semantic hairsplitting
Is anyone else's calendar exploding like it's mid-December, with back-to-back appointments, commitments, and even social things? Is this what life was like...
Honk and mistakes
Mistakes and washing machines I just finished this book called I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You (Publisher's site). I was looking for Toni Morrison...
middle-aged skazine column
Mini Midwest ska reunion with Damon from the Eclectics (L) and Ryan from the Exceptions (R) Prelude A lightly edited transcript of a text conversation with a...
tiny ducks and paying it forward
What the duck?? Hello from my sick bed, where I am battling my third consecutive case of Covid. If there are typos in here, it's Nyquil's fault. The timing...
a-to-z experiment
"A is for absolutely the fuck not," starts Ohshestatted. (TikTok) She works her way through the entire alphabet, one letter at a time, and a good 40% of it...
taking notes
In the span of just two weeks I've managed to prolong an old woman’s extreme suffering, hurt someone I care about, and come down with Covid. Quite the...
postmortem therapy session
Step into my office. Where shall we begin? He lovebombed me. And I let it happen. Oh absolutely. He chased you like a greyhound going after a rabbit. You...
"Way to be there"
My rental car has more than 111,000 miles on it, reeks of cigarette and marijuana smoke, and is filthy inside and out. There is enough brake dust on the...
disgust and gratitude
(Outside the store at Black Shed, a place in the middle of nowhere, NJ. For SF readers, imagine Flora Grubb, but 20 times bigger and more interesting. Thanks...
on overthinking and getting out of your own way
Hi from the Delaware River Valley, where I'm taking care of Winston (Buttonwdown) again while his people are on vacation. He seems a lot less fearful this...
"The notes are familiar to my ears. Vaguely."
(Eastern Standard Time last weekend backing Monty Neysmith of Simaryp.) It's been so long since I've done one of these. Hello, it's nice to see your junk...
sappy top 40 lyrics
High school music U2's The Joshua Tree came out in 1987, when I was in 10th grade. For younger readers, it's impossible to describe how huge that record was...
attachment styles any my phone
Attachment styles There’s a guy on TikTok who likes to offer dating advice while chopping vegetables. He went viral with a video where he says something...
old songs and bad metaphors
Old songs and bad metaphors Mid 1990s, in my maternal grandmother’s living room in Connecticut Grama is sitting on the rattan armchair with the yellow...
memory storage
Push it along Next week is the 4-year anniversary of my mother's death. My mother died 4 years ago, as of next week. My mother has been dead for almost 4...
linguistic confusion
Glamour-dot-com has a semi-regular feature called "I Can't Stop Thinking About _____" where the writer (or AI tool) barfs out 500 words of SEO nonsense about...
chatting with TikTok
TikTok knows me better than I know myself. Almost. Me: Hey. I'm bored. Entertain me. TikTok: Cool, here are 500 very short videos. Have at it. Me: (Loses the...
parade inside my city
Three stories about men who don't suck If you are “very online,” obsessively read the news, use any of the dating apps, are a member of an “Are we dating the...
nightmare, reality
Birthday nightmare I am hosting a party. It is a party I don’t want to be hosting. There is palpable family pressure on me to be a good host. I am trying to...
Potential
Potential A couple weeks ago, I found this photo of my mother, probably from before I was born. I’d never seen it before. I stared at it for half an hour....