Recently I had the chance to spend a day with my cousin—technically my second cousin—Tom, who had come into Chicago with his wife Cindy. While Cindy was at a day-long business meeting, Tom and I took a boat tour on the Chicago river in 46 degree weather with a strong, cold… Read full post »

The wonderful singer-songwriter-satirist-cum-mathematician, Tom Lehrer, has a number of songs which are on my all-time favorites list, but the one I most strongly identify with is "I'll Be Standin' on the Dock Passin' Out Donuts When They Send the Boys 'Over There.'"

It seems at times that my… Read full post »

Why do I let little things get to me so? I was, having no choice in the matter, listening to Bruce Springsteen singing "Born in the U.S.A.", the total lyrics of which appear to be the words "I was born in the U.S.A." repeated no fewer than 312 times. Okay, Bruce,… Read full post »

Won•der (noun): a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable

Life is the soul's all-too-brief vacation from the eternity from which we emerged and to which we return. Wonder is our reaction to the awareness of that f… Read full post »

As I'm sure you probably have noticed by now, I am infinitely fascinated by me, partly because of my self-perceived isolation from the rest of the world and partly because my thoughts, experiences, and reactions are the only ones of which I can speak with any degree of confidence.

Somewhere, i… Read full post »

The three most powerful words in the English language are also among the shortest—“hope,” “love,” and “we.” Two are basic emotions, one a concept. Yet they are intricately if subtly linked, and encapsulate all that makes us human. Combined, they define… Read full post »

After reading one of my more lugubrious (love that word) posts, a friend said “Do you honestly think you’re the only person in the world who has ever felt this way?” To which I replied: “Yep.”

The fact is that I was fudging just a bit. It is partly because I… Read full post »

I've always admired the to-me-heartbreaking line from The Elephant Man, where Joseph Merrick says, “I sometimes think my head is so large because it is so full of dreams.”

Though I was blessedly spared Merrick's physical deformities as a writer I fully identify with his statement,… Read full post »

When it comes to the subject of letting go, my reaction/response is simple: I can't. Not of things, not of those I love, not of memories, not of time. I cling to them with what I know many would consider an emotionally unhealthy desperation. This isn't a new obsession; I've had… Read full post »

Let's face it. We are increasingly a society of eunuchs.

Lily Tomlin's wonderful character, Ernestine, the telephone operator, sums up much of what has led to this situation with her classic line: "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company." This attitude is apparently shared b… Read full post »

Last week I posted two letters from the journal I kept of my odyssey during my attempt to flee reality after the death of my mother in 1971 (dear Lord, 42 years ago! 42 years! How can that be?), I thought I'd post another entry from it.

12-17-71

57^th day. Baton… Read full post »

When my mom died, in September of 1971, I quit my job, bought a 21-foot Winnebago motor home, and took off, more running from than running to.

I came across the journal I wrote during my travels, and for no particular reason, felt like sharing it with you. Here are two… Read full post »

One doesn't have to be gay to love Broadway musicals, but it's a popular cliché that for a male to love them is tantamount to having “I'm gay” stenciled on his forehead, and strong scientific evidence of the existence of a “gay gene” in the DNA of homosexual men… Read full post »

I've not used an alarm clock in 40 years or more; I automatically wake up around 6 a.m., no matter how late I've gotten to bed, and no matter if there is a reason to wake up that early or not. On blog-entry days, I am compelled to have them posted… Read full post »

There is nothing more futile, frustrating, counterproductive, or ungrateful than railing against aging, especially since growing old is a privilege denied many if not most. But I can't help it.

We come into life and spend our first forty years or more assuming that it is a totally no-strings-a… Read full post »

Wordsworth was right: the world is too much with us—at least, it is for me. I am constantly amazed at how we humans can possibly find our way through the endless labyrinth/rat's maze/ant farm/quicksand bog/lion's den of life. That we do it, and that very few people either think about or… Read full post »

The mind and the body each have their own tasks and responsibilities and, for the most part through most of our lives, they make a pretty good team. But like any couple, there are moments of dissension and minor disagreements.

When you must work while you're tired, the mind can get… Read full post »

Caution: if you're tired of my tirades against internet spam—and I certainly wouldn't blame you if you are—you can stop right here and come back Monday when I promise I'll address another subject.

Every time I do this I swear...swear...I will never do it again. Never. I have promis… Read full post »

I have never considered myself...or been considered by anyone else to be...an arbiter of taste and refinement. I to this day consider my mother's allowing me, in junior high to paint my bedroom chartreuse and maroon the ultimate example of a mother's love. But I do know schlock when I see… Read full post »

I hate rejection! (Well, Duh!) My fear of it has strongly and negatively influenced my life—and I'm sure denied me many opportunities—by keeping me from making any move which might result in it. I'd been painfully aware since elementary school how very much it hurt to be rejected..… Read full post »

Perhaps I should open this blog with a disclaimer that it is not my intent or my place to criticize, or pass judgement on anyone, merely to express my personal feelings—realizing full well that even as I write the words, they will undoubtedly irritate or offend someone.

I probably should… Read full post »

Let's face it....I'm a simple man (some would argue in all senses of the word). I have simple wants and simple needs and all I ever want is whatever it is I want right when I want it. Don't bother me with having to think before I act, or having to… Read full post »

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Suppose, if you would, that life was like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. Imagine that each box contains seven different kinds of candy: we'll call them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. Then supposing you could separate them so that all the Mondays were… Read full post »

I'm in the process of proofreading my soon (and long awaited by me) release of “1954-1956 Letters Home: A World Ago” and I once more was carried back in time to my long-ago days in the U.S. Navy.

Looking backward through time is like peering through a Vasaline’d lens. The sha… Read full post »