I’m on a new medication, which scrambles my brains and makes me tired. And pee. So here’s a passage from my book Ghosts and Ballyhoo. I used to be a music journalist. That forced me to spend a lot of time in Hollywood. Also, my 2007 iMac can’t handle OS 10.11.4 El Capitan. Thus I…
Suffering is real. I can’t turn it into a debating exercise
April 6, 2016
Two days ago I was finally able to get back into my Meniere’ disease dietary regimen. It took three years for me to process my parents’ deaths. For me, suffering is immediate. It’s very real. I guess most people have to experience something before they can empathize, but I have no patience for that. Stop…
Insight is not its own reward. Buy a book!
February 7, 2016
In 2013 I was scammed out of my life’s savings by a fake publicist named Mike Albee. The reason I couldn’t perceive this is that I have post-traumatic stress disorder and Meniere’s disease. When under stress, I dissociate. It robs me of all insight. Weeks and months pass in what seems like days. Both my…
Japan during the bubble, as requested by a reader
January 27, 2016
In 1985 I went to Japan to seek my fortune. I began studying Japanese in 1981, mostly because of my interest in Japanese military history. In the winter of 1983-1984, I spent six months in Sapporo on an exchange program. That sealed the deal. Japan was clean, orderly, and had great food. And oceans of…
Remembering and reevaluating the best Christmas I ever had
December 25, 2015
One of my great pleasures is to write in total freedom, not caring in the least what anybody thinks. Today I’m remembering the best Christmas I ever had: December 25, 1989. I lived in Tokyo at the time, and I was faced with a choice. I don’t regret the outcome. Regret is an emotion not…
Adrift no longer. Without even knowing it, I arrived
December 17, 2015
I never knew what to do with my life. In very real ways, I never had a life. Some forms of trauma are impossible to “get over.” The closest I came to having a career was the ten years I spent as a music journalist in Los Angeles. It didn’t pay anything, but my parents…
Old Man
September 23, 2015
I’m not yet able to write the sort of post I want. There’s a lot information about Israel and Russia that needs to be disseminated, but I’m not up to it. Also, a huge Middle Eastern media outlet is expressing interest in my posts about Yemen. I spoke to the reporter, and he said that…