Holy crap! It looks like a haunted house around here. Dust everywhere, a few broken windows, some weird thing staring at me from the corner of the room … Moving on!
If Ignorance was bliss, I'd be the happiest idiot on the planet ...
Category: Personal
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and…
Earlier today, the world was hit with the shocking news that Chester Bennington had died. Chester was, mainly, the lead vocalist for Linkin Park, but also had his hands (and voice) in many other things. Out of High School for just a few years, when LP burst on the music scene and I’ve been a fan ever since. His voice was incredible with a range that at times, seemed off the charts. Songs that resonated with so many people, not just for the words he sang, but for the way he sang them.
Above and beyond the wonders that were and are Chester Bennington, I’m writing because of how he died. News reports state that he hung himself in his home. Suicide. It’s heartbreaking and unfathomable to most anyone how this is the final outcome some people either prefer, or feel is their only option left in life. I know a little, because suicide took someone close to us.
Getting lost in a video game, TV show or movie, is quiet easy. Lately though, I get lost in thought much easier. We’re fast approaching a year since Dad passed away and still not a day goes by where he’s not on my mind. At times, I feel sort of left out. Why? Believe what you will of life after death and things of that nature. But, a few friends of his have told me how Dad has come to them in a dream, since he passed. While I sit wondering, why not me? Selfish? I know, but he’s my dad, I’m allowed.
I ran across a story earlier that completely entranced me, A Son’s Race to Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality. It’s such an amazing creation. I’d give anything to have one more conversation with Dad. To hear one more corny joke or watch one more Cubs game together. Hell, as much as it drove me up a wall, I want to hear, “Remember, it’s only a game”, one more time, when I get pissed off at bowling not going the way I feel it should.
Vaping Saved My Life
A little over a year ago, my wife and I walked into a neighborhood vape shop. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect. It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. See, I’d tried many times to quit smoking. A month here, a couple of months there, and I’d be back at the gas station picking up a pack of cigarettes. All tolled, I smoked for about 20 years. About a pack a day, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.
The first trip to a vape shop was enlightening. Thanks to a great shop owner who walked us through everything. He welcomed us in and didn’t bully us into spending half a paycheck on some top of the line mod. He got us each started very simple, with a Kangertech, if I remember correctly. We sampled a bunch of different juices. I settled on a candy flavor that tasted just like Swedish Fish. Veronica ended up with something watermelon.
I’d like to say I started vaping and never looked back, but that’d be a lie. For the rest 2016, I smoked and vaped. About half a pack a day, it was an improvement. Starting this past new year, I finally gave up smoking completely. Six and a half months have passed and its the longest I’ve gone without a cigarette, by far, since I took up the habit at 15 years old. Since that very first mod, I’ve upgraded first to a iStick Pico/Aspire Cleito and more recently to the Smok Alien 220/iJoy Limitless RDTA plus. If you’re thinking of starting to vape. I can’t recommend Aspire Cleito coils, enough. I got the best life out of them, before I moved up to the rebuildable drip tank atomizer.