• : i know the joy of dogs :

    Happiness is one thing. Joy is quite another.  I learned the fine distinction through a series of encounters I’ve had lately with heart-soaring rapture. These outbursts happen on a schedule, more or less. At bus stops. The instant I see that clattering, broken down contraption heave into view.  Then, right before my eyes, the bus…

  • [ a hard reset ]

    Oh, who am I kidding? A reset wouldn’t be hard. Carrying on as usual, that would be hard. Crushing, soul-sucking, killer hard. I can’t do it. I won’t. No, sir. I need a change, dammit. A fresh direction. A new perspective. Something. Anything. I’m dying of boredom. And if I’m bored, I fear for your…

  • [ my slide into hoarding ]

    Right now, sitting in my pantry, are eight 6-packs of Coca-Cola, six boxes of Premium Mini saltines, mega rolls of Bounty paper towels the size of oil drums, a mountain of toilet paper, can after can of Folger’s Black Silk coffee, plus odds and ends. The refrigerator, meanwhile, is crammed with gallons of milk and…

  • [ soapbox 1217: holes ]

    Hole? What hole? We aren’t digging a ho— Oh, heh heh, you mean this gaping abyss under construction? Yeah, we’re just watching.   That’s the work of rapacious men and women deeply scornful of the federal government with its power and regulations and effing tax code. They’ve had it up to here with democracy and liken…

  • [ inconvenience is survivable ]

    It’s a time suck. It’s more work. It’s a killjoy and an effing misery, but it isn’t fatal. I learned all this first-hand when my car died.  Our final trip was to Barnes & Noble on a cold, windy evening. I pulled into a parking spot and, in the gathering darkness, the dashboard glowed with…