User:CharlesMichael2002/sandbox

Weee! I have a sandbox. You don't realize just how much power you have given me.

JUNE 7, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
New York, Texas is an unincorporated community in Texas called New York. It's called that because people in Texas are fucking stup-- I mean, they're really interesting at naming things... but what makes it even more fucked up is that there's a place called Texas, New York. I mean, why do we all of a sudden just have the ball-licking urge to name unincorporated ghost town communities in certain states AFTER OTHER STATES?! I DON'T WANNA GO TO KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, OKAY?! AND I DON'T WANNA HAVE TO FUCKING CLARIFY THAT TO MY GPS TRACKER 'EVERY GODDAMN TIME I'M TAKING A COCKAMAMIE ROAD TRIP!!! FUCK OFF, SIRI! KANSAS CITY IS IS KANSAS!!!!! AAAAAAAUUUGGGHH!!!!'

JUNE 8, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
250 edits LET'S FUCKING GO!!! I'm halfway there to that free Newspapers.com subscription!

Meanwhile, here are some tips and tricks you can use to go fuck yourself:


 * 1) Step 1
 * 2) Number 2|two
 * 3) And 3|three
 * 4) The age old adage:
 * 5) Just don't
 * 6) Yeah, no

Until then, sayonara until then. Cuntil then. Cunt.

JUNE 10, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
Anyone else keep their diary on Wikipedia?

Today, I'm going to go to a music store to repair my acoustic guitar. I've had this Bailando 'starter' guitar since March 2019, and I plan to continue using it until the day I die. I like the idea of Willie Nelson continually using Trigger even though that guitar has many holes in it, and is essentially on life support!

After that, I am going to go to the library to get some research done. The Main Branch of the Abilene Public Library in Abilene, Texas has a very generous microfilm collection - although not exactly up to date, aside from the very current collection of Abilene Reporter-News reels. I'm mostly there for their pre-2003 editions of The New Yorker, pre-2004 editions of The New York Times, pre-2006 editions of Time magazine... et cetera.

That's where I'm based, here in Abilene, Texas, USA. Don't get me started. Okay, I'll get started. Things around here are boring at best, and actively hostile toward people of the LGBTQ+ community at worst. KTAB (one of our local news stations) has described Abilene as a "more conservative, faith-based" community at one point. This is especially apparent by my experience attending City Council meetings, where I noticed (January 25, 2024 when this happened, and I stopped going after this) that I was the only person there who was not a Christian. (I'm a rather quiet member of The Satanic Temple.) I don't fit in here. Even with genuinely great people who own businesses like The Record Guys (local record store) and Book Therapy (local bookstore) and the coffee shops - Mezamiz, Monk's, Majestic - they're all very supportive, but I just never feel like I really belong in this city. Sorry if I'm venting, but writing about it makes me feel better. I definitely do not expect anyone to read this.

I came to this realization that I just don't fit here when I went to The Record Guys on May 7, 2024. I've been going to The Record Guys since I was a child, and I know the owner, Jon Howell, as if he's my father. Jon has taught me a lot of valuable life lessons over the years, and we're very close. Well, Jon was out on this day - he was seeing Clutch in Lubbock - so his dad. Kevin (it's a family business) was behind the counter. Kevin showed me a modest achievement for the store: an article about The Record Guys' involvement in bringing Record Store Day to Abilene, published in the Abilene Reporter-News - it appeared online on April 25, 2024, but Kevin showed me the front page of the print edition from April 29, 2024. I've been to Record Store Day at The Record Guys before: in fact, I was there on Record Store Day in 2022 and 2023. I usually help out at the Record Guys, and they especially need the help on RSD, so I always enjoy helping around. So I was there for 2 years and the press didn't come; I decide not to go in 2024 and the press comes. I was happy to see them in the news, but... yeah.

Aside from coffee shop open mic nights and impromptu performances in places that happen to have pianos, I've performed two real concerts here in Abilene - both of which have been released as albums. This one is from July 23, 2021, and this one is from July 27, 2023. I put a lot of energy and effort into my live performances (even the open mic nights and impromptu performances) and it all goes unnoticed. I cleared Mezamiz of any audience whatsoever in 2021, with only two people happening to come in to witness the last moments of that one because they just wanted to get coffee there. Primal Brewing Company in 2023 was somewhat better, though for the majority of that performance, I was really only playing to 5 people. I invite people to my performances, they can't go. I promote my performances with handmade posters around town, the performances just comes and goes with little fanfare.

On July 30, 2023, KRBC aired a segment of which the summary is this: there's a guy from nearby Hawley who is, get this, both a football player and a musician. What a novel concept! A real jack-of-all-trades, he is! Why didn't I think of that?! If that guy can get a news segment based on having two different careers, I should get one because I have SIX! (Musician, animator, filmmaker, documentarian, writer, researcher.) So I called KRBC, letting them know this... and nothing.

Not to sound conceited, but I want to make an impact on this world. I want to actually do something that people remember me for. As it stands, Abilene is a city of mediocrity, cultural stagnation, and arrested development. Sure there's a museum, sure there's a zoo, sure there's a library, sure there are stores - but it never changes. You've seen it once, you've seen it all. It's a place you can visit and have a bit of fun in (I don't know why you would, there's already Dallas and Houston and Austin and San Antonio) but it's just not a nice place to live unless you're just like everyone else. Caleb Sutton gets to win a news segment and promote his frankly average country music, and meanwhile I get to perform my interesting music to 5-person-or-less audiences and get nothing for it. I get to appear at City Council meetings and try and explain that praying to the Christian God as invocation violates the First Amendment rights of people of other religions (I should've known that Town of Greece v. Galloway made the Establishment Clause immaterial at a local level 10 years ago, but ok) and just after that, some old hag gets to go after me and snub me. I have to push down my feelings of anger and frustration because it gets in the way of my research. I have a documentary to edit, and I have a short film to animate. I don't feel like doing anything when I think about shit like this - I just feel like I want to hurt myself. All these people make me feel unwanted. All the Robert Hannas and the Tammy Fogles and the Abilene yokels make me feel like I'm a piece of shit for living. And the few friends I do have around here are either moving to Albuquerque (no shit!) or they're always gone. Most of my friends are in other places.

I hate living here, and I do not belong here.

My dream is to live in New York City. It's probably the most walkable city in the United States, given that I can't drive. From what I know from talking to New Yorkers and having a few friends there, New Yorkers really appreciate public transport.

I'm moving to North Carolina soon - either way, I'm looking forward to it because A) I'm getting out of here, and B) Asheville, the place I'll be moving to, is a Venue Songs city, and it is home to The Moog Factory. North Carolina as a state is more receptive to indie music in general; fuckin' Merge Records is based there!

Shitty crazy people exist everywhere, yes they do. But in Abilene, they're inescapable.

I've put an update on my website regarding the Here Come The ABCs documentary. It is coming.

JUNE 11, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
Let's see if this creates a table of contents.

Oh, and it did! How lovely. I feel like when I die, people will finally start getting into my work. I'm gonna be one of those artists that just goes pretty much unrecognized in my lifetime, doomed to obscurity until my untimely demise - at which point, people will reevaluate my work posthumously and they'll go, "Huh. So that's who Charles Michael was." At that point, I'd rather not be remembered!

I did the dishes and I feel so accomplished. How ya like me now, sister?!

Yesterday I went to a music store to repair my acoustic guitar. The store is called The Music Tree - it is located on 1063 Judge Ely Blvd in Abilene, TX. It is TINY. And it is AMAZING. Only one guy works there. I didn't catch his name - but I'll be going back on June 14 to retrieve my guitar, so I'll ask him then.

I'm looking forward to going back on June 14 because, as the sole worker told me, Fridays from 2 PM to 6 PM are essentially empty - he has no lessons at that time, so it's a perfect time for me to jam around. (Yes, I let him know I'm a multi-instrumentalist.) So I'm totally gonna have a field day with my recording session on Friday. On Thursday, June 13, I'll be releasing my next album, Songs About Food And Animals, to Bandcamp. It's got 10 tracks on it. These are the tracks that will appear on Songs About Food And Animals by Charles Michael:

All songs composed by Charles Michael except when indicated otherwise.


 * 1) Cyber's Theme
 * 2) Glass Onion (Lennon-McCartney)
 * 3) Axolotl Time
 * 4) One More Bowl Of Soup
 * 5) Warthog Bop
 * 6) Susanna's Tomato Song
 * 7) My Dog Artemis
 * 8) Andrew's Avocado Toast Song
 * 9) Caramelizing Onions
 * 10) Rae The Sheep

I'm also looking forward to June 13 because that's when I'll be going to The Crossing Indoor Flea Market (1505 S 14th St). That's where I got my first record. It is a copy of... let me look.

It was a copy of Klavierkonzert No. 3 c-moll / Konzertrondo B-dur, a recording of two Beethoven compositions performed by Svjatoslav Richter (sic; listed that way on the cover with J instead of I). I got that in October 2011, when I was approx. 9 years and 8 months old. Then I never went there for 12 years, until I asked my great friend Blue to take me on September 16, 2023. I got Crying Song by Hubert Laws that day. I was 21 years, 6 months, and 22 days old. I went there once more with my sister, but I didn't get anything. So I'll be going again on June 13, 2024, at which point I will be 22 years, 3 months, and 19 days old. If I got the math wrong, let me know. (I mean... granted, if you're not completely concerned with my state of well-being after reading this whole thing. I'm fine.) I was born on February 25, 2002, in Ansbach, Germany. I came out the same day that Clinic's Walking With Thee album did, and The White Stripes' "Fell In Love With A Girl" single. Unfortunately, that means that I've only ever known a post-9/11 America, but...

...yeah, no buts. It's just regrettable. I was a product of the No Child Left Behind act, so I consider my education to have been more than subpar. One of my kindergarten teachers didn't know what to do with me (even 4 years before I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, I exhibited neurodivergent behaviors that were just too alien for the rest of the class) so while all the other kids got to sit in a circle during circle time, I was left to fuck off on my own. The teacher put me at a table by myself, gave me a stack of paper and a pen, and said, "Do whatever you want". I drew yaks and wrote the alphabet over and over. I took my first (and only) TAKS test in 3rd grade; it became the STAAR test by the end of 4th grade.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome when I was 9 (circa March 2011) but I consider myself on the autism spectrum (as did my counselors at the time) because the DSM-5 changed everything 2 years later. Then, around March 2015, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I remember the ADHD tests more than the autism tests. They were conducted at a place called Turning Point Counseling here in Abilene, TX; the man who diagnosed me is a wonderful man by the name of Dr. Roger Russell. One of the tests he did on me was, essentially, just playing with dolls - "You create the scenario". So I put one of them in a "coffin" and said, "He's dead, and the rest of them are mourning". (I was 13, okay?) That was a rather amusing thing to see play out. But the one I remember most distinctly (because it was so boring) was the computer program. ''Click on the white rectangle whenever it shows up on the black screen! Enjoy the longest 15 minutes of your life!''

Lots of my friends are neurodivergent. My research partner Tex has autism, my friend Jules has autism, my friend Quinny has autism, my friend Sleiny has autism, my friend Clayr has autism, my friend AJ has autism, my friend Alle has epilepsy and (she suspects, currently undiagnosed) ADHD, my friend Blue has autism...

I missed Cepheid Thidwick's show last night. She hosts Melting Space Dreams on KXCJ-LP, 105.7 FM and 101.3 FM, and it airs on Mondays from 8 PM to 12 AM PT (which means I get it from 10 PM to 2 AM). I should've stayed awake for it. I shouldn't have gone to bed. I have a Melting Space Dreams Quasar Session happening on June 17 - that's when it airs, I actually finished it on June 7.

That's all for now.

JUNE 12, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
It's about time I got here. I've finally surpassed 300 edits. That's like a super duper pooper scooper milestone 4|for me!

I'm super excited for my short film, Disabled World (of which you can view the trailer here!). The cast is finalized, and as of today, 100% of the dialogue is recorded. I can't tell you who all is in it, but what I can say is that I'm very happy about who is in it. As far as I know, the cast is star-studded. (AND STAR-SPUDDED TOO!)

Seriously, I have 8|a lot of people to thank for being involved in Disabled World, for basically $0. I refuse to provide the whole cast list for now (though through the trailer you know that Alle Holcomb is Lavender, quququinny is Topaz, and I'm Orchid - but that's all for now), just because I want to spread the world of Disabled World organically, on its own merits. There are some really cool and amazing people who were generous enough to lend me their time to help me (as I said, for $0) who are established (!) but I don't want to fall into the same trap that most animated films shamefully fall in nowadays: marketing based on celebrity voice casts. (That's been a persistent trend since possibly the '90s, but it's more saturated today.)

No, Disabled World is about being neurodivergent - specifically the experience of dealing with ableism in the film's real-world setting of Abilene, Texas. Ableism comes in many forms, it manifests in many different ways, and many of them will be examined in my short film. I don't want to let the fact that the cast is full of people I admire to really get in the way of that. They graciously agreed to do it because they liked the premise and they got where I was coming from. They graciously agreed to do it for $0 despite me having offered to pay based on their rates. They didn't agree for me to slap their names on the poster and exploit their talents. I'm not here to do that. I asked them to be involved in the first place because Disabled World is very special to me. Everyone I've shown the script to has given it praise. I know I have something really good on my hands, and for once I'm actually confident in my work. Disabled World is so special that I thought, "I should get (x person) to be in it; after all, these characters need voices."

Only the vocal side of things is a collaborative process. I wrote the script myself, I directed the voices myself, I'm editing the sound myself, I composed the music myself, and I'm animating it by myself. My vision for this film is strict and rigid, and it has not changed at all since its inception on May 12, 2023. The premise is the exact same, and it has stayed this way: Orchid, Topaz, and Lavender are 20-something nihilistic neurodivergent college dropouts whose friendship is disintegrating; this is made apparent when they remember all the times they've been subjected to ableism, as they compare their experiences with each other.

Now it's time for your vowels. A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y.

JUNE 15, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
At the moment, some of these are still being written. Not all of these characters are hyperlinked with descriptions, but please stay tuned!

JUNE 21, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
Wassup? Been a while.

I've got 386 edits when I publish this. THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SIX!!!

Index cards as a source of sustenance
Index cards have been shown to contain platitudinous amounts of fiber; this, in turn, makes them super yummy and delicious, mmm-mmm so good, nom nom. Index cards are so fibrous, that they will make you take a poop.

There is a references list under the section that I wrote on June 10, 2024, and I can't get rid of it. So I just added a second one that will remain at the very bottom of this page. Sorry. Wait, I'm figuring this out. Hang on.

387 edits now.

Whew! The deed is done. Let's see how that turned out.

JULY 4, 2024 CHARLES SEZ
THIS IS MY 500TH EDIT! YESSS!! YEEEAAAH! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! NEWSPAPERS.COM!!!! ANCESTRY.COM!!!! YYYYEEEEEEAAHAHHHAHHHHH BBABYEEEEEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUHG

References, whether facetious or otherwise
