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Day 17 - May 11 - Rest Day Number 3

Everywhere it's been the same, feeling
Like I'm outside in the rain, wheeling
Free, to try and find a game, dealing
Cards for sorrow, cards for pain

'Cause I've seen blue skies through the tears
In my eyes
And I realise, I'm going home."

Hi, and welcome back to my bike blog.

Trauma

My phone can't charge because of some moisture bug, and there's thunderstorms in the afternoon. Today I took another rest day, though it did not feel very restful. After yesterday, I want no part in the thunderstorm dance.

It's going to be a long catch-up, and a harder ride, but at least I'll be doing it safely.

No More Biking in Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge is my miniature version of hell. As far as I can tell, and I've biked, bussed, and taxi'd around the city quite a bit in the last two days, Baton Rouge is a cluster of strip malls overtop of dirty ravines. I've been told by locals that the most interesting thing around is the Mall of Louisiana. Getting there is hard, but getting there in the rain without a car is next to impossible. The bus system here is notoriously unreliable (though I've actually had a positive experience personally) and the bus stops are unsheltered. There are no bike lanes, and the streets are hostile to bikes.

Today was a bad day in particular. Flooded roads, rain, and the gridlessness of the city made navigating hard, and riding the bike was just a wet mess. The only consolation was being able to bike on the other side of the road to avoid floods. There have been times when I felt that the bike was a burden. Times when I was with friends, or that I needed to take transit, or times when I had to get home late, and had other options. Yet today, in the stormy weather, with the evil roads, crappy drivers, and the floods, the bike was simply my best option. I was not about to cough up the money for cabs to run errands, and besides, I barely saw any on the roads. Next time I'm in Baton Rouge, I'm renting a car.

The Phone Fiasco

And so, I biked from repair store to repair store, and was told time and time again that they don't have the correct part to fix my phone. So at the first repair store, I bought a refurbished android phone, and started setting it up. Before I even had a chance to leave through the door, apps started crashing. I returned the phone, and biked to the Mall of Louisiana.

I went to a second repair store there, and was offered refurbished phones. I chose an older iphone, and as before, while setting it up, I discovered that it was blocked by my carrier. I'm skipping a lot of back and forth between stores, looking at new phones, old phones, and the like, but by now it was 3pm, and I had been out trying to get a phone for over five hours. So I called my carrier, and they told me there's nothing they can do about it. So I returned my second phone for the day.

By now I was getting angry. I was getting angry, and I felt helpless. It was pouring rain outside, and I had no other option but to bike through it. My current phone, which refuses to charge, is dead, and it's getting darker and darker outside. I want to move tomorrow. All I want is a fucking phone that won't trash on me for two months. All I want is a phone whose seller isn't a lying piece of trash, and who can confidently tell me: "this phone will take pictures, call people, open maps, and play music, and it won't derp out on you."

I couldn't go to any of the mobile provider stores, because they sell locked phones. I couldn't go to phone repair stores, because apparently, they sell trash. So I did something that I am not proud of. I did something that my past-self would frown upon.

I Bought an iPhone

That's it, there's not much to it. I've suckled from the teat of the devil. I've supported a company I don't like. I broke my rules of engagement with the world. I traded a bit of my stubborn idealism for (hopefully) one fewer thing I have to deal with on this bike ride that isn't bike riding.

You know, it's been years since I last examined why I hate Apple as a company. It's been a while since I formed these opinions, and a lot of them were influenced by people I knew. At the end of the day, I'm not a techie hackerman who self-repairs phones and makes apps. I'm not a programmer, and I'm not a developer. It's hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I'm a user.

I'd like to one day know things about systems, computers, and to become a linux wizard, but perhaps my pretending to care about these things is akin to non-scientists fetishizing science like it's some religion. It's a fake persona I put on to impress the people I look up to. At the end of the day, I don't think I care too much about my own privacy. I mean, there is literally a freely accessible website that broadcasts my precise position. I think that I've long ago given up on my own privacy. I use Google devices, I have a Facebook account.

At this point, I'm just poutting all my eggs in the basket of "benevolent governments and companies that function ethically, democratically, and in a manner respecting human dignity." Now that I write out where my eggs are, I realize that they are already broken.

And so, I got to my hotel using the new iPhone to navigate. I got very wet. I tried drying my clothes with the blow-dryer, but it didn't work. The best way to dry wet clothes is to wear them. So I'm sitting on the couch in this room, in wet clothes, wishing these last three days were different.

I donated $250 to the EFF, because I don't know what else to do.

The Map

No map today. Today, there is only rain, pain, and going insane.

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!

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