Five Years Of Blogging

I received the notice from right here on WordPress that it is the fifth anniversary of this blog.

Five years is a long time.

And to be honest, in 2016, I just don’t feel like this blog is doing its job any more. It has been less entertaining. Less educational.

I just don’t see it working its purpose any longer. The feedback has dropped to basically zero.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve written less and less. But that shares no blame with anything. Other than I just haven’t done it.

With over 200,000 views in this short amount of time and knocking on the door of 1,000 total posts, I cannot say for sure what the future of this blog will be. I have left it up to you, the readers, to comment in the comment section below. But …. there’s nothing. With the exception of a butthurt photographer that I “used their photo” and they feel violated enough to threaten me.

And yet I have not made the final decision to take this blog out into the grass and shoot it in between the eyes. So it will still be here for now.

Five years is quite some time. And to think that I had only first decided to use the blog as a form of therapy for me, like a journal. Not really intended for the masses of public consumption. But that quickly changed. And that earned me probably everything that I have with this blog today.

I know this has a negative feeling to it. And you’re probably right. But do not get me wrong, I am still just as thankful for everyone as I was when I just got started.

I don’t know what the next five years will bring. But I’m willing and able to find out. As long as you are willing and able to find out along side me.

Thank you ALL for these five years!!!

 

200,000

 

At some point on the 2nd of January 2016, this main blog reached another milestone in total views.

200,000 total views to this particular blog. And all of it appears to be legit and intentional.

I find this to be important to note as I have found myself very humbled by this particular statistic. Considering that it comes just before the fifth anniversary of this blog being in existence.

I have all of you to thank for this. The faithful disciples of Dambreaker.

If you honestly like what I do here, let me know! And be sure to tell those that you think will enjoy it as well.

I know that in recent months, I have been silent. But that has been on purpose. I am unable to explain it at the moment, but all will be revealed in its own good time.

I’m just so honored that people would want to search and read and go through all of the posts that have been written over the years. I love you all from the bottom of my heart. 

I don’t know what the stats will look like when the time comes in February, but we shall see.

Again, thank you.

DAMBREAKER

Number 600

Here we are. The 600th blog post of DAMBREAKER.

And I sit here with a blank expression upon my face as fatigue begins to slowly put its strangle hold on me.

600 is a lot of times to write. Its been going on for a little longer than three years. And a handful of people have been watching,reading, and listening since near the beginning.

But since the last resounding landmark of this blog, the number of people who have made that commitment to follow has exploded.

So I have fresh faces and fresh eyes upon here who have been so kind and supportive. And I just will say thank you to them. And of course thank you to those people who have always been there and to those who have fallen upon the path along the way.

I apologize that I have nothing more resounding than this. But understand that there’s nothing bigger in my heart but the love that I have for you all who have decided to follow the blog, for those who leave feedback in the comment section, and for those who share my insanity with others so that many don’t have to feel so bad when they compare my life with their own.

I have no plans of slowing down. I’ve just been trying to trim down how much I use the blog to bitch and moan. It still is regarded as my own personal diary, but now I am sharing it with at least 110 people and many more who are silent and steady readers.

Thank you all for your readership and your support and constant determination to get through whatever bullshit I am spitting out on these pages. Well, not ALL of it is bullshit… but for those of you who know, you get the point.

And so thank you. One and all.

DAMBREAKER is proud to be of your service.

O Happy Day!

'I would do this, if I could.'

“Java! Java! Java! Java!!!”~ Brendan Fraser

Happy Day, Happy Weekend, something like that.

Regardless of what pathetic people did to my mood over the weekend, it’s been replaced with unrestrained jubilation today, fueled by two cups of coffee.

Yes, I fear the caffeine crash that is inevitable soon. But for now, the mood is beyond cloud nine.

The weekend began with the story from a previous post about being taken out to eat last Friday evening. Then it rocketed through Saturday and Sunday. I felt like the weekend just blew by until today.

But also on Friday, I finally was able to track down a package that was actually delivered around the time of my birthday, over a month ago that was sent by my brother who lives in Germay. Friday afternoon, I finally pinned the package and found it still waiting at the Post Office. Not thrilled that they declined my previous request to re-deliver it. However, it could have been worse and they could have returned it. But it had been sitting there for a month and I FINALLY got it.

My brother loves me and knows me very well. He sent two Rammstein albums. One that I had before but lost, and the other one was “newer”. And to his credit, he also sent the newest album to me for Christmas last year.

I received Liebe ist für alle da, and Herzleid. I went for the classic album first, but then when I turned on Liebe ist für alle da, I am stuck and I cannot get passed the first track, “Rammleid“. Even though I am aware of the other songs on the album, such as “Ich Tu Dir Weh” and “Pussy“.

So I’ve been rocking out all weekend long, in German. With me being stuck on the song, “Rammleid“, I am sure that my neighbors definitely heard me shouting “Ramm-stein!!!!” a few times during the song over the weekend. Or maybe a few dozen times.

Then this morning, the postal carrier came knocking on my door with another package.

It was from my penpal that I have been writing for almost ten years.

I was extra happy when I saw the box. But I knew what it was, but not exactly sure what kind or whatever. Still, to have it hand delivered is always cool.

I received a Canon Powershot A80 Digital Camera. It’s great! I’m going to have to play with it today so I can get used to how it works and all of that. This could be the camera that I have been looking for, in order to make videos better and clearer. Perhaps I’ll begin uploading videos to YouTube, we’ll see!

I like the fact that the display screen comes out and you can actually see what’s in the view finder. It’s a pretty neat idea for a camera.

I’ve not had a lot of luck with digital cameras in the past. I hope this is the exception. But I think that if I make myself very familiar with the camera, I should be okay. I’m excited to start working with it. It came with a fresh set of batteries and an extra memory card.

In my absolute state of being on top of the world, I went to go show my apartment manager the camera. I knew that he would appreciate the fact that I had something. And then he turns around and hands me a Men’s Travel Kit by Paul Mitchell.

His girlfriend works for Paul Mitchell, and he’s been talking about getting me some product so that I don’t have to keep shaving my head in the military style that I have been keeping in for the last … well …. let’s just say a very very long time. There are others that agree that they want me to grow out my hair and keep it the way it is now. These products were meant to keep my hair under control as I have horrible cowlicks if I let it grow out too long.

While I was talking with my apartment manager, two attractive women came into the office, I backed out and allowed them to conduct their business. But I was there to see them come through.

And like I said at the beginning, I’m also fueled by two cups of coffee that was overloaded with sugar & cream. And those two cups were consumed back to back.

So yeah, someone is BUZZIN’!!! Both by jubilation and by the caffeine.

It turns out that my rather unusual guess to celebrate my birthday this past weekend worked out well. Gifts that were originally intended to arrive for my birthday came this weekend and today. And a few people just played along with me and wished me a happy birthday. Some were happy that I made the decision to do so. I am too.

I haven’t had a “good weekend” in a long time. I think that I was overdue. Or that I overlooked something. But for sure, this was full of excitement and a bit of adventure.

Thank you to all who gave me gifts. And thank you to all of those who played along this weekend that I was celebrating. Very few “got it”, most didn’t. But that’s okay. Clearly, the timing on some of these things were perfect!

I’d be bouncing up and down and jumping everywhere, if I could.

 

Birthday Part 2

“Carpe Diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.”~ Horace

Why thank you, H-man. Don’t mind if I do!!!

Upon my first check of my e-mail this morning, I read a message that was sent from one of my neighbor. I was told that on Friday, I was to get cleaned up and dressed up because she and another person was taking me out to dinner for my birthday.

Now my birthday was over a month ago. Sadly enough, most of us remember that I was in the hospital when it came along this year.

'Meager at the hospital is better than nothing at all.'

But it was not a total waste. My family called me. And I’ve always appreciated it. What I did not know at the time was that waiting for me on Facebook was about 40 personal birthday wishes from people which also included get well wishes. I would find all of this after the fact.

Yet this particular neighbor that I speak of thought that it really sucked that I never really did get a chance to celebrate in some way or fashion this year. Then I thought that I was going to celebrate my birthday still, just a little bit later. So I have been calling it my “re-birthday”.

This weekend will be that time. Starting with the neighbor’s request that I show up for dinner. I originally was going to select the date of the 4th of March (by random). And perhaps that I still might. I just had hoped to be able to go out with some friends of mine. But this weekend, my friend lost his mother and so they are leaving for out of town in the morning and will not be back until early next week. My thoughts go out to him.

However, I will not let that stop or slow me down either. So I choose the whole weekend to do what I want! Yay me for initiative, right?!?

So I take the opportunity to celebrate. And I’m allowing others to join me too. I’m not picky, honestly! And I’ll start it all by getting dressed up and going out to eat with two elderly women neighbors. Not sure what I am going to do the rest of the weekend. I have a friendiversary to celebrate this weekend too. That should be fun as well.

That reminds me, I need to send them flowers.

But because I “missed” my birthday, doesn’t mean that I can no longer celebrate it. And that also doesn’t mean that others cannot celebrate it with me. There really are no laws or rules about when to celebrate it. Many other people celebrate other holidays on other days. And sometimes that’s just what happens. People’s schedules get busy and they cannot be there on that exact day. And like in my case, my butt is sick as a dog and laying in a hospital bed.

I did though, beat it. And I’m alive today. And I’m celebrating this weekend.

 

 

Fireworks: Bad July Juju

Within the next few hours, I will be locking my door and keeping things on the DL. Once the sun begins to set, the hey day of celebrations of Independence Day will commence.

No, I will not be going out to enjoy any fireworks show this year. Unfortunately for this area of the country we are in a serious drought and are ten inches behind on the average annual rainfall for this time of the year. So a majority of the fireworks displays in this area have been cancelled. Which is sad.

The temperatures are too high to be sitting out in the sun today in the first place, just waiting for the sun to disappear. And even then, its still bad enough.

Instead this year, I went out to breakfast and ate ALL YOU CAN eat Fourth of July breakfast buffet. Not to mention I ate what seemed like a ton of bacon for Lisa & Lori this morning. My cholesterol levels and clogged arteries will thank them later.

And then in the afternoon, I went to a neighbor’s and stayed cool and watched movies on demand. That dear readers, is my Independence Day celebration. Include a marathon of watching the HBO series “Band of Brothers” one episode after another in a few here. Already this weekend, I’ve watched a few and so I’m just shy of half way there.

But the sporadic explosions of fireworks will begin. That and gun fire. Fireworks to my north and guns to my south. I prefer to stay uninjured during this Independence Day weekend.

For me though, I have a love/hate relationship with fireworks. For as long as I can remember my fascination as well as my protest for these things that go BANG and BOOM in the air and then produce the pretty spectacle of colors has always been there.

When I was a child, fireworks were in fact legal. I just hated the fact that they always made loud explosions in the air. Some of the more common firecrackers I hated too. Growing up, I had a difficult time with unusually loud noises. They hurt my ears.

By the time I was a teenager, it was not so bad on my ears. And by then, my family had moved to a place where fireworks were NOT legal. So there was nothing to be bought or had. Fines and tickets were hefty if you were caught in possession of them.

Not being able to buy them or use them didn’t bother me too much, up until about fifteen years ago when I was living in a place where the county allowed them. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a woman selling fireworks from inside of her own garage.

Without parental supervision, and being in a place in life where nobody could tell me what to do, I went NUTS!

In the three years that I lived in Lane County, in the state of Kansas, whenever July rolled around I practically spent every last penny I owned on fireworks. My first time buying them, I was so ridiculous, foolish, and irresponsible that I had spent so much that I could not pay my bills for the month. Needless to say that I didn’t have a lot to eat or drink in the entire month of July.

I remember that year well. I was hanging out with a guy during the summer and every day from the 29th of June until the 5th of July, I would go to that woman’s garage and look for something to buy. Wanting the biggest, the baddest, the most awesome fireworks that I could find.

I bought so much that the woman selling them to me, gave me about $50 worth in assorted fireworks for free. And on top of that she had a drawing for the mighty mystery bag of assorted fireworks that was supposed to be valued at over $200. The buddy that I was hanging out with would end up winning it. But he and I stuck together that evening of Independence Day.

Inside that mystery bag was something called “Thunder King”. It was the most single awesome, bad ass firework with report that I have ever laid my eyes upon. Nothing has ever compared to it since. 40 shots that go flying into the air, high above the telephone wires and explode in a colorful fury that lit up a radius of about three blocks. And the report rattled the windows of everything. Even setting off car alarms.

When I went back on the morning of the 5th, I was told that it valued at $75!! And she had one more left on the shelf. She was going to sell it to me for less than 50% off, but I could not handle it because of all the other stuff that I had bought that was pathetic by comparison.

Boxed sets, assorted sets, Roman candle sets, Black Cats, fountains, missles. I could go on and on. But I could not get my hands on another “Thunder King”.

Each end of June, that woman could probably smell me coming from a mile away even though I probably did not live that far from her. She KNEW I was going to be there. From that point on, there was no more “Thunder King”. Only something that was similar that truly and honestly sucked.

Obviously it didn’t matter to her that much. She was going to get my money! So she definitely set up things to where I could reach, remembering what I liked from the year before.

But then a few years later, I would move again to another part of Kansas where the county did not allow them. So I was back to what I really knew best: celebrating without them.

Hundreds and hundreds of dollars gone up in a matter of minutes, leaving nothing but a giant low lying cloud of smoke from all of the TNT and gun powder to permeate the night air. And then its all over.

I learned my lesson: Fireworks are BAD JUJU for the Dambreaker.

Now I have bought fireworks since that time, but nothing like that before. Maybe $25 here or $50 there. Each and every time I smell that unsettled powder, I cringe and my wallet begins to shake in my pocket wondering if I am going to strip it clean of its contents.

And I understand that there are people out there that spend thousands of dollars on fireworks. I’m just not one of those kinds of people that can handle that kind of spending, financially speaking.

It sucked having to live on 89¢ fountain drinks, Macaroni & Cheese and endless packages of Ramen noodles for three weeks. All in the name of wanting a “respectable collection” of fireworks.

 It might be really cool to watch all of those awesome, vibrant colors. And yeah, it is kinda neat for you to be able to knock the socks off of people who are nearby when you are putting on your own fireworks display. Just because you didn’t want the night to end when the local fireworks display was over. I simply had lost my mind in those years after spending so much money on it all.

And to think that I hated them for making such loud noises growing up!

But for those of you who do have them and are allowed by your county and state to use them: Be safe! Keep the children away from all of it. Leave the pets inside because they are gonna hate the noises anyways. Use some common sense because they are in a wild and weird sense, a fire hazard.

Enjoy your Independence Day celebrations. And Happy 235th birthday, America!!!!!!

 

 

Buh-Bye Bin Laden!

The media has gone into a frenzy. The world is in absolute celebration mode. Americans tonight, are rejoicing and some are in tears. But tonight- will be one more night in our nation’s history that will forever be on the minds of those who lived it.

This day has been coming: 9 years, 7 months, and 20 days. It most certainly has been a day that many Americans have been dreaming of. Praying for, and hoping without end.

The mastermind behind the attacks of 9/11, is dead.

At 9:52 PM CDT, I received a telephone call from a neighbor. She told me that Bin Laden was dead. I was thrown back in my wheelchair… stunned and filled with overwhelming excitement.

I turned on the television, knowing that it did not matter what channel or network I wanted, if this was really happening, then it would be on everything!!

I was right. Everything was interrupted to share through the media that this had happened. Naturally, like millions or perhaps billions across the world, were waiting for this to be confirmed.

At approximately 10:35 PM CDT, President Obama spoke to the nation, telling us that Bin Laden had been killed by United States military forces. I am sure for countless others just like myself, it was all I needed.

I am sure that blogs are on fire about this topic, and will be for many days to come. I am just one of the many who decided to write about it. Television and radio, the Internet and so many other websites will be flooded with these messages from many American citizens of their unrestrained jubilation over this event.

For many Americans, especially those of us who lived through 9/11, the population had added the question of, “Where were you on September 11th?”. Now, there is a new question. “Where were you on the first of May when it was announced that Bin Laden had been killed?”. Most certainly it will be a question that will be of better cheer than the previous.

It does not matter what side of the American political spectrum you base your beliefs upon. What matters now is that all Americans are united once more in gratitude that the evil man who slaughtered thousands of innocent men, women, and children can personally do the world no more harm.

I will always remember those who suffered on 9/11. And I will always remember this day. A date that be looked upon as a great and glorious victory for our men and women who are serving in our military and who have served since that time in September of 2001. (Which includes my very own younger brother. I love you bro, thanks for everything you’ve done!)

I will always give thanks for those who sacrificed their own lives, so that the rest of the nation, the rest of the world, can be able to witness the downfall of an evil lunatic with nothing but blood on his hands and murder in mind.

LET FREEDOM RING!!

God bless this world, and GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!