i finally gave up the box fan for a sleep machine
This was something I needed to do and am glad I did it.
While I do champion the twin window fan where one fan brings air in and the other out, that's not the fan I'm talking about here. Rather, it's the bog standard 20 inch box fan. Not the pedestal type. Box type. As in the kind you just put on the floor and let it run.
Up until very recently, I always ran a box fan in the room 24 hours a day. At first I did it because I liked the breeze, but then I got very accustomed to the noise the fan makes. A "brown noise", if you will. I was so used to it that if I was in the room with the fan off, that bothered me and I had to turn it back on.
I finally stopped using that fan and replaced it with a sleep machine because I have to have that brown noise in the room. But I had to do it in a very specific way. More on that in a moment.
The two problems with running a box fan in the room 24 hours a day is dust and dry air.
There's always dust in a room and there's no way around that. It can come from the central air system, a standalone air conditioner, your shoes, your clothes, the window when it's open, and so on. Dust happens. That box fan, even on its lowest setting, will never let dust settle even on its lowest setting. And that means two things. Dust gets everywhere, more of it happens, and during sleep it lands on your face where you breathe it in right up your nose.
Dryness of the air happens because it's moving, even if only a little bit. I don't have a dry mouth problem, but whenever I'd wake from sleep, I'd immediately have to get something to drink because my mouth was so dry.
In addition to the sleep machine (sometimes known as a noise machine), I've also added a smaller humidifier to the room that I keep on my nightstand running at the lowest setting.
With the sleep machine making the noise I like, I can go to sleep easily, and running the humidifier puts just enough moisture in the air so I don't wake up with a dry mouth.
Problem solved? It almost wasn't.
I could not get comfortable with the sound of the sleep machine when on the nightstand, so then I had a thought. What if I put the sleep machine where the box fan is? That worked.
As stupid as this is, I have the sleep machine on the floor near the foot of my bed. In that location, having the noise coming from there is something I can agree with. But if it's on the nightstand, no way.
It would appear that not only does the noise matter to me, but it also matter where it comes from spatially. I always had the fan in a specific spot in the room, and since my brain likes that fan sound a.k.a. brown noise coming from that spot, the sleep machine has to go there.
Yes, weird. But it works.
there may be a classical guitar in my future
I was at a guitar store recently to buy a pack of strings. While there, I did something I ordinarily never do. I headed into the acoustic room.
One of the first guitars I picked up (I played a few) was a very low priced classical guitar, as in the nylon string type. Seriously, one of these things is so cheap to buy.
You know how even on the most basic electric, there's a bunch of setup involved? Truss rod, string saddle height adjustment, bridge adjustment, and so on?
Want to know how much setup is required on a classical? ZERO. Okay, almost zero. You do have to install the strings. But that's it. There's nothing else to it.
Nylon guitar string is very easy (if not the easiest?) on the fingers and requires only the lightest grip to hold down notes and chords.
I got some genuine joy fingering some notes and chords on the classical. It just felt good.
It is rare, and I mean oh so rare, when I can just pick up a guitar in a store, start playing and it feels right at home. I got that out of the classical.
There are two reasons I've never seriously considered a classical guitar. The first is that over the years I've started to play a lot more with fingers on the picking hand. The second is that steel string acoustics really soured me on them. It's the latter I have to explain more in detail.
It's not that I can't play steel string acoustic. I just don't like to. I can make things feel somewhat better with silk and steel acoustic strings. For some players, switching to that acoustic string type fixes everything. But it's not enough for me. So much to the point where I was just turned off by acoustics entirely.
After all this time, I finally just picked up a classical and went for it. My thought was okay, this will probably suck, but I've never really sat down with one of these and really played it, so let's do this. I did, and I liked it.
No, I haven't bought a classical yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list now. I need one in my life.
the modern gen x diet
"Hey man, when you're over 50, you're gonna eat kale, spinach, and yogurt, and you're going to like it."
"No way."
Way.
Every Generation X person is middle aged and has been for a while now since the youngest X is 45 years old at the time I write this.
There have been a few times recently where I ate trash like I did in my 20s, and it did not go well. And by that I mean I would get sick soon after eating whatever garbage I did.
When I say sick, that doesn't mean I threw up. Rather, my stomach would complain and I'd have indigestion of some kind. It would either be not-the-funny-kind gas or other rumblings that didn't feel right. This would happen within minutes after eating the trash. Indigestion would happen for a few minutes, then subside, then I realized yeah, I really shouldn't be eating that stuff anymore.
These days, I am giving much more attention to what my body is telling me. If my body complains after eating certain stuff, it's off the menu. I don't try to find alternatives or eat less of the same trash. If my body says, "that's trash and I don't like that", I just stop eating it.
What is trash food? You already know. It's all the fast food, all the hi-carb stuff, all the sugary drinks, all the "put cheese on everything" stuff, all the prepackaged candies, cakes, and so on.
It would not surprise me at all if Gen X survivors become hardcore vegans
"Gen X survivor" means any X who loses the weight and cleans up their diet, such as I did. The rest will all be overweight, be sick all the time and live out miserable lives.
Millions of X's grew up on nothing but fast food, macaroni and cheese, soda, and pizza. I ate ungodly amounts of that stuff in my younger years. I've already come to the point where my body is warning me, "Don't eat that, because if you do, I will complain." This makes me wonder how many other X's have encountered the same.
On the (safe) assumption millions of other X's have encountered the same, it's almost a certainty that many will become hardcore vegans just to stop feeling sick. All the meat, out. All the soda, out. All the sugary stuff, out. All the processed foods, out.
From experience, I can say yes, that does stop one from feeling sick all the time. But I'll also say I don't think I could ever go full hardcore vegan (I do like eggs). However, I do believe other X's will fully commit to a vegan diet and stay there just to feel well again.
Don't worry, I'm not saying "go vegan" as that's not for everybody. But I am saying that if you're an X that's sick of feeling sick, fix your diet. And don't feel bad if you can't eat the trash you used to since it was never good for you anyway.
hot topic proves the rock machine is dead
Yesterday I went to the mall with friends, of which two of them were in their 20s. We're walking around, and one of them wants to go into a Hot Topic store. I had never been in one of these in my life. Instead of waiting outside, I said screw it, I'll go in here and see what this not-for-middle-age-dudes-whatsoever store is all about.
Hot Topic is the kind of store that supposedly sells "edgy" stuff.
Imagine my surprise when I look up at the wall that shows all the t-shirt designs for sale, and the overwhelming majority of what I see is bands from 30 to 40 years ago, with some even older.
It was like I stepped back in time to when I was a teen at the mall. Not that I went to the mall that often, but if there was a store selling a bunch of rock band t-shirts, yep, this is EXACTLY what it looked like. Except back when I was a teen, this stuff was CURRENT.
Then I thought hang on, let's try searching band t-shirt to see what comes up...
...and oh my God it's the same thing. Bands from 30 to 40 years ago.
I think I know what happened
New bands these days, rock or not, aren't promoted at all. Where there is no promo there is no brand establishment and no recognition.
Bands from the '80s and '90s? Yeah, they promoted heavily. Over time, the band's artwork for their album covers effectively made them a brand. And you'd recognize that brand if somebody drew it on their notebook in high school, wore the band t-shirt, or wore it as a patch on a jacket or some such. I got surprised yet again to find yes, they still make those patches.
The rock machine (at least where promo is concerned) is totally dead, so "edgy" these days means flashing logos of bands from 30 to 40 years ago. Those are the established rock band brands, and since nothing truly new ever came around to replace them, yep, just keep selling the old stuff.
Do kids who shop at Hot Topic have any idea who these bands are? I doubt it.
ridiculous dean usa razorback dimebag darrel model
This guitar is ridiculous, but I'm actually glad it exists.
The Dean USA Dime Razorback[ exists in a color called Dime Slime. It is, in all honesty, the ultimate Razorback because it has all the best stuff. Liquid-like paint with real flame maple in the middle that has that "moving" thing going on that plays with light really nicely, 3-piece mahogany set-in neck with ebony fingerboard, dual action truss rod, "pearl razors" fret inlays, Seymour Duncan premium pickups, a highfalutin Floyd-Rose Original tremolo system (yes, the best one), open gear high ratio tuners. And, of course, a custom fit case.
Yes, this is one of those guitars that comes with a Certificate of Authenticity; it is that special.
Why am I glad this ridiculous guitar exists?
Because it's not just another Fender Custom Shop Heavy Relic.
Yes, FCS Heavy Relics are nice. Obviously. But everything on the Dean is modernized, new and so clean you could eat off it.
Since I know some would ask, "Is there anything Fender Custom Shop makes that's clean and not a Relic job?" Yes. See Artisan for fancy woods and Vintage Custom for the super-clean FCS stuff. Those exist.
But I'm also glad the USA Dime Razorback exists too. Not my kind of guitar, but I recognize that from stem to stern, it's the best of everything Dean could put into it.