Penance

by | Jan 4, 2023 | Musings | 175 comments

To leave this land,

to travel south, to escape the green,

the atmosphere of depression,

and the burden of survival,

 

Long and straight,

black asphalt lines,

they mesmerise and dizzy,

through fields of white,

 

as fields turn to hills,

and the dark becomes desolate,

light canyons of blue and green,

envelope my senses,

I am headed west,

 

For reasons yet clear,

I seek the land of my birth,

a wasteland true,

yet I must be warm,

in the shadows of the ocean sea,

 

I climb the divide,

into basin and range,

I taste the mesa, the mountain,

and virga in the distance,

and the desert smells of youth,

 

the colored cliffs,

slot canyons of cottonwood,

ancient trees frozen in time,

the synclines and folded blocks,

this dust covered sandscape,

 

High atop the last high peak,

looking toward the valley of the great river,

the goal is now in sight,

hell lay before me,

but there is no return,

 

passing by or near the old place,

bad dreams and death left behind,

to a new land and sunshine,

to ply the dark trade,

yet live in the light,

 

to cross the desert majestic and bleak,

to finish by an ocean bay,

to meet old friends,

to finish an adventure,

to begin anew.

 

About The Author

Yusef drives a Kia

Yusef drives a Kia

Punctually illiterate But never late

175 Comments

  1. CPRM

    Wednesday night zoom link. People usually start wandering in around 7PM central. This is the one where it might ask you to log in.

  2. Shpip

    to a new land and sunshine,

    to ply the dark trade,

    I knew that HVAC was beyond my ken, but I didn’t know it was that mysterious.

  3. CPRM

    Did you go back to Cali or is this just an exercise of the imagination?

    • R.J.

      I was wondering the same.

      • Chafed

        That’s exactly what I was hoping for.

      • Lackadaisical

        Sounded great until the ‘singer’ started.

        Pour one out for my ears boys.

      • rhywun

        Heh it is an acquired taste. I like that band.

      • Lackadaisical

        Is there an instrumental version?

    • pistoffnick

      Going back to Cali

      Reminds me of a girl I knew named Callie…

      /I’ll be in my bunk

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        Yes, we had a girl in our circle of friends in HS nick named The Virgin Callie. Very much a Q ship, that one.

      • Penguin

        I went to FSU. One of the dorms was Sallie Hall. A couple girls I knew bunked there first year. They once walked home, somewhat inebriated, singing/rapping “We’re goin’ back to Sallie, to Sallie, to Sallie, we’re goin’ back to Sallie. Goin’ back to Sallie – I don’t think so.

  4. Fourscore

    I hope you can find what you are looking for, Yusef. Sometimes it’s the journey, sometimes the destination.

    There are some that say you can never go home, others say it’s the home that has changed.

    Maybe it’s neither or maybe it’s both. HH won’t be the same without you, I think all the attending Glibs would agree

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      I think that it is always the journey.

      The destination is common to us all.

    • Tundra

      Even the ones zooming in.

  5. DEG

    I like it.

  6. Ownbestenemy

    I second DEG. I like this.

    • rhywun

      #metoo

      This is really good.

      • R C Dean

        Me three.

      • R.J.

        Yes. This is excellent.

      • hayeksplosives

        Yeah, probably my fave so far.

    • rhywun

      👍Didn’t know this one

      • Ownbestenemy

        Supposedly written by some 15 year old way back when that died in a car accident. Well written song

  7. Brochettaward

    So…Yusef is going to be asking for hand-outs again soon, right?

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      Does it matter? He have a gun at your head, does he?

    • Ownbestenemy

      And that is the asshole we all have been waiting for.

      • Brochettaward

        Yusef strikes me as a scammer.

        There. I said it. I guarantee I’m not alone around here, even if I’m in the minority for thinking it let alone saying it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I mean he posted a fucking poem and your thought was that? Ya a dick. What if he is? The owners of this site don’t make you donate.

        Maybe your mother should have slapped you when you were young to know to keep your mouth shut if you don’t have anything nice to say.

      • Brochettaward

        I’m being called mean. There’s no real refutation of what I said about his character. The guy trolled for sympathy (to the point where I strongly suspect he lied about shit happening to him – my favorite was when he claimed he passed out in his kitchen and hit his head like 20 minutes after his last post) and money in the past. People are speculating he’s moving again. I’m just calling a spade a spade.

        Maybe someone who was so inclined to as give him money won’t now. Maybe ten people who wouldn’t have given him a dime now will to spite me. Don’t know or care. Just voicing my opinion. None of you have ever been shy about doing the same to me, to include Yusef. Don’t hear me crying.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Your screed says more about you than it does about him.

      • Brochettaward

        Please, do tell. What does it say about me?

        There are people who have had legitimate issues who have come here for help. Whether it was venting, seeking advice, or on a few rare occasions, money. I’ve given money to people who have asked for it on this site because I believe they needed it.

        My screed is my honest opinion, and I’d wager strongly I’m more right than wrong. But if he comes asking again, you are more than free to give him your money.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I’ve changed my mind. You are definitely the victim here.

      • Brochettaward

        What in anything I’ve posted has to do with me being a victim?

      • The Hyperbole

        Time and place, Assbag, time and place.

      • Brochettaward

        What is the time and place to call Yusef a scammer? When he posts his next GoFundMe?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Good Lord you need Jesus

      • Brochettaward

        So…yea, if I had said this in any context, I’d be getting criticized. So it really has nothing to do with time and place.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Whereas you only give us your funny paper.

      • Chafed

        And in the middle of negotiations
        You break down

      • Ownbestenemy

        Thing is everyone that may be speculating are doing so in private. They express that speculation by either not commenting or not donating if it comes to that.

        You though…climbed right on that horse sniffing the air up there as the arbiter and gatekeeper of this community’s goodness and charity.

        No one is stopping you from making the comments, speak away. Just deserves to he countered that you are an asshole.

      • Brochettaward

        I in no way, shape, or form control what anyone around here does with their money. If Yusef wants to ask again, and the people who actually run this site allow it, that’s none of my business. I don’t see how me expressing my honest opinion on the situation and saying the quiet part of what a lot of people already think out loud could lead anyone to believe that I in someway see myself as a gatekeeper here.

        I’m fine being called an asshole. I don’t really see anyone really arguing with what I said about the guy, though. It’s just you shouldn’t say that…as if it is somehow worse than somebody potentially taking advantage of the charity and good nature of others.

        I could be wrong about Yusef, but I don’t think I am. If I had strong doubts, though, I wouldn’t be saying it.

      • rhywun

        what a lot of people already think

        I wish I had those powers of mind-reading.

      • Brochettaward

        Even if only a few people think it, it wouldn’t make it any less true.

        Regardless, posted what I did fully well aware I’d be attacked. Being artificially nice or fake polite isn’t in my nature.

      • Negroni Please

        As a standard bootstrapping ancap I’m the kind of person that is more likely to suicide than ask for help. That’s not a good thing. That’s not a point of pride. It’s pathological damage. If people do ask for help more power to them. You can believe or not believe. You can help or not help. But do you really need to impugn their motives and attempt to poison the well before someone even asks for help in the first place?

      • Brochettaward

        If I had strong doubts about what I was saying, I wouldn’t express them for the reasons you outlined. I hardly want to be the reason someone who needs help badly doesn’t ask, whether it be emotional support or anything else. Whatever doubt I have that I could be wrong, I have even *less* when it comes to whether anything I’d post on the subject would actually stop Yusef from asking again.

        There isn’t any other poster on here I’d say this about.

        I was here every night when Yusef was having his initial round of troubles (here for the second go around, too). So I have a fairly strong conviction here when it comes to the guy and I have kept my mouth shut about it for a long while.

      • Brochettaward

        I’m also well aware that my opinion doesn’t count for shit to plenty of people around here. But I do *know* that I am not the only sole individual on this site who feels that way about him.

    • Chafed

      I’m not familiar with the guy who created it, but that was great.

  8. DrOtto

    Re: fuel injection from the dead thread – while Bendix fuel injection was first introduced on AMCs and Chryslers in the 50s, it was unreliable. Cadillac was successfully using Bendix fuel injection beginning with the 1976 Seville, which was a modern style 8 injector (1 per cylinder) set up similar to what is still in use today on many vehicles.The Bendix injection would eventually be bought by and improved upon by Bosch. Mercedes was still using mechanical injection in the mid 70’s.

    • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

      Bosch had an EFI in ’67, the D-Jectronic, and Mercedes jumped on it for the big SEL models. Their diesels, such as the 200 and 220, still used mechanical.

      • DrOtto

        Having looked deeper, you are correct. The system used on my old Seville was a Bosch/Bendix I guess (I only ever remember seeing the Bendix name on the components). My dad has a ’75 Mercedes SL and while that is mechanical fuel injection, I guess the bigger cars were electronic FI.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I’m just fine guys, thanks for asking.
        I have been traveling.

    • tripacer

      Some of our planes have Bendix injection. I wonder how similar it is to the car version. Ours is just a pump continuously pumping gas directly into the intake, all the time. The amount of gas is regulated by the aptly named fuel-air control, which is mechanically controlled by the pilot’s power (throttle) and mixture levers, which I think are the only moving parts.

  9. Tundra

    Good luck, Yusef.

    • Lackadaisical

      18 months for the judge to make a ruling on this? Something this incredibly minor as a dude at most what, trespassing and ‘resisting arrest’?

      What a bullshit legal system we have.

  10. Yusef drives a Kia

    BTW, I don’t use Go Fund Me anymore,

    • Shpip

      Well, that’s neither here nor there.

      I kinda wish you still had your Etsy open, because I wanted to commission a piece from you. But I can understand why you paused it.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Look me up through TPTB, I still do commision work

  11. robodruid

    Good Morning:

    Going to California?

    • hayeksplosives

      That zeppelin song was relentlessly in my head yesterday! Finally had to dial it up just to get that odd little fixation placated.

      I don’t know why, but when a song is stuck in my head, playing a hood recording is the only cure, keep nd of counterintuitive.

    • Lackadaisical

      with and aching in his heart.

    • robodruid

      Morning indeed.

      • UnCivilServant

        I hate uncertainty, but that’s all I’m getting these days.

  12. Trigger Hippie

    Oh, look. The abrasive, abusive, obnoxious cunte is being an abrasive, abusive, obnoxious cunte again.

    There’s a big fucking surprise.

    • Lackadaisical

      Its a great way to practice your stoicism.

      It is nothing you can change, and that you obviously are expecting. 🙂

  13. Sean

    ( ಠ‿<)
    Sup Glibs?

    • Lackadaisical

      I dunno, who proposes so publicly anyway? Seems stupid unless it is just a formality.

    • hayeksplosives

      That’s awesome.

  14. Brochettaward

    I do want to actually apologize for saying what I said. It’s one of those things I should have kept to myself. People around here are more than capable of making up their own minds and judging things for themselves. I do not want to be a reason or the reason anyone does not ask for help when or if they need it. This place is a great little community and seeing people chip in and help each other out in time’s of need warms the cockles of my heart on occasion.

    Shouldn’t have said it. Bottom line.

    • Brochettaward

      And good luck to Yusef whatever is going on with him.

      • Sean

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Fuck off

      • Brochettaward

        That is typically my attitude…

        I done did wrong so I’ll own it.

      • Lackadaisical

        Now this is really amusing.

      • Lackadaisical

        Sidebar:

        ‘Is it racist to like big butts?’

        Black dudes hardest hit?

      • Lackadaisical

        “White culture and fashion have both proved relentlessly adept at cherry-picking throughout the centuries, finding a way to poach the parts of other people’s culture, histories, and bodies that suit them and leave behind the rest.”

        *eye twitching*

        “Ironically, the author of this book is herself a white woman with a large backside, a fact of which she periodically reminds the reader.”

        Of course. More proof that white women are the worst. /s

      • Lackadaisical

        Whatever happened to our Derpetologist? I need someone else to do the deep dives like this and give reports on the progs in the mist.

      • Penguin

        Hey Kat, show dat ass.

        Too soon?

      • Lackadaisical

        She’s pretty cute. And to be clear, she is reviewing someone else’s book here.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        more like an entry into the crowded genre of works which serve to stoke the white liberal guilt of the NPR tote bag set

        It’s so fashionable to be self-loathing.

      • Lackadaisical

        Yup.

        I fucking hate those people. They’re disgusting, particularly because they use their ‘self loathing’ to hold down their ideological enemies, and particularly those who grew up poorer than them, and use their racism to disguise it. Middle and lower-class white attitudes are really what they hate, all while they sniff their own farts.

      • PieInTheSky

        It is only racist if you lie about it

    • robodruid

      Good on you for apologizing.

    • hayeksplosives

      Hard to discuss this topic without snickering. I mean, who doesn’t want dryer balls?

      My (retired) husband does the laundry at the ‘Splosives household. He is a big believer in the wool dryer balls. I am happy with the outcome, so I give a thumbs up 👍.

      Also, the cats love it when they find a dryer ball that made its way to the floor. The balls we have are bigger than a tennis ball, maybe smaller or equal to a baseball in diameter. They have an uncanny talent for wriggling into the sleeves of my blouses/dresses so that I have to remove them and put them back in the dryer when I’m hanging ip my dried clothes.

      Just say Yes to drier, I mean dryer, balls.

      • Sean

        😉

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, Mrs. Dean uses the wool dryer balls also. Not sure exactly what they do, but I’m afraid to not use them.

    • Lackadaisical

      Absolutely.

      I bought a new dryer ~6 months ago and it doesn’t work without them. Older models may not need them, but would probably be more efficient.

    • Gender Traitor

      Because the logo of our old band featured a hedgehog, we’ve been gifted with pretty much every form of hedgehog “doll” or figurine ever made. Thus my sister gave us a set of hedgehog dryer balls. I’ve been nervous about using them though – their “spines” seem pretty pointy, even for plastic, and I fear they would snag on the clothes.

    • PieInTheSky

      I still dont have a dryer and am unsure of what to do

    • Lackadaisical

      I don’t even know how to play.

      • UnCivilServant

        You give me some money and I tell you ‘better luck next time’.

    • PieInTheSky

      how the hell did it get so big again? In Romania it takes months to get to a couple of mill

      • UnCivilServant

        Romania only has about as many people as the State of New York. Unless you have a ultinational lottery, there are a lot more people pumping money into the US lotteries.

      • hayeksplosives

        Excellent documentary. Hit close to home for me as a former employee of United Defense.

    • Rat on a train

      Getting rid of old toys so they can justify buying new ones?

      • hayeksplosives

        You should see how many MRAPS we have tooling around the NNSS. Actually, that’s a pretty good use for them.

        Send ‘em over here! We even have a racetrack.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        ^This. Give away old stuff that’ll have to be replaced with new which guarantees fresh fat contracts in various congressional districts. Those armored coffins will be chewed up in short order over there and will mean very little either tactically or strategically.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I hope CNN has a supply contract with Kleenex, dude cries more than a drunken John Boehner after watching *insert sad movie here*.

      • Lackadaisical

        True facts.

        What is with all these low-T boomers? (I guess Kinzinger is one of those Gen Xers actually?)

      • Penguin

        I have it on good authority we’ll sell him to any other gen for a low, low price.

      • Rat on a train

        A late round draft pick? A case of beer? A coupon for half off an appetizer?

      • Lackadaisical

        They’d have to give the draft picks for someone else to take him.

    • rhywun

      Get. Out!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      *myshockedface*

  15. hayeksplosives

    I recently downloaded a new audiobook for my daily commute. I like the way it’s written, I like the subject (East European history) but the narrator is terrible!!! He reads every line like it’s a surprise. The audio “director” must have told him to sound animated, but this is ridiculous.

    A huge contrast to the high quality narration to which I’ve become accustomed.

    Maybe they think this appeals to teens or younger? I recall growing up listening to George Page (swoon-inducing voice) narrate Nature on PBS. I loved it and it encouraged me to read more on topics I found interesting (helped thst I had a mom who’d take me to the library weekly).

    Then somewhere along the way, in the 80s, producers decided that to reach kids and teens, they needed to dumb down the science content and add “entertainment”. We knew we were being talked down to. What a shit idea.

    Kind of like the NFL coverage always including a female in a cocktail gown anchoring the pregame stuff, and a female sideline reporter telling us all the human interest shit. They think that will win the women’s viewership, but I’m telling you, women who already love to watch football are turned off by the idiotic pandering.

    • UnCivilServant

      Some people are chasing the mythical ‘wider audience’, some people are just bad at their jobs.

    • Rat on a train

      Sports should go back to 2 hosts: play-by-play and color commentator. No sideline reporters. No interviews during the game. Save the crap for separate sports talk shows.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      ‘80s: The King Cobra hunts other snakes and is, like, a totally tubular badass.
      -“The Amazing World of Ophiology” hosted by Moon Unit Zappa

      • Penguin

        Referencing this, SW?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I wish but no, it’s just that I think of the younger Zappas when I think of the early ‘80s Valley Girl slang.

    • Gender Traitor

      I wish I could listen to audiobooks during my ~30-minute commute, but the traffic is such that it requires my undivided attention, at least by the time I get on the interstate. At that point, even the local news (and traffic report!) radio station gets turned off. As for the reader on such books, a bad narrator would drive me crazy. I borrowed one of Mark Steyn’s books from the local library in audio format and was terribly disappointed that he wasn’t reading it himself. 😞

    • Lackadaisical

      My son is a huge fan of nature documentaries (fungii!) but I have to supply a ton of the commentary because so few of his questions are answered in the series.

      • Lackadaisical

        In the end it may be easier to just take a walk outside…

        It is a joy to have such a curious child, keeps the noggin’ joggin’.

      • UnCivilServant

        Why?
        Why?
        Why?
        Why?
        Why?

        Too much time with a child and I know why the Athenians decided to spike Socrates’ drink.

      • Rat on a train

        The hell of the 5 Whys.

      • UnCivilServant

        Why would you pick agile?
        Why wasn’t the manager fired?
        Why isn’t the scrum master crucified on the whiteboard?
        Why are we behind schedule?
        Why does nothing get done?

      • Lackadaisical

        One time I got down to the level of subatomic particle physics that I didn’t understand anymore.

        He still kept asking ‘why?’.

        Q.Q

      • UnCivilServant

        “Tell you what – figure that one out and we’ll get you a nobel prize.”

      • Rat on a train

        Turn it around: “Why do you want to know? …”

  16. Gender Traitor

    Good morning Stinky, Roat, hayek, Sean, ‘bodru, TH, and U!

    FINALLY got this week’s payroll finalized late yesterday afternoon after checking and correcting some deductions that were changed for this calendar year. Now all I have to do is enter everyone’s new pay rates for the year. And check to see if time off is being credited correctly. And maybe calculate semi-annual incentives for next pay. And work on our annual 401(k) contribution… 😳

    Hell Month proceeds apace.

      • Gender Traitor

        Thanks, ‘patzie, and good morning! I gotta admit, though – at some points in the day I feel pretty vincible.

      • UnCivilServant

        It could be worse, you could feel like the tutorial opponant.

      • Gender Traitor

        Oh, lordy – you just reminded me. If I get assigned useless online training modules that are due by month end, I may finally lose it.

      • Lackadaisical

        Tell them you need special dispensation due to the nature of your work duties.

        Strongly hint that their pay may be affected if they refuse.

      • Gender Traitor

        I like the way you think. 🙂

      • Lackadaisical

        😀

      • rhywun

        I’m overdue on like three of ’em but so is my boss so I’m not too concerned.

      • UnCivilServant

        Our system automatically reports out who hasn’t taken the mandated training and the managers get up in arms.

        Thankfully, I never have to go past the ‘gentle reminder’ stage with my team. They’re stupid, but it’s technically part of our job to make sure the boxes are checked off. We don’t actually have to pay attention, just get to the emd.

    • Lackadaisical

      It always surprises me that all these functions aren’t essentially automated.

      No offense intended, it just seems like a function that would be easy to automatically calculate. I know what to expect every pay period in my check. I can still of course see the benefit of a set of human eyes on it, to avoid errors.

      • UnCivilServant

        *laughs in PeopleSoft*

        When you roll up all of the rules and the approval workflows your program is gargantuan.

      • Grosspatzer

        Fuck PeopleSoft. That is all.

      • UnCivilServant

        I see you two have met.

      • Gender Traitor

        The deductions in question are ones we allow employees to set for the calendar year – Health Savings Account contributions and charitable donations that allow them to participate in a “Casual for a Cause” program and wear jeans at work (with a corporate logo shirt.) The main issue with the time off is that we’re making changes this year – increasing the rate of accrual and the “cap” at which you stop accruing – to make up for dropping the COVID-only “Emergency PTO.” (Senior management finally decided “enough already!”)

      • Lackadaisical

        Again, it just *seems* like this would be 2-3 spots where you’d change a variable to get the right result. (I am probably falling into the less you know, the easier it seems trap here)

        Also, where are my W-2’s? The year is done. 🙂

        I have one last thing, since we’re on the topic. Have any of you worked at a place that made the HSA/Healthcare/Etc. elections start/end at a time other than Jan 1st? It makes your personal taxes and calculating your contributions a nightmare. Fucking idiots.

        *Me starting my new job partway into the ‘year’*

        ‘So there are 26 pay periods a year, right?’

        ‘well yeah, but we start on 10/1’

        ‘but that isn’t how the IRS sees it’

        ‘… also we only make deductions 24 times a year’

        *head asplode*

    • Gustave Lytton

      Good morning GT!

      Time to take a nap before heading back to work. “Should only take an hour at most, then I’ll be home..” Five hours later…

      • Gender Traitor

        Good morning, GL! Remember Murphy’s Law of Time…

  17. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    Good morning. Sitting at the gate at GSP. On my way to Connecticut to say goodbye to a friend.

    Call your friends and tell them how much you appreciate them.

    • Gender Traitor

      ::virtually hugs KK:: I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope you’ll have other friends there with whom to connect or reconnect.

    • Grosspatzer

      Sorry to hear that. Good on you for making the trip, hang in there.

    • Penguin

      Sorry about that, KK. When my parents went, it was tough to deal with. Watching friends go would be tough, too. Remember, you always will have us.
      .
      .
      .
      .
      …You can stop laughing already

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      My condolences

  18. Scruffy Nerfherder

    *begins second round of colon flushing*

    My colon’s gonna be so clean that when I fart it will sound like a whistle.

    • PieInTheSky

      Getting ready for a solid pegging?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        With cameras even.

      • Lackadaisical

        Hot.

        Where can I get the livestream? 😛

      • Rat on a train

        depends on who becomes speaker?

    • Penguin

      Let us know when you learn a tune.

      • The Hyperbole

        There’s a “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” Joke but I’m to mature to make it.

    • Grosspatzer

      Been a shitty couple of days, eh?

      • R.J.

        If he keeps his head down and works, the time will squirt by.

      • R.J.

        If crappy as the past two days are, he could still squeak out a win.