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Vampire Selfies

Craptastic recollections from an observant overthinker

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Work freaks24 Opinions22 Drugs & drink10 Personal shitshows10 Life in other cities9 Finances8 Wimminfolk8 School days7 Travel stories7 Bicycling6

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Showing posts with the label Travel stories

Posts

That one fun Xmas I spent emptying deceased Pop's AZ condo

on December 05, 2025

Finances Travel stories

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1st Grateful Dead concert = LSD freakout ending in restraints

on October 31, 2025

Drugs & drink Travel stories

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In downtown Chicago, pay attention which train you board

on October 20, 2025

Race & religion Travel stories

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My first and last sea cruise.

on August 25, 2025

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7 days of faux bros at Palm Desert bicycle training camp

on June 17, 2025

Bicycling Travel stories

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Being flown to bizarro job interviews

on April 05, 2025

Travel stories Work freaks

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My first and last sea cruise.

Approaching Vancouver Dateline: 2018. One of the besties I grew up with, practically at his house, is a middle school science teacher. Summers off. He goes on sea cruises during the summer, he digs them. The thought of them made me recoil, which I did each winter when he invited me to join him, sharing a cabin, splitting the costs. Never thought of them otherwise, they seemed baffling. Except. He has a serious on again / off again illness. Currently in remission. Ergo, when he asked me again the winter of 2017, I reconsidered. He said there are two primary options: Caribbean or Alaskan. Departs Miami or Alaska. Big difference. I loathe humid heat ergo I started thinking about Alaska option. Never been to Alaska. Have you? Started to seem more appealing. Heads were nodded, tickets were purchased, the $200 wifi access pass was purchased, and so in June 2018 we flew separately to Anchorage. Me from west, he from midwest and met up at baggage claim. I recall he had been i...

That one time I dated Stevie Nicks bestie

Dateline: 2010. So I met Victoria via some dating app & we hit it off. First date was on 'eat street' on Nicollet Ave in Mpls, aka restaurant row. Very friendly, smiley, easy to chat with. Not just a music fan but she worked in the biz. At that time she worked at mid-size concerts backstage as part of the team cooking for the touring band & crew. She would show me the 'riders' she was working on, i.e., doing the shopping a priori. Riders are what a band's management provides to the promotor, basically their list of demands for various treats & sundries. The ones I saw made me say 'sweet jebus that's a lot of booze for one night.' But hey: fringe benefit. She gave me backstage passes for several shows, meaning I could go find an empty seat and take in the gig. I saw The Chieftains, Mark Knopfler, a Jimi Hendrix tribute with several guitarists. I would meet her at a precise time at the unmarked stage door and she would let me in and give me a p...

That one fun Xmas I spent emptying deceased Pop's AZ condo

Dateline: 2017, Xmas. Pops was a 'snowbird' ergo spent winters at his Scottsdale, AZ (next to Phoenix) condo. I visited him there ever Xmas week, 18 years in a row. The 19th he wasn't there. I had a tradition of always flying there on Xmas or Xmas eve. It's easy to fly then, not crowded. Security just waves people through without checking. When they're not napping. Planeloads of Jews high fiving over the cheap flights. It's a good gig. The population of Scottsdale swells in winter. I would scan license plates at shopping malls: MN, WI, MI, IA, IL etc. Every day is 75 & sunshine, hard to resist that alternative to living like an animal back home. Pops had a ground floor condo in a collection of 4-plexes. For those of you who know the area: Miller & McDowell. On the greenbelt. The cheap end of Scottsdale. Anyhoots. He had died (mostly) unexpectedly 2 months earlier. I was the estate executor. He left me with a stupefying amount of financial secr...

Francis McGillicuddy

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