The kit consisted in a piece of balsa wood, or perhaps two or three pieces, some rubber bands and miscellaneous pieces of metal, a single sheet of paper outlining the instructions, and three or four carving knives. These items were all contained in a bag that hung in the… Read full post »

I had gone an entire week without drinking, or six days at least. I paced around my room and tried to make a plan. I decided I would only drink on Thursday nights, but since it was already Friday, I would make a one time exception and head out… Read full post »

God, I hope so. I eat it almost every day. By ‘it’ I mean a steak burrito with black beans, white rice, salsa, cheese, sour cream and yes, guacamole. Don’t worry, I know it costs extra and I have budgeted for that.  My order never varies and I never/… Read full post »

Before you lies a bed of hot coals. You are barefoot. You realize you have to cross. You decide to make a run for it. There is no sense going slowly, right?

People tell you to take your time, think carefully, realize what is happening to you, and… Read full post »

Our federal government's official policy is to deport immigrants deemed to be 'drug trafickers' and it is hard to argue with this policy. That is, unless you believe that people should be allowed to use their drugs of choice and that it is a waste of time and energy to t… Read full post »

“I thought those cats were going to steal my wallet,” he said as he stood in my doorway and looked over his shoulder at the two feral cats sitting on the wall.

“Yeah, they are accustomed to getting fed whenever they show up, I guess.”

“So you al… Read full post »

It was a legitimately disappointing situation, not tragic by any means, but a letdown just the same. I applied, I got ‘wait-listed’, and then left on the wait-list, on the outside looking in. There were many fine applicants and I simply wasn’t chosen. Probably I… Read full post »

Dylan shook his head. “I swear it was like that time in high school.”

“A high school story?” Paul shook his head now. “Your high school stories are so depressing.”

“Well this one is about watching TV, so it’s not that ba… Read full post »

As regular readers of my blog already full-well realize, I have problems. Some of my problems originated with other people, some are my own fault. Still other debasements and disappointments of mine are the fault of no man or woman. Really the responsibility lies with Nature… Read full post »

Dylan settled into his seat in the booth, opposite Paul. “So, what are you doing for Christmas?”

Paul scowled. “Family time.”

Dylan smiled, “Not looking forward to reenacting the family traditions?”

Paul answered, “Well, my fam… Read full post »

There are phases of my life that I do not enjoy contemplating very much. Like most people, my transition from childhood to adulthood (arguably an ongoing process, even at age forty-two) has not been seamless and trouble-free. Whenever I think about growing up haltingly and incompletely,… Read full post »

The bars had closed and they had repaired to Chinatown for a very early morning meal, a chance to sober up before the drive home. Ashley and Janet sat on the other side of the table, looking appropriately disoriented, by both the half-dozen martinis they had each drank… Read full post »

Every year for the past twenty-five years I have made the same extravagant claim come late December. I say I don’t really care about the holidays and I won’t mind being alone, if it comes to that, on Christmas Day.

This is not to suggest that I… Read full post »

In Germany it is easy and common to travel from city to city by train, even over a long distance, like from Berlin to Munich. But you usually don’t take a single train over the whole trek. Instead you change trains at some point, about half-way along. This change… Read full post »

Sitting in court and watched a case get called in the arraignment session, new arrest. Except it wasn’t a new case; it was old. They guy was behind the glass in cuffs and leg-irons. He was an older man. He looked downtrodden.

He owed money to the court for… Read full post »

This kid in my class in high school once said something memorable.

“What’s the point of hating someone if they don’t know about it?”

This struck us all as a funny thing to say, but interesting and possibly true.  We debated the que… Read full post »

I had fallen on the dirty floor and he picked me up, clumsily, by reaching down and hooking his elbows under my arms and then lifting me up. He must have expected I would set my feet on the floor and stand, but I was too wasted and my… Read full post »

I was the only student in the program studying in Potsdam and there were several in Berlin. So I went to Berlin all the time, taking a bus to the S Bahn station and then riding the train for forty minutes to meet up with the friends I made… Read full post »

Dylan wrapped up his tale of woe in an agitated tone, “So she just strings me along and then when she finally broke up with him she tells me no way.” 

Paul shook his head. “Why in God’s name did you hang around like that in the first place?” … Read full post »

It was a party at a friend of Susan (pronounced the German way, sueZann), a block from her dorm on the Breite Strasse. I got there before Susan did and introduced myself as her friend. Susan had told the hostess that I might be joining and she waved me… Read full post »

Okay, here is the deal. You are reading one of those slippery ‘creative non-fiction” types whose work ranges from hard memoir (the whole truth, as I understand it) to utterly ridiculous fiction (Paul and Dylan).  My life is my main source of the factual stuff you find h… Read full post »

Even when you venture yourself in a small way, and find out it was a mistake, it is unsettling. You wonder where your confidence came from, what misjudgment it rested on, and how you could have been so foolish. It is not the disappointment in others that gets to… Read full post »

When I’ve fallen off the horse and taken a long break from it, I find it hard to regain the mental edge and get after it with real enthusiasm. Depression and weak-mindedness and lack of focus drag on the experience and even when I have the energy to try, the… Read full post »

When I was in elementary school and in high school, I often suffered to be accused of being very smart.  

I say ‘accused’ because my intellect was never raised in a positive context or presented as simply good. There was a rule that my test scores could not b… Read full post »

Whenever two people fight, there are two sides to the story, if not more. He said, she said. Sometimes there are witnesses, third parties who have their own version to offer, but these third parties are very often biased for one side or the other and their opportunities to… Read full post »