Two weeks ago I had a dream about Alphonse that was not a dream.
My dogs had woke me up to go outside around 5:15am and I got back to sleep around 5:30.
It’s likely that Alphonse was already awake at this time.
(more…)I don’t write fiction…
-
Year of the Dragon
As 2024 draws to a close, this Year of the Dragon did not disappoint. My journey has delivered new characters, new stories and, perhaps most importantly, new opportunities to study the human condition that I find endlessly fascinating.
(more…) -
Unfinished Business
Jared: part 3
After our previous discussion there were still a lot of things I needed to say to Jared. I was caught off guard and unprepared and wanted to make sure that I hadn’t misrepresented myself. He arrived late to our networking meeting the following week and I met him at the door saying, “Don’t leave after this”. He nodded and went to find a place to sit.
(more…) -
Rule #1
Jared: part 2
Know with whom you fucketh.
Our follow up coffee talk didn’t happen immediately. Sensing that it would be a point of no return, I was reluctant to schedule it at first. When I was younger, I would do things just for the scandal and to have something to write about. Now, in my older age and with higher stakes, I don’t make a move without a personally compelling reason. So many weeks had gone by marked with awkward verbal exchanges and unanswered texts that I became convinced I had made the whole thing up.
Except I didn’t.
(more…) -
Face To Face With The Doctor
Jared: part 1
I met a boy. I knew him for a while actually, but we didn’t know each other at all.
We were in a professional organization. He was there and I was there but his name had too many vowels and I never learned it.
He is a military combat veteran turned doctor of mind fuckery and headmaster of a rehab school for young wizards. Injured in the call of duty and recipient of a purple heart, he runs his business like if a swarm of army ants were an entrepreneur. Handsome and fit, he looks fine on the outside but looks can be deceiving.
(more…) -
What’s Your Elephant?
It’s been said that to carve an elephant from a block of wood, all one needs to do is cut away everything that does not resemble an elephant.
It would not do to lament the corners of the block or the shavings of wood that are cut away. They are not elephant shaped, so why would you want them?
(more…) -
I Have A Story For Everywhere You’ve Been
I shot this photo in 2009 but I didn’t get it until just now.
It’s an Arizona Cardinal.
I’ve been all over the great American Southwest, to towns that time passed by.
Speeding down the mother road, a smoke in one hand and snacks littering the floor. Camera gear in the back of the car and hippie deodorant stinking since the day before.
(more…) -
A Few Moments in the Cenozoic Era
65 million years ago a meteor six miles wide crashed into the Earth. The residents blamed Obama and said that the meteor was part of a conspiracy to support his new world order. Choking on ash and poison gas, most of them died shortly thereafter thus turning the last page of the Mesozoic Era.
(more…) -
Unconfirmed Miracles
In the end, we believe what we want to believe.
It’s always bothered me when people tell the story of how the lost car keys saved their life. You know, the one that goes like this: “I spent an extra 15 minutes searching for my keys this morning and I was so mad because I was going to be late for work. But then, while driving, I passed a huge accident. An escape convict in a stolen car ran the light and the other driver was blasted to smithereens. I am so blessed because God saved me from being in that accident and it was a miracle.”
Is that a fact? I always want to ask if it’s a fact but it seems rude to question other people’s miracles.
(more…) -
Poison Apples
“Democracy doesn’t work in a large and diverse country when all we do is demonize each other.” -Barak Obama
By the way, you can tell if someone is a demon because they smell like sulfur… or so I’ve heard.
Would you rather watch in horror as the oncoming train rounds the bend or just play Candy Crush on your phone until the sudden stop? And the bigger question, does it really affect the outcome one way or the other?
(more…)
No Rest For The Wicked 