The new year began with a day bereft of human contact, save for the online kind. At midnight, there was the sound of distant fireworks and gunfire. I’ve often likened it to the sound of artillery shelling. I wonder how people from Sarajevo or Aleppo would react. I didn’t even sleep late today. But I … Continue reading Winter Misanthropy
Tag: The Daily Post
Sometimes my website goes through fallow periods, and when I say “fallow” I mean that in two ways. On the one hand, I don’t feel like creating content. On the other hand, I don’t feel like looking at my PHP and CSS code. I used to post to the blog every single day. Now I feel … Continue reading Digging into the Website
Even now, an adult in his forties, when I go to the bank, I’ll pick up a lollipop. The circular ones, the cheap ones, in the plastic wrapper, with the raised edge and center. A green one. Always a green one. No other color will do. Is it because I like the taste of lime? … Continue reading Lollipopping
At midnight, my neighbors started shooting off guns. I assume it was neighbors. Maybe not my direct neighbors, but someone in the area. Maybe on the other side of the hill. The point is, someone right nearby started off the new year in style, with small arms fire. For myself, I’d been watching episodes of … Continue reading Midnight in Pennsylvania
There’s a Carbon Leaf song that’s an especial favorite of mine — “Blue Ridge Laughing” from Ether-Electrified Porch Music has this magnificent line: “Space brings back boyish wonder.” I cite it from time to time, especially on clear nights when you can see clear into infinity, such as here or especially here: The sky tonight … Continue reading Space Brings Back Boyish Wonder
This year I’ll be spending Thanksgiving by myself. I don’t have family nearby, and publishing doesn’t stop just because there’s a holiday; Friday I’ll be hip deep in getting January’s catalog out the door, long-distance travel to see family (only to have to turn around) simply doesn’t make sense. Don’t worry about me. I have … Continue reading Party of Eight
If I could live anywhere in the world, where would I live? I think about the question from time to time. If I found a job that could support me there or if money were no object, where would I go? Believe it or not, I have two answers, one which is slightly more realistic … Continue reading Transatlanticism
About a year ago I had to edit some copy a colleague had written for the catalog. It was a thoughtful, well-written piece, and it also happened to run over five hundred words, which was about two and a half times the number of words that would fit into the space we had on the … Continue reading The Semi-Colon Is Never Not Stylish
In my closet there’s an ammunition crate, painted red. It’s where I keep my LEGO bricks. There are LEGO bricks in that crate that are older than some of my coworkers. No, I’m not kidding. There are some LEGO boat pieces (that float on water) that I know date from the late 1970s, and I … Continue reading The Itch to Build
Over the last five, six, maybe eight years, people have asked me about my blog’s tagline. (Which is also my personal email sig, by the way.) Scroll up to the top of the blog, and there, in a Tolkien-inspired font, you’ll see it. “‘Made of awesome and Guinness and bright shiny pennies…’ What does that … Continue reading Taglines and Theme Music
Around the age of nineteen or twenty, I had the idea that I might want to work in film. I had no talent as an actor, I had no desire to attend film school or take classes, and my attempts at writing scripts were laughable at best. At the time, the Star Trek television series … Continue reading On (Not) Going Hollywood