I like Sudoku puzzles. I love Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. And, curiously, there is a book that combines them both — the Peanuts Sudoku Comic Digest. I say “curiously,” because there’s nothing intrinsic in Peanuts that lends itself to Sudoku. Schulz had passed away before the Sudoku craze became a craze, and there are no PeanutsContinue reading “On Peanuts and Sudoku Puzzles”
On My Grandmother’s Decline
I’ve written very little on the subject of my grandmother recently. In truth, there’s been very little to say. Two weeks ago, I thought she wouldn’t last a month. It could be longer than that. She is nearing the end, though. The thing about my grandmother’s decline is the way her mental age seems toContinue reading “On My Grandmother’s Decline”
On An Unlikely Author Encounter
It would have been almost fifteen years ago now. It was a Sunday afternoon in spring. I was driving US Route 29, from Lynchburg north to Charlottesville. It’s a four lane highway the whole way, and a little north of Lovingston, a small town in Nelson County, the highway turns twisty, and for the nextContinue reading “On An Unlikely Author Encounter”
On the Brutally Honest Personality Test
Because I love personality quizzes… Your result for The Brutally Honest Personality Test… Pollyanna- INFP 20% Extraversion, 80% Intuition, 27% Thinking, 20% Judging So, you want to make the world a better place? Too bad it’s never gonna happen. Of all the types, you have to be one of the hardest to find fault in.Continue reading “On the Brutally Honest Personality Test”
On Doctor Who, the Celestis and The Eyeless
While Doctor Who fandom this weekend has been preoccupied with questions of predestination and Amy Pond’s flirtatiousness thanks to “Space” and “Time,” the two Doctor Who mini-episodes produced for Comic Relief while waiting for the season debut in five weeks, I’ve had other Doctor Who thoughts in mind, specifically about a two-year-old Doctor Who novel,Continue reading “On Doctor Who, the Celestis and The Eyeless”
On Chinese Divination Methods
Years ago, in college, I used to do what I called “binge reads.” One semester, I’d pick an author, and I’d read as much of that author’s work as I possibly could. One semester, it might be Orson Scott Card. Another semester, Larry Niven. I was young, just twenty or so, and I had theContinue reading “On Chinese Divination Methods”
On Today’s WordPress Annoyance
As much as I love WordPress, it can be a serious pain in the ass sometimes. Like today. Today was a pain-in-the-ass WordPress day. I’m a stat nerd, and today was not a good day for a stat nerd. I couldn’t access my site stats provided by a plugin. Every time I tried, WordPress toldContinue reading “On Today’s WordPress Annoyance”
On Allyn Gibson, As an Alcoholic Beverage
What is it about the writing profession that so many people have the mental image of us as drunkards? 🙂 That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy a good drink, because I do. But I think I have a reputation as a hard drinking writer that isn’t truly earned. I haven’t poisoned my liverContinue reading “On Allyn Gibson, As an Alcoholic Beverage”
On Bahrain and the Arab Revolutions
I saw something today I can’t unsee. Like the revolutions that swept across Egypt that brought down Hosni Mubarak and the revolution in Libya that threatens Gaddafi, Bahrain is in revolt, and their neighbor Saudi Arabia has invaded the country to suppress the protests. The crackdown of the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain has turned brutallyContinue reading “On Bahrain and the Arab Revolutions”
On the Rare Remembered Dream
I’ve mentioned at times my utter inability to remember dreams. I know that I dream — or, at least, I feel that I’ve dreamed. I’ve been in the dream state while awake, which is a very strange place to be. But, by and large, my dreams are walled away in my consciousness and inaccessible toContinue reading “On the Rare Remembered Dream”