Bear with me. I’m suffering some existential angst. A friend e-mailed me on Friday afternoon. I’d written her about some recent doings in my life, and in her reply she asked a basic question. “Why are you writing science-fiction?” She didn’t put it quite like that. But that was the point she danced around. TheContinue reading “On Existential Angst”
On Missing Lids
The lid to the peanut butter jar is missing. At 10:15 this morning, while fixing a cup of coffee, I saw on the kitchen counter the jar of peanut butter. Lidless. It is a new jar, I opened it yesterday when fixing peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches for lunch. A survey of the kitchen counter revealed noContinue reading “On Missing Lids”
On Philosophy Lessons
“The Spindle of Necessity” notwithstanding, I am not a philosopher. I have no great truths about the universe. I have no system to explain the world. The world just is; I don’t question its existence. Yet. Something strange is in the air. In the past three weeks, multiple friends have sought my input on theContinue reading “On Philosophy Lessons”
On Random Thoughts, Late Friday Afternoon
At a meeting today… “We’re not writing Hemingway here.” No, I try and write like Fitzgerald, thanks. Last night, while listening to the BBC World Service on NPR, I heard something I’d never, ever heard before. I heard someone pronounce “February” the way it’s spelled. I’ve always heard people say “Fe Byoo Airy.” Sometimes, justContinue reading “On Random Thoughts, Late Friday Afternoon”
On the Wash of Sounds
I felt strangely nostalgic last night. I went to my CDs, flipped through them, and I saw a CD I’d not listened to in a while. A long while. The Who’s Tommy. I bought this CD in 1996. Early in the year, maybe March or April. Charlottesville. Fashion Square Mall, the Sam Goody’s down atContinue reading “On the Wash of Sounds”
On Recent Webcomic Discoveries
Two recent webcomic discoveries. 🙂 First, The Chess Comic. Have you ever wanted to play chess but don’t know how? Have you ever played chess — and been abysmmally bad? Fortunately, there’s a webcomic to help you! The Chess Comic just started back in January, and it’s a series of chess lessons. Start here, andContinue reading “On Recent Webcomic Discoveries”
On Being a Code-Monkey
I spent part of my day at work code-monkeying HTML. I needed to create a table. Not a plain, simple table, not exactly. But a table. With headers. And column spans. This should be simple, right? Wrong. I had a webpage that looked… terrible. (There, that’s a polite word for it.) It needed a completeContinue reading “On Being a Code-Monkey”
On Commemorative Ice Cream
This is too good not to share. 🙂 Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream is creating a flavor to commemorate the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President. Here’s a list of suggested names for ice creams commemorating George W. Bush, the 43rd. I’m fond of “Rocky Road to Torture” and “Death by Chocolate… andContinue reading “On Commemorative Ice Cream”
On the Things People Look For
I love the Internet. I love how it can resurrect old things I’ve written, like a reanimated corpse. There’s seven years worth of my blatherings here. Google knows them all. Over the weekend, two major hits stood out. A televised broadcast of Attack of the Clones no doubt prompted the hits on my theory aboutContinue reading “On the Things People Look For”
On Allyn’s Mysterious Bruise
The facts are these. I have a bruise on my right hand. The bruise is on the back of the hand. The bruise is situated roughly adjacent to my right thumb and my wrist. The bruise measures 1 1/2-inches in diameter. The bruise is a deep purple. The bruise hurts like a motherfucker. If youContinue reading “On Allyn’s Mysterious Bruise”