HoboTalk – Episode One

Posted on December 8, 2018 by thetimchannel

Since I’ve mostly defaulted to using my YouTube channel for documenting the last several years of my life (Daily Dose of Tim), I’ve stopped blogging as much as I use to. I’m not actually writing any less, as those who follow me on Facebook can attest. I’m just ‘Done’ with Facebook as a platform. They’ve repeatedly shown they are incapable of handling my account and my data responsibly. WordPress has it’s issues, but at least it hasn’t been front page news for the last couple years for trying to sell us out to the Russians and/or anybody else with ten cents to spare! And don’t even get me started about the time they blocked me for a month for posting pornography. I consider the added gravitas of that incident not only a resume enhancer, but also a sign of just how occupational flexible I could be in a pinch. It’s all about finding the right angles, but I digress.

While we’re on the subject of porn I’m reminded of a cartoon porn version of Star Trek I saw about forty years ago. One particular line of dialog is forever etched in my brain. Doctor McCoy to Captain Kirk, “Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a dildo repairman!” The plot twist that led to that statement is lost to the vagaries of my galloping senility (though I lose the names still I know the faces. Time has come and left its traces.) but if I recall, it had something to do with an alien army of angry cartoon “Dickheads”.

I am extremely active on Twitter for an old hobo living in a van, tethered to the net with nothing more than spit and vinegar (whatever free public wi-fi is available), Even with the ‘professional handicap”, I’m still heading towards a quarter million earned impressions, just in the last 28 days!

That noted, my heart has always been in blogging and I find it more satisfying collecting up a loyal ‘blogging family” than any of the other social media options, though I’ve acquired friends through Instagram and YouTube that are very dear to me as well. I’m trying to increase my Instagram content at the present time. The only one I’m actively avoiding is Facebook.

My desire to do video content has waned for the moment, along with the technical means to do so. This may change if/when I purchase a new videocam. I’ve been lucky to produce what I have considering the highest level of tech I own is a series 5 iPhone! This DJI product which I might be able to afford would do a bang up job for me. It’s the Osmo Pocket seen above. At three hundred fifty bucks it’s right at the cusp of what an old hobo might be able to manage if Nellybelle doesn’t fall out from under me in the process. If you haven’t seen or heard about it yet, I’m pretty sure you will before long. Here’s the skinny.

I had previously claimed success concerning the manner in which I have accommodated the changes in lifestyle made necessary by my habitation in Nellybelle, my beloved ‘classic’ 93 Dodge minivan, but now I am officially claiming total ‘success’ on my relocation project of moving back to the US from Germany. This is not meant to imply that things couldn’t potentially still go wildly astray in my immediate future. It’s an important life construct to be constantly wary. The Boy Scouts call it ‘being prepared”. It’s what my mama raised me with.

I’m several winters into #vanlife here in the high mountain meadows. As such, I’ve become somewhat of a local celebrity/curiosity around here, elevating my otherwise lowly status well above the average homeless derelict. It helps that I worked here in a highly visible retail position here in town for a couple years, and having built up a lot of friends and goodwill along the way. Being frugal and living long enough to secure the most minimal of SS benefits worked out pretty well for me. The not dying along the way was a huge part of it. When trying to parse the elements involved in any of my myriad success stories, be they real time events or rosy historical retellings of past glories, one must NEVER overlook how much my innate fabulosity had to do with it. I never do. You can be sure of that! LOL.

Given my recent acquisition of another rescue pup who is just as fabulous as I am, there’s every likelihood me and Sammy are going to continue kicking our own brand of high mountain magic right along down the road with us.

The many friends I’ve made here, along with all those I’m still connected with from afar (by virtue of over a decade on one form of social media or the other) are a big part of my ‘success’ here in this mountain village. Now I’m ready to take it up to the next level in a manner consistent with proper hobo motion (slow). Baby steps. I could get a helluva lot more aggressive with my campaign for overnight success, but there are standards of hobo decorum that need to be considered because of my status as a role model for hopeful future hobo heretics to follow.

Did I already mention? It’s what my mama raised me with.

Enjoy.

Newsviews

Posted on April 29, 2015 by thetimchannel

International

Scores of rich westerners are going to have to delay their plans to climb Mount Everest until all the bodies of the dead poor people who actually live there can be removed. Life can be so unfair.

National

The nation looks for a way to reduce over-policing and reduce the levels of angst in minority neighborhoods. The utility of legalizing and taxing weed is not to be mentioned in context with these events.

Sports

When we’re not decrying the amount of black violence in our cities we’re busy extolling the virtues of minority males beating the crap out of each other for huge piles of money in the ring or on the field.

Crime

The cops in ~~Los Angeles~~ Baltimore are bringing civility back to law enforcement by ~~gunning down homeless~~ killing Black people ~~on the street~~ already in custody ~~with cameras rolling.~~ on their way to the police station.

Business

Twitter stock tanks 20%. Most Americans are still pondering; “What the hell is a Twitter?” Related? #techbubble

Opinion

Just when you think the Republicans can’t get any more ignorant than the previous week along comes an ~~rising star~~ imbecile ~~comparing union workers to ISIS~~. claiming Obama is bringing on “the Rapture”. It boggles the mind. #creationscience

Enjoy.

Survivor-Candy Island

Posted on April 27, 2015 by thetimchannel

Not Even a Hint of Irony

We’re halfway through another season of Survivor – the “reality” show where contestants are abandoned and forced to make do with nothing but their outsized egos, sense of entitlement, and enough rice and beans to stave off any actual threat of starvation.

More often than not, there isn’t even a decent fire-starter in the whole mix of contestants and if hunger pangs get too dire (because Bubba eats up all the beans), you can count on Jeff Probst tossing in a reward challenge full of Snickers or short ribs.. Am I the only one who wonders how far up the beach they’d have to walk to find the luxury resort where the camera crew resides?

The Good Old Days are Gone

Nowadays, Survivor is all fun and games, with no real threat of not actually surviving. It wasn’t always a beach vacation because in the early years there were contestants that nearly died from the harshness of the challenges and environment. CBS has effectively turned Survivor into Beach Blanket Bingo and any of the drama from the actual survival element of the game is long gone. Nowadays, it’s an odd occurrence if somebody doesn’t voluntarily leave the game due to being butt-hurt that they aren’t as popular in a group setting as they hoped they’d be.

“I’m so bummed out I can’t take it anymore” is reason number one most exit the game on their own accord.

It’s almost like none of them actually need or care about winning a big pile of money. The halcyon days of seeing a dude’s face melt off while trying to maintain the fire are long gone. Being forced to collect water downstream of a pissing rhino? Gone. The sweet taste of toasted rat? Pffft.

‘”Survivor” has morphed into a (sad) metaphor for the molly-coddled upbringing most of the younger contestants bring to the game. If they could actually catch a shark they wouldn’t eat it, they’d jump over it.

I don’t want to be accused of pointing out problems for which I don’t offer a viable solution, so those who are inclined to accuse me of that need only hang around long enough for part two in this mini-series to find an equitable solution to the problem of finding an honest version of Survivor to satiate their reality TV addiction now that the Survivor we all fell in love with has gone soft. Stay tuned for an example of what real-life survival actually entails these days.

Enjoy.