Microblog Memes

A bit over a decade ago, I was motorcycle camping on a solo trip down the US West coast. Being a bit on the cheap side and preferring wilderness, I decided to make use of the Bureau of Land Management camp sites, where possible. They are free, somewhat remote and quiet (no hookups for RVs or any of that), which I really appreciate.

While heading South through Northern California, I stopped at the one near Ukiah, had a quick dinner, and went to sleep in my 2-person tent that I had been using for the trip. For some reason, I had my laptop out - maybe trying to look at some helmet cam footage. And, when I went to sleep, I was lazy and just suspended it, leaving its power LEDs slowly blinking.

I was awoken in the middle of the night by an animal rather forcefully trying to get through the side of my tent. I shouted and banged on the handle of my hatchet (hollow, glass-filled nylon, so it could be used to make rather significant noise). The animal took off, rather loudly through the brush near the camp site. My laptop, with blinking LEDs was right next to the wall of the tent where my "visitor" had been trying to gain entrance. So, I completely shutdown the laptop, ensuring that there was no blinking and failed to get any more meaningful sleep.

The next morning, once it was light out, I warily looked outside my tent to be sure that my "visitor" wasn't waiting for me. Then, surveyed the site with hatchet in hand and heavy sheath knife on my belt (Morakniv Companion - highly recommended in carbon steel as it's a great knife and still somehow cheap). All around the picnic table where I had cooked my curried lentil dinner were the large and unmistakable tracks of my large feline "visitor". Not wanting to stick around in case the mountain lion decided to come by to investigate some more, I quickly broke camp and made my way back to the road, skipping my planned breakfast for diner food.

As one can reasonably expect from this experience, I camped at the same campground on my way back North and return there to camp fairly regularly.

In the same year I put my head through a plate glass window (to a shocking lack of injury) I also attempted to lift an engine block off a cherry picker... WITH MY HEAD... to hilarious results.

Well the TBI, seizures and utter disregard of my mother to the suggestion of a neurosurgeon that I needed surgery to relieve swelling at the injury site weren't too funny. The latter is my favorite as she 'treated' me with nightmarish vegetable smoothies consisting of spinach and not much else.

I still hate spinach. And it's been 47 years.

Slicing raw meat brings me the weirdest joy.

OP, the pic said an unsettling fact about you, not your neighbor. You need to follow it up with something like, "While he did it, I held my hand over his so he could teach me his techniques." If true, that it would make it an unsettling fact about you. If you don't have anything, though, it happens. I'm not coming up with much at the moment either. And just saying something like "I poop a lot" would do this thread an injustice.

I don't know if it's scary, but in the absolute core of my existence i just need my life to stop sooner rather than later.

I've always been a bit suicidal leaning but when i was stopped i never had the courage to try again.

Every single day my mind tells me "would've been better if you did, it's all a big shitshow anyway" it never misses a day. I keep telling myself to not listen to it but i do agree.

I had a certain circumstance a couple yeara ago where i was close to dieing and it brought me peace...i felt calm and became accepting of what was to come (despite the intense pain). Wife calles an ambulance which they refused to send as we were too calm for it to be believable, so we took a taxi and that's when they got to see the pain i was in and realized time was running out quick.

Bla bla bla etc etc, i got sent home a while later and the same pain returned...excruciating bone wrenching all encompassing pain and all my mind had to add was: "if this is real, just go to sleep and you won't have to wake up again".

And i did, despite this absolute tormenting pain i fell asleep so peacefully and convinced of it all ending...it was such a relief.

But i woke up after...shit.

That's the darkest corner of my existence.

I intentionally make up horrors and monsters to lurk in the shadows or under my bed. Sometimes when I can't fall asleep, I stare at a corner of the room, imagining some unsettling creature that could be lurking there, staring back at me (if it has eyes at all). I imagine something reaching up to grab the leg I'm stick out over the edge.

But they can't actually get me. They're created, sustained and dispelled by my will. They may stare at me, reach for me, but they're powerless. When I'm done with them, I send them back to the half-existence in the collection of ideas I built them from.

It's a cruel power fantasy, to make up monsters incapable of understanding that they're the lesser horror between us, but it's fun.

It also seems to help me sleep, but that might just be the fact that focusing my brain on one thing quiets all the background noise.