If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. That's what all the cool kids do. Thanks for visiting!
Tomorrow the Summer of Love at 2HT continues with my secret fantasy girlfriend, Lisa from Clusterfook. I think it’s cute that she shaved her head to be in solidarity with me. Or something. Anyway, Lisa will be guest blogging here tomorrow while I’m flying off for SecondHand Snackiephan. Or Karlifornia 2008. Whatever you want to call it.
Anyone who knows me knows I am quite the king of procrastination. I put everything off until the last minute. Pretty much. And that includes packing for trips. Usually at this time I’d be doing laundry, when I have to hit the road around lunchtime for Avitable’s place, so he can drive me to the airport on Tuesday.
But no. Not this time. I actually did laundry on FRIDAY. Granted, I’m just now getting around to folding it, but still. I think that’s a marked improvement. No, I haven’t actually put the clothes in the suitcase yet, but I just finished ironing a bunch of shirts (thanks to me not folding them right away the other day) and I’m beat. I HATE ironing.
Well, I *kind* of hate it. Truth is, I used to LOVE it when I was in the Air Force. I was the only one to iron my uniforms because I liked a really tight crease (TWKS). You can kind of veg out while ironing, watch TV, talk on the phone, whatever, because ironing doesn’t really use any active braincells.
But I haven’t ironed in a long time. Instead - and here’s Karl’s Laundry Secret of the Day - here’s what I do. Wash the clothes as usual, then throw them in the dryer for FIVE MINUTES. Then take out all of the shirts and pants and hang them up damp. With polo-style shirts, you want to be sure to button up all the buttons to the collar while it’s on the hanger. And be sure the collars are folded down nice and neat so when it dries you won’t have any wonky collars.
That’s it. Voila. No ironing. Ever.
Course, if you leave the clothes in the dryer for a while (or overnight, in my case), you’re fucked. But using this method also saves a LOT of wear and tear on your clothing. Things last a lot longer. And that’s a good thing in my case, because I HATE clothes shopping.
Socks and undies? You can let those dry all the way through in the dryer. But all of my shirts and shorts and jeans and slacks get hung up damp.
You’re welcome.
Yesterday’s post caused quite a stir. Lots of support and I thank you. But it seems we might have sparked a Quitting Revolution, since a number of you have agreed to hop on board on August 15th and quit smoking with me. Very cool. The more the merrier, I say.
I want to thank my special guest from yesterday’s episode of SecondHand Radio. Carly was great. Listen to it here or download it. Or go to iTunes and get the podcast there (just search for “Secondhand Radio”).
There won’t be a show this next Sunday because I’ll be recuperating from BlogHer. And 5pm Eastern is 2pm Pacific, so I really don’t think I’ll be in any shape to do a show at that time. But the following week? We’re on, baby.
I haven’t scheduled any shows for August yet. On purpose. I need to work on procuring some guests, but odds are high that I’ll be moving from Blog Talk Radio to Talkshoe. Why? Because Blog Talk Radio of late has been fraught with technical problems. People have had trouble getting the audio to work during the show, or they have trouble getting into the chatroom, or both. They get booted out of chat, or the audio, or both. The switchboard freezes up and dies so you can’t see who is on the phone calling in. I could go on and on, but I’m tired of it.
True, it’s free, and I realize that. But I’m also not happy with the ad placements on their site. The ads are obtrusive, sometimes playing AUDIO. You know, while I’M BROADCASTING A SHOW? Then there’s the pop-over ads which show up when you go to someone’s show page to listen to a show. You have to sit through the freaking 15-30 second ads before it takes you to the show.
Enough.
Talkshoe operates much more smoothly. I can have up to 100 people on the line at once, not that I would, mind you. But it’s an option. I like the way the chat works with the Talkshoe Pro client. It makes sense, even though it’s a little unsettling at first.
Plus, there’s no worry about time slots. I can have a show any time I want without worrying about how many listeners I’m drawing in. Prime time schmime time. If I want to have a show every night, I can do it. Not that I would, mind you. That’s Jester’s bailiwick. But I *could*. And I can do an hour-long show, a two-hour show, a FIVE-hour show…makes no difference.
The one thing that’s kept me from jumping ship sooner is the fact that I don’t know how I’ll play soundbytes/music on Talkshoe. But I’m working on it. Regardless, it’s not a huge issue. I’m moving.
I just haven’t figured out what day I’m moving TO. I’ve had a number of people say that Sunday afternoons just aren’t convenient. So I’m leaning toward an evening during the week. I ran a poll not long ago but didn’t get many responses so I ask again…
What say you? What night works best for you? I’m thinking of either a 1- or 2-hour show. Wednesdays are out because that’s when Adam & Britt and Jester do their shows.
Think on it. I’ll decide in the next couple of weeks. You know, while I’m basking in the California sun instead of roasting in the Florida sun.
Which reminds me…anyone in California wanna get together? Let me know. We’ll see if we can work something out. I’ll be in Orange County most of the time, but also San Francisco and San Diego and probably Los Angeles. Otherwise, you can come to me. I’m totally worth it.
Filed under 2HT Radio, BlogHer, Blogging, Travel | Comments (26)
Well, I will.
Not the blog, silly. I can’t see ever quitting that. I’m talking about one of my few remaining vices.
Cigarettes.
Cigarettes have owned my ass for a while now…um, 14 years? And that’s really strange because (1) I didn’t start smoking until I was in my 20s and (2) I HATED cigarette smoke all throughout my childhood.
My parents both smoked like chimneys when I was a kid. This was before the term “secondhand smoke” came to be coined, before anyone knew that such a thing was harmful to anyone. I mean, sure there was a nagging suspicion that SMOKING caused cancer (not that the tobacco companies would admit to it, mind you). But being AROUND smoke? Nah.
But I hated it. Everything in my house reeked of cigarette smoke. The furniture, the curtains, all of my clothes, my hair, the WALLS even. And my parents weren’t the type that rolled the car windows down when they were smoking, either. I’m not bitching…that was the culture of the time. Courtesy and smoking just weren’t seen as compatible, really.
People still smoked in restaurants and even though there was a non-smoking section in some eateries, the smoke from the SMOKING section always wafted over. Smoke knows no boundaries.
People still smoked in airplanes! And again, there were smoking and non-smoking sections. But guess how successful that shit was? Yeah, you’re in a confined environment for hours. Rows 1-15, no smoking. Rows 16-32, smoking. And if you’re in row 15, guess what? You certainly couldn’t tell you were in a no smoking section. It was moronic. But hey, there was also a time when we felt slavery was not such a bad idea. Humans, we’re really not the brightest of God’s creatures.
Growing up, I had asthma so it really sucked having smoking parents. My sister had it, too, even worse than I did. Never connected the dots that cigarette smoke might make the asthma worse.
So if I went all through childhood and into adulthood without picking up a cigarette, you ask, then why the fuck did I ever start to begin with? That’s a very good question.
And the answer is the same as it is for every smoker on the planet.
Because I’m an idiot.
The best way to quit smoking is never to start. And yet, I did start. And I blame it on my ex-girlfriend in Dallas. Because, you know, it couldn’t have been my fault. No sir.
Back then I was getting high on a regular basis. I smoked copious amounts of weed. And I was also doing crystal meth. (SEE: I’m an idiot, above.)
My girlfriend smoked cigarettes. So we’re sitting in a friend’s house one night, getting high and playing Dr. Mario on the Super Nintendo (still one of my favorite all-time video games) and she lights up a smoke.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked her.
“Sure.”
“What do you get out of smoking cigarettes? I just don’t understand it. They stink, they make your breath stink…what’s the point?”
And she said the magic words - possibly the only words - that would make me start smoking. “They accentuate the high from the marijuana.”
It wasn’t 15 seconds that passed before I said, “Can I try one?”
And WOW! What a buzz I got! Knocked me on my freaking ass. And I was hooked.
Soon I was buying my own packs and enjoying the slight buzz I still got, even when I wasn’t stoned. That buzz, though? Doesn’t last. But somehow the addiction does.
I’ve quit several times over the years. Sometimes for six months, sometimes for a couple of years. When my mom came to Dallas to help me move to Florida, I was stressed to the fucking max. Money problems to the nth degree, stress over the packing and moving, stress over leaving all of my friends behind, you name it. So I snuck a few smokes out of her purse when she slept at night. Damn, that shit was good.
And again I was hooked.
It’s been 4-1/2 years now since my stepfather died. Yeah, he smoked, too. In fact, my parents and stepparents all still smoked until fairly recently. I digress. My stepfather died a slow and painful death. Cancer. I was with him a lot in his final months, a good portion of which were spent in the very room I’m writing this from…in a hospital bed in the living room. In fact, he died in this room.
It took another year for my mom and I to say, “That’s enough.” We both went to a hypnotist to quit. But before we did that, we cleaned the whole house, we vacuumed, we Febreezed the SHIT out of everything…furniture, carpets, walls…all of it. And we did the same in our cars. THEN we went to the hypnotist.
It worked for me, but the fucker pissed me off. He told my mom that because she’d been smoking since she was a teenager, she probably was better off to TAPER her smoking off. Asshat. Well, that never happened. Every time I’ve quit (successfully) it’s been cold turkey.
I quit for a couple of years. She still smoked (and continues to do so), but only in her bedroom.
Then I went to BlogHer 2006. I bummed some smokes off of some friends and BAM! Hooked again. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
And now it’s time to quit again, before I really start feeling the effects of this shit that is killing me ever so slowly. Britt and I have talked about quitting together for months now. She wanted to quit on July 1, right after we got back from BrittCon.
“I can’t do that,” I said. “I have BlogHer coming up and that stresses me out.” Social anxiety and all that jazz. Big crowds of people, me having to actually interact…*shivers*.
So I emailed her the other day with a new quit date. And that leads us to this:
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Friday, August 15, Karl and Britt QUIT.
It’s helpful to have a quit date picked out in advance. Especially since I just bought several cartons of smokes for my California trip. When those are gone, I’ll be buying individual packs. And come midnight on Friday the 15th, I’ll be done.
Hopefully, for good.
And if any of you bitches get up in my grill for the next 30 days after that, may the Lord have mercy upon your soul. Because I’ll rip your face to shreds with a cheese grater, and then I’ll REALLY go to work on you.
Don’t forget, this afternoon at 5:00pm Eastern time, it’s another episode of SecondHand Radio. My guest will be author Carly Milne, who wrote (among other books) Sexography.
Please join us in the chatroom while you listen to the show. You’ll be able to call in and ask anything you like, or just interject your own viewpoint on something. Sex, and lots of it, baby. Today at 5pm Eastern, 2pm Pacific.
Filed under 2HT Radio, BlogHer, Blogging, Local Goings On | Comments (53)
Oops, during all that epic long post today, I totally spaced off that it’s Sunday.
That means another episode of SecondHand Radio! Today my guest is the lovely Sarah from Sad and Beautiful World.
Not only is she gorgeous, but Sarah is an amazing photographer, who I’ve been following on Flickr for years now. I’ve been in awe of her photos for quite some time and didn’t realize she had a blog until this year at TequilaCon, where I got to squee in delight by actually meeting her in person.
I hope you’ll join us today at 5:00pm Eastern time, 2:00pm Pacific.
CALL-IN NUMBER: (646) 716-9370
There’s a chatroom where you can hang out during the show, too.
Filed under 2HT Radio | Comments (7)
