, and I “just did it,” in my Nikes. Everyone was paying attention to their own stuff, and the anxiety was all in my head, I reasoned. I mean, I looked different - in jogging clothes, whereas most people who showed up were young adults, dressed in black, grouped up in small to mid-size groups, mostly Asian people, and the restrooms straddled the side of the track / road, and most people’s attention was on using the restroom and gathering with friends before entering the show. There was a 2-3 hours’ long procession of a non-stop flow of pedestrian foot traffic entering the show and park grounds. All extraneous information, here, perhaps, although I did stay for much of the show, to listen to the music, since I was at the concert, anyways, practically.

As I mentioned earlier, 18 miles is probably a cut and dry, simple prospect, but I smoke cigarettes, and I don’t commonly run, although perhaps, with these shoes, I’ll turn showing up to the park a habit. Now, for me, the day’s 18 miles ended up being pretty easy, on my end, for that matter. Granted, I only walked the track, but it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t want to be running back and forth on such a short track, when there were countless young concertgoers just several feet away from me. I already did my standard 10,000 steps, or so, earlier in the day, and I felt that I could get several hours in, of walking, and I thought that maybe I would work myself up to running, a bit, but that never materialized, on this day. 

I tracked my steps, today, using the “Jring,” a bargain-priced Amazon and Alibaba importer and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) generic smart ring product, that ostensibly is taken on, by various companies, in branding or reselling the ring. It’s a good ring, but higher-priced smart rings purportedly hold a charge for longer. I got the ring through my Amazon Vine product reviews job.

To my credit, this day’s 18 miles ended up being easy-peasy for me, as well, especially since it was just walking. I’d been known to do 12-20 mile walking days in former years, on a consistent, daily basis, since I had a dog that I walked around, everywhere, with me. That was the notable characterization of the extended walking exercise slot of time that I pulled off, later on in the day and evening - that it was simple, and I would credit the shoes, with their bounciness (responsiveness) and cushiony ReactX foam midsoles, as that I was aided by the shoes’ technological upgrades, by Nike. It felt like the shoes really made things easier on me, in going a longer distance, once again, after having a long stretch of time in which I was only doing 10,000 steps a day, now, customarily. I feel that I can show up at the park and get in to the trail running lifestyle, become an avid regular runner, and improve my health, while I’m at it; ostensibly, I would favor purchasing new and fancy shoes on a regular basis, and I’d set aside funds to meet those ends every couple or few months, or so, rather than letting the shoes age and wear out, completely. I could pass down the shoes to the less fortunate folks, surrounding where I live, and brighten someone’s day, as well, in doing so. It was a nice feeling, and a good day, with a concert to accompany my afternoon-through-night time walk in the park. 

Nike Wildhorse 10 fan art.

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.

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.

Neuronify is Back, on iPadOS! Analyzing and Comparing the Efficacy of Two Common Learning Methods - Immersion Versus Self-Quizzing.

 Originally published: 09/21/2021

Every now and then, I get quizzed on knowledge base, perceptual acuity , memory tasks of contexts pertaining to occurrences and developments in my life, and of “seemingly” random tidbits of learning, taxonomy, culture, or lore (otherwise), in my remote-sensing environments which happen upon me.

This sort of thing happens on a regular basis. The remote-sensing quorums are attended by various classes and types of individuals, yet commonly, the topic basis is one of a civil complaint against me, and I find myself chronically stressed out, in life, of various sorts of consequences. The pursuit of an ever more leisurely outlook and disposition, in life, is an obvious lure for me, and unfortunately, I find myself deprecating in to former and legacy modes of behaviors, such as seeking novel or imprudent sorts of entertainment online, for example, rather than using my strengths, and building upon gainful and productive aspirations in life. 

 The app I have in mind, in this instance, is a simplistic one, although I would strongly presume that the merits are founded, and sure. 

Why an app? 

Mobile development is an industry that had a significant heyday leading up to the time of the Pandemic, and by all means, it’s an industry that will see growth, to come, as various demographics see a rise and fall in their social and class status underpinnings; I’d suppose that would happen, based on much of the “conjectural” (perceptual?) confessionals and Freudian Slips that I’d been privy to, as we’re all under interrogation by the higher authority, until we become the highest authority, when it comes to a remote sensing tech and lifestyle sort of, uh, lifestyle. 

Within the gold rush timespan, leading up to the era of high-powered mobile device hardware, we saw many shining stars emerge in app development, which fulfilled many of the needed purposes to be seen through in app development in an ever-increasingly more compact, more large if need be; more graphics, higher data throughput and storage capability expectation and demand, on our devices. Activities and pursuits of merit, once confined, largely, to the classroom environment and to libraries, were suitably accommodated and made much more accessible to the layperson of an aspirational creed, who would shrug off the influence of pirating goods (and jailbreaking,, etc.), and go with the program, as far as discovering what was available and being offered through mainstream big tech app stores, offered by Google, Apple, and now Amazon (does Microsoft do an App Store for their mobile devices? I don’t know, off-hand, but I’d assume so). 

The point is,

is that many developers and programmers had staked their worth and product offerings, early on, and they’d established themselves, app-wise, as the go-to solution that people would come to discover, and support, for menial scrum pay - that many App Store offerings were given to people as, with archetypes such as the iTunes Store’s $0.99 offerings of parted-out pieces of what could, would, or had been full albums, previously; many of such apps, themselves, offering a similarly compartmentalized concept of what productivity and development, or “work,” on mobile devices could, and ought be, as it was envisioned and carried out. 

My go-to app, for learning about neural networks, all learning and literature (mostly) aside, came to be Neuronify. Was it free? Did I pay for it? I don’t quite remember, but if it cost anything, it was a couple, or several dollars, or so. It seemed to do the job, as imaginable as it might be, for a dilettante entry in to app-attainment goals, for my arrays, choices, and learning-basis inclusions on to my mobile devices, and for that matter, SSD hard drive space, on an iPad, even more so than on a mobile phone device - it goes a lot further than on a desktop environment (as well as better than phones can offer). I’ve currently (September 2021) got 569 apps, 6020 photos, 346 videos, 168 songs, on my device, which features 256 GB of SSD storage, and I’m only down to about 161 GB remaining. I do anywhere from a 4+ hour to 8-hour screen time daily average, given a week, on my iPad Pro device, particularly now that I’d lost my Google Android Pixel 4a 5G, which is part of a great series of mobile phones, for the cost, by the way. For that matter, the Google Store also features the Neuronify DIY neural networks mapping (doing) app, as well. 

The premise of a neural network is fairly basic, in essence. There aren’t all that many parameters and objects that would be featured in Neuronify, but the significant feature of having development and productivity, on mobile, playing out, at the speed of whatever measure of achievement that could be wrought out of the device and app, through the user’s input, as a moving visual image: interactive, and engaging that it is, playing out on the screen, is part of an attainment, in mobile device development, particularly on the iPad (Pro), which would have formerly only existed in richly-resourced study and research learning and development environments, and tracing even further back, in static image renders, of the calculations involved, and even further than that, in people’s imaginations. At some point, the technology falls back in time, in to philosophical codices, with the basis and need for the science of neurology being a pursuit, study, and investigation of what comprises the mind, itself, and it’s functioning, at the most critical points of investigation and discovery that could be had. What works? What doesn’t? What is the most effective cause and effect cycle and premise? Which types of decisions and behaviors are harmful, or wasteful? These sorts of questions could be proven, to as best the researcher could prove, to the scientific community, whom, in turn, would be capable of producing the same results, in a lab setting, thus validating the discovery. 

Within the app itself, as I’d mentioned earlier, there are only several parameter objects and icon type tools, or actions and feedback mechanisms, in other words, of the interface. The interface, in and of itself, is a node-based class of workflow environment.

The Neuronify app interface, on a 2020 model iPad Pro.

Here, then are the various user interface tools of the app:

Leaky excitatory neuron

Adaptive excitatory neuron

Leaky inhibitory neuron

Adaptive inhibitory neuron

Voltmeter

Spike detector

Firing rate plot

Loudspeaker

DC current source

AC current source

Irregular spike generator

Regular spike generator

Visual input 

Touch activator

Note

My hypotheses:

Premise 1: innovative skills arise out of need, as well as out of rote. 

Some findings and observations, upon that basis:

• Needful skills could only possibly attend to the problem which arises. In this case, I’m choosing productivity as the title of merit. Takin time to discern and decipher, as well as determine that the problem is resolved, and move forth, is hampered by products of neural activity that could rely on lesser or greater electrical pulses, at a more accommodating timing, if the problem at hand were capably handled by a more singular and fluid, unique mind, rather than a mind of more randomness. Electrical efficiency is the requisite object of attainment.
• My preference, for deciphering that engaged and interactive learning, for example, is the superior backdrop to a greater productivity, is that the problems are being resolved in an engaging, real-time environment. Calculations happen quicker through methods gained in using hand-eye coordination types of skill sets - gestural and procedural industriousness, of various other enterprises of life, which pertain to economics, could be translated over in to the argument for an active learning environment basis to a more capable and effective problem-solving style, compared to a “flash card” setting, of completely randomized data sets, this being the cards. 
• The goal of this hypothesis would be to employ certain scientific control environments of my own study, ask individuals for their input, and analyze their statements and claims, as well as their preferences, and discover, within the control environment, whether or not they find similarity, or comparability, in their input received, when calculated against my personal findings. On one hand, it takes a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) to discern valid mathematical truths about a visual environment, of an insightful nature, yet - I would assert that we, as intelligent and rational creatures, would pursue and develop upon gainful, rational, formal structures, rather than something more founded upon chance, randomness, (even within a finite series of choices), memory - which would alter the resonant section, even, of the brain, itself - a costly transformation; I would say more so, than if the knowledge were understood by an actively engaged mind, of rote discipline, and familiarity, set about in a workflow and industrious setting and environment. 

I’ll pause here, in writing, because I’ve arrived at my destination, of where I’m going, for this part of the day.

Update: 02/09/2023

Hello, I apologize for the abandoned blog article, here - ha ha… a silly way for me to appear, in front of others in the scientific community, but I had abandoned this blog article, due to ongoing challenges in my personal life, which still persist. Aside from that, the app no longer loads on my device; I believe that the app is no longer available for iPadOS, for that matter.

Update: 03/25/2025

I’ve recently gotten a new iPad Pro, and, with my new desktop interface, I checked out my complete apps list, of former installations that I’ve had, and I got to look over all of the apps that I’ve ever had, on every iOS / iPadOS installation that I’ve done, so I checked back on Neuronify, as a download, after finding that I had to abandon this thread of my research, due to the app not working for me, temporarily, as the previous update I made on this article will state. This being the case, I can now work on speculative research projects of relevant subject matter, as for my neurological subject matter hypotheses. 

Product Review: September 2024 Perfumer's Apprentice Haul.

 Since around October of last year, I decided to make good on an inkling I'd had, with regards to that fragrances would work out well for balancing my mood, so I began purchasing retail designer fragrances by Dior, and alternately, I also began purchasing individual aroma chemicals and natural fragrance products from suppliers such as Liberty Natural and The Perfumer's Apprentice, whom both have delightful catalogs of fine and natural, as well as synthetic (Perfumer's Apprentice) fragrance components. My use case scenario ranged from trying my hand at making a complete fragrance composition from scratch, to developing simpler layers to add, on top of my designer bottles of fragrance. In the past, I've also purchased fragrances such as Spicebomb, by Viktor and Rolf, for such purposes. 

My workflow in fragrance, lately, has been based on developing a fragrance from scratch, stemming from a purchase haul I made two months ago, which was, conceptually, a women's fragrance which had Anise (Licorice) and hyacinth as the feature ingredients, for which I purchased small amounts of over 20 ingredients, in order to create it. The results were moderately amusing, yet I found myself tending towards trying to wear the fragrance, myself, (being a male), so, as the weeks of the month wore on, in that month, I gradually developed the fragrance, staring from a confectionary licorice aroma, initially, to an overpowering floral hyacinth earthy aroma eau de parfum hydrosol, with strong remnants of the Anise and licorice theme still remaining - it was too strong to wear when going out, so I resolved to have it as a room spray. 

Image of hyacinth bulbs in bloom, by Artur Pawlak from Pixabay

I felt determined to not have wasted my investment money, for the month, in purchasing the ingredients for the composition, so I ended up setting it aside, and I made plans, for the next month, to renew my aspirations to create a reasonably wearable female's fragrance, with natural ingredients, from Liberty Natural. I purchased Rose Otto, for a sizable and costly dose of fresh petals and natural floral bloom, and the effect turned out nicely - the scent of Rose, in this case, ends up being a scent modulator, of sorts, and the effect of Rose Otto, rather than as much, the scent and smell, itself, of Rose, served to give the composition a twist, which I could be satisfied with, so I bottled up the oil layer of the composition in to small containers, for preservation and documentation of the creation. Prior to this, I had also given the fragrance a sizable helping of grapefruit essential oil, to brighten up the overpowering effect that the hydrosol composition had. I also added absolutes of Tonka bean and Cocoa, for a sweetened culinary gourmand effect, overall, since the fragrance had a confectionary theme to it, at its outset, with Anise and licorice fragrance at the core of the composition, for which I decided to try Canthoxal, a synthetic component, and it worked nicely. I also added Carnation absolute, for additional fresh petals and spice, being that the scent of Carnation blooms contains a high amount of eugenol, for which, the smell of Clove would be the best reference material (actually, carnation blooms, naturally, would seem to have nearly no scent, at all, so I am referring, here, to the extracted oil, or the absolute). Lastly, from Liberty Natural, which was last month's purchase, I added Champaca CO², for its anti-inflammatory therapeutic effect, rather than that it would seem to be a floral component, being that the scent of this particular extraction of Champaca blooms might best be liked to the exotic spices of Indian (subcontinent) culinary fare, with lightly fragrant hints of cardamom, fennel seed, and cumin to it. Comparatively, the essential oils and absolutes of the Champaca flower have, in increasing magnitude, respectively, much more floral and lovely aromas to them. 

I decided, initially, in creating this Hyacinth and Anise fragrance composition, to complement the natural fragrance components with synthetic ingredients. This might range, in meaning, from that the aroma chemical is a standardized formula, of the manufacturer's own design, or, alternately, that the entire ingredient, itself, is manufactured from sparse chemical raw material resources, through means, perhaps, such as additive or subtractive chemistry processes. For example, for the initial carnation flower effect, I had Carnation essential oil, to begin with, yet, according to my reading studies, and practical, hands-on experience, in recent and former outsets of creating fragrance compositions, essential oils, themselves, sometimes tend towards decomposing (oxidizing) in the fragrance composition, giving the creator (me, in this case),  temporarily false sense of what the fragrance would end up smelling like, being that some of the rarer fractions of scents, in cases where the ingredient is a delicate one; here, the carnation flower scent would have its soft, fresh petals character subdued, or disappeared, as the fragrance sits out, as time goes on. After all, the fragrance composition ought to be stable, over weeks, months, or years, depending on the production stage and packaging materials. In this case, I'm still in the early to mid-stage development process, so I use temporary, reusable plastic spray bottles, for example. In addition, synthetic ingredients also have the added benefit, at times, of being lightly colored, or clear and colorless, which is helpful during The marketing stages of producing a professional designer fine fragrance. The synthetic ingredient aroma compound for Carnation that I employed for this composition was Methyl Diantilis, which is reputed to be a more stable synthetic component. I wanted to experiment with the potential for the synthetic ingredients to have a "stabilizing" effect, as well, in terms overall course of things, given that I'm using a host of natural fragrance extracts, here - synthetic ingredients are relatively cheap ingredients, by comparison, and they tend to be lacking, in various ways, compared to natural fragrance extracts.

This month, I received a surprise fragrance endowment, care of my Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Peer Support and Caseworkers; in particular, from one of them, named Matt (thanks, Matt), who gifted me with a 3.4 fl. oz. bottle of Dior Sauvage, Eau de Parfum version (there are 5 different versions of Sauvage, for men; I typically like the Sauvage Elixir one, especially during the fall and winter seasons, and I haven't yet smelled the newly released Sauvage eau Forte hydrosol), which gave me a new and unexpected fragrance project to work on, being that I'm mostly unfamiliar with the Eau de Parfum version of Dior's Sauvage line of products. The reason I favor the Elixir variant is that it is lush and heavy; perfect for colder weather, whereas I find that the Eau de Perfume version is pungent and literally perfumey - not so much a problem, however, and Mark, my Department of Mental Health nurse, assured me that the scent is masculine enough. Still, I like an over-the-top good smelling fragrance profile, so, this month, I stocked up on some old favorite ingredients, which I'd run out of, such as Benzoin Oliffac, Ambroxan and Exaltone, two musks, which I'd lost, during the course of a former, unexpected eviction, some new-to-me samples of fragrance profiles that I'd been favoring, such as Siam Benzoin Resin in Benzyl Benzoate, Black Hemlock Absolute, for which I'm sampling as a complement, or as a woodsy, smoky-sweet alternative to Blackcurrant Bud Absolute, and related compounds, such as Labienoxime, and Rhubofix, in the vein of earthy and mailette ingredients I'd initially purchased to create my perfume-from-scratch, such as Terrasol and Sarriete Base. Lastly, I venture off, this month, in to incorporating flavor ingredients in my fragrance compositions, with cinnamon and hibiscus flavor concentrated, being that I'd mostly not found a powerful and pungent-enough cinnamon, for my spice olfactory profile; here, hearkening back to my love of Spicebomb - I felt that i could create a reasonably-distanced and unique take on Spicebomb with my Anise / Licorice / 🪻 Hyacinth fragrance, and I also needed a flavor to fill up a Geek Bar Pulse nicotine vaporizer, which I found I found I could refill, so I chose Hibiscus for the flavor, and it worked out great with my flavorless 50 mg nicotine salts that I purchased locally, from Broadway Smoke Shop. The Hibiscus 🌺 flavor concentrate worked out great, since it has propylene glycol in it, which is a food grade antifreeze that vaporizes (it's in fog juice) in an e-cigarette inhaler, such as the Geek Bar Pulse.

I felt that the fragrances I was wearing (Dior Homme Sport), working with (Dior Sauvage Eau de Perfume), or creating (the Anise / Hyacinth spice fragrance), lacked a certain degree of Amber and Musk, so Ambroxan and Exaltone became two iconic favorites that I could implement in to layers of fragrance that I could apply, as separate perfuming sprays in different spray bottles. They both smell great, at different price points ($15.00 and $72.00, respectively), and, in the case of this purchase haul, the both of them smell a bit more powdery and less base-y than I'd recalled, off-hand, yet they work well, for my situation, since the low end of the fragrance spectrum I'm working with, and fragrance profile I'm trying to fill out, such as with the Sauvage Eau de Perfume, is reputably satiated by the addition of the Black Hemlock Absolute, which has a rich woodsy, syrupy, sweet, and smoky fragrance to it that I'd been looking for, all in one ingredient. Rhubofix is a nice, spicy, earthy fragrance ingredient - a bit pungent, so I only incorporated several drops, as opposed to a few squirts that I put in, when it came to Benzoin Oliffac and Calibrian Bergamot (I'd forgotten, during the course of writing this blog, about needing to refill my Bergamot supply, and the Calibrian Bergaptene-free Bergamot from Perfumer's Apprentice is far more delightful than a standard Bergamot oil, with a bright and sweet citrus aroma to it. It's just great, as far as that slice of citrus fragrance profile is concerned.

September's haul of fragrance ingredients.

In diffusion, this little stub fragrance layer, in combination with the Sauvage Eau de Perfume, ends up giving off the impression of bubblegum anaesthesic, in my opinion. On the skin, the combination smells like a powerfully artificial cinnamon feature, dressed up in the fanciest of decolletage, with what I consider to be the feminity of the Dior fragrance feeling subdued; perhaps veiled, in that it might still be inferred.