Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #119: Exploding Brace, Temu Google Maps, Boardwalk Memorial, etc.

1. Sometimes I can anticipate something happening before it does. Despite knowing the possibilities, I still do it. No, this isn’t very serious. I bought a gel knee wrap from Job Lot that can be heated or frozen to help with knee pain. I thought it was a great idea, and it was only $5. I used it the same night. I only microwaved it for 45 seconds. It came out warm but not hot. I wrapped it around my left knee and sat to watch some TV. The gel didn’t really stay warm, so I decided to give it a refresh. In my mind, I was laughing, thinking that the gel might explode. Obviously, I didn’t think it would really happen. So I put the wrap back in the microwave. This time I set it for a minute to try to get the gel properly hot. I walked away and heard a pop. Yup, the gel exploded in the microwave with 2 seconds left on the timer. There were hundreds of little blue gel beads strewn all over the microwave. I had to grab the turntable and scoop the beads into a Ziploc bag. They were hot and kind of slimy, so I had to go scrub the turntable and wash my hands. It was a few minutes of me finding rogue beads on the floor. Needless to say, that gel wrap was returned with the receipt. I also bought a knee compression sleeve, but I don’t think that it will explode if I wear it.


2. Being someone who once prided himself on being a borderline elite runner for a little while less than a decade ago, the fact that someone just finished a full marathon (26.2 miles) in under two hours is mind-boggling. Kenyan Sabastian Sawe finished the London Marathon in a staggering 1 hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds. It broke the men’s world record by 65 seconds. To put it into perspective, here are some stats. Sawe ran the equivalent of a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in an hour. At my absolute physical peak as a runner, I could finish a half-marathon in 94 minutes. That’s a 7-minute 10-second pace. Sawe’s pace for a full 26.2 miles was an other-worldly 4 minutes 34 seconds per mile. Again, at my peak, I could pull off a 5-minute 30-second mile. One mile. Then I’d either start wearing down or just be totally gassed and fall over. He was nearly a minute per mile faster than my best for a full marathon. Incredible. Lost in that accomplishment is the fact that the second-place finisher, Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia, also finished in under two hours. He clocked in at 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 41 seconds. Oh, and it was his first-ever marathon.


3. I was eagerly anticipating Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 when it dropped on Netflix last week. It’s an animated spin-off that takes place between seasons 2 and 3 of the show in canon. I am already enjoying it because the voice actors all sound almost identical to the original characters. It is 10 episodes, each clocking in around 30 minutes. That means most of you could probably binge the season in an afternoon. Me, I am taking my time. I have a tendency to only watch one episode of any show I am watching per night. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I think this is a great little side quest for anyone who enjoys Stranger Things. Also, based on the timeline of these 10 episodes, I could easily see there being a second season if the Duffer Brothers chose to do so. I will always be longing for a spin-off in the future where Mike travels and finds Eleven by the waterfalls, but this is also good. Plus, it is low-risk since I know none of the characters are going to die, since they all obviously make it to season 3. All in all, a fun, easy, engaging watch. UPDATE: Season 2 of Tales From ‘85 has been announced for this fall.

4. It’s confusing the way that things are monetized online. My blog, the same one this post is a part of, routinely gets 100,000 or more views per month. In full transparency, I believe that the vast majority are bots that have infiltrated my blog since I don’t do any of the CAPTCHA junk. Still, it’s a lot of views regardless. I researched that if you use Google Adsense, as I do, a blog that has 100,000 views in a month should earn at least $500 or more in that same month. As of this writing, my blog has 140,000 views in April. How much have I earned? 40 cents. I have no clue what the deal is. If bots aren’t counted toward monetization, then why are they counted toward my overall view count? Fix it one way or the other. I’m fine with 40 cents if that accurately reflects the number of views on my blog. I see the total, though, and unless there’s some glitch on Google’s end, I feel like I should be earning way way more than I am. I sent them feedback about it. We’ll see if anything changes.


5. I have mentioned before that I have a 12, now 13, year old client I train. I have to basically do the same workout in order to get him to stay engaged. In the end, I’ll typically burn anywhere from 250-350 calories in 30 minutes as I kill myself to make sure he exercises. We chat as we throw medicine balls, and one thing I have learned is that he is very big on computer repairs. He finds and repurposes computers from the dump or ones that are given to him by others. I believe he has something like 6-8 working computers and nearly a dozen that don’t currently work. I made the mistake of mentioning that I had a pair of old laptops at home. He asked for both, and I compromised with one. I didn’t mind giving it to him since it’s been collecting dust in the closet for probably 5 years. My only mistake was giving it to him before the training session started. It was impossible to get him focused as he tried starting the laptop and checking to see what its specs were. He was happy with it and said thank you, but our workout was not great since he was pretty distracted the entire time. Oh, and he did ask again about the other old laptop, but I said I was holding onto it.


6. The brace and wrap for my knee that I mentioned earlier were bought because I’ve had an issue with my left knee that’s gotten a little worse lately. The area where the patellar tendon attaches to the lower leg has been inflamed and is pretty annoying when my knee is fully flexed. The issue is stability in the lower leg. Another product I bought to try to help with that is a strap that is attached right below the knee at the top of the calf. When the strap is on, it almost immediately stabilizes my left ankle. I went for a long walk after putting it on and was amazed by how stable it felt and how confident I felt in it. Maybe it was just a mental thing, and the effects weren’t that great, but who knows? I even tried to do a little running. It was a positive first try. Only time will tell if this strap can put an end to the knee issue, or at least lessen it. It’s just another thing I need to take, or wear, to keep my body running as best it can. Soon, it’ll be a 12-step process just to step out of bed in the morning.


7. I have mentioned before that my new favorite thing is to shoot videos while driving. I extend my selfie stick up through my moon roof and hold it while I steer with the other hand. I only do it on less crowded roads and also only drive slowly. I know it sounds like I’m defending something dangerous. Typically, I film while driving to beaches since people like those videos. One thing I’ve started noticing is the stares I get from people, especially those walking, as I drive by. In fact, a little girl was walking with her dad on one day, and since I was driving slowly, I could see her point and ask What is that?’ It made me wonder what people think is going on with my car when I go by. Do people think I am a Temu version of the Google Maps car? Like, they didn’t want to send the official vehicle to Cape Cod, so they stuck a camera on an old Toyota and asked me to just drive around? As stupid as that sounds, I could see someone thinking that’s what it was. I should get a Google Maps wrap for my car. Then maybe I’d be allowed to drive into private places like Great Island and Oyster Harbors. This is an example of my driving videos.




8. After what seems like a few years of planning, the new Parker’s River Landing recreation area opened this week in West Yarmouth. It is where there was a drive-in when I was growing up in the 1980s. Amazing that I am of that age where I can tell younger people, ‘back in my day this used to be (whatever)…’ The opening day was cloudy and cool, but even with less-than-stellar weather, the place looks great. There is a huge green field for play and probably for festivals, concerts, and things like that in the summer. There is a playground, a kayak launch ramp, and the biggest attraction, which is an elevated boardwalk that extends over the marsh. There are beautiful views of Seagull Beach to the north and Parker’s River to the east. I have a feeling that I will be visiting there a lot in the future.



9. The real main reason I went to Parker’s River Landing had to do with that boardwalk I mentioned. Located out on the boardwalk, there are probably at least a few dozen engraved planks that people bought. One of those planks is in honor of my Uncle Eric. He passed away a little over 3 years ago from pancreatic cancer. My aunt and cousin got the plank with his name on it. I waited until there wasn’t anyone else out on the boardwalk so that I could take my time and search for it. I was torn. On one hand, it is a beautiful spot, and it will be nice to use that area as a place to reconnect with him every now and then in a roundabout way. On the other hand, I’d much rather be chatting and laughing with him at a cookout than sitting next to a plank with his name on it. I made the best of it. I sat and played a song that always reminds me of him for a bit. Other people eventually came out, so I had to cut it a little short. There will be another time.



10. I have been going to my local Planet Fitness gym for many years. In fact, when I first started there, it was called World Gym. Last year, they did a major upgrade on all of the equipment. Before that, you’d have a handful of machines out of order at any time. They added common equipment that any reputable gym has, like kettlebells, bands, BOSU balls, medicine balls, and foam rollers. Yes, for years, they had none of that stuff. I still wish they had more specialized equipment to make my workout more complete. That being said, I was shaking to my core with excitement over the latest addition to Planet Fitness. No, it wasn’t battle ropes, or barbells for deadlifts, or red light therapy. No, it was even better. Little digital advertisements over the faucet at every sink in the bathroom. They are called ‘sinkside billboards.’ Are you kidding me? No money for equipment upgrades, but they waste it on little TV screens that make it so I can’t see where the faucet is at the sink. I guarantee you if one of those stupid things shorted out, they’d have maintenance in there in five seconds. If a machine breaks down, it’s down for weeks. Absolutely one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen.


11. In honor of the opening of the Parker’s River Landing on the former grounds of the Yarmouth Drive-In, I took it upon myself to go for another trip down memory lane. This involved another former drive-in site. The Dennis Drive-In was open from 1949 to roughly 1986 on Hokum Rock Road. Since closing, it has been allowed to become overgrown. Despite forty years, you can still see the asphalt of the parking lot. You can also see the roads where the cars would drive and park with their front end elevated slightly on a hill for the best view of the screen. The peak of treasure hunting comes from looking for the old speaker poles that have been left strewn about the grounds. When I was there, I counted four that I found, but I am sure that in an area that used to be able to fit 600 cars, there are probably more. It’s only when you see one of these poles that you realize what used to be there. Otherwise, it just looks like an abandoned lot where some jerks dump trash. Who knows, maybe someday they will turn that property into something useful. Right now it’s just a scavenger hunt.




12. The first week of May meant it was finally time to get rid of my Halloween pumpkin. You heard right. I still had the mini pumpkin I bought in early October. It was honestly still in good condition, which is why I think I forgot to get rid of it. I can’t just throw it in the trash. Where’s the fun in that? I made a whole short film about me seeking revenge on the pumpkin because it wouldn’t help me shovel snow in the winter. This all culminated in my driving to Scargo Tower in Dennis, climbing to the top of the 30+-foot tower, and heaving the pumpkin over the side. Amazingly, it didn’t explode when it hit the parking lot. I had to come back down and slam dunk it onto the pavement for the full effect. Then it was tossed into the nearby woods to be food for animals. All of this was filmed for some laughs.

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 227: Dungeons & Dragons, 2000s Product Fails, Most Influential Songs Ever(1-14-2026)

 

Order a copy of my debut film, Cape Cod Cthulhu!

The history of Dungeons & Dragons, some of the biggest product fails of the 2000s, and some of the most influential songs ever written.

Episode 227 asks you to warm your feet by the fire that is GenX nostalgia as we navigate the dark days of winter.

It kicks off with fails, and lots of them. We go back to the turn of the 21st century to laugh and shake our heads at some of the biggest product fails of the 2000s. Automobiles, sodas, tech bombs, and more will be discussed.

As Stranger Things ends its run, it is a perfect time to deep dive into one of the iconic show's biggest themes, Dungeons & Dragons. We will give an overview of the game's history, how to play it, and how it has influenced GenX and pop culture in general.

In a new Top 5, we will go over some of the most influential songs ever written. These are the ones that impacted the business as a whole, not to mention generations of future musical acts.

There is a new This Week In History and Time Capsule looking back to the creation of the Telegraph.

You can support my work by becoming a member on Patreon. 

Or you can Buy Me A Coffee!

Helpful Links from this Episode

• Buy My New Book, In Their Footsteps!
• Searching For the Lady of the Dunes True Crime Book
• Hooked By Kiwi - Etsy.com
• DJ Williams Music
• KeeKee's Cape Cod Kitchen
• Christopher Setterlund.com
• Cape Cod Living - Zazzle Store
• Subscribe on YouTube!
• Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog
• CJSetterlundPhotos on Etsy
• Stranger Things Have Happened: A GenX Fairytale
• Hidden Track Podcast #1

Listen to Episode 226 here

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #102: Winter Storm Names, Stranger Things, New Year Intentions, etc.

1. I still don’t understand the point of naming winter storms. As of this writing, there is a Winter Storm Ezra coming toward New England. Like, who cares if it has a name? Did meteorologists feel sad that only hurricanes were getting names? Also, does anyone remember any winter storm in the last few years by its name? I sure don’t. What’s next, naming every day after someone? Oh man, look out, Partly Cloudy Pete is coming today. In 20 years, I’ll tell the younger generation ‘You should have been there for Foggy Drizzle Dan, it was so mildly inconvenient. Then again, every day is International (something pointless) Day, so I guess naming winter storms tracks.


2. Currently, I am on a holiday break from my day job. We do it each year from Christmas to New Year's, basically because the one year we didn’t, our schedule was maybe half-full, and my boss rightfully didn’t want to pay us full-time to be standing around half of the day. I’ve been using the free time to work a lot on content and also hit the gym more in advance of any New Year’s resolutions. That being said, I could tell my body was starting to wear down with how hard I was working out at the gym. It got to a point where my Fitbit had to basically order me to take it easy. Yes, Fitbit, whatever you say. I will gladly take a day to sit and relax. It didn’t hurt that the day it told me to chill, it was 25 degrees and windy out. Much easier to relax when the thought of going outside is too much.


3. This was a sure way to kill the mood of a day. I wanted to do some work on my script for my film that will shoot late this summer. Rather than sit at my desk as I always do, I decided to head to a local library. Typically, I get good creative vibes from writing at a spot different from home. Well, I should have just stayed home. I drove all the way to this library, and it was packed because it’s school vacation week. That was no big surprise. I went in and found a desk in the back corner and unpacked my laptop. I noticed they had new chairs. These were brightly colored and padded but also very low to the ground. As soon as I sat in the chair, I knew I’d never be able to work there. The desk was basically chest height. It was ridiculous. No more than 30 seconds after sitting, a big fat guy with headphones sits at the desk next to me. His being there was no big deal until I heard the music. This jerk had his music so loud in his headphones that I could clearly hear it, and it was distracting and obnoxious. I sat for maybe 2 minutes before being so aggravated that I packed up my stuff and left. It took me longer to drive to the library than the time I actually was inside. What an absolute waste of time. All it did was piss me off to the point that I no longer wanted to write.


4. One thing I have been doing for my Patreon subscribers is remastering and sharing these livestreams I used to do for my podcast. About 4 years ago, I was going live on Instagram weekly and doing something called Without A Map. I’d review the most recent podcast episode and invariably go wildly off-topic into fun and wacky stories. I fix the audio, edit any dragging parts, and enhance the video to make it a better experience for my subscribers. I had been downloading the original videos from YouTube to edit. This week I went to grab the next in line and noticed it went from #10 to #12, no #11. I also noticed my Without A Map playlist only went up to #28 when I knew I did way more. I wasn’t sure what to do since, after the streams would end, I’d have to save them to my phone and then upload them to YouTube. What happened to the other streams? Luckily, a little research showed me that all of those ‘lost’ streams had been bundled in with my reels on IG. I was able to go into my archives and find #11 and download it. Oh, and I ended up doing 49 streams in total, so there’s plenty more content to come for my Patreon subscribers.


5. I headed out after dark one night this week to grab a few quick things at the store. I had barely taken a few steps and was reaching for my keys when I noticed something a few feet beyond my car. Then I noticed another, and another. 3 big shadows sneaking across the neighbor’s yard. It took me a moment to figure out that they were deer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough getting my phone out for a photo. Even if I did, it was dark, and it would have either been blurry or the flash would have lit up my car. It was shocking for sure to suddenly see 3 fully grown deer emerging from the shadows. They went across the street into a small conservation area. That conservation area is a haven for deer, coyotes, foxes, turkeys, and owls. I haven’t gone down in there to find out; it’s just that there are way too many of those animals lurking around the yard, especially in the warmer months. Now I’m going to have to be at the ready with my phone anytime I go out after dark in case the deer are hanging out again.


6. The finale of Stranger Things was an amazing and fitting ending. The show was 5 seasons of a trip back to my childhood. Granted, I would have been younger than the main cast when the events were happening in the 80s. In fact, for those who know the show, I was the same age as Holly and Derek and their crew. I won’t spoil things for those who will be watching, especially since it was literally New Year’s Eve when the finale premiered. It must have been watched by a lot of people since Netflix was glitched out for several minutes when the show went up at 8pm. Stranger Things had so many wonderful characters and actors playing them. We got to watch them literally grow up before our eyes. The thing is, for as beautiful as the ending of the show was, it was ever so slightly traumatic for my GenX mind. It was like reliving my childhood, yes, but then it was also like watching my childhood slip away all over again. I don’t think I was ready for that, and judging by social media, a lot of my GenX brethren weren’t ready for it either. So at least I am not alone. I will miss new episodes with the killer 80s music, product placement, and references that people of my generation understand. Rumor has it that there are at least a pair of spin-offs coming. One is an animated series based in 1985. That one’s confirmed. The other is top secret, but I have heard rumblings that it might be based around Nancy’s character. We’ll see. I posted it all over social media after the show aired, but once again, thank you to Stranger Things and the creators, The Duffer Brothers, for letting me, and so many other GenXers, relive our childhoods even for a little while. I even wrote a blog about how the show affected me. You can read it here: Stranger Things Have Happened: A GenX Fairytale

7. I have always had a wacky sense of humor. It comes out quite a bit in these blogs. When I was in high school, I spent my savings on a camcorder with dreams of being a film director. I loved using my creativity to make up the most random stuff to make skits. These were mainly to make my friends laugh. One thing I want to do more of in 2026 is crafting skits again, but this time for social media. They will probably be tougher to do now with all of my friends having jobs and families, or living far away. Still, I am looking for any and all creative outlets to explore since that’s the stuff that really makes me feel alive. Here is a little something I cooked up for New Year’s Day. I hope you like it.




8. In a strange but necessary twist, I actually turned down a couple of creative projects to kick off 2026. I’m not giving up my dreams of being a totally self-employed content creator. I am just being more selective with what I choose to spend my time on. This goes far beyond just content projects and goes into life in general. I have spent the last 5 years working nonstop on content. That means books, podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs, editing, producing, acting, and anything else that floated into my orbit. I don’t regret any of it. That being said, I have a goal in 2026 that involves having more free time for family, friends, and maybe even finding a relationship. In order to achieve that, I had to start finding places that I could cut back. The pair of projects I turned down would have been fun and would have added to my resume, but they also would have required who knows how many hours out of my life. I can’t say ‘I want more time with those I care about’ and then not do my part to make it happen. I think of it as going to a buffet. In the last few years, I would fill my plate with anything and everything, overflow it. In 2026, I am still going to have a full plate, just with fewer options. All steak and mac and cheese, no rolls or cole slaw.


9. It has already been a snowier and colder winter this year than last, and it’s only been 2 weeks. We got the storm this week that left us with 3-4” of heavy snow. That’s not a big deal except for the fact that the temperatures stayed below freezing for the next several days, meaning that the snow and slush stuck around and refroze. I only realized there was an issue when I was leaving the gym one morning this week. I saw the frozen slush/dirt combo stuck in my wheel wells and under my front doors. It was so bad that if I had gotten any more up in there, my tires wouldn’t have had any room to spin. I kicked a little away, but most of it was frozen solid. Not wanting any problems with my car, I looked for something to chisel the sludge away. I found the perfect utensil in the form of a tire iron from my trunk. So there I was, in my gym shorts, on a 30-degree morning in the gym parking lot, chipping frozen slush out of my wheel wells with a tire iron. Two thoughts were going through my mind. 1. How crazy do I look? 2. This is going in the blog (obviously).


10. It was 10 years ago this week that my buddy Steve and I went on one of our best photo adventures. We were up early and drove out to Provincetown. Next up was a 2-mile hike through the darkness and the woods, over the dunes to get to Race Point Lighthouse. It was in the low 20s with the wind chill at, or below, zero. We sat with our backs against a brick building known as the Whistle House. You can rent it in the summer. It was freezing, and we would get up to take photos of the ever-increasing sunrise, and then quickly huddle back down. It was one of my favorite photo adventures ever. How did we celebrate the 10th anniversary of it? By going on another cold photo shoot. Only this one was sunset, and Nauset Lighthouse is only a few hundred feet from the parking lot. I guess we are getting older.



11. Earlier, I mentioned my hope/desire to actually start a relationship. Intentions without actions are useless, so I signed up on a dating app. A problem that I have living on Cape Cod is that the dating pool can be small, especially as you get into your 40s. In previous years, when I was on dating sites, it was nearly impossible to find someone because I kept my search radius low, like 25 miles. That works fine if you live in a city, but not in a relatively rural area like the Cape. An old friend of mine used to have her search radius so wide that she’d end up finding and dating people in Boston. I wasn’t willing to go that far until now. Well, not Boston far, but expanding my radius to 50 miles. That gives me places within an hour of me. It’s like I’m showing the universe I’m serious. How serious will I be when I find someone 50 miles away, and we have to plan a date that might involve an hour of driving? We’ll see. But maybe showing I’m willing to get out of my comfort zone will bring someone amazing into my orbit.


12. While at the gym one day this week, I finished with the actual workout and went to sign up for a session on one of the hydromassage beds. They are definitely worth the little bit extra I pay per month, for now at least. While signing up, there was an employee explaining the gym to two potential new members. Ironically, he began raving about the hydro bed. I mentioned that was why I was standing there. Before going into the room, I looked at the two potential members and told them that it was my favorite part of the workout. I also said I wasn’t a paid spokesman for the gym. I will say that if they did sign up for the more expensive package, I should get at least a little thank you, like a free drink or something.

Stranger Things Have Happened: A GenX Fairytale

The final episode of Stranger Things only aired a few days ago when I am writing this. I can say I have never had a television show, and more specifically, one episode of a television show, affect me so deeply.

I have realized that, as much as it is my connection to the show, I mean, we watched most of the main cast go from children to adults, it’s also how the show put a mirror up to me and to my generation.

I am a proud GenXer. Born in 1977. Stranger Things was set in the mid-1980s. I lived it, so seeing so many products, hearing so many songs, and feeling the vibe of my childhood was comfort food for the soul I didn’t realize I needed so.

The problem with any television show is that it inevitably comes to an end. With the final episode came emotions that I don’t think I had felt in forever. I am not alone. On social media, I have come across literally hundreds of posts from people my age feeling the same way.

The youngest of GenX will be turning 45 this year. We were the last truly wild and free generation. The way the kids are portrayed on Stranger Things is reality. My friends and I would be all over the place on our bikes. We’d get into adventures and maybe a little trouble, but never anything too overly dangerous. Many younger people wonder how we dealt with the lack of convenience and technology. I feel bad for them as they will never know that type of freedom.

We were the generation that rolled with the punches. We became adults early and have felt like we’ve been so removed from our childhood innocence for so long. I began working at age 12. That means, as of writing this, I have held a job for 36 years. Still, I always had time for my friends and our growing up together.

GenX were the people who said ‘whatever.’ Like it was a badge of honor to never feel or care. Hell, they even created OK Soda in the early 1990s to try to appeal to our sense of nonconformity. There was one problem, though. We only kept our love and emotions below the surface. It feels to me like Stranger Things opened a door we had thought was long-since closed.

I will say now that I am going to share some spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the final episode, just beware.

My high school

2026 marks the 30th anniversary of my high school graduation. I think my emotions were ready to explode; they just needed something to light the fuse.

Stranger Things fittingly ends with the main cast graduating high school in 1989. The way that Mike, Lucas, Will, Dustin, and Max all act and feel as their time draws near, I felt it because I had been there.

It’s a weird mix of peaceful emptiness and quiet desperation. When the final weeks were ticking down to graduation, it didn’t feel like anything was changing. We still had class, we still had homework. The difference was that many of my peers had college acceptance letters rolling in.

The peaceful emptiness comes from the sad reality that you cannot change what was coming. I couldn’t stop us from graduating. I couldn’t stop my friends from slowly being pulled from my orbit and into a new one. It was resignation.

The quiet desperation came after graduation. We didn’t all just vanish the day after we threw our caps into the air. There was a final summer. This is where I scratched and clawed, trying to get those last memories stuck under my fingernails. I still remember the days when my two best friends left. Barry left first, John left second. I can see those final moments of that chapter of our lives. I enjoyed them, yes, but I also desperately tried to memorize the last jokes, the last places we went. I knew it would never be the same again, and it wasn’t.

When the Stranger Things kids skip a party they are invited to so they can play Dungeons & Dragons, I felt that. I didn’t want new adventures with different people. I wanted final adventures with my ride or die brothers. Those tears they shed as they returned their D&D binders to the shelf were real, as that scene was the last ever shot for the show.

It was a symbolic leaving childhood behind and entering the unknown door of adulthood.

A confession. I didn’t apply to colleges in my senior year. I planned on skipping a semester and then going to the local community college. For someone who took his SATs when he was 13, it was a major step back. Why did I do it?

First, I had been going so hard trying to be the best student I could since I could remember. School got harder in my junior and senior years as I wanted less to do with difficult subjects like trigonometry, calculus, and chemistry. I wanted to craft funny (in my opinion) videos with my camcorder and my friends. That was my ultimate dream.

Second, I had a girlfriend who was still going to be in school. In my mind, I needed to stay behind since our relationship was obviously going to last forever. It didn’t. It lasted 2 ½ years. At the time, though, as I was losing my closest friends, I still had her. I hung on in quiet desperation to what was familiar.

Nobody told me that if you’re going hard for years and you take your foot off the gas, it can be tough, damn near impossible to get that momentum back. Once I went to college in the spring of 1997, it was like pulling teeth to get a 2-year degree. I resented my choice, I missed my friends, I felt like a child still, despite being told I was entering the real world.

As the years go by, you get bogged down with daily life. Job, bills, responsibilities, maybe a family, they all become your focus. As I draw closer to 50, there are days when 18 feels like yesterday. There are days when I think I turned 40 a thousand years ago. Time gets warped. I am sure that I am not the only one of my generation who feels like we packed away our childhoods like a bunch of torn garbage bags thrown into a garage. We never really went through everything to celebrate or grieve like we should have. But how could we have known that was necessary?




The finale of Stranger Things flung the garage door open and launched our bags of emotions out onto the lawn for us to go through, whether ready or not. I was definitely not.

That moment when the first chord of Prince’s legendary Purple Rain hit, as Mike and Eleven stood together, I shattered. I knew what was coming. There was no happy ending for them. Yes, I know, it’s a fictional show, but it hit me because I related to Mike the most.

In the final scene, he is regaling his friends with the stories of their futures, but in the guise of their D&D characters. Mike was the storyteller. I was the storyteller of my group of friends. I spent my savings on a camcorder so I could create stories with my friends.

As he shared their stories, I saw bits of my high school friends in them. Then it hit me, hard, I am Mike. The other characters all get happy endings. Maybe Mike does, but it’s not in the obvious way. He loses his love and falls into the hole of grief. Later, he uses that grief and the love he lost to formulate stories of his friends' adventures.

Mike is the character I related to most.

I am writing this blog as we speak because of my own lost love. Back in June 2025, I wrote a very detailed post about this lost love named Wendy. I called it peaceful emptiness, much like I described my feelings after Stranger Things ended, and after graduating high school. I’ll link to that post at the bottom, but of course will give you the Cliffs Notes.

I met a girl at my lowest. I was battling severe depression, and she dragged me out of it by being who she was. She rebuilt me and made me feel like a full human years after my graduation. Then, almost as suddenly as she arrived, she was gone. The time, and our lives, just didn’t match up. She was a supernova of love that made me feel a way nobody else has before or since. I went hard into my writing career as a way to cope with losing her. In a way, I continue on that path because it makes me feel connected to her still.

In Stranger Things, we see that very likely Eleven did survive but had to fake her death and travel far away without anybody knowing. For close to 20 years, I was where Mike ended the show. I had no idea where Wendy was. She was basically off the grid. All I had were memories. Then the timing lined up, and I found her last June.

It was that peaceful emptiness because I found her and got that closure, but in doing so, I saw that she was where she needed to be. She was living an important and fulfilling life. There was no chance of my swooping in as a white knight. There was also no point in reaching out, as there was no good that could come of it. So I got my closure and just had to be happy with that.

Wondering how high school ended 30 years ago.

Stranger Things ending held a mirror up to me, and probably to many other GenXers. It’s forced us to reconcile with the fact that our childhoods were so long ago and that maybe adulthood hasn’t been anything close to what we felt we were going to get. Ironically, the finale threw me harder into a midlife crisis than anything in my own life has.

I look in the mirror at my gray hair winning the war on my head, and I think to myself, Is it too late? I never found a love to replace Wendy. I never found a job that gave me the satisfaction that creating my skits in high school did. I see so many friends who are married, with kids, and houses, and living lives they deserve. What do I deserve?

Do I deserve to be the de facto storyteller of my friends? Do I deserve to be Mike, sitting and writing said stories and dreaming of the love he had but knowing he likely will never see her again?

Even close to 50, I feel like I’m walking the halls at Dennis-Yarmouth High School, looking at the different students and wishing I were them, or wishing I were with them. I am deep in that pit of emotion. It's both a good and a bad thing.

I wanted so badly for all of the characters on Stranger Things to get their happy endings. The fact that it was Mike, the one I connected with most, who didn’t, hit me hard. The show might be officially over, but that doesn’t mean the story is. Remember that years after Rick was presumed dead on The Walking Dead, he was reunited with Michonne, Judith, and RJ. Maybe years down the road, it happens for Mike and Eleven.

It comes back to my life. Certain chapters have ended, but books can be reopened. I firmly believe that I am where I am in my life for a reason. Unmarried, no children, the freedom that if I wanted to, I could go virtually anywhere. There has to be a reason for that, right? I go into each day thinking that it could be the day that the next amazing adventure in my life begins.



Circling back to where we started. Stranger Things made me, and a lot of my generation, feel things we hadn’t in a long time. It perfectly encapsulated our 1980s childhoods so much so that when the show ended, it felt like our childhoods did again. It shows the power of a well-crafted television show. It also shows that the peaceful emptiness and quiet desperation we have felt is the telltale sign that what we had was something unique and beautiful.

To my fellow GenXers, we had a good thing. I’m glad we got to experience it. Maybe we can never go back to our childhoods, but there are always photos, videos, and, of course, a Stranger Things rewatch.

Peaceful Emptiness: Finding Closure After 20 Years

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #100: Back In Time, Fox Sounds, 90s Mindset, etc.

1. I got an important message on Facebook this week. I need to convert my security to two-factor authentication before a certain date. The date? December 31, 1969. So not only do I need to change my security settings on Facebook, but I also need to find Doc Brown and the DeLorean and go back over 50 years to do it. It doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in security settings when they can’t even get the year right. If I have no other choice, I’ll wait until they at least get the date right before I go switching up my security settings.


2. Stand By Me and The Princess Bride were two of the most important films of my childhood in the 1980s. Rob Reiner was one of the most important directors of the last 40 years. Far beyond his work as Mike ‘Meathead’ Stivic on All In the Family, he created some of the most beloved films of my life. Death comes for all of us. It is undefeated. But for someone so beloved in Hollywood to be murdered in his own home in his late 70s, it’s beyond awful. I’m sure more details will be coming out in the weeks to come, but it appears as though it was his own son who did it. Sad, so damn sad. RIP Rob Reiner.


3. I signed up again for Netflix this week. It was mostly due to my FOMO over the final season of Stranger Things. I signed up for the lowest tier, with ads, for $7.99. I was anticipating being overloaded with ads. Thus far I have watched four episodes of Stranger Things Season 4, because I have to catch up, and I have yet to see one single ad. I even had to go check and make sure I didn’t accidentally sign up at a higher tier. You know what that means, right? At some point in the near future, the luck will even out, and I’ll be watching a show that is 75% ads. I have jinxed myself, but it’ll be worth it for Stranger Things, Cobra Kai, and Black Mirror.


4. I absolutely loved IT: Welcome To Derry. The show was loaded with easter eggs for lovers of the IT movies and also expanded the lore of those movies and the book. The plan is for 2 more seasons, each taking place in a different year as Pennywise continues his quest to destroy his enemies, present and future. If you enjoy horror, you’ll love this. It’s shot beautifully and should win an Emmy for cinematography, and other things. The acting is first-class. There are 8 total episodes, and each one feels like a movie in and of itself. I will not spoil anything for those who are watching or are going to watch. All I’ll say is that at the end, you’ll see how the prequel show lines up with the movies. Excellent.

5. In the continuing adventures of training my 12-year-old client comes this gem. We normally throw a 10# medicine ball back and forth for almost our entire 30-minute session. This week, his shoulder was tired, and his legs were tired from snow fun. I found a workaround by having him kick a kid’s rubber ball. His heart rate was still getting up there, and we made a game out of it. Luckily, without any weight to the ball, it could hit anything and not cause damage. Well, almost anything. During our session, the very first kick he did managed to be a line drive to my nuts. I had to not sell the impact, otherwise the whole session would have turned into him trying to nail me in the junk with the ball, or something more dangerous. In all, it was a fun time with 300 calories burned by me.


6. I have vivid dreams quite often. I will wake up multiple times per week, remembering whatever the dream was that I had. Most of the time, they are just random stuff, as most dreams tend to be. This week I had a dream like that, although it did feel like it had more meaning. I was at a school track with my friend Mike, of Monday Runday fame. For the first time ever, we were joined by our other friends Steve and Greg. What made this dream stand out was that our friend Pete showed up. Sadly, he passed away from cancer a little over 3 years ago. In the dream, he was drinking a specific type of water that, in the dream world, we recognized as being one taken off the market because it was proven to cause cancer. He had to have me and Greg scrub down the bleachers with soap and water so he could safely sit on them, as he had a compromised immune system in the dream. I don’t remember much of what we spoke about; it was brief, but I remember the water and us all bringing up how it had been pulled for causing cancer. I wish there were some special message Pete had for me to relay to the others. Maybe there was, but I forgot it. I think the fact that he was there, and I had never dreamed of all of those other friends before, makes this a special dream. Thanks for visiting, Pete.


7. As a big fan of the Back to the Future movies, I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of time travel. I can’t build a time machine. I don’t know how to make a flux capacitor. However, little did I know that I didn’t need to build a time machine. I have access to one in the basement in the form of the dryer. I was drying my laundry this week and waiting for the last 3 minutes to tick off on the timer. All of a sudden, boom! It’s back up to 19 minutes! I went 16 minutes into the past just like that. Nothing important happened, like me knowing the Powerball numbers or being able to save someone from an accident. Nope. In fact, it was just the fact that my clothes apparently weren’t dry in the time the dryer said they would be. So, in conclusion, the dryer isn’t a time machine, but it is a liar.


8. A strange occurrence happened one afternoon this week. We had a day of pretty steady rain, but as the sunset drew close, I noticed that there were some breaks in the clouds. I figured it was a perfect excuse to get outside since it was in the 50s in mid-December. I drove to a nearby beach and snapped a few cool photos before heading back to my car to post them on social media. While I was sitting in my car, I heard a strange sound. I thought it was either a kid screaming or an odd dog barking. I looked in my mirrors and saw a fox standing in the parking lot, maybe 20 feet behind my car. I stepped out and began shooting a video. It trotted away, but not before making that same odd barking sound on video. I went back to sitting in my car, but heard the barks a few more times and saw the fox walking through the parking lot toward the beach. Being foolish, I got out and started trying to find it to get more photos or videos. Now I had watched the fox running, and it didn’t look injured, so I felt like I wouldn’t get attacked. It was also dusk, so it was hard to see where it could have been hiding. Eventually, after walking across the entire beach, I heard it barking again. It was sitting up on a hill next to a fence, barking. I didn’t dare get too close, so I didn’t end up getting any more video. A person walking to the beach also heard the fox and thought it might have been calling its mate. I wasn’t going to keep chasing after it, especially since it disappeared under the fence. I did get the video, though.



9. I have been writing for decades. I first wanted to become a writer when I was in 2nd grade. I’ve done poetry, song lyrics, short stories, novels, blogs, and various other types of books. Despite having some experience in writing, I am surprised at how much of a learning curve there is for me when it comes to script writing. As some of you know, I am working on a script for a feature-length film that will be happening in the summer of 2026. It’s based on an old short story of mine, The Cabin, which I wrote in 2009. First off, I have to revise the actual book since my writing has improved in the last 15 years. Then I have to adapt that into a script. Why is it a learning curve? I guess it’s having to include a lot more ancillary details like where the scene is, some of how the camera should shoot, descriptions of actions, and the like. Think of it as having to describe everything that’s happening in as much detail as possible. Luckily, I have some time to get the first draft of the script done. After that, the director of the film, who has loads of experience, can help guide me to the finish line.


10. It was three long weeks that I wasn’t able to go for any outdoor walks. The weather was the main culprit. The only thing better than the 45-degree and sunny day was digging deep into my past with 90s Pop Radio on Pandora. Oh, but not just '90s Pop, but the ‘Discovery’ setting, deep cuts, man. After about 3 miles of my 5.5-mile walk, I was full-on back in the 90s, and it was bliss. I want to find a way to make 2026 more like the 1990s because the 2020s have been the worst decade of my life. Not sure what I can do to make that happen. Music, yes, a lot of the same friends, yes. Unfortunately, I am on the downside to 50, no matter how much I listen to Nirvana and wear flannel, that won't change. Maybe it’s a mindset. In the 90s, my whole life was an open road, and seemingly anything was possible. Now in the 2020s, it’s like I’m on a pothole-filled dirt road running through a wide-open desert with no side streets and no scenic overlooks. Maybe that’s the goal for 2026, to bring back the wonder I had for life in the 1990s. I’ll get to work on that.

This is how the 2020s have felt in my life.