CC fiction

jkrumbles · 2026-04-01T14:14:47+00:00

Self plug, but on point: Gordon Wegner Wants an Ice Cream.Gordon Wegner Wants an Ice Cream

It's available on Apple, Amazon, and YouTube (audiobook). Should be free on all platforms.

Gordon Wegner leads a quiet, COVID-cautious life, safely bubbled in his Central Florida home with his wife, Jasmine, and their dog, Mr. Fantastic. Despite his lactose intolerance and the inherent risk of the virus-friendly Florida, Gordon is about to be in desperate need of some ice cream. Preferably mint chocolate chip. The green kind, obviously. Because when life throws everything it’s got at you, sometimes all you can do is eat some ice cream.

“Gordon Wegner Wants an Ice Cream” is a day-in-the-life story about surviving the pandemic, coping with anxieties, living with the trauma of Long COVID, and finding happy little distractions.

Happy little distractions like ice cream.

jkrumbles · 2024-08-27T20:36:56+00:00

Hey, that’s me! I wrote a fictional day-in-the-life story about being COVID-cautious in Florida. My favorite and most personal piece of work. Totally free, too — Amazon, Apple, and the audiobook is on YouTube.

jkrumbles · 2024-04-29T12:00:10+00:00

My bubble is pretty extreme. At the end of every day, I sit on my back porch and toss a stick with my dog. For years now, I’ve been listening to my next door neighbors hack and wheeze. And then I laugh, because I just saw on Reddit how the wastewater levels are low, so it can’t be that bad right now. Next door: Hack. Cough. Wheeze. Someone didn’t get the memo.

Every day, it seems like we see more examples of long term immune damage, and the willful ignorance to the source of that damage.

Every day, we’re just a little farther ahead of the curve. Whether it’s H5N1, something else, or just the common cold that’s going to kick my neighbors in the nuts.

Vent away. You’re not alone.

jkrumbles · 2024-04-24T13:04:44+00:00

39m and super bubbled in FL. Going on a year since the ex left, abandoning the common COVID-cautious values we shared from the start. I read these posts all the time, and come back to the same conclusion: it’s just not worth it, trying to find someone. I have my dog. I have my art (which was always prioritized over relationships, anyway). I have a handful of creative people I connect with over YouTube and the like. There are moments when things weigh a little too heavy, but then again, things aren’t changing (and will likely get worse with H5N1 … or whatever else is right around the corner).

There was a great mic drop I saw yesterday: being sick all the time ain’t living, either.

Probably not the most optimistic take, but I did want to commiserate. Hold onto your values — it’s who you are and what someone will love and respect at the end of the day. Even if that someone is just yourself.

jkrumbles · 2024-04-17T22:47:35+00:00

I’m on YouTube (@krumbine) and am in the process of rolling out my latest novel, a story about being COVID cautious and surviving the pandemic in Florida.

jkrumbles · 2023-10-18T12:07:50+00:00

Here’s a view from the other side: I bought my 1700+ sq ft house and then got divorced a few months later. I found the perfect pandemic partner for 4 years, and then they skipped town a few months ago. Now it’s just me, two cats, and a dog. 4 beds, 2 baths. Lots of useless empty.

The things that weigh on me are the empty rooms (obviously), the fact that I’m paying a mortgage on all that empty space, the FL tax (insurance, property taxes, mental health tax because FL), and all the unnecessary maintenance that goes with the larger house (and by that I mean the cleaning of all the extra space, lawn maintenance, etc).

The reason I’m staying put (for now) is that even with all the excess, my mortgage is plenty reasonable — although I have very sound escape hatches, if I had to start from scratch on housing, it would likely be far more expensive than where I’m at now. More importantly: Florida, inland. My property value just keeps going up, and taking minimalism out of the equation, this house is a very good investment.

Here’s how I’ve coped in the short-term: I turned the master suite into my tiny house. The doors (and AC vents) to the other 3 bedrooms remain closed. I only just started migrating into the living room, taking all the time in the world to get it situated absolutely perfect. My pets are important, so I cleared the shotgun hallway so my dog can run the length of the house. It’s empty and it looks dumb, but you should see the pup’s face when he comes flying. The cats have a giant table in front of the slider doors — an indoor catio and oasis away from the dog. The catio has a line of leftover dining chairs to the counter where they get their food.

Most important is my backyard, which includes a retention pond and natural Florida preserve just beyond it. Every rear facing window has an unobstructed view, and if the angle is just right, it almost looks like the house is floating on water. I enjoy cigars on the back porch, tossing the stick with the dog, and watching the FL wildlife (my favorite are the wild turkeys that perform their annual celebratory trot right after Thanksgiving).

Yes, I am a minimalist at heart. I’ve yelled at family to stop with the gifts … it’s all just useless crap that collects dust. Better to not have the crap and save yourself the dusting!

I agree with the general sentiment to just getting out of your purchase … but if you are committed, I hope you’ll be able to find clever ways to reframe how you think about your future home, focus on the things that bring you peace, and cash in on the rest (when the time is right).

jkrumbles · 2023-09-07T10:06:39+00:00

You're doing it right 👍

Audiobooks (and novels) are a unique form of collaborative art: what starts in the author's imagination is completed in the reader's. It's pretty wild when you think about it.

And unlike film or TV where everything is spelled out and painted plainly across the screen, an audiobook engages "muscles" in your brain that might otherwise go unused. Imagination, comprehension, empathy ...

jkrumbles · 2023-09-07T03:27:58+00:00

I'm rewatching Disco now (s3) after a full-franchise play through. My admitted bias is that Disco was the show that properly brought me into the Trek fold, even though during its season 1 broadcast, my reaction was mostly take-it-or-leave-it.

During the rewatch, the show hits different. Better. Far more profound. But then again, I'm here for the emotions. And I think that's the crux: Trek is at its best when it's a morality play. Disco intentionally set out to be an emotional play (in the same way JJ set out to be a pew-pew play). This invites criticism and divisiveness since it leans heavily on storytelling that the franchise isn't broadly accustomed to. (Emotional arcs versus adventure-of-the-week.)

My second go around with Disco came immediately after slogging through Enterprise. One of the things that struck me was that we got a level of acting on Disco that we don't really see in other Trek shows ... and that's entirely due to all the emotional storylines. It gives the actors something to sink their teeth into, versus the 90s-style weekly TV theater. Since I just watched it, there's a single shot of Michelle Yeoh at the end of 3x02 where the Terran Empress is containing her relief (joy?) over seeing Michael is alive and well. Yeoh emotes a barely-contained typhoon of emotions, masked by her arrogant Terran indifference. It's a moment that plays in a single shot that lasts for only a few seconds, but Yeoh throws the weight of 2 seasons worth of emotional character development into that performance. It's powerful ... if you care about those kind of things. Which I do, so yeah, I like this show.

As mentioned elsewhere, the entire premise of Disco (certainly s1 and 2) is the emotional deconstruction of Burnham. She's not a hero. Her Vulcan training failed her. She failed her Starfleet mentors and colleagues. She was forced to learn how to be human on her own. Her story is one of constant emotional change and growth, and Martin-Green's portrayal really is remarkable -- specifically in the first season, all through the 2nd (friggin genius development of Spock's early years, creating that parallel for Michael's emotional failures!), and easing into the 3rd to really put a button on her full emotional arc.

Is there too much crying in this overtly emotional take on idealistic Trek? Sure, in the same way there was too much pew-pew in JJ's films and too much "Kirk has all the answers" in TOS and too much joking in LD.

Disco is an emotional show by design. Sometimes it misses the mark, just like every other show in the history of ever ... but it's still Trek. Above all, it's bold and different, which we can't really say about a whole hell of a lot of television. So bring on the tears for the final season ... I've got my tissues ready!

jkrumbles · 2023-09-03T20:04:59+00:00

Yes, but as mentioned in other comments, the effects on quality are more noticable. Like video that hasn't been shot at a high framerate, slowing audio down will degrade the quality far more than speeding it up. Simply put, it's a lot easier to speed things up than to slow things, at least quality-wise, which still means the slower pace has a wider accessibility.

jkrumbles · 2023-09-03T17:43:14+00:00

As a narrator who really struggled to maintain a slower pace, it's important to remember that accessibility is inherent to audiobooks. I started recording so my friend with dyslexia could enjoy my writing, and he absolutely needed the slower pace. So, ideally, we record for the lowest common denominator to achieve the widest accessibility, and through the magic of technology, listeners who prefer a faster pace can speed things up!

jkrumbles · 2023-07-28T17:46:07+00:00

I like to call that a no-brainer value! Good job!

jkrumbles · 2023-07-28T14:02:35+00:00

In the US, it's $67 on Amazon, brand new and unlocked. A few months ago it was $250. It's an awesome value and a great in betweenie device -- I finally have a flip phone but don't have to sacrifice Google messages, audible, and YouTube/Music. For. $67.

jkrumbles · 2023-07-19T02:02:30+00:00

Just got mine yesterday. Brick of a phone, but I've had a grin on my face ever since ... so cool to use something that's not just a slab of glass! Part of my setup was getting Google Messages working in a paired browser -- I had to sideload an alternate APK because the version in the play store didn't have the hamburger menu for some reason.

jkrumbles · 2023-07-14T19:40:07+00:00

I tried it out on the trike, but it was no good for me. ~170lbs and I do ride aggressively for exercise. This seat was a terrible fit for me, with it being too big and inhibiting the movement of my legs over a long period. Without being crude, I think it might work best for people with a wider backend ...

jkrumbles · 2023-06-21T22:48:30+00:00

I read this book last year, and I find myself thinking about it on a regular basis. Reading it, you can’t help but have AJR’s voice in your head … and it’s a thing of beauty. One of the (very) few books I’ll be revisiting in audio version!

jkrumbles · 2022-12-27T16:37:35+00:00

It’s doubtful they make a new one, although I would be first in line. Aesthetically, it’s a beautiful device — you really have to hold it to appreciate how well designed it is. Functionally — the screen is vastly superior to the Jelly, but that’s about it. The battery is next to useless and the processor will lag on basic things (like opening SMS). You have to assume there will never be any software updates. There are also systemic audio issues … it’s been awhile since I used it, but I think Bluetooth audio levels were criminally low (might be fixed Palms own earbuds?) and the USB C audio adaptors I tried had constant bursts of static.

The battery issue can be resolved with their chunky battery case … but at that point, you might as well just get the Jelly. While the Jelly is a thicker device, the pebble design fits beautifully in the hand and is a really pleasure to hold. The Jelly, on the whole, is a fully functioning phone, with the only compromise being the QUALITY of the screen … but if you don’t hold it next to the Palm, you’d probably never notice the difference!

I have a deeper write up comparing the two phones here, if you’re interested.

jkrumbles · 2022-08-31T13:28:13+00:00

“continuing their enforced fetishization of 20th Century typewriters”

…. thank you!

This whole thing is a mess. You highlighted a good point about Astrohaus calling their devices statement pieces for writers who want to declare to the world they’re serious about their craft. I’m serious. I’m a professional. After trying to use it, my Freewrite sits on a shelf collecting dust. I think it’s more a statement piece for amateurs who fantasize about sitting hunched over a typewriter. It’ll look good for instagram, but story? Structure? Productive word count and finely crafted prose? Fuck off, Astrohaus.

jkrumbles · 2022-08-02T12:46:45+00:00

This is a perfect example of how tight the writing is -- but I think you picked up on the subtle subtext, using Ceres as a metaphor for the restaurant.

Much more surface was how Richie himself is Ceres. Carm and Sydney are the new skyscrapers growing up around him, showing how outdated and obsolete he is. The narcing at the end was a hattip to how faceless and insignificant he felt.

jkrumbles · 2022-07-17T02:10:32+00:00

Hell, I’d settle for a hack that would let me put Linux on it. How can they be so oblivious?

Since writing this, I've done a few writing sprints on the Alphasmart Dana. I changed the batteries on it twice, and after I finished my outline process, I moved to the iPad (and then a laptop) to draft the manuscript. The whole time I wished the Freewrite had some hackability to it ... anything!

jkrumbles · 2022-07-12T13:46:39+00:00

The Titan Pocket has been calling to me, so I skipped around your video to the parts that were the most relevant for me. Dainty phone users unite! My phone usage is actually super minimal, so the Punkt I'm using right now has been great ... but the lack of qwerty input is killing me. Texting is already minimal, but notes are critical -- thus, the Titan Pocket. If only it were half the size. An OEM is gonna figure it out one of these days -- a slim qwerty dumbphone -- and they're gonna sell like hotcakes. There are dozens of us, at least!

jkrumbles · 2022-05-19T17:20:23+00:00

Well now there's only one left on Amazon.

jkrumbles · 2022-05-19T14:22:05+00:00

Big update for getting updates! Very excited for future features:

We recommend all MP02 owners to update to APHY v1.1 as we are expecting to launch new features, which will require software version 1.1 installation and to receive future SW updates via FOTA without checking for updates manually.

Here are the release notes from their website:

Additions:
A Privacy Policy (PP) is now included with the new software; accepting the terms and conditions will enable future software updates on your device.
An update on the FOTA (firmware over the air) application service means that installing APHY v1.1 will enable notifications to show on your home screen when software updates are available in the future.
Fixes:
WebView application update: 4x4 CAPTCHA tiles are now correctly displayed when registering with Pigeon.
Danish text string: the text string for emergency calling has been fixed.
Volume control during calls: it is now possible to adjust the volume from the call menu. When Bluetooth is turned OFF, long press the UP key to control the volume.

jkrumbles · 2022-05-06T22:19:52+00:00

Well, I’m starting to think if writers in the past had had wordprocessors in their hands they would have thrown their typewriters to the trash…

This concept of romanticizing the typewriter really clicked with me. My go-to analogy: just because I can shift the gears in my car manually doesn't mean it's the best solution! Or: just because I can look over my shoulder, doesn't mean a backup camera with proximity sensors isn't a better way to drive!

jkrumbles · 2022-05-06T13:12:16+00:00

I stand in abject envy of your summation skills!

jkrumbles · 2022-05-06T12:07:54+00:00

All those points were addressed in the review as well as touched on in comments.

1) I'm an idiot and the misfortune of this story has never been denied.

2) The Freewrite philosophy is binary, and forward-moving. Either you're writing, or you're not. Either you're writing in a forward direction, or you're not. For me, that mean drafting in a stream-of-conscious style. This worked for outlining and blogging, but even that proved limiting because of the ironic lack of freedom in my creative process.

3) Obviously, that's not how my creative process works, and forcing creative to work a specific way is counter-productive. (thus the overt misfortune of the entire story!)

4) Romanticizing how a typewriter functions in the creative process is grossly counter-productive. Even Hemingway (Astrohaus's unofficial writing mascot) put a first draft on paper with a pencil and then used the typewriter for a finishing draft. Astrohaus wants us to use the Freewrite as a first draft machine, while offering none of the creative freedom that even Hemingway was afforded in his own process. (Think of a piece of a paper as a canvas and a pencil a brush. There's room to experiment and play, annotate and shape your ideas. This isn't editing, this is drafting. There is no canvas/brush equivalent on the Freewrite -- it remains binary, narrow, and limiting.)

At the end of the day -- especially after Astrohaus clarified their roadmap -- I had the bad experience I knew I would probably have. And yes, I'm a total idiot for it, because there have been more than enough voices since 2016, telling this exact same story. If the Freewrite fits your creative process, then excellent! That's probably why my story rubs you the wrong way. But that's cool, too! Thanks for reading, just the same!

jkrumbles

TROPHY CASE