Melodía J. Parker

Month: April 2026

  • Leaving Substack for good.

    Leaving Substack for good.

    For the past few months, this site was on Substack. I see now that was a mistake, and I will not be using Substack again in the future. I will stick with a self-hosted WordPress site.

    Substack has become a mess. There’s all sort of really nasty people on there, but I had managed to miss most of them. However, once they gave a platform to one of the worst people ever, I knew it was time to leave. Blocking the account wasn’t enough. The toxic followers of that account made their way across Substack. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.

    Also, there was a Substack I was following that was providing evidence for someone who had been falsely accused of some rather awful things. The attorneys for the false accuser tried to shut down the Substack. Thankfully, it wasn’t shut down, but it was a reminder that my site on Substack could’ve been shut down by someone who didn’t like me. And there’s plenty of people who hate me!

    So, as I mentioned earlier, I’ll be just sticking with my self-hosted WordPress site. No one can get me shut down here. All complaints will be ignored. I can be free of the stupidity and toxicity that is running rampant on Substack.

  • The results of my first ever chess game.

    The results of my first ever chess game.

    Recently, I played my very first chess game. I am still learning and there are a lot of things I still don’t know. So, when I decided to test the waters on my first game, I will admit that I was a little overwhelmed! I am very, very, very new to chess. So, I will be struggling in these very early games.

    I made a few blunders and mistakes, but I didn’t lose! The game ended in a draw by repetition. I have analyzed my moves and now I definitely understand what I did wrong. I will be playing another game soon to see if I can (hopefully) not make the same blunders and mistakes!

    Here is the game below. I was white.

  • Learning how to play chess.

    Learning how to play chess.

    As some of you know, my dad passed away a few years ago. He loved playing chess. It was his favorite game. He tried to explain it to me when I was younger; he had even bought a game called “Chess Teacher” to try to help me to learn, but I just didn’t understand it. Sadly, I never learned how to play chess while he was still alive. My mom doesn’t play chess either, so he had to play chess solo. He wasn’t interested in joining in any clubs or sites to play chess. We had gotten him a handheld electronic chess game, and he loved it! He could play chess whenever and wherever he wanted. He took it everywhere with him.

    I think I’m still processing my dad’s death. I know he’s gone and that his death was not a surprise (he had suffered from incurable cancer), but I am still in shock that he’s gone. I use his old iPhone as my backup phone as one way to connect to him. However, a few days ago, I had a strong urge to go to chess.com, a site I had never visited. I’m not sure why, maybe my dad’s spirit “nudged” me towards it. Well, I spent some time on the site and I was impressed by the puzzles and lessons. They are perfect for a complete beginner like me. I immediately signed up for an account and downloaded the app. I’ve even started doing some of the daily puzzles! And, even more shocking, I’ve even joined the US Chess Federation! I’m not going to be a Grandmaster or anything like that, but I am thoroughly enjoying chess now! I’ve even purchased a cheap chess set so that I can try the puzzles out on the chessboard before doing them online. I learn better by doing, so having the physical chessboard in front of me will be very helpful.

    I wish my dad could see this. I think he’d be so proud of me, learning a game that I never thought I could learn. I think this is also helping me to keep connecting with him and to process his death. Also, chess is good for your brain!

  • Leaving Bluesky.

    Leaving Bluesky.

    I deactivated my Bluesky account yesterday. I didn’t delete it, just in case it ever gets better and then I can just reactivate my account, but somehow I doubt that will ever happen.

    Before Enron Muskrat completely ruined Twitter in 2022, that was my main social network. It was a great place. I had been on it for years. I had floated the idea for my debut novel, Us Against Them, on Twitter in 2016. Then, Muskrat bought Twitter in 2022 and Twitter as we knew it was over. In fact, I had actually left Twitter a few months before he became the owner. I knew nothing good was going to happen, so I deleted my account and never looked back.

    When Bluesky was first announced, it seemed like it would be a lot like the old Twitter. It even looked like the old Twitter. I was truly excited for a return to the old Twitter. But, as time has gone on, Bluesky has completely fallen flat for me. The first thing I noticed is that it is quite the echo chamber. I’m willing to listen to other points of view, but on Bluesky, that seems not to be allowed. You better subscribe to whatever views the “majority” on Bluesky demands that others hold. Yikes. That’s not going to work for me.

    Then, there’s the problem of engagement. The majority of the people who followed me on Bluesky were bots. I know that’s a problem on all social media, but it seems very bad on Bluesky, a place that should’ve had less bots. It’s impossible to have a conversation with bots. It was like a ghost town.

    I think Threads might be the closest thing we have to the old Twitter. However, Threads has its problems, too. An influx of MAGATS seems to happen every couple of months. There’s a quite a bit of censorship on Threads, too, being that it’s owned by Meta and Meta is known for censorship.

    I don’t know if we’ll ever find anything like the old Twitter. Bluesky failed miserably at it. Threads isn’t there yet. Will there ever be anything?