Every New Year’s Eve since I was old enough to make grand statements about how I wanted my life to be, I’ve been making New Year’s resolutions. It’s probably fair to say that this annual habit began in the early 1980s. (I make this claim based on a document I found titled “Will” and dated […]

Read more "Take Away, Give To, Give Back"

I’ll be the first to admit that I love reading the eloquence which others can wield with words. Yesterday, I was uniquely struck by a post I read on FB. It was written by a high school classmate who I didn’t know well and only connected to on FB because he was a “friend of […]

Read more "I am a Thief"

  I’d call that a bargain, especially if you have a certain curiosity about domesticated animals with sight impairment. In today’s dollars, that quarter would be $3.39. Still cheap, cheap, cheap to see a sightless hog. But wait there’s more . . . Back in 1925, when alcohol was prohibited in the USA, you could pay […]

Read more "In 1925, $0.25 Got You a View of a Blind Pig"

There are three scenarios where one’s performance can be assessed and graded. All of these have their pros and cons; none of them is without both self-worry and self-endorsement. Scenario #1: The performer is being observed by a known audience. There is a preexisting connection between actor and observer(s). This formerly-established relationship provides both a […]

Read more "Performance Anxiety"

I’ve heard my children, especially my 12-year-old daughter, employ the word “awkward” on a regular basis. For the most part, she — along with her peers and her brothers — have used one of the three acceptable usages of “awkward” accurately, albeit in excess. The “use of word over time” line graph is current to […]

Read more "Awkward"

I’ve taken days off, a lot of them, in the writing of Accidental Gravitas. Were I running “on schedule” — which for me has meant writing the first draft of a novel in fifty-seven (or fewer) days — I would have put a large box on my bookshelf in my writing space three days ago. But […]

Read more "What If . . . ? (Redux)"

This is Ganesha. He is one of the most well-known and most worshiped deities in the collection of Hindu gods. Though I have never been to India, Sri Lanka or Nepal, I understand I’d see see him all over in that part of the world. In addition to the many sects in Hinduism, Jains and […]

Read more "Falling Prey to Distractions"

I can’t think of a punchline because this is no joke. Last night these three people, of which I was one, spent a good long time in my sauna. What started out as an informal holiday meal among friends ended in a cerebral conversation about death. Three women — all middle-aged, college-educated, healthy, married, mothers […]

Read more "A Buddhist, an Atheist, and an Agnostic walk into a Sauna"

I brush my teeth in the morning and at night. My evening cleaning includes flossing, a habit I didn’t adopt until June 8, 1996. The date sticks out in my mind because this was the first night of my two-year Peace Corps service. Standing at the sink — with only a toothbrush and a large […]

Read more "The Worth and Limits of Flossing"

About a month ago I wrote a post titled “Three Things I Love in My Mouth” and got a lot of feedback on the blog and on FB. Mine were kale, coffee, and gin. One I have daily, another several times a week, and the other never. (If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, […]

Read more "Three Things Revisited"