Hello, Missing Persons…
Thank you, thank you all. I could not and would not be me today if not for you. You the fantabulous ravishing you, choosing to seek and weather the avalanche of rhetoric from the cheesy likes of me, me your emotional lead in this life-helping-hand off-Broadway gameshow. Thank you for supporting me and thus, supporting us all.
I would like to share a pet peeve, oh wait no, I would not call it a pet peeve but rather, hum, oh bother, think-think-think, me thinks I would like to name it a slight annoyance, yes, a slight annoyance giving me a minor ouchie-ouchie aching inside my bird brain. Although Jiminy Cricket truth be clear, upcoming is both a slight judgmental rant alongside a slight apology.
Some of you are confuzzled, unable to text me and my technology appears broken. Sorry. Since the end of June, I have mostly been offline. Although I exist to help, I sure as hell fuckballs cannot help anyone when I am cloistered in a cave for months sans cell service, no internet, hours from an airport, missing a mailbox, and barely an old-school archaic land line telephone I can properly operate.
SLIGHT JUDGMENTAL RANT
Time after time since the big old internet began, I scratch my head slightly wondering what happened when long lapses occur on websites and blogs and podcasts and such. Where did the missing person get carried off to? The people who once solicited us to subscribe, read and listen intently for the value and message within, and please help a sister / brother out and help spread the word, aka please do free marketing for my shit pretty please. People who once supremely on top of the engagement dynamic across their multitude of social platforms, now fallen off the edge of the map. No blog for months or years, old out of date information, stale content in general, irrelevant mumbo-jumbo and I just otherwise roll my eyes and un-favorite them from my Google master playbook. Hey, whoa, no judging, if they gave up on me, why cannot I return the anti-favor?
But what happened anyway? Where did they go? Is their kid in the hospital sick? Is one of their parents dying of cancer and currently residing in their house as a hospice patient? Did they lose their primary revenue stream that made their online side-hustle effort even possible?
Mostly, the world will never know, nor do we seem to care.
Hello, Missing Persons, “Yes I would like to report a absent podcast show host, might you know where I can find them or is your suggestion I just unfollow them now?”
Guilty. That is me, Mister Absent from my social stuff, my blog, and my podcast. But why? Please linger longer and see below, sorry if you have to scroll.
SLIGHT APOLOGY
I am sorry for my absence, especially on the podcast. Maybe you caught this, maybe not but I intentionally stepped out on all my outward communication December 10, 2020. I gave away my pets, said goodbye to my kids two weeks before the holidays, put my life on hold, and drove away from home in the Midwest bound for Jackson, Wyoming. Electing to decamp everything I was working on and assume the full-time 24/7 role of caregiver for my Uncle Ralph, The Admiral, my dad’s big brother, the last person in our Bird family tree older than 60. The Admiral had a stroke and was unable to care for himself.
While taking care of my Uncle Ralph and his dog Sis in Jackson, I got hurt in a freak household accident. On Wednesday April 7th this year, I suffered my 30th-something concussion and needed to leave The Admiral. My head injuries are mostly from my seventeen years of racing mountainbikes. Nowadays even a moderate bump can leave me with a crippling concussion for months. My last noticeable concussion mid-year 2019 did not clear up until eight months later. Now I am almost at the four month recovery mark with a ways to go.
On February 1, 2020, I began writing a book but I was able to maintain the social channels and the website and the podcast while also writing. But when I left for Jackson, my writing stopped. Since now being home, the head injury recovery has been hard. For April and May after the injury, I carried around a mostly-constant migraine and carried puke bags with me wherever I went. Still not a day goes by without at least a searing headache but I have only had three migraines in the last two weeks, I am improving. Today I spent half the day in bed, wishing I had big wooden clamps I could tighten on my skull to help with the pain while laying down.
I retreated to my cabin in Seeley Wisconsin at the end of June, attempting to escape the noise, the light, and screen time of my home in Madison. My focus has been writing and my neurocognitive recovery. At my BirdHouseNorth cabin I have no internet, no tv, no cell service, hence the off the technology grid status. I also need to write so for the last 35 days I have been here, I have averaged 9.75 hours of writing per day. Although most days I need to turn everything off for a while and rest, the blessing in disguise is I am only sleeping several hours per night, so I am able to write almost ten hours a day.
Two new podcast episodes are lined up, one is already recorded, so I will get those up in September. For the remainder of August I am trying to hammer on the book and avoid the hammering on my brain. Sorry I did not explain all of this earlier but thanks for hanging in there.
Miss you and love you all.
Roger Ray.
