Every once in a while, I’ll admit it, I take my ball and go home. I have been packing up my gear from social media lately, posting less and less, and there are about a zillion reasons for that, not the least of which is that the platforms I use are essentially overrun by ads and influencers. It is the risk we took in moving to so-called free sites and apps to post our stuff and build communities in that we kind all knew that some day the sun would rise on the party and someone was going to get a bill and the price was going to be bigger than any of us ever thought. I have always tried to maintain a personal site outside of the fray of the ‘grams and the ‘books and the ‘toks but of course most of y’all were all out there ‘gramming and ‘booking and ‘toking and so I tried not to be that guy yelling into the wind, at least not fully, and I put a lot of small-c content up on various sites in an effort to be where the people are. But I once again find myself in need of a break. Maybe it’s the AI. Maybe it’s the politics. Maybe it’s the adverts which vastly overwhelm every other type of content I see and me here with zero income knowing that I couldn’t buy that shit even if I wanted to.

I built this little site nearly two years ago now. There are almost 800 pics and posts on it, across a couple profiles. It’s been to multiple countries, on a whirlwind of vacations, followed me on projects and pursuits, interests and drivel. It’s been hacked and repaired, upgrade and tweaked, and I know a few of you actually read what I put up here for all that work and effort. And the only thing I’ve learned for certain out of all that so-called participation, near and far, is that nothing is guaranteed from anything. And certainly less than nothing is guaranteed from trying to play by the algorithm rules over on the ‘tubes or the ‘threads or the ‘dits, no matter how hard I try. I’ve never been a good fit on any of them. The last thing I want is to become internet famous, but there is a sweet spot in there between capital-C Creator status and this being a full time gig and, on the other side, impotently screaming into the hurricane force winds of social media.

This is all a long winded way of saying I’m taking a conscious break from most sites and I’m only going to post exclusively on my personal sites and platforms for the rest of the summer—at least. After that? Who knows. But if you need me, I’ll be here. Mostly. Exclusively. Enjoy the sunshine.