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The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Jack Steiner

A New Years Surprise

October 2, 2024 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Got Jim Croce singing Operator while I think about the New Years Surprise in which I was unfriended and how I feel.

Got mixed emotions because in some ways I feel like I was blindsided and yet still ask myself if I ignored 10,000 signs of what was coming.

Got myself asking what role I played in this and if I could have done anything differently because the person that cut me loose meant quite a bit to me.

I know there was a time when they felt the same about me but maybe that changed. Maybe it went away and I ignored what was obvious.

Yet I come back to other conclusions because they read my words and watched videos. Not too long ago we were speaking throughout the day and I thought we were on a different path.

I won’t apologize for asking to have had a real conversation about where things were and what sort of goals they were focused upon. Got one answer once about it not being the right time or too difficult or some other thing.

More Than Twenty Years

So I sit here in silent mourning thinking about more than 20 years and wondering if that is it forever or if maybe there is more magic.

Some would call me crazy for asking if maybe there is. They’d say that other guy seems quite similar to the guy who lives in PA now and that I am very different.

They’d say I was given every reason not to believe and that actions lead to conclusions that don’t support the idea.

“Sure Jack, there was a time when they would have crawled through fire and across broken glass but that is in the past, deal with the present.”

That’s not a crazy position to take and I’d probably argue it too but every time I thought every ounce of opportunity, potential and possibility had been drained something happened.

So I make like the sad gorilla and lean against the wall telling myself to accept what is and take a long walk into a different reality.

If they came and said they wanted to talk I’d think about ignoring them and let them feel my absence because I was mistreated.

But the flame that has always burned isn’t yet extinguished so I might consider the conversation if I thought there was an explanation.

Would it make me feel better?

Maybe?

Would it make feel worse?

Possible but unlikely because I dislike not knowing the how and why though not as much as not having the conversation I always wanted to have about exploring opportunity in a way that had never been possible before.

Maybe it really is the final curtain call and all of the magic has been exhausted, that is possible. It happens.

But it is possible it is not as well.

We had a brief conversation in person and for a moment I could see our communication flow as freely as it ever did. For a moment I saw the flame and then they shut it down.

I’d testify to that, not that it matters or will ever happen.

Where Does The Path Lead?

I don’t know where it goes, how long it takes or who will or will not be on it. I only know I am walking it alone, no Toto walking beside me.

Can’t say if I’ll find the Scarecrow, Tinman and Lion along the path or if I’ll fight the flying monkeys by myself.

But I am certain I’ll get to where I am going and that my future remains unwritten. So if it doesn’t play out as I thought or hoped I’ll be ok because I always land on my feet, even if I feel like a piece of my heart is missing.

Filed Under: Life

Where I’ll End Up

September 12, 2024 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul
Where I’ll end up, well, I think only God really knows

Been thinking it is time to take off some of the masks and move into a new place and a new reality. Been thinking I am tired of carrying the weight and it is time to for new beginnings.

Like the song says, “where I’ll end up, I think only God really knows.”

A dear friend told me there is no reason to keep taking a beating and nothing to prove by doing so.

Maybe I wasn’t ready to hear him before, but I am now. So we move forward into the unknown and explore what the future can bring when you do more than just talk about opportunity.

Filed Under: Life, Random Thoughts

Could Be A Long Day

August 31, 2024 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I try to start each day with a good attitude and open to possibility but I don’t always succeed.

Today has me wrapped up in thoughts, questions and ideas and it leads me to wonder how it will all play out.

It could be a long day. Could be a very hard day, but it might not.

Much of what is on my mind is outside of my control and so I am doing my best to manage it. When your ship hits stormy waters you do the best you can to sail through it.

Would feel better if I could see land but it is too dark and cloudy to see very far ahead. So this may be one of those take it one moment at a time minutes.

Sometimes adulting is far harder than we want it to be.

Filed Under: Life

What Happens If We Don’t Acknowledge A Birthday?

August 28, 2024 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I stumbled across some news the other day that has me fired up and I am working through what I want to do about it.

It was something that was hurtful which in turn has led to feelings of anger, sadness and disappointment. I read something online about someone and it answered some questions…maybe.

There is a chance what I read doesn’t mean what I think it does so I have been trying to take a moment to process because I don’t want to jump to conclusions.

I don’t want to waste energy on something that might not be true but my gut thinks my head might be fooling itself. My gut says the reason our heart aches is exactly why we think it does.

Head asks if that is true what do we want to do about it. So part of me wonders what happens if I don’t send out the typical birthday greeting to the individual I am thinking about.

Will it be noticed. Will they care or will they not be bothered at all. Am I being childish thinking about doing such a thing.

Should I Howl At The Moon?

I am bothered by how much this hurts and how disconcerting it is. Should I make like the wolf and howl at the moon.

Will raising a mournful cry make me feel better or will I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

The latter is a definite but the former is questionable so I am howling here and asking myself to be kind.

Kind to me and to not beat myself up for things outside of my control or wishes that I had done something different in the past.

What is done is done and I need to orient my focus on the present and future. But I won’t lie and say this isn’t hard or that this isn’t particularly painful.

My heart hurts.

Filed Under: Fragments of Fiction, Life

Cloud Scraping

August 1, 2024 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I used to know so much more about blogging and the world surrounding it. I used to be able to look at things like the screenshot below and know what was going on.

Now I ask myself if this is just the Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa rolling through my site or if someone is scraping my content for their own use.

I used to see more of that happening than I see today but I can’t say if it changed because of the world or because of what I have been doing.

There were moments when I caught people doing it and I would drop in little “poison pills” in the content to see if they were reading.

Things like “you’re reading stolen content and if you want to support the real writer do this and XYZ.”

It worked a few times, maybe more than a few, I don’t remember. Been a long while since I remember any of that going on, might be more than 10 years.

Time keeps moving and priorities change, I am obviously still writing but not like I once did so I ask myself if there is motivation to figure out what is happening here.

And if not, well should that be a sign or is the sign that I am posting about this. Does that mean the curiosity is driving me for more details.

Does that mean the flame still flickers?

Maybe.

Filed Under: Blogging

Updates, We Have Updates

July 21, 2024 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Updates, we have updates for you though we cannot say if you will find them meaningful or important.

We’ll start with the continued question about what to do with this particular blog from a time and financial perspective.

Clearly this doesn’t get updated as often as it once did and the burning question has been is it because of lack of interest or a time perspective.

The answer there probably has more to with time as in I do not have as much as I once did. That is a good thing for on the whole but less good for building and maintaining a readership.

But let’s be honest there is so much content out there we have left the place where could just throw stuff up and expect readers to flock to you.

If you are established you might be able to keep some of the long time folks around by posting occasionally but you still need something meaningful for them to read.

That brings up the financial component because this place is self hosted and it costs more than a couple of bucks to keep running. It is not so costly that I can’t keep it going which is why you have seen it stay live, but I do wonder if I am paying more than I ought to given its current state.

So I go back and forth about whether I ought to move to something that costs less or is free. Been more than a decade since I wasn’t self hosted.


What Purpose Does It Serve?

I am not prepared to just shut it down but I am thinking about going to through the posts and culling the weaker material. How long will that take and what is involved is a reasonable question to ask.

I don’t have those answers yet.

I never tried to be an influencer or a brand ambassador but I did take paid opportunities when they presented themselves. Some of those were pretty good, but it has been years since any of that took place here and that is not the focus.

Can’t say that means I wouldn’t accept anything if it was presented but I am not sure that anyone would be real interested in that now.

So the purpose of this place seems to be somewhere I can write semi anonymously and that is worth something to me.

That is enough to keep this going in some form, just have to decide what that looks like.

Filed Under: Blogging

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