In the ink well

he election. Yeah, fuck, the election. Nothing more depressing than waking up in a world where the efforts and victories of the past eight years are swept away. The same-sex couple down the street? Their marriage is in real danger now. The freelance writer I know at NationalGeo? Her heathcare will likely be ripped away (leaving her with a pre-existing and no insurance). My Muslim friends are concerned; who wouldn’t be in this sea of rising rage. I mean, fuck. So that Wednesday was pretty gray for me. On the bus-link to work, the black riders and driver talked about […]

alking under cloudy pre-dawn skies (Mordor skies) to the train station. Was thinking about what had happened the night before, the breaking of the line, the loss of the field, the fall of our future. Amid these morose thoughts, I noticed a Hillary sign hanging like a defeated frigate’s sail in the sweeping lights of passing suburban FUVs. And it made me think of who I am, what has made me, and the changes before us. My thoughts went to Winds of War and War and Remembrance which I can still largely remember reading while I was in my teens, some […]

or all the stuff people say about the wonderful new dynamic publishing model, with all these books out that never would have seen the light of day, I have to say that some of them should have been buried in deep graves in the woods and forgotten. I won’t say which book this was (but those with sharp eyes might spot it sometime) but some coworker raved on it I bought a $3 book on his recommendation. You know, I’m dropping book titles by Stephenson and Wells and even Pratchett, and this guy pushes a off-brand. But sure, why not […]

‘ve mentioned numerous times how reading really opens your life. Suddenly you can start to see the weave of civilization. In your mind, you can live in the banks of the Mississippi in the 1840s, in New York in the roaring twenties, or even in ancient Tyre before the time of Christ (shameless plug – check out the link below). So today, another factoid entered my head. No doubt you’ve heard the word “effing”. I’ll be you assume that its a recent word, perhaps developed in the last century-turn as a counterbalance against the F-bomb. And why not – the […]

’m not a loyal radio listener. I’ve got a half-dozen stations on my presets and as soon as a dumb-ass commercial comes on (usually aimed at suburbanites and their standardized needs) I jump. Came out of hyperspace the other day on WPRK (Rollins student radio, 91.1 on your dial) and heard a fascinating interview on the program To a Certain Degree. I’m sorry, I don’t know who the interviewer or the guest were. I couldn’t find names on any of the station’s site and I’ll only dig so far for acknowledgments. Still, it was interesting. The guest was talking about […]

o it’s said that writing can put you into a scene, allowing you to live an experience that you’d never actually encountered. True? Generally, yeah. Specifically, no. Yes, there are a great number of writers out there that can convey a feeling. As it stands, I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve read about, say, hurricanes. I’ve read dozens of stories set on ships at sea, hammered by hurricanes. The Caine Mutiny and Lord Jim are two that stick with me. And I’ve read about huge storms breaking over settlements, of twisters, cyclones, even wacky crime stories (i.e. Hiaasen’s […]

f you live a life that is open and full, you can start to see the weave. Stories and events, all wrapping together. Recently an young Indian lady who shares a pod with me was chatting about a function she was at (actually, the story had more to do about parallel parking that the function). But she mentioned the Bhagavad Gita which I admitted to have read (another nice Indian lady on my team picked up a copy on a trip to her homeland years back – it has a chariot in it. I ended up reading the whole epic […]

’ve written these before. Usually I explain what I thought writing would be, and then what it actually is. Generally it’s some mechanical nutbaggery, something that doesn’t bring understanding or joy or excitement to others (and myself). Thursday was posting day for another Dog Ear piece, one about Government Labs. It was just a fun piece, something I whipped out in the moment when I noticed the thoughts I had over that phrase and how worn out it’s becoming. Just a fun little thing. I’d had it prepped a few days early. It should be no problem to get it […]

y brother is Mr. Fixit. Everyone goes to him for practical tinkerings. When we got the phone call that my dad was sliding away, we were in his garage replacing the bearings on my bike’s wheel hub. My sister, she’s the international speaker on medical issues. She does all those conferences and speaking tours. And she also shoves probes up people’s wazzos and makes damn good money doing it. When it comes to medical questions, everyone rings her up. Me? Heh. Me. What do I bring to the table? Outside of corporate compliance and a wide span of devoured books, […]

eah, Hikaru. You might have recalled him when I talked about him and the game of Go a few weeks ago HERE. So I’m still playing (had an epic win last week that left me walking on clouds, but today, the computer just beat me like a rug). But it’s life.                       So Hikaru is up for the pro exam. He’s got to get through this if he’s going to face off against his rival. But the snot-nosed kid who has been obnoxious to the point of becoming a temporary […]