Category: Journal

Countdown to Autumn Equinox 2025

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Reading Time: < 1 minute🎶On the first day of summer my true love gave to me… heat stroke and dysentery.🎶

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AUTUMN EQUINOX 2025
Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 2:19 PM (EST)


🎶On the first day of summer my true love gave to me
heat stroke and dysentery.🎶

Seriously though… For anyone who actually keeps up with this annual countdown tradition here, you’ve undoubtedly come to expect my usual bemoaning and belly aching that’s directly associated with the seasonal depression I feel when summer drops like an atomic bomb here in the Ohio Valley, bringing with it the typical scalding misery that everyone who lives in this region knows all too well. Triple-digit temperatures and insufferable humidity… Yep, that’s the stuff.

This year, however, I’m gonna do a full 180. I’m reaching into my virtual bag of clichés as I read the word depression I typed above. Even in sarcasm I can’t portray that horrible thing with any sort of submissive suggestion and pretend to be affected negatively by it. I refuse, as I have refused, for 8 years. And one of the things I often (preach?) to people as a measure of self-control is change your perspective, as over the years I’ve come to realize depression is more a state of mind than it is outside influences.

Changing my perspective… On this first day of summer I’ll refrain from joking about the holocaust and the anguish stemming from the realization that my least favorite season is only just now getting started. Instead, I see it as a GOOD THING. Yes, you read that right. The first day of summer is making me smile this year, as it marks only three months to go till the best time of the year; Fall. 🍂🥰🎃

Optimism wins.
 
 

Countdown to Autumn Equinox 2024

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Reading Time: < 1 minuteOne of the most frequent questions I get asked in my life is “why do you hate summer?” (Laughing) In my world, that’s like asking me why I hate ticks, traffic, houseflies, allergies, sinus congestion, insomnia, fireworks, humidity, yard work (you see where this is going).

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AUTUMN EQUINOX 2024
Sep 22, 2024 8:43 AM (EST)


Well whaddya know, it’s summer again….

One of the most frequent questions I get asked in my life is “why do you hate summer?” (Laughing) In my world, that’s like asking me why I hate ticks, traffic, houseflies, allergies, sinus congestion, insomnia, fireworks, humidity, yard work (you see where this is going). Summer brings all of it in spades, relentlessly, and refuses to let up as it unabashedly overstays its welcome like an annoying relative until this little amazing event called the autumnal equinox.

Yes, it’s that time again. The annual countdown to the demise of this dreary, dismal stretch of miserable heat and humidity the Ohio Valley seems to love so much. Once again, I’ll be cozily tucked away in my personal igloo, sheltered from the sun’s cancerous rays and all the nuclear fallout they bring with them. ‘Got everything I need right here: A/C, food, home gym, A/C, cold water, A/C, A/C…

Lookin’ forward to Fall as always. Can’t wait to get back out on the trail in cool weather, feeling leaves crunch beneath my feet and seeing pretty Halloween décor everywhere. They say the best things in life come after a degree of suffering is had…. Or maybe they don’t. Maybe I just said it because it sounds nice. Either way, only 11 more weeks of the summer hell at publish time. We’ll get there.
 
 

Countdown to Autumn Equinox 2023

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Reading Time: 2 minutesCounting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the Autumnal Equinox of 2023.

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AUTUMN EQUINOX 2023
Sep 23, 2023 2:49 AM (EST)


Nearly three weeks away from the official start of summer, and it’s already 92° in Louisville, KY, with Farmer’s Almanac predicting “oppressive, showery, thundery” summer. I almost got a tad excited when I imagined thunderstorms cooling things off a bit, but not so fast…. the prediction goes on to say that despite above-average rainfall, overall temperatures and heat index “will seem unrelenting.” Great….. and can’t say I’m surprised. Every year seems to be a stark reminder that the cushy summer of 2009 I touched on in last year’s Countdown is merely a distant memory that isn’t likely to repeat itself any time soon. Fine. Be that way. Maybe I should move to Oregon. It’s one of the only places on the U.S. map listed as average temperatures in the long-range summer forecast.

Picturing my commute there literally looking something like this…

My A/C machine has been serviced and is ready for another round in the proverbial trenches, with my backup unit still in the box, unopened, resting comfortably in the basement should its services be needed. 111 days as of post time. Thinking of having some t-shirts made. Hmm… what do you think? 🤔

Countdown to Autumn Equinox 2022

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Reading Time: 2 minuteshere’s to another round of counting down the miserable inferno of summer, one painstaking day at a time. As always, the autumn equinox will set us free and officially begin the best time of the year. Till then… cheers to a nice, chilly solitude

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AUTUMN EQUINOX 2022
9.22.22 – 9:03pm EDT

UPDATE!!!
FALL IS HERE!!!!!!!
SUCK IT, SUMMER!!!


Let the Countdown begin!

Residents of the Ohio Valley are mere days away from the first 90° forecast of the year. I’m almost happy to say I’m mildly surprised it’s taken this long. Usually there’s a day or two in the month of April where the weather turns unseasonably hot and reaches the stratosphere of a mid-summer feel and serving as a foreboding warning of the impending outdoor meltdown that awaits the mid-south region of the U.S. That’s typically when I take to the web and commiserate with my little annual countdown. But, April was actually pretty pleasant for the most part with only a couple instances of low 80s. Though I knew not to get too confident about it, part of me wondered if such a nice spring month with no dog days could be a sign that this year just might deliver a mild summer for a change, despite the Farmer’s Almanac already predicting Scorching Summer For Most Of U.S./Canada. Sigh.
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Equipment Chronicles — Chasing Quality on YouTube

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Reading Time: 16 minutesLiterally, we’d shoot on VHS. If I had four hours of raw video, it took four hours to feed it all into my editing machine, as I had to play it real-time while my hard drive recorded it (like a VCR).

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Perfection is a cruel mistress with an unforgiving chase. Quality is attainable company, and a much more rewarding investment.

I started this journey back in 2008. Well, technically I started it in ’07, but the fine folks at YouTube decided to delete my original channel back then because I posted a video of a boxer walking to the ring and asked if anyone knew the song he used for his entrance. Heh, yes. That was YouTube then. I reorganized in April 2008 under the name lordkayossrippro which was a portmanteau of sorts for the pseudonym Lord Kayoss and a “brand name” I made up on-the-fly called R.I.P. Productions. I never copyrighted it, though back then I probably told people I did. Luckily, YouTube ended up allowing us the ability to change our channel urls. It’s much easier to direct someone to youtube.com/lordkayoss.

Despite having been a video production hobbyist for years by that point, in 2008 I was still fairly new to digital editing, and producing videos using computer equipment was a craft I had much to learn about. Coming from the analog world of VHS tape and basic consumer-level hardware, I had a daunting task ahead of me in making the transition to digital. Fortunately, my desire to create was strong enough to will me through the frustrations brought on by the repetitive trial and error of self-teachings. For every fist-slam on the desk there was at least an educational seed planted that would marinate in my mind and inch me in the direction I wanted to go.

My first round of equipment in this process is something to behold 15 years later. I had all the inspiration in the world and the drive to put it to work, but lacked sufficient equipment to get within a mile of capturing what I’d see in my head on video with visual accuracy. I’d have these grandiose ideas and vivid pictures swirling in my mind, but by the time they passed through the degradation filters of a VHS camcorder and an obsolete computer running subpar editing software, the end result was often disappointing. Literally, we’d shoot on VHS. From poor lighting quality and horrible (NiCad) battery performance to the limited storage confines of VHS, the process was a total chore. Packing several extension cables in hopes of finding an exterior power outlet on outdoor shoots was not only necessary, but detrimental. In extreme cases I’d even resort to plugging into an inverter that was connected to my car battery. If we shot more than two hours of raw video we had to change out the tape and start a new one. When filming wrapped, if I had four hours of raw video, it took four hours to feed it all into my editing machine, as I had to play it real-time while my hard drive recorded it (like a VCR). That’s a ton of extra work for 480 resolution.

 

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Tatkuink – The Review They Don’t Want You To See

LK

Reading Time: 3 minutesFirst and foremost, this was the slowest shipping I’ve ever experienced in my life. 44 days from the time I ordered to when the product finally arrived at my doorstep. That’s over 6 weeks.

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I recently attempted to post a review to Tatkuink after finally receiving my order after 44 days, only to find that they cherry-pick and approve only the most flattering feedback. I’ll share my story here for anyone looking for a real review versus the typical cheerleading designed to bait you into expecting a perfect product with a flawless experience.

Product review is for the Black Dragon Sword Fire Skull 3D Zippered Hoodie, which as of April 2024 appears to have been discontinued.

 

 

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Friday the 13th: The Game is Now in my Dreams

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Reading Time: 3 minutesThat Christmas week I spent immersed in the Friday the 13th beta had come to life all around me. I remember yelling “Tommy!? Tommy!?!? Where are you???”

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I can’t remember the last time any game took over a part of my psyche…

 

The other night (or day, depending on how you look at it), as I was fighting the good fight against insomnia and catching a few z’s, I had a very vivid dream. I was on pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain, somewhere mid-route, and encountered one of my favorite celebrities. We sat down and had a long chat about life and random miscellany. Favorite foods, movies, music, and discussing how we’d chosen to take this journey and our individual reasons for doing so. Eventually the conversation took a deep turn and she began to open up to me about issues she was dealing with in her life and career. She revealed to me she was very sad and lonely, and had been struggling mightily to keep herself in the game, and in life essentially. Due to my own experiences with severe depression it’s in my nature to reach out and help someone who is suffering, and I offered my perspective. We discovered among our common vernacular a sense of rapport, and philosophical understanding. The convo became very personal, inspirational, and touching. She began to tear up and sob happily as we shared a couple laughs and a warm embrace. She didn’t want to let go. I could feel her sadness and was happy to be a lone beacon in what she described as a sea of black and icy abandon. Making it more special was the realization that this was someone I had spent years admiring and appreciating, and now, here she was in my arms and listening to me as I relished the opportunity to do something meaningful for her. In a way, it reminded me of the time I talked someone down from killing themself in real life, and I’ve no doubt the endearing memory of that night was lending itself to this vibrant excursion deep into my own psychological abstrusity. It was the type of dream that only comes along once in a great while. The kind that is so vivid and lifelike, where the word surreal often gets reversed, and we wake up wiping away real tears and remaining absorbed in that lucid reverie the majority of our day. This was my dream, and it was easily in the running to make my all-time top 3 favorite, most inspirational dreams I’ve ever had.
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The Jim Cornette Experience

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Reading Time: 3 minutesOne could easily understand the apprehension a fan might feel as they cautiously approach Jim’s table at a convention. My wife wasn’t shy about letting me know she was flat out terrified to talk to him.

Reading Time: 3 minutesFinally! I’d been waiting to meet Mr. Cornette for years. Watching his legendary pro wrestling character for nearly two decades and being delighted by his equally enthralling shoot interviews in recent years, the fanboy in me was dying to come off the leash and thank James E. personally for a lifetime of fond memories. I stopped by Fandom Fest in my hometown of Louisville, KY and finally got the chance to do just that. The experience was outstanding.

It’s no secret to many that Jim Cornette is quite a polarizing figure in not only the wrestling business, but in real life as well. He is a strongly opinionated man who admittedly has some anger issues. Sometimes severe. For many fans, these are merely reasons why we love the guy and consistently tune into his podcast, appropriately titled, The Jim Cornette Experience, and seek out countless shoot videos on YouTube featuring him in full tirade. From the infamous Dairy Queen incident to his long-running feud with former colleague Vince Russo, fans of Mr. Cornette have access to a ton of piss n’ vinegar featuring their favorite loose cannon.

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