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Cold War Chris

@lone.sentry

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Your phone is devouring your soul.
Social media was a mistake.
Find me in the real world.

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I don’t post here all that much these days, that said, I am taking a serious social media break until…who knows when. See you in the real world. by @lone.sentry

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2 years ago

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1933. My grandfather’s senior high school photo. by @lone.sentry

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3 days ago

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The passage of time, and the process of aging.

Was just chatting with @rumpelstillskates about an early 1990s mini-documentary on Boston skaters that we were both in, which included footage of me board sliding this 13-stair rail in Harvard Sq. So much stuff never got converted over from VHS to digital, and is now lost to time and memory.

It also staggering to think something like was once a “normal” day skateboarding for me. In 2026, at 52-years-old, it’s more pads than tricks, and the battle to not lose any more of them.

Time certainly takes it all away. And I’m certainly blessed and grateful that I can still skate, at all. That said, never take it for granted, and get it while you can.

#RollForever

. by @lone.sentry

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8 days ago

by @lone.sentry

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2 months ago

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“On a long enough time line, the survival rate of everything drops to zero.” -Tyler Durden

I learned from @varielperl that the Lexington park has seen its last day. I’ve not been there in quite awhile, but used to spend a good amount of time there. Here’s a pic of me popping over the box from a few years back. Good memories, for certain, and for that, I am grateful. by @lone.sentry

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3 months ago

Just put up a fresh one. The previous one was getting pretty beat from weather / exposure / etc. by @lone.sentry

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3 months ago

by @lone.sentry

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3 months ago

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I hit a big milestone today. I finished this book—in German.

I’ve been (trying to) learn German for many years now. In the process I had to completely re-learn English grammar. And in •that• process, I also learned just how poor my early grammar education had actually been. Subjunctives? Plu-perfect passive tense? Subordinating conjunctions? Relative pronouns? Verb mood and aspect? Direct and indirect objects? Accusative case? I had to learn all of this stuff in English again. Like skateboarding, it can be very, very humbling.

In any event, I never thought I’d ever be able read an •entire book• in a foreign language, but I did. It was certainly slow going, and I certainly had to look-up lots of words up, and have my German teacher walk me through tons of idiomatic expressions. Almost every page is marked-up like ones shown here. I am by NO means fluent at this point. But, when I started this book, it would take me about an hour to get through a single paragraph. By the end, I could get through several pages in that time. It’s all about the progress, not necessarily the final result.

Aside from the German aspect of all this…I’m not sure what all the fuss about Harry Potter is/was. I thought this was going to a really mind-blowing story. It was just…meh. The Shinning was much better. :) by @lone.sentry

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3 months ago

by @lone.sentry

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5 months ago

by @lone.sentry

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6 months ago

Today in dark history.

This is the Sultana steamboat. She had a capacity of 461 people.

However, on April 27, 1865 (161 years ago today), she was carrying 2,127, most of which were recently released prisoners of war, who had been held in southern detention camps.

At 2am on April 27th, three of her four boilers exploded. The exact death toll is unknown. Numbers range from 963 to 1,259. Bodies, and bodies parts, continued to be found downriver, and in trees, for months afterwards. No one was ever held accountable.

The Sultana remains the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. by @lone.sentry

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6 months ago

In the afternoon of April 17th, 1986, I walked down these abandoned trains tracks. It was my twelfth birthday.

A few days ago, on April 17th, 2026, I walked down those very same tracks.

What is truly astonishing is not that, 40 years later I am still here, but the tracks are. They have not been turned into some suburban “rail trail,” cookie-cutter condos, or some horrendous corporate development offices. There are not many “forgotten” places like this that still endure. And the ones that do are sacred, at least to me.

These are the places where time, Being, and experience sort of twist into their own non-orientable existential Möbius Strip. Traditional notions of time and reality seem to destabilize and crumble. The veils between Past and Present collapse, as they become stapled together for fleeting moments. These old train tracks are one of these places. I am lucky to still have a few of them around.

Anyway, as I walk in the footsteps of my own ghosts, here is to the 40th anniversary of being a 12-year-old. I hope I never have to grow up, or if I do, the experience of it will better allow me to still be a kid. Time to go ride my skateboard (while I still can). by @lone.sentry

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6 months ago