In the year of our deity 2021, I believe the last thing the world needs is another blog post written by me. I get that, and I am diligently working with state and local authorities to bring an end to the thrice-weekly murderous assaults to the English language you so often see here. However, a 16-year-old blog habit is hard to break, so you might be stuck with me for a while.
Yeah, 16 years! Many of you know, but some may not know; I have been doing this stupid blog since April of 2005. The first 7 years were via Blogger and 99.8% horrible. I thought I was a bike racer and was even more insufferable than I am now. It’s still out there but hidden from view due to embarrassment at my bro-cyclist writing and the fact that I can’t look at “skinny” me without wanting to open a bottle of gin and drink until the end of my days.
Anyway, I did that version for 7 years and then switched to a Tumblr blog for some reason. That is a hunk of Soiled History that I believe to be gone forever. Imagine this site, but hosted on a platform that you could also look at someone’s collection of Japanese schoolgirl panties they bought from a vending machine in 輪島市 and arguably get way more out of. The interwebs is a strange beast.
What does any of this have to do with anything??
OK, OK! What I’m saying is that there are times that I question why someone such as myself would invest time writing this. I no longer race bikes; I no longer ride further than 30 miles, at 50 pounds overweight, I am NO fitness expert, my writing is poor, my photography is average, my humor is dated and sophomoric, and I live in a mountain-less plain of farmland, Superfund sites, and militia groups that I sometimes feel I’ve exhausted every way to explore.
Having said that, I can’t seem to stop. Lots of people have journals, but there are very few of us left that continue to put themselves out there for absolutely no reason what-so-ever other than enjoying the process of writing and sharing things we capture with our camera. This FINALLY leads me to the point of this post: I love writing posts, making people laugh when possible, cooking, taking photos, and on rare occasions inspire people to do the same. And at the end of the week, I often end up with a phone and camera SD cards filled with images, and other than uploading them to my photo site or putting a few on Instagram, I do nothing with them. I figure I might as well put them here in what I’m calling the Soiled Image Tip (unnecessary, possibly pretentious use of the British word for dump. Thank you That Peter Crouch Podcast, season 5, episode 2. #passthepod #fuckoffkarl #areyouwearingshinnies) .
The Soiled Image Tip will be a (weekly? monthly?) dump of images from the past week. There will be no rhyme or reason to them. It could be food, bikes, people, plants, beers, feet, dogs, or dog turds; there is no real reason, just like this blog.
I’ll write a bit about the pic, tell you where I was, etc., but there are no set rules. Imagine Instagram, but instead of hashtags and hot influencer selling you “fitness tips,” you get me. Sorry?
Later.
SOILED PHOTO TIP (INTRO EXAMPLES)
Feeder Frenzy
Date: 01.01.2021
This was one of the first images taken this year. I always love the chaos of the feeder.
Lola and Her Footy
Date: 02.06.2021
Lola, our black seal english bulldog, became obsessed with fetching soccer balls footballs this winter. I love it! What I don’t love is when she wants to play whilst I AM trying to watch the footy!
The Cat 5 Cooking 266 Calorie Burger
Date: 03.01.2021
I have been trying to keep my breakfasts and lunches under 300 calories, and this burger is one of my new go-tos. I have a Cat 5 Cooking post about this to come at some point. But for now, I will just post and hope I still have some 90% lean ground beef left in the fridge!
Dad Life
Date: 03.01.2021
My early evening beer (Bell’s Hopsolution IPA) and my “new ” remote boat #dadlife. iPhone pic taken that evening as I texted with my good buddy back in Pittsburgh about our evening beer choices. This is why I have to eat 266 calorie burgers and not 750 calorie burgers. Sigh.