Category: junk drawer

  • half-penny thoughts | 18jul25

    Image of a writing journal and a pencil.
    Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash

    I visit plenty of places on the internet lately for or by writers and I recently encountered this strange theme on one site where all of the writers seemed to all be posting in the theme of “you’re a great writer, keep writing” affirmations for each other. Some were even pretty self-congratulatory (“yes, I like my own posts and I am not ashamed to”). Still others were of the “everyone here is the best writer”.

    Now… I’m not against encouragement. I’ve even partaken in it myself. But when it becomes a common, daily and reoccurring theme… I have the strong urge to pinch my nose and walk away from that kind of community. Even if it is well-intended community-building, it still smells like bullshit.

    Write, don’t talk about how great everyone else’s writing is (and god-forbid, don’t tell me how great you think your own writing is).

    What do you think?

    Am I just being a humbug? Or does it feel like a weird kind of phony? Do these folks really mean it? Or are they just saying it, hoping that others will pay it forward until it boomerangs back?

  • Torture update

    close up photo of yawning cat
    Photo by Serena Koi on Pexels.com

    Well, that went much more like I was used to in terms of experience before Annie showed up to make dental visits living hell.

    It has been five years since my last regular dental exam and cleaning. In spite of needing some pretty intensive maintenance on my teeth for staining, tartar and plaque, my gums were in much better shape than they had expected on Monday and I don’t need to come in for any additional “special” treatments for my gums. I have one surface cavity, which I suspected and is scheduled for repair, and a bit of a groove on one outward facing tooth that they are going to preemptively fill for cosmetic and protection reasons. Other than that? I’m golden.

    My pain appears to have been due to clenching and gum inflammation.

    Was it torture this time for my regular checkup?

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  • Torture

    close up photo of yawning cat
    Photo by Serena Koi on Pexels.com

    I probably shouldn’t reveal this in public, but I think I found the torture that might push me over the edge and confess to being an accessory to John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Lincoln, should anyone want to force me to make that claim. I might even believe I was part of it, if someone were to focus on one tiny part of my body.

    No — not the lower unmentionables.

    Something much less in the manner of “naughty bits”. It would be: My teeth.

    Yes. My teeth.

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  • Contact Spam

    Photo by Hannes Johnson on Unsplash

    The title sounds like a communicable disease, doesn’t it? Anyhoo…

    Contacting me is changing around here.

    Just an FYI in case you have thought about talking to me about, well… anything really… one-on-one.

    I’ve decided against continuing to make the contact form available on my “about” page. For every single legit attempt to communicate with me, I get about fifty to a hundred spam contacts. Over the years, I’ve also had some very odd communications from folks as well.

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  • half-penny thoughts | 03jul25

    Photo by Anita Jankovic on Unsplash

    I seem to have puppets on the brain these past few days. In part, it has something (in part) to do with purchasing and playing a game that I wasn’t sure I would like. But that’s not the only thing prompting the ponders on puppets.

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  • Dark Angel

    Fair use image of DVD covers for “Dark Angel”

    The James Cameron produced television scifi/drama that aired for two seasons between 2000-2002 was one of those shows that missed when it was “a thing”. I was still fully into my turn-the-television-around-to-face-the-wall-except-when-I-really-wanted-to-watch-television phase. By the time I finally got in the mood to watch it, there was almost no way to do so easily (YouTube bootlegs were so awful that I didn’t make it fifteen minutes).

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  • Fresh failures

    Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

    Well, that would be two recent projects that just don’t have what I think is needed for prime time.

    First, the song I was working on as an experiment where folks write the lyrics in a certain genre to a song of mine they never heard… I tried to make something of that last week and the initial takes just felt awkward. It’s not for the lack of Chris and Sandy’s lyrical talents; rather, I just couldn’t find a way to make either of them work well. Close, but no banana, as they say. It ended up feeling as if I should be doing less, rather than more, on the lyrics front. And my mind is blank for what would work, if you can believe that crap.

    As an experiment, it was fun, but I don’t think anyone would thank me for putting the result out with their name associated. So, I’ll let it rest a bit and see if I either get a better sense of rhythm and flow to the lyrics, or if I come up with some of my own.

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  • The long drive, connectivity and tech

    Image of a writing journal and a pencil.
    Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash

    In my post where I mentioned I will be busy this summer with things that take me away from posting here quite so frequently, I alluded to a lack of connectivity for a spell as being one of those reasons. Well, those plans are starting to firm up and I will be incommunicado near the end of July for about 5-10 days.

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  • Wot up?

    Image of a writing journal and a pencil.
    Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash

    I’m going to be posting less often over the summer. I think so, anyway.

    Why?

    I have a couple of irons in the fire, among other reasons:

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  • sixteen

    Sixteen years ago (to the day), I woke up with a monster of a hangover. Well, it was a hangover if you can have a hangover when you’re still drunk… To save my life, I couldn’t tell you how much I had to drink the night before. Probably close to 24 bottles of ale, chased down with half a quart of Jameson. I might have cleaned up the rum that was in a nearly-full fifth… Was there some tequila? I’m afraid it is all a fog.

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