...Because, That's Why (Regarding The Absence Of Politcal Posts This Time Around)

"But you used to write about politics..."

Yeah. At one time I did, yeah. Here in Blogger, back to 2012. You can find all those passionate, researched entries by searching on "politics" in the search field. In my Diaryland blog, I have essays from the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections--that is to say, from the Hanging Chad to the Provisional Ballot to (sweet relief) YES WE CAN! I don't have any entries from 2020 to July 2025, when I just didn't have the mental fortitude for writing.

I can't do it anymore. I don't have the best mental health, for one thing, and while I am better than I was ten years ago, I have to take care of my mental health every single day. Every. Day. Plus I had a stroke, most likely caused by high blood pressure, so focusing on this stuff is the last thing I need right now. I learned to walk and talk again, but don't have use of my right hand. And thirdly, and I cannot stress this enough, I have said all I have to say on the matter. Y'all know how I feel about it. All of it. Women's issues. Immigration. Equality. Civil rights. Race relations. LGBTQIA issues. Donald Fucking Trump. Class warfare. Nazis. Guns. God.

I already said it. I've been saying it for years. Blue in the face, and all that.

You guys, I am just so tired.

But I realized last night that plenty of others still have fight left in them, to call out the fascists in power and their acolytes, and I can just amplify their voices on Diary of a Low Budget Superhero. I've been capturing headlines and so forth in the Photos in my phone all this time, so first I'll post those here. I thought about posting these screenshots one-by-one, but decided against it for the sake of my Followers that get an email every time I post a new entry. After this entry, we'll see. Blessed be.

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Get all that? Okay. So here's what's happened so far. It's been 342 days.

 

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I Signed Up For Fucking Instagram (I Regret It Already)

View this profile on Instagram

Michelle DiPoala (@superlowbudge) • Instagram photos and videos

So you guys. I tried for an hour to log into Instagram on my iPhone. I can log in with the browser on laptop and iPhone, but not the app. After changing the password twice (because “incorrect password” was the error message), I tried Instagram Help, I Googled for answers, I watched YouTube videos, I tried everything suggested by everyone. Reinstall the app, restart the phone, clear the cache, etc.
Then I checked Reddit. Reddit always knows and…

Instagram screenshot of other suckers

 

Oh. Well that’s just great. The screenshot shows the first few Redditors with this same issue—I stopped counting at 25 posts. Nobody commenting had any solution.

Especially the guy saying the only solution is to buy a different phone. Excuse me?

Thing is, I just signed up for Instagram tonight, it’s a brand new account. The only reason I signed up is because a person I want to contact only lists Instagram for a contact!! And the only reason I downloaded the app is because I wanted to add my blog website in my profile—which you can ONLY do on the app! You literally cannot add a website on the web. What the hell kinda feature is that!

I am holding back on some choice words for Meta right now. All these people who can’t log in to the app for all these months and Meta can’t figure it out?! Just…SOL for us then? 

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Terence Burke Was An Awesome Human (1969 - 2024)

Self-portrait

So we lost my good friend Terence last year. One August night he just quietly died in his sleep. We were all devastated. He was only 54.

I can't say enough about how awesome Terence was, and that's both personally and professionally. I knew him a little through the music scene, then in 2007 I hired him at my workplace. He impressed the pants off everybody, was a fast learner and a superb employee. We became friends. We had many friends in common.

He was a singer. He loved music. He had an extensive vinyl collection. He lived right next door for about twelve years, and in summertime we could hear his tunes and it was most excellent, as were the CD "mix tapes" he made for Joe and I, and everyone else. He was also an artist. He went to Mass Art for a year and loved to draw.

Last night while trying to fall asleep I suddenly remembered Terence's Flickr albums. And that it was under a moniker he sometimes used. Tolerance Burke.

 

Terence always had a camera in his hand. He took literally thousands of pictures. He'd been documenting his friends and family at parties, cookouts, rock shows, karaoke, a LOT of selfies showing all his different looks through the years, and a lot more. His albums of his toys, T shirts, and the famous mix tapes are awesome. His family, especially his brother Dave and the kids, through the years, is so great. Plus his drawings.

The Flickr site is really great to look through. With these thousands of pictures, Terence really left us all a legacy. Pour one out tonight for our friend Terence Burke.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/45106708@N00/albums/

 One of Terence's last captures: https://flic.kr/p/2q9pfS8 

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Big 103 Boston…My New Jam, Baby

You guys. I accidentally found a really cool radio station. Google "Big 103 Boston" to stream it (or click the link at the bottom). Or if you're near me in Boston, tune to 103 FM. That's how I found it, twiddling the knob of the little radio I bought myself last summer, They play a wider variety than most stations. Hip hop, Indie, Metal, Pop. I got some screen shots from different days/times--check it out! If you're anything like me (Uh...eclectic Gen Xer in America, I suppose?) you'll find Big 103 Boston quite badass. 

 

 

 

(This is a new Blogger feature currently in Beta!) 

 

 

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Those Toy Soldiers! Another Throwback Thursday That Cracks Me Up

Joe circa 2003

 OMG you guys. I posted this old entry back in 2015, as a Throwback to an old Diaryland entry from 2003. This is a funny story from the old apartment! LOL! Like we frequently say to each other, "We have been together a looooong tiiiiime."

 

November 19, 2003

 

 

So Joe's been playing Army Men on the Playstation. If you haven't seen this thing, it's this old school video game where you play as green plastic army men, and you wage war against the tan plastic army men on battlefields—the back yard, the kitchen table, and other parts of a house. While I was in Davis Square the other day, I went to Family Dollar for toothpaste and toilet paper (thank God for dollar stores) and I saw a bag of green army men. Had to get 'em.

So last night when Joe took a game break, I quietly put every single one of the army men all around his desk. On the speaker, on the remote, the CD stack, the mail. All pointing their guns at him. Then I went back to my book (okay, it's not a BOOK, I'm "reading" a collection of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons, okay?!) and waited for Joe to come out of the bathroom and laugh.Joe came out of the bathroom and picked up the Playstation control. Resumed play..

Nothin'. Okay, from my vantage point, you guys? It looked like a small army had swarmed the desk.Tiny little green machine-gun guys and rifle-guys cast tiny little silhouettes on the TV screen, across which swarmed all those Playstation army men, controlled by The Big Kowalski. Like an hour went by. What is happening, why hasn't he called out yet about all these army men."I can't believe he doesn't see them!" Jeez, talk about singular focus. 

Long after I'd taken Calvin and Hobbes to bed and forgot about my little prank myself, FINALLY from the next room there came a sudden, "HEY! Where'd these army men come from!?" 

I love this guy.

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Reddit Deleted My Post About Amanda Palmer's Eyebrows But I Don't Need Reddit When I Have This Blog

I posted in the /whybrows subreddit the other day, which is a hilarious collection of truly astonishing eyebrow decisions from around the web. I tried to read the rules for the subreddit first, but there was nothing written under Rules. My post sparked a lively discussion about Amanda and the current state of affairs on that topic, and got 50 upvotes before they took it down. Obviously we were enjoying it. And it imparted some new info for people who only knew Amanda's eyebrows in later years. I was even able to get some advice on something that's been on my mind from time to time--what to do about all my old reviews/interviews/features about the Dresden Dolls and Amanda...I didn't know if I should now post a Disclaimer on those or...? I mean, I used to adore the Dolls. I wrote about them so enthusiastically! It's so cringe to go back and read now. I didn't know she was going to get so fucking bizarre, dare I say predatory and even possibly dangerous?

The mods deleted my post. This was my post that Reddit deleted: 

Of course I checked for Amanda Palmer posts the minute I found out about this Reddit thing (/whybrows is AWESOME). But the other Amanda posts are all more recent, when she had like the “lines” or whatever…someone said those are tattoos? I really don’t know. What I do know: in the early days of the Dresden Dolls, when they started playing gigs around Boston, when they still did whiteface, before all the craziness, Amanda had great eyebrow art, I thought. I think she shaved them off and drew intricate designs where the brows would be. They weren’t in a strange shape, they didn’t hover in a weird place. In person the effect was stunning. I don’t know what all that was about in the later years, and I don’t just mean the brows (boy, did that ship sail off the edge, huh?) but at least I want to say: in the early days, these were pretty brows.

They WERE pretty brows. 

In any case, the eyebrow art by Amanda is a thing of the past. She has normal eyebrows now. What, I'm still connected to Amanda on Facebook. 

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