Welcome to Saltville

Collecting scars that don't seem to fade


  • Vlad’s Crack Dip

    This is the recipe for my friend Vlad’s famous “Crack Dip”, as I make it. Ingredients: Instructions: All mixing is done in a blender on puree. Leave the cream cheese and sour cream out to soften, 15 – 30 minutes Chop stems off the jalapeños. Cut lengthwise and scoop out the meat/seeds and set it… Continue reading

  • I’ve been missing the feeling when we close up the gaps between us

    For myself, a record of the Frank Turner shows I have attended. Real, real bummed that as of now his closest show in 2024 is at Boston Calling. I don’t like the idea of music festivals, they feel overwhelming. Also, it is too expensive. Also, it’s Memorial Day weekend and Panteria will always win. Lost… Continue reading

  • You can get pretty good at feeling pretty bad

    I didn’t make it very far into January on my “picture every day” project, but in my defense I got COVID. On Sunday January 7 I felt like shit – I was freezing cold, like in my bed with the electric blanket turned up to 10 and still could not get warm. So I knew… Continue reading

  • I almost believe that the pictures are all I can feel

    Way back in 2008 I attempted to do a “take a photo every day” challenge. I still have those photos, they are largely not good and I only made it until February 8. I have decided to try it again this year, for reasons I can’t fully explain. I know that one of the issues… Continue reading

  • Intention

    Well it’s January 1. Every post on social media lately seems to have been about how 2023 was such a horrible year, and it kind of was, but was it any worse than the preceding horrible years? I don’t know. I don’t remember the last time I reached December 31 and thought “what a good… Continue reading

  • Anxiety anxiety, you give me no mercy

    For the past week or so I have been having anxiety attacks every single day. I feel like I am just white knuckling it to get through. No one knows this. It is not externally obvious when this is happening to me and I haven’t told anyone for ??? reasons. Yesterday I took one of… Continue reading

  • Pennsic 50 – The Woods Battle

    The fighters and fencers of the East Kingdom in the SCA refer to the Pennsic woods as church. I never really understood it. Then, back in 2019, I was retaining for our queen during the heavy battle, and just being in those woods, seeing the fighters, feeling the energy – it started to click, and… Continue reading

  • Pennsic 50 – Peace Week

    I wish I had found the time and brain space to blog while I was actually at Pennsic, because now that I am sitting here trying to tell the stories, they are all a jumble. So this may be less a cohesive blog post and more a collection of random thoughts. Because it wouldn’t be… Continue reading

  • Pennsic 50 – Arrival

    I’m going to try and get a few blog posts in while I’m here at Pennsic but realistically this may be the only one – there is always so much to do, so many people to see, so little time. We left home on Saturday morning and drove to Buffalo – the drive was uneventful… Continue reading

  • Now you’re just somebody that I used to know

    Last night I discovered that a friend of 15+ years has blocked me on Facebook. We had a disagreement and haven’t spoken since October, so this isn’t completely “out of nowhere” – while also feeling like it is, because after all these months, why the sudden finality of not just unfriending but blocking? I don’t… Continue reading