Open Mike LIVE

This collection chronicles over 7 years of live-streaming video posts I’ve recorded.

This raw format is a move from static text to video, facilitating a more immediate and direct connection with others. They are unscripted and unpolished slices in my life, documenting my travels and adventures across various locations in North America.

A man with dark hair and a bandana around his neck stands in front of red and white striped fabric and a blue section with white stars, reminiscent of the American flag.
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  • Escaping Hell
    1/4/21

    Escaping Hell

    Mike vents about a relentless stream of hardships and trauma that have followed him since leaving Portland, Oregon, during a period of hell that includes being a victim of rape and theft by an ex-partner, an illegal eviction spurred by friends of the ex, and precipitously losing his job after a mental health crisis sparked by the wildfires that besieged the state of Oregon in summer 2020.

  • Finding Renewed Purpose in Portland
    7/4/20

    Finding Renewed Purpose in Portland

    Mike shares personal updates, particularly about recently starting his "dream job" as a transmission operations engineer at Portland General Electric, which he is passionate about and sees as a significant positive change after a challenging year.

  • Facing Canadian Justice
    4/12/19

    Facing Canadian Justice

    Mike reports from Concordia University in Montreal an hour before reporting to a nearby police station, mentally preparing for his unknown fate and explaining the recent criminal charges of harassment and death threats being pressed by his former employer CEATI International. He discusses his past arrest for marijuana possession and frames these events as a public lesson on navigating the legal system in Canada and the United States.

  • Interview Prep
    1/17/18

    Interview Prep

    Enroute to Cambridge, Ohio, Mike discusses his ongoing job search and recent interviews, sharing details about 3 separate interviews scheduled this week - one with a natural gas distributor, one with a previous employer in Montreal, and one with an insurance company. He also touches upon a recent breakup and some of the associated fallout.

  • Cold Morning Cruise
    1/14/18

    Cold Morning Cruise

    Mike reports from his car on a frigid Sunday morning in Steubenville, expressing frustration and confusion over his recent breakup with Matt. He also shares updates on his job search, discussing several potential engineering opportunities, and offers glimpses of local landmarks during his drive.

  • Desire to Settle Down
    12/27/17

    Desire to Settle Down

    Enroute to Pittsburgh, Mike shares his recent endeavors in considering various "blue-collar" jobs, expressing excitement for these recent excursions from young professional life working in office settings. Marveling some of the positive changes and recent growth in Steubenville, he expresses desire to establish a stable presence in Ohio for the next several years, driven by a wish to engage in local politics and community affairs.

Featured Episodes

Journals & Musings

  • A hand-drawn graph on white paper shows the relationship between boredom and the tendency to write a blog. The graph has two lines, one in pink labeled "intensity of opinion" and one in orange. The pink line increases more steeply than the orange line. The title at the top reads "Figuring things out..." in green. The pink line and text indicate that as the intensity of opinion increases, so does the tendency to write a blog, especially at higher levels of opinion intensity.

    Figuring Things Out

    2013-2020

    Graphics are colorful, they invite a myriad of differing interpretations, they portray trends, etc.  Plus, they're less prone to language barriers.

    Figures make complicated concepts easier to understand, simplify, and organize. Plus, I was too lazy to write longwinded essays anymore.

  • Close-up of a person's face with blue lighting, showing a serious expression.

    My Little Corner of Semi-Reality

    2004-2013

    My life is an open book. Please don't burn it.