radio – skepticlysm

The stereo in the Pilot is old.
Because the Pilot is like a 2013 or 2012.
I can never remember.
What I’m saying is it does not do Bluetooth worth a damn, and plugging in my Android phone does nothing.
Why the hell would car manufacturers limit connections to one kind of phone?
There are more Android phones on earth than iPhones (last I bothered to give af to check), but sure, limit people’s car stereo connections to iPhones.
Effing Apple.
(As he types on an Apple product …)
Because of the tech limits of the Pilot, we listen to the radio a lot.
OMG, I hate radio.
Hate it.
I hate the commercials.
I can’t stand the DJs.
I can’t stand listening to songs I do not care about.
I do not have the patience for it.
When I drive the Pilot, I’ve taken to putting in the earbuds and firing up Spotify.
In many ways, streaming has been a blessing.
I get to listen what I want when I want.
No filler.
I do, from time to time, listen to Spotify-created playlists.
They’re based on my listening habits, after all.
Though why it keeps making me listen to Slayer I do not know.
Not a fan of Slayer.
Most boring of the Big 4.
Anyway, radio.
It’s always sucked if you want to get down to it.
There’s always been a filter to what you got to hear.
Some radio exec decided everyone needed to hear this artist and this song with this sound …
For the stations, find the song they think will be most popular so more people tune in to hopefully hear that song so the station can make more ad revenue.
Which, you know, they did not use to increase DJ pay.
You had to get those indie stations where the DJs actually got to choose what music you heard, like Jones used to do in College.
Find a DJ you like, whose tastes aligned with yours, you could make radio tolerable.
Other than that, fundamentally fucked.
Do you ever think about that?
How much of your life is steered by the taste of others?
The will of others?
Of other people knowing better what you need.
We’re all used to it, of course.
Takes constant vigilance to battle it.
Again, the older I get, the fewer opinions I seek.
I have people.
Would never say I don’t.
But that circle shrinks by the day.
I’ll find and polish my own.
Which brings us to these Lists.
Do not take my word for it, ever.
I’m just a talking monkey with a keyboard who wishes he could write like Shakespeare.
I had no plan today, obviously.
I had two notes, really.
One was about how I’ve started screen capping stupid shit on social media.
Dumb ads.
Dumber headlines.
Shitty attempts at consumer manipulation.
Tired of being manipulated for someone else’s bank account.
And now I want to get into politics.
Nay!
The other note says, “Walk.”
Went on one yesterday.
And it was challenging.
WTAF.
A walk!
Met with an infectious disease doc this morning.
Dude was confident the antibiotics were shrinking the thing, but they can’t take me off the IV stuff until they see it on the MRI.
Can’t get the IV out until then.
Can’t get released to go to work until the IV is out, which, you know, has its benefits.
Earliest appt is not until June 11.
Was a good call.
But until the IV is out, I can’t do jack except … walk.
That’s whining.
Imma stop.
The other part of the Walk note was … Pantera.
Because that’s one of their best songs.
Obviously.
(Btw, at work, I have my readers trained to do “obviously” in the Alan Rickman Snape voice.)
I hope to do that here, too.
The radio rant.
Unplanned.
Sorry for the rant.
But then everyone thinks I’m angry all the time anyway.
It isn’t true, but there it is.
It’s just my face, as I like to say.
Not shy about voicing my frustrations, however.
What the hell do the rest of you do?
Keep that bottled up?
Emotional cancer, man.
Let it out.
Let it flow, let it flow …
“Do no harm, but take no shit.”
That’s one of my favorites.
A driving mantra moving forward.
You think I’m angry.
If I am, it’s because part of me thinks I take a lot of shit.
I. Am. Tired of that.
I had an awakening in the aftermath of surgery.
Seriously.
Different tolerances for bullshit moving forward.
I’ll do it with a smile on my face, but … yeah.
Advocate for yourself.
You get one shot at this.
Time’s a-wasting.
Enjoy your holiday weekend.
…
…
…
And then a thing happened he did not expect.
What do I do when the List is too damn long already, but something else came up I needed to get out of my head?
Multiple posts?
You really think the algo’s going to show them equally?
Came across this cover of “Where is My Mind,” by Ruelle.
(Which I shared in the List Discord server music channel.)
(I can’t drop a link in the List without the algorithm limiting who sees it.)
(The Algo, in my head, is the MCP from the original Tron.)
(An antagonist.)
(We should all be thinking of our relationships with social media algos as adversarial.)
(Because they are.)
Anyway.
The cover of that song is awesome.
Ruelle is pretty awesome, too.
Makes me want to go hunt down all the covers of “Where is My Mind?”
We listened to the Ruelle version three or four times this morning.
Kaia said she still likes the original best.
I don’t disagree.
It’s good stuff.
First time I ever heard it was at the end of Fight Club.
Thank you, David Fincher, for giving me The Pixies.
The film that keeps on giving, you know?
And the answer to your unasked question … dude’s last name is Walters.
Okay, now we’re done.
Way out in the water slowly swimming …

Tag: radio

Pixie Dust