I was made aware of this with a certain briskness in the air on my morning walk. Nice. Though this also means my early morning routine also takes place with lesser light. I don’t mind that though. Fall and Spring are my two favorite seasons in this town. Compared to other parts it is much more subtle… the change in seasons, that is. Still, it puts more of a sprite to my steps. Cool mornings, …
Every parent has gone through “the talk” with their kids. For some it can be excruciating and for others a breeze. Then there are others who avoid the talk completely. (Yeah, like your kids are never gonna have sex?) Well, I have news for you parents… there is also “the other talk”. (cue: stab theme from “dragnet”) It usually begins with a cringe worthy set of words strung together such as, “If anything should happen …
Truth be told this happened quite a while back… and I was quite happy when it did. Relieved actually. So, what am I talking about here? Two words: peer fear. Yeah, we all succumbed to it especially in our teen years. Remember when you were a closet ABBA fan? Or when you participated in a group scoff whenever someone let it slip that they liked that CARPENTERS song? But secretly you melted every time you …
This is not necessarily a good thing. When I was 9 it was 1968. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy occurred. Unrest was percolating in the air with no end in sight. Half a world away, in Malaysia where I was a mere schoolboy… I too felt this rising tension. It finally broke into race riots the following year soon after elections. It was a very dark period all around. The phrase, …
… though you couldn’t tell from me. On my end I’ve been “Geeky Man” as I took on the annual “housekeeping” of my main editing computer. I won’t get into the gory details… but it has taken longer than anticipated. But now it is done and I can once again move forward on several projects that were put on hold because of said housekeeping. It also seems like the world surrounding mine has exploded. Deaths, …
A (well paying) gig falls through. One that was becoming a “regular” thing. The choice is is to despair or shrug it off. Perhaps something else will come along. You sit expectantly waiting for something to happen. You continue waiting. Restlessness rises. You wait some more. The more you wait the lower your esteem descends. Now you’ve gone from restless to impatient. You look around for something or someone to blame. You lower your expectations. …
Although recent events might be a strong argument against the title statement of this posting. Yesterday’s events alone – a plane loaded with 298 civilians killed via a botched battle point scoring – the murderous back and forth in the Gaza region – the ongoing border crisis with over 50 thousand children facing ugliness… can easily turn one toward a stagnant cynicism. It is easy… too easy to slide down that slope. What do we …
She has taken to whining… missing Janya. Totally understandable. Poor Chocolate. Even though she is now “queen of the yard” and has Mr. Dog for company… obviously things are different now. Some of it (the mournful whining) takes place in day time… but mostly at night. I’ve taken to sleeping outside just to pacify her. It seems to work and at this time of the year is a more than pleasant thing to do anyway. …
She had been winding down for the last few days. Yesterday it was evident that her time was near. Off and on as the day wore on I sat with her gently stroking under her left ear. Each time I came out to the yard to be with her she had moved farther away from where she usually slept. Finally situating herself furthest corner of the yard. This was her chosen place. As I sat …
