Last night I had terrible dream. I don’t know why it was so awful. Since my bad dreams linger, I was sure that the whole day was ruined. But I appear to have gotten some help. In the nightmare I tried to call my mother on the phone. The need to connect with her was…
Spelunking
June 5, 2014
I love the word “spelunking.” It’s far more imaginative than the prosaic “caving.” I was a spelunker until 2012. Instead of crawling around in caves, I did it under my house. Never once was it my idea to go under my house, except for today. There were photos that had to be taken. The reason…
Why a cat made me believe in reincarnation
May 31, 2014
I’m currently feeding a family of feral cats. I don’t want to, but I don’t see that I have a choice. Today, the cats themselves pretty much told me that I have to keep doing it. I’ll explain what happened. And then I’ll tell you how another cat made me believe in reincarnation. Five days…
This is real
May 31, 2014
I just learned of Cameron Carpenter. Last night I had a strange nightmare in which I attended a NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show and tried to buddy up to the bassist Stanley Clarke. He looked just like Jimi Hendrix and refused to acknowledge me. I rubbed my face against his as he made…
Saint Catherine’s flamethrower boys
May 27, 2014
What a weird, weird, weird, weird day. First I had a run-in with California’s next spree killer. Then when I came in to sit down and write, I thought that my bowels had given way without me knowing it. It turned out that as I fed the feral cats, I stepped in some of their…
I hate my neighborhood
May 26, 2014
There was a time when I didn’t hate my neighborhood. Back when I moved here in 1993, it wasn’t a bad place. What happened was that all the old people died and young monstrosities moved in. Now I can’t wait to leave. The main reason I want to leave is that everyone here is a…
Is it just me?
May 22, 2014
Do you ever have one of those days in which you ask yourself, “Is it just me, or has the planet lost its collective mind?” One of my favorite films is Miller’s Crossing. It’s very violent, so you’ve been warned. I didn’t understand it until recently. It’s a movie about coming to sad realizations and…
A first for me
May 20, 2014
I HATE commercials. The main reason is the music and the actors. Since I don’t watch TV, I see commercials only on the Internet. They drive me crazy. For whatever reason advertising companies use ukulele music or jinga-jinga-jinga acoustic guitar music or tinkly piano kindergarten music or smarmy Wal-Mart slop. And the actors are always…
The price of secrecy
May 18, 2014
For over a year, I looked for an artifact that I found yesterday. In the process I sorted through thousands of photos. One box came from my Great-aunt Clarinda, sister to my paternal grandmother Angelina. Every photo in the box is unmarked. I have no idea who these people are. The price of secrecy is…