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Tag Archives: crashdlanding

Randomized Fiction 3 this Friday!

10 Wednesday Aug 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in Fiction, Randomized Fiction

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crash landing, crashdlanding, fiction, Randomized Fiction

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Randomized Fiction 3 this Friday!

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Memories

07 Sunday Aug 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in Non-Fiction

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crash landing, crashdlanding, family, happy and sad, I’m back, men ories, non-fiction

You ever think about random things?

Like today at work, I started thinking about the most random thing.

I saw some dude carrying a six pack of Ale-8. If you don’t know, I’m from Kentucky, and Ale-8 is, to some, a state treasure. I’m not a fan, but if this says anything, my dad put it in my nephew’s baby bottle. I mean he was old enough but still.

Anyway I saw that dude carrying that six pack, and I thought, “that’s a good alternative.” You know, to alcohol. I don’t have anything against anyone who drinks. I just think that it can make smart people do stupid things, and can become a problem for some.

He was carrying that, and I remembered the most obscure random memory I haven’t thought about in ages.

One time, my mom came home from grocery shopping and I guess my brother had been asking her to buy beer? And I remember he was showering and she brought home a six pack of Ale-8. And I thought it was so funny that she’d want to go in there and tell him she got him a six pack, and trick him, that I followed her through the house to hear his reaction.

Oh to go back in time and relive the days when something some simple could bring me joy.

And then something else made me think of that golden time, just after I graduated college, and before I got married. My then boyfriend had proposed to me with a Nintendo DS, and a few months later, for my birthday, he got me a new game, Mario Party. I took a picture of us with a digital camera, sitting on the couch. I can remember the shirt I was wearing, what my hair and glasses looked like. We were just hanging out at my house (before I moved out of my parents’ house) and just each other’s company.

Oh, and those times my sister and I would just start laughing and we couldn’t stop, and we’d get so loud that in the next room that dad would yell at us to be quiet. But we couldn’t stop and tears were rolling and it just made us laugh harder.

Or that time it was just me and mom, and we sat with a jar of Lay’s Ranch Dip, not long after it was first available and we’d sit and enjoy that dip and watch tv together. Or when we house sat for neighbors when they went to the beach (and took my sister). Or when I’d spend the night with her when she stayed with the elderly bedridden woman, she took care of

Sometimes I think about all these memories and feel happy. Sometimes I’m sad. Sometimes I wonder if there will be any memories like these for my child, memories that make her happy and sad and long for simpler days. Or will they just all be iPad this and iPad that? Or will there be “mommy was at work so daddy took me to the park.”

She’s under ten, so maybe the lasting memories haven’t been made yet. But what if when they are made, my body has finally said, “You’ve ignored my warning signs for too long, I’m useless now and cannot be repaired.” Then the memories will be tainted with me being more broken and tired than I am now.

What are some of your core memories? Memories that make you a little happy and a little sad at the same time?

I’m really trying to engage with my readers here. I know there’s about five of you!


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BMB: The Finale

31 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in BMB, Non-Fiction

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BMB, crash landing, crashdlanding, finale, non-fiction, Pretend Fantasy Novel, writing

Day 31: The Last Day

Recap

I’ve spent the last 30 days writing and posting a blog every single day. Okay some days were cheating. I’m sorry, no body is perfect. I’ve stayed up late nights finishing posts, I’ve carried posts into the next day and still posted for the day. I’ve learned a lot

What I’ve Learned

I’ve learned that doing this (gestures to the blog) daily is a full time job. If you want do do something like this, having a whole other full time job is not going to make it easy.

I’ve lost more sleep, literally, over this month. Simply because I’ve stayed up late on work nights to get a post done before midnight. I’ve fallen asleep in front of my computer.

But man I had fun.

I’ve also learned that no matter how you post or what you post, it’s still not going to make people read. Especially people who know you.

es to the blog) daily is a full-time job. If you want to do something like this, having a whole other full-time job is not going to make it easy.

I’ve lost more sleep, literally, over this month. Simply because I’ve stayed up late on work nights to get a post done before midnight. I’ve fallen asleep in front of my computer. Oh, and also, last night I had my first dream about blogging.

But man I had fun.

I’ve also learned that no matter how you post or what you post, it’s still not going to make people read. Especially people who know you.

Top Posts of the Month

Excluding this one, of course. Let’s see which posts did the best, and try to figure out why.

  • I’m Doing It Again: July 16: 45 Views, 18 Visitors. This post was about how i was beginning to dream about being a teacher again.
  • Album Review: “The Wiser Moon” – Ap Harbor: July 27: 24 Views, 24 Visitors. This post was an album review for a friend’s band’s album. I’m sure it did as well as it did because of the connection to him and his band.
  • The Things I Use: July 29 Views, 13 Visitors: A poorly and quickly written list of items I use in my “business”.
  • I’m Doing a Terrible Job: July 5th: 25 Views, 15 Visitors. Literally about not doing well at this nonsense. lol

I have zero legitimate explanation for why these particular posts preformed the way they did. The posts that were fiction, and the posts that I put more effort into, like “Giant African Land Snails” were all on the mid to low range of views.

My highest performing post of all time is one from March. It’s about how I forgot to cancel a yearly subscription to a weight loss/meal tracking app. I get notifications almost daily about new likes. Yet I cannot seem to get view information.

Worth it?

I’m guessing I won’t know if I’ve earned any extra ad revenue from the full Birthday Month of Blogs, until tomorrow or later, as it seems to post that info for the month. So, financially, probably not.

But any any other way? I supposed “consistent” posting might have helped me get new followers, but all of the posts from the month and historically are fairly all over the place and no cohesion. I cannot seem to stick to one type of blog!

What Would I Do Differently?

I have no plans for doing this again anytime soon, but if it turns out I’ve made some change off of it I might try again. But if I did there are several things, I’d do different.

First off, I would preplan and possibly prewrite all my posts. Including any extras, I might want to make for them, book covers, videos, images, etc. This would save me time and worry. I’d know what I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it.

I would also be more consistent, with posting and with content and promotion. I have several different social media accounts that I use strictly for sharing blog posts and related things. I would better utilize these outlets to promote the posts.

Finding a way to do this and not add more stress to my already enormous pile of stress trash, would be key to convincing me to try this again.

What’s Next?

First off, I’m going to take a small vacation from posting here. If something comes to mind and I want to share it here, I will. But other than that, at least for a week, expect good old inconsistent Crystal to return.

After that, I do plan on making “Randomized Fiction” a permeant fixture. Even if I only gave myself about 24 hours to write and post it, I had fun doing it. This time, though, I’ll “spin the wheels” a week in advance and work on it and post a week later. I will be posting all of these and other posts to the podcast, as well.

I’ll also be adding a page (these are linked at the very top of the website) dedicated strictly to “Pretend Fantasy Novel” details. There will be a thorough recaps and updates to progress, which I will return to regularly working on soon.

There will be more coming soon, but right now, I’m ready to catch some zzzzz…..

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BMB: I’m Tired Okay

30 Saturday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in BMB, Non-Fiction

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broke, crash landing, crashdlanding, financial planning, it jiggle jiggles, money, my money don't fold, non-fiction, website ownership

Day: 30 In Which I Run the Numbers

This Exhausting but I Still Enjoy it

This is the next to last day of Birthday Month Blogs, and you all will be glad to see less of me, I’m sure. Tomorrow is going to be a rundown of the month, including “was it worth it”.

But today is going to be “How can I Afford keep doing this?”

How can I afford to keep doing this?

By “this” I don’t mean posting every day. Nooooo. By “this” I mean keeping the site/blog/etc. Like, financially. In a previous post I mentioned how in February 2023, my 1-year subscription with the site will be up. And how, at the time, I didn’t spend much time here, despite the fact that I enjoy being here. It just wasn’t a cost-effective option for me.

However, one of the things I’ve learned is that I would really and truly miss it if I let it go. So, there’s a plan. Sort of.

The Plan

I have about five months until I have to pay the bill. The bill totals $186.

Here’s what that covers:

  • Domain Name: $18
  • Premium $96
  • G Suite $72

Now, $186 is a lot of money for someone who is perpetually broke. Like, bills paid but still a little bit of struggle broke. But if you divide that up by five months that’s 37.42. Round that up as I’m wont to do, that’s $40 a month. That would be about $20 a paycheck. Now, if I wanted to upgrade to the Business plan, which is required for monetization, then that’s, well, a lot more money. Basically, double I’d have to save. Still, I could manage at least one plan.

Fun fact I recently discovered that I was over a month in advance on my truck payment. That’s right, I didn’t necessarily need to send out the money I had budgeted to pay my payment. And I could use that money on what I needed (like lunch to eat at work, and little things for my kid) and still be able to pay my bills, and my truck payment closer to the actual due date.

I’d been paying this thing early because one time, my second or third payment, got lost in the mail, and in order to avoid a late fee, I had to pay it online via CHECK, and they charged me an extra $25 to pay it online. That is a whole lot of nonsense. I also despise my loan company. But just like family, we don’t get to choose them, if we go to a janky dealership at the bottom of a hill to buy a truck you saw on a whim and end up getting a different truck entirely.

Okay, we seemed to have strayed from the point.

The point is that I am going to attempt to save money to keep this nonsense going. I am also going to contact WordPress and say, “Hey, my dudes. This domain name is free with purchase of a plan, right? Lemme get that discount friend.”

I’m sorry that was unnecessary to the storyline. I’m just really sleepy. Don’t you love this chaos?


This is just a joke, do not take me seriously I am just throwing in nonsense that is available on this website okay. But if you WANT to donate to the “Save the Site” fund…

IM KIDDING SHEESH

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Save the Site Fund is a proud sponsor of Crystal’s Nonsense. Please disregard.

Save the Site Fund is a proud sponsor of Crystal’s Nonsense. Please disregard.

Save the Site Fund is a proud sponsor of Crystal’s Nonsense. Please disregard.

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I promise, aside from the not-really-begging for donations, this is what I’m like in real life. Chaos. Chaotic Neutral? Chaotic Good? Is there a test for that? I’m sure there’s some kind of test I need to take.


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BMB: Randomized Fiction 2

29 Friday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in BMB, Fiction, Randomized Fiction

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crash landing, crashdlanding, fiction, non-fiction, Random, Randomized Fiction

Day 29: In Which I Write Fiction RANDOMLY!

Role & Dog

“You should get a dog.” The phrase was uttered to Russ Frye about a million times. “I’m not a dog person,” he always said. It seemed like he had to say it constantly.

You’d never hear him admit that yes, the cabin got lonely sometimes. But he grew to like being alone. He’d sold the house in the city. It took him a while to give it up. But it just wasn’t the same anymore. And the cabin brought him peace. The quiet solitude of being surrounded by nothing but the woods. The sound of the nocturnal animals prowling, the birds chirping undisturbed in the morning. It was this peace he needed, he craved. And having a dog wasn’t going to do him any good.

The cabin that had become his one and only residence sat deep in the woods, at the end of a long road down a slow sloping mountain. Between late spring and early fall, Russ preferred to walk the ten-minute trip to the mailbox. Because after all, he wasn’t a complete recluse, and still received mail.

This day, a warm June morning, he grabbed his walking stick and messenger bag, threw on a hat to keep the sun off his head, and began the trip down. Animals in land and air were active, rabbits and squirrels and he even saw a hawk swooping around the canopy. He liked to watch nature as he walked, looking out for snakes as well.

As he got closer to what could be considered the nearest main road, he began to hear a rustling in the undergrowth to his right. Whatever it was definitely wasn’t rabbit or squirrel, it was bigger. Russ wasn’t afraid of much out here, he was cautious, and respectful that there were things out there that could do more harm than good. So, he stayed in the center of the road, keeping his eyes open all around him. The one thing he was afraid of he had yet to encounter face to face: a bear.

A few minutes later and he’d made it to the mailbox. He’d hand built it a few years back, to hold larger mail items he’d sometimes had sent to the cabin. This time there was a package about the size of a shoebox, a part he’d ordered to fix the generator in preparation for winter. Never too early to prepare, and it’ll be his first full winter in the cabin since making it his permanent residence.

He shoved what he could in the messenger bag and tucked the package under his arm. After latching the box back, he turned back onto the road home. It didn’t take him but a few minutes until he heard the rustling in the leaves again. He suddenly felt like he was being stalked, like a deer being hunted. He stopped, and the sound stopped. He gripped the walking stick, prepared to use it as a weapon. The pocketknife he kept on him at all times would be harder to get to.

He waited for a brief moment, then heard a loud crash and a growl. A blur of motion came from his right, darting out of the edge of the trees and onto the road. It took him a few minutes to register that the dark cloud of dust and fur was a dog. A dog that had a hold of something and wasn’t letting go.

Russ backed up as the tussle ensued, and, squinting his eyes he saw that the dog had a snake in its maw. It was shaking its head violently only until it knew it was done. When everything settled down, the dog dropped what was once a rattlesnake and looked up at Russ, panting.

The snake had been right in front of Russ, and the stray dog happened to see it first. Who knows what might have happened had it not been for the dog? He used the end of his walking stick to nudge the snake, which was in fact lifeless, and then picked it up and tossed it over the embankment to the right. He looked back at the dog, who looked at him, still panting.

“What?” Russ asked the animal. “You want me to thank you?” The dog let out a small “ruff” between pants. “Fine. Thank you.” And Russ continued passed it. He didn’t make it three feet before he realized the dog was following him. Russ would stop for a moment, standing still, and the dog would stop. But when he continued walking, the dog followed, slowly, and at a distance. But still, he followed.

He grumbled to himself about dogs and how he didn’t like them all the way back to the cabin. When he got there, he quickly glanced behind him to see that the dog stood, at the end of the walk. He stepped inside and closed and locked the cabin door. “It’ll go away.”

He got distracted by sorting the mail and opening the package to check the part and was about to make some lunch when he thought to look outside. He walked to the door and looked out the window to see the dog sat at the bottom step to the porch, just looking up at the cabin. It was still panting but stopped when it saw Russ looking at it. He groaned and let the curtain fall back over the window and went to make his lunch.

After he’d eaten, he stood to take his scraps out to compost, when he remembered the dog. He checked to see if it was still there, and lo and behold, there it was still panting away. But it had decided to sneak onto the porch where he laid just at the edge. Russ looked down at the scraps in his hand, and the dog resting on his porch, with its head on its paws, just staring at him.

“I’m not a dog person.” he told the dog. It stood as he approached. He dropped the dish of scraps before the mutt, and it looked up at him, then down at the scraps, as if asking permission. “Yeah yeah, just eat already.” The dog began to eat hungrily. “You’re not staying.” he warned.

The dog ate up, and looked at Russ, still panting. “Water,” he said. “You need water.” The late afternoon sun was bearing down and heating up, so it was quite warm out. Russ got an old bowl from inside and filled it with water. The dog’s tail was wagging left to right so hard Russ wondered how the animal didn’t flip over or fly off into the air. When it was done it sat down and looked up at him once more.

“Okay fine,” he told the dog, you can stay. But you have to earn your keep. You have a job. You keep the snakes at bay, and I’ll feed and water you. That’s your job. That’s your role. Got it.” The dog’s tail slapped the porch over and over, and it let out a “Ruff” in response. “And you can sleep on the porch. That’s the rules.”

A few weeks pass. The arrangement between Dog and Russ seems to work for them. “Russ, you finally got a dog?” Elliot Larson, an old friend of Russ’s asks.

“No.” Russ adamantly responds. “It followed me back from the mailbox, killed a snake in my path, and followed me home.

“So, he chose you.”

“No, I allowed it to stay.”

“Bro, ‘it’ is a he.” Elliot said, looking at the dog, whose tail thumped happily on the wood porch planks as he watched the conversation. “Have you named him?”

Russ chuckled, as if the idea was absurd. “No, why would I name it?”

“Him, that’s rude. You should name him.” Elliot said. “He saved your life; he deserves to be named.”

“Pfft. I would have been fine.” Russ new very well he would not have been fine. “If I name him, he’ll stay.”

“He’s not going anywhere unless you’re going too. Look at him.”

“Fine, you name him.”

“Cool, cool. Let’s see.” Elliot stared at the dog that shall be named and thought for a moment. “Speedy.” The dog’s ears perked up.

Russ laughed. “What?! Speedy, really?”

“Yep, look he likes it. Speedy!”

Speedy stood up and looked from Elliot to Russ.

“He was pretty quick on the draw with that snake.”

“It’s meant to be, man. Meant to be.”

“What?”

“You and the dog.”

Russ rolled his eyes at his friend but said nothing else on the subject.

A few days later, a summer storm was blowing in, and Russ was preparing the cabin for immanent weather. The structure was sound, and the seals were good, but when wanted to be sure the windows were protected and tools, equipment, and other outdoor implements were safe and secure. Speedy followed him everywhere. But as the evening grew on and the storms got closer, he clung to Russ.

“Back off, you’re going to trip me!” he nudged the dog with the toe of his boot, hoping for some space.

Soon darkness fell and the windows were shuttered. The wind began to whole and whine. But then Russ had to listen, there was a sound that couldn’t have been the wind. He got up from his chair and walked to the door. There on the other side, against the bottom, Speedy lay whining. His nose was tucked under his paws and his tail was tucked under his body.

Russ groaned because he knew what he was about to do. “I’m not a dog person!” he told himself as he opened the door. Speedy did something he’d never been tempted to do before and darted inside the house, and rather quickly found Russ’ bed and hid himself under it. Within minutes thunder clapped and ran soon began pelting the log exterior of the cabin.

Throughout the night Russ offered the dog water and food but Speedy refused to come out from under the bed. When he could stay up on more Russ gave in and crawled into bed and went to sleep. The next morning, with sun shining through the window, Russ woke to something went nuzzling his hand, which hung of the edge of the bed. He looked over the edge and Speedy had been licking his hand.

Soon it was August, and it was not a good month for Russ. The constant influx of only slightly unwanted visitors didn’t help. The rush of memories that he was trying to avoid by coming to the cabin was only worsened by the people who arrived. The bulk of conversation started with, “I can’t believe it’s been a year already,” “How you are holding up?” and “You finally got a dog!”

But worse of all were June and John. He never expected to see them, didn’t think they’d want anything to do with him. When he expressed as much to them, they were kind. “Russ, dear,” Judy began, tears already welling in her eyes. “Just because she’s gone, doesn’t mean we don’t love you.”

She, of course was the reason he came back to the cabin. She’d loved the cabin and the time they’d spent there, as little as it had been. She was the one who’d often talked about living there full time.

“Kellie really did love it here, didn’t she?” John, Kellie’s father said, looking at a picture of she and Russ taken on the porch.

“She did.” Was all he could say.

Their visit didn’t last long. Of course, they knew he wasn’t being rude on purpose. Losing her was still raw for all of them. But he didn’t know how to react when the subject became her.

When they’d left, and there were no more visitors, Russ quietly made himself an early dinner. He sat down to eat it but ended up just staring at the food with his fork in hand. Then all the pain he’d held inside all day, all the pain he’d been hiding from in the cabin in the woods suddenly burst forth and he could not hold it back any longer.

He stood up from his chair, tears in his eyes, and took heavy steps over to the wall where their pictures hung. Wedding pictures, pictures of the fish they caught in the lake–she’d thrown her catch back, pictures of her smelling wildflowers she’d gathered on one of their walks.

He fell to his knees in grief, sobbing. He pulled at his own hair pounded himself in the chest, trying to feel something else, anything else, but the tears just came.

Then so did the dog. The dog he did not want. First Speedy crept toward him, practically crawling. Then he inched forward and laid down at his feet. He put a paw on Russ’s leg. When he continued to sob, Speedy crawled into Russ’s lap, and used h on is nose to nuzzle away his hands from his face and head. Then, Speedy began to lick Russ’s face until finally, Russ wrapped his arms around the dog and held him.

To Be Continued… in the morning… sorry.

Apologies for my delay in finishing. Between dozing off and hearing The Kid whinnying in her sleep from a room away, I had to call it. Here’s the rest of the story.

Soon Russ’s sobs calmed and he just sat holding Speedy. When he finally took a deep breath and pulled away from the dog, he looked down at the mutt and said, “you need a bath.”

The next day was spent cleaning and brushing the dog he didn’t want. The dog that saved him from a snake. The dog that waited patiently for acknowledgement and was scared of storms. The dog that accepted his role as protector. And Russ himself began to quietly accept his role as dog owner. Even if he wasn’t a dog person.

Soon it was fall, and Russ began to go on walks in the woods to forage for what he could before it became too cold, and before plants slept for the winter. Speedy would follow, though there were less snakes about. They were companions now, it was more of enjoying such other’s company than anything.

As they walked together through paths they’d traveled before, picking through the brambles and brush, Russ talked to Speedy, about all the things he and Kellie would be doing now. He’d taken to talking to the dog about his late wife. He’d told him about how she’d gotten cancer, and how it had been further along than they’d realized. She toughed it out for a while, but eventually she gave in to the doctors, and took the pain pills they’d offered. She didn’t suffer.

Once he’d gotten it all out, he’d felt comfortable talking to Speedy about all the good times they’d had, how she loved the cabin. And Speedy listened like he’d understood.

As they walked this day, Russ had nothing on his mind but the crisp air, and seeing what he could find. He didn’t hear the rustling of the leaves, the snapping of branches. He didn’t hear anything until Speedy stopped walking. And started growling.

Russ had never heard the dog growl before, bark, yes, at squirrels in the front yard. Rabbits in the bushes. But never growling. He looked at the growling dog beside him, not quite baring his teeth, then up in the direction Speedy’s nose was pointed.

He saw the movement, much larger than the dog, a black lump not too distant, lumbering in their direction. Black bears were common in the area, but rarely seen, as they stayed in the woods. Not many people lived in the woods. Not many people wandered around the woods.

Except Russ. And his now very tense dog.

And Black bears were about the only animal Russ was afraid of. He started to back slowly up, calling for Speedy. But Speedy did nothing but growl.

“Come on, boy.” He called the dog. “Just come back to the house.” If the bear didn’t see them, it couldn’t feel threatened and it would be fine, he thought to himself.

He grasped at Speedy, trying to pull him back, regretting never putting a collar on him. “Calm down, let’s go.” He kept his tone low and even to not startle either the dog or the bear. “Don’t start a fight you can’t win, buddy.”

The bear inched closer, finally looking up and sniffing the air. “Jesus that’s a big bear,” Russ said aloud. He toyed with the idea of grabbing Speedy by the scruff and dragging him.

The bear made a grunting nose and stood up on its hind legs, looking at them. It continued to sniff the air but made no move to advance.

Hackles raises, Speedy stepped forward and began barking loudly at the bear, growling between barks, and snapping the air. The bear made a woofing grumble in response to Speedy’s barking. It flopped back down ion all fours once again.

Speedy lunged in the bear’s direction, snapping and barking at it. the bear, instead of doing anything more aggressive, huffed at Speedy, shook its head as if you say, “Fine, I’ll leave!” Then turned around and lumbered off.

Speedy did not let down his guard until the bear could not be seen, and the sounds of it traversing the woods were distant. He then looked up to Russ, waiting for praise, with what could only be describable as a smile and his tongue hanging out.

“You’re an idiot.” Russ said bluntly. “But that bear wasn’t having any of your nonsense.” He scratched his protector behind the ears. “Come on. Let’s go home.” They turned back toward the cabin and walked in silence.

“You know, I never said you had to fight off bears.”


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BMB: YouTubers The Kid Watches

28 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in Non-Fiction, The Kid

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crash landing, crashdlanding, family, LogDotZip, Minecraft, non-fiction, The Kid, Tyler Pappas, YouTube

Day 28: In Which I Research

LogDotZip

Like any good, well-intentioned parent I told myself, before I had kids, that I would not let my child spend its time with its nose in a device.

And like most parents that was a bold faced lie. “No devices” is a fib we unwittingly tell ourselves because we want nothing but the best for our children. But then we ourselves spend all our time with our noses in a device. And guess what?

THEY LEARN FROM US. Children learn by seeing and hearing someone else do it. That’s one of the first ways humans learn. So they see us with a device and they want one too!

My child divides her (device) time between YouTube Kids and Roblox. I have her Roblox account set (I’m pretty sure) so she cannot communicate with strangers. I need to double check that.

But YouTube Kids is pretty well half decent filtered content. But as a grown adult person who has used and posted on The Tube, I have seen some things that can slip through the cracks.

So I decided I would “look into” some of her favorite YouTubers. My first victim—I uh mean subject is LogDotZip.

What’s The Kid Think?

Of course my child’s opinion of the YouTuber in question is important. Of course I could have just written down what she had to say. And of course it would have took less time. But why would I deny you the sound of my child’s sleepy voice? That’s all you get, internets. Her voice.

Who is ‘LogDotZip’?

Image “borrowed” from Tubefilter.com

Before getting into the deep research into who this feller is, let’s first state what I know. By side-eyeing The Kid’s device screen, I can gather that he is an expressive, chatty, Minecraft player. He has made her laugh a few times, and his videos are some of the few that she will either watch in their entirety or over again.

When you google “LogDotZip” the first things that come up are, of course, links to YouTube videos. The next thing that comes up is Google’s helpful “People Also Ask” feature. And the first thing right off the bat is his name. “Who is Tyler Pappas?”

Of course I knew his real name isn’t LogDotZip, which, by the way, google has informed me is his gamer tag, which he derived from “LordofGods” which comes from “Yu-Gi-Oh”. After he tweaked it so as to not offend anyone, and added .zip, it became LogDotZip.

To be perfectly frank, the first time I heard The Kid say the name I thought it was jibberish. Lucky for him he picked something super unique.

Mostly because he turned a fun time with some games into a business.

Tyler Pappas now owns what appears to be multiple companies, all because he became popular playing games on the Internet.

I also found an article from 2018 on Tubefilter.com, where he discussed starting out playing RuneScape at 14 years old. It took years for him to start playing Minecraft where he really developed a fan base.

The four year old article also talks about some plans to work with Microsoft (who own Minecraft) and the original creators of the game. This turned out to be his own game, which was released on MineCraft Marketplace, called Block Island. I can only assume my child doesn’t know about it, or else she would have said, “Mommy I wanna play that.”

But lets get to the real dirt shall we? What’s the fastest way to find out what you can about a perfect stranger? Social Media of course! And Mr Pappas has an Instagram!

I have learned several things scrolling through his instagram. First of all dude is in his 30s. I would have guesstimated him to be mid to late twenties at the most. That means half his life has been on YouTube in some form.

Second. He as a beautiful family, who he spends lots of time with. He posted an image from December 2021 where he met some fans. LogDotZip, which is the name of his company, hit 30 staff members that same year.

A quick glance at the only valid next social media site, Twitter, shows me that he is religious. As someone who is decidedly and wholly open about being absolutely not religious, I’m not mad. Or judging. From what I’ve seen he doesn’t seem to put any of it into his videos. But he does display it, not overly, in his social media presence. Which he has every right.

Okay, so I’ve found absolutely nothing to tell me to immediately go block this dude from my child’s YouTube Kid’s account. The next logical step is it *shudders* watch his videos.

The Viewing

While I enjoy playing Minecraft myself, I tend to not watch videos about it, and I also don’t typically watch videos that might be made for kids. That’s not to say that I don’t watch absolutely ridiculous stuff there either. But, it’s time to stop avoiding the high possibility that I will completely ruin the YT algorithm and search for LogDotZip.

The first video that comes up is one from four years ago.

This video is about the number on piece of advice one has for a newbie playing Minecraft. DON’T DIG STRAIGHT DOWN, and when to completely ignore it. To make this short and sweet, you should never dig straight down because you might land yourself right into a situation that, well, might kill ya. From lava to a ravine. This particular video has over 33,000,000 views. If this man made a dollar off each view that’d be over 8 million dollars a year. I don’t know how getting rich of YouTube works, clearly, but that’s a lot.

This post is not about the things you should and shouldn’t do in Minecraft (I mostly just like to build and craft things), it is about the creator of the video. And the first thing I must make note of is one of the things briefly mentioned by The Kid in my video. Tyler Pappas’s voice. Dude has a voice fit for voice work. He has a unique voice that makes watching the video interesting. But he doesn’t do a simple voice over, he does a picture-in-picture type of situation where he floats himself up in the corner as he plays on the screen.

His facial expressions and reactions when something’s not working or doesn’t go the way he wants it too are kinda funny too. That adds to the watchability. I think it adds to it especially for my kid because let’s just say, momma has a funny face, and The Kid likes funny faces.

This video is almost right at 15:00 minutes long, and there wasn’t a single boring moment, there was always something happening, or he was saying or doing something dunny. He describes everything he’s doing and instructing on how things work.

From my brief scrolling and watching of his YouTube page, he does nothing but Minecraft videos there, and those videos are mostly mods or other code related features, and often reviews and detailed descriptions of new updates to the game.

With over fifteen years on YouTube, and more than one channel, the dude is doing something right, and I’ve not encountered anything that could be considered negative at all something children shouldn’t encounter.

While I’m not entirely comfortable with how much device time, whether it be YouTube Kids, Roblox, or whatever my child has, I can with mostly confidence say that I’m not mad at her watching just about anything LogDotZip or Tyler Pappas himself puts out.


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BMB: Album Review: “The Wiser Moon” by Ap Harbor

27 Wednesday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in BMB, Non-Fiction

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album review, ap harbor, ap harbor music, apharbor, apharbormusic, crash landing, crashdlanding, facebook, instagram, music, non-fiction, YouTube

Day 27: In Which I Review an Album

Who is Ap Harbor?

Ap Harbor is musical group from Eastern Kentucky. Their Facebook page describes them as “whimsical and weird music from Kentucky.” Which I think is very accurate! They are a new updated “rebrand” of a former group called “The Woodsheep”. If you’ve been with me a minute you might know about them through another post. The rebrand is due to many factors, including but not limited to the Pandemic, life changes, and updating their sound.

Track Listing

  1. The Overthere Chair*
  2. Fiction
  3. The Wind That Blows Through Its Branches*
  4. The Mountain Wayfarers*
  5. Cycles*
  6. Hunting Hound
  7. Cranberry Lane*
  8. Ariel
  9. The Amygdala Goes “Auck, Auck, Auck!”*
  10. The Trumpeter*
  11. A Hook*
  12. The River Drane
  13. Don’t Burn That Bread (So Help Me God)*
  14. 10 Watt Moon*
  15. Winter in the Tire Stacks

The Album “The Wiser Moon” is a compilation of old and new. The old being rerecorded and updated versions of previously released original songs. These songs were released in different forms on other albums.

My Favorites

Fiction

I enjoy all the songs on the album. I should, considering I’ve been following along with Andrew Preston (The Ap in Ap Harbor) and all the iterations of his music career for a while now. But I think on this album my favorite is “Fiction”. One of the new tracks, written with his grandmother in mind (who might be his biggest fan) and an elementary incident with “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. The track includes audio of her, and not only does it help bring the story home, but her voice also reminds me of my own mom, and home. Watch the very clever video below.

Cranberry Lane

The first time, and every single time I hear this song in any form, my first is that it is a lullaby. It’s a children’s lullaby. The vocals are soft and pleasant, and the whistling adds to the peaceful relaxing feel of the track. Also, as a someone with a writer brain, I visualize “Cranberry World”. I have been tempted many times to sing this to The Kid when she’s falling asleep. In fact, The Kid also approves.

10 Watt Moon

It’s the visual for me. In this song is about bad men coming and stealing the moon, only to replace it with a lightbulb. Can you imagine waking up to the moon, whom we all recognize, being replaced with a 10-watt lightbulb? What would that light look like?

In Conclusion.

The vibe that this album gives me is indeed weird and whimsical. As someone who tends to listen to only the music on her iTunes, which rarely changes and has song’s I’ve had for literal decades, the unique feel that Ap Harbor provides on “The Wiser Moon” is not what I would have sought out. And had I not known Andrew previously I might never have encountered it (I am old and set in my ways after all). But that’s not to say I’m not glad to have enriched my playlist with this album.

When I listen to The Wiser Moon in its entirety, I see a mix of fantasy worlds, with a little The Wind in the Willows, a little fairytale, and with just a little bit of sea adventure. It’s a fun, curious little trip around a quirky world with interesting characters and sounds.

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BMB: Education Adjacent: Jean Piaget

26 Tuesday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in BMB, Education Adjacent, Non-Fiction

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crash landing, crashdlanding, eduation, Education Adjacent, jean piaget, non-fiction, piaget, psychology

And the Stages of Cognitive Development

Day26: In Which we discuss Educational Theories and Theorists

Welcome to Education Adjacent. I’m your host, Unqualified Professor Crystal. Today’s subject is Jean Piaget and his stages of cognitive development.

Who is Jean Piaget?

Jean piaget was a Swiss psychologist who worked in child development and cognitive theory. Born in August 9, 1896, and from an early age he was fascinated with natural sciences.

When he was a fifteen one of his former nannies’ apologized in a letter to his parents for lying about fighting off a kidnapper when he was just a baby. Piaget himself found it curious how he developed a memory of the non-existing incident.

He initially began studying the natural sciences, in the 1920s he began to work as a psychologist. Observing his children helped him develop is therories and studies.

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development is a theory that children move through four stages of cognitive development. Each stage is defined by age and distinct characteristics and abilities children display. These stages describe how and when children learn and develop mentally.

Sensorimotor Stage Birth to 2

This stage describes how children from birth to two years old learn through senses. Senses of taste, touch, hear, smell. You know how children look at something and the first thing they do is stick it in their mouth? Yeah that. If it tastes bad, they won’t put it back in their mouths.

Hey did you know that Nintendo Switch game cartridges are “bitter coated”. Why? Well, obviously so small children spit the thing out and don’t swallow it. Because of course those delicious looking small rectangular doodads are irresistible.

Another important characteristic of this stage is Object Permanence. This is defined as basically learning that just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Perfect example: Peek-A-Boo. Children have the reaction they do because they think you legit disappeared. But then, by magic, here you are again.

Pre-operational Stage Ages 2-7

This is the stage where children between the ages of two and seven begin language development and imaginative play, like using symbols or objects to represent other objects. They also cannot understand concrete concepts at this stage.

One important thing to note is that children at this stage can’t really see from someone else’s perspective. Literally. He did a study called “Three Mountain Task” where children were shown a three-dimensional model of mountains. Then they were shown pictures of different views of said mountain and asked to pick out what they saw. They were then asked what someone would see from a different position and were asked to pick that image out of the selection. Children in the Pre-Operational Stage picked out the same image they saw.

There is some controversy with this particular stage, as most people in the field are bothered that this stage mostly consists of things that children cannot do. There’s an argument made that says that children failed at the Three Mountain Task because they just don’t understand.

Concrete Operational Stage Ages 7-11

In this stage children begin to understand concrete and logical thought but still have difficulties understanding abstract and critical thinking.

For example, while kids can’t really think in an abstract way, they can understand that, even if something changes shape or changes in some way it’s still the same object, and it still exists. Like if you take a piece of paper and you crumple it up into a ball, in the end it’s still a piece of paper, it’s just been, well, roughed up a bit.

They can also begin to understand that something can be more than one kind of thing. Like “their dog is a Labrador, and a Labrador is a dog, and dogs can be Labradors”. Or in the case of my kid, is just beginning to understand that a person is a human, and a human is a person, and she is a kid but also a human is a person. Sometimes I have to explain it to her, but it’s also 11:17pm and I have to explain it to myself.

Another key characteristic is conservation. The old water question, if you take the same amount of water and pour it into a short round glass and into a tall skinny glass, they both still have the same amount of water, but it looks otherwise. Kids in the Pre-operational stage don’t understand it’s the same amount, but kids in Concrete Operational stage understand.

Formal Operational Stage Ages 12-Adulthood

By twelve kids begin to get better at doing all the kinds of thinking. They can use logic and understand that other people have different views. Thinking in abstract ways is developed during this stage.

In one study Piaget asked kids, “Where would you put a third eye if you had one.” Younger kids not in this stage or in the early years of the stage said in the center of their foreheads. But children in the Formal Operational stage said they’d do things like put it in the palm of their hand so they could look around corners.

Jean Piaget and Early Childhood Education

Piaget’s influence on Early Childhood Education can be seen as improving the understanding of what stage a child is at and what they may and may not be capable of doing. Piaget’s studies and findings in the field of psychology are much deeper and more informative that what I have provided here.

It isn’t difficult to find information on him and his work on the internet and I have tried to link what sources I’ve used throughout this post. I plan to look into more of Piaget, as well as other theories and theorists.

What do you know about Piaget that I’ve not listed here? Have you studied education or psychology and know more? I mean, probably. It’s been over a decade since I’ve studied education and learned all of this, so you might have a fresher take! If you do, I’ve love to hear it!


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BMB: The Prophecy

26 Tuesday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in BMB, Pretend Fantasy Novel

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crash landing, crashdlanding, non-fiction, PFN, Pretend Fantasy Novel, prophecy, writing

Day 25: In Which I Prophesize

How’s that now?

In case you didn’t know, over on my Facebook Group, I’ve been brewing something called “Pretend Fantasy Novel”. It is a novel that started as a just for fun poll, that turned into many polls filling in some details of an actual novel. It’s not even got an actual title yet (that’s all on me though).

But that’s not important. The people need some love, and they’ve been without for many moons. That’s, the group members, by the way. I thought I would satiate their thirst for fantasy fiction by providing a very important detail. The basis for the whole plot–sorta–of the PFN. The Prophecy.

Libram Provindetia

Of course, they’d pick the hardest one to spell. The Libram Provindetia is an important (if not forgotten) book of prophecy and prediction found deep in a sanctuary of scholars (I am literally making this up as I go). A man named Arles, whom you shall meet, rediscovers the book. Hopefully it isn’t too late.

The Prophecy, 1 says, not precisely, that

The Prophecy says: The end of times shall be nigh with the dying of the lambs, the rotting of fruit upon the vine, and the spoiling of water in pots.

Unless the Shards of Isadora are collected, and returned to the Tomb of the Lost, before the final day of harvest, the wind shall begin to burn, the earth shall begin to quake, until mountains fall.

I’m gonna be honest

I legit fell asleep it’s my computer in my lap, iPad next to me no phone laying on my chest.

There’s going to be more to The Prophecy. I’ll also soon have a page where you’ll be able to find all things “Pretend Fantasy Novel!”

Stays tuned.

Also I have a podcast now?


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BMB: The Plan

24 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in BMB, Non-Fiction

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BMB, crash landing, crashdlanding, non-fiction

Day 24: In which I grasp at straws for what to post today.

The Plan for the rest of BMB

  • Day 25: Pretend Fantasy Novel: The Prophecy (I will be sharing the prophecy that will be part of the Pretend Fantasy Novel. If you want to know more about that, check out this old not-to-date-post).
  • Day 26: Education Adjacent: Jean Piaget
  • Day 27: “The Wiser Moon” – AP Harbor Album Review.
  • Day 28: “YouTuber’s My Kid Watches: LogDotZip
  • Day 29: “Randomized Fiction” Gonna spin some wheels again, baby! (Last Randomized Fiction)
  • Day 30: (open)
  • Day 31: (open but might throw a party lol)

Things I’m thinking I’ll Make permanent features

Randomized Fiction: I’ll keep this one around, maybe. I think it’s fun and interesting. I might, like do it more than a day or two in advance. But we all know how I roll.

“Youtubers My Kid Watches“: Mostly because The Kid watches A LOT of YouTube. And because I already have the next one in mind.

Education Adjacent: Just because I have been thinking about doing a similar concept for a while now, and think it’ll be interesting to revisit my college days. Don’t go that far, I was a boring college kid.

Possible Other Ideas

  • Crystal’s Dumb Ideas: I have at least one draft post on this topic, and I have had a LOT of dumb ideas. Of course, my financial advisor and business partner, as well as my general council (by this I mean my husband, he is all those things) has on every occasion advised me NOT to do these things.
  • Fiction Friday: By no means a new concept, but one I’d like to implement. Since I am trying my best to get as much use out of this website as possible until I have to decide whether or not to renew. Financially it’s not looking good. FF will include Randomized Fiction posts, among others. Some audience participation might be involved. That would happen with the help of my facebook group, CrashdLanding Site.
  • Crystal Tries: Okay technically this will fall under the “dumb ideas” heading but its something I’ve thought about for a while and has great potential. But doesn’t everything?

In Conclusion

I’m sure anyone who has been consistently reading this blog has noticed that most of the time I am LITERALLY WINGING IT with all these posts. That is the only thing that is consistent about me is the fact that I’m winging it. Like with life. I’m not sure what the goal has been with this whole thing, but maybe I’ll figure it out in a week.


PS Do y’all like this image better or, like, me just typing out my closing? I know you won’t let me know but I wanted to ask.

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