Exhaustion. What is it, why is it, and how can it be eradicated? That is the question. There are a few other questions, of course, but they are all subsidiaries of the one described above. With sufficient energy, one can do anything. Except sleep. At least on some nights. Which leads to exhaustion. And also leads to one flying out the door, actually, rolling, just to get away from the morning's most egregious fatigue-related embarrassment. Which all started with a car, more precisely a van, Read more [...]

So what is the news that isn't news? Well, that you and United Airlines have been seeing a lot of each other lately. Are you dating? Just good friends? Have you gone all the way? Is Hawaii all the way? Thing is, it doesn't matter. Note that the actual trip, the purpose behind it, the unexpected pleasures and unintended benefits of my visit to Phoenix, Arizona...all of that was splendid. Yes, it came a bit too close to my flight home from Hawaii. So what? Even the Mission Palms Hotel seemed less Read more [...]

Thing about holidays, any holiday, is that there's no holiday from oneself. This being the essential instruction for the introvert on vacation don't expect too much. Or expect way too much. It doesn't matter. Either way, you wind up with that essential piece of baggage: yourself. No getting away from it. Although that is exactly what you are on holiday to do. Get away from it all, or so the expression goes. On the other hand, the inner measurement always registers best, lets one know what's happening, Read more [...]

Caffeination. It doesn't take much to get the essence of the word, Caffeine Nation. That is us. Indivisible, with liberty and justice. In order to form a more perfect. And so on. I pledge allegiance. And there is, unfortunately, no flag. Never mind. Under God, we are, and under-energized we also are without, you know, caffeine. Nothing like a little buzz from the ever popular speed to set the blood aflow. Except for the exchange of words with those at the other end of the cyber-telephone. Yes, Read more [...]

There is an unspoken agreement about life in an apartment, perhaps about apartments in general. There may be painting, improving, even a ripping out and a hammering in of decor or content. But the fundament remains. The core is the core. And it is a hard core. Draperies, even walls, may change. But not the underpinnings. The essential container. That's why it is tantamount to a crime against nature to feel the exterior wall of one's small bedroom, a.k.a. office, shuddering under steel attack. Unnerving, Read more [...]

Wondering what to do with your life? Feeling like you want something new? Well, why not start renovating? Go on, do it. The future will spill out like a cornucopia from a horn of plenty. What delight! What variety. And you haven't had this much fun since childhood. So let's start there, childhood. In those days...and I didn't even know they were days, let alone their numbered status...my family lived in the desert. Who would have thought that you needed a sandpile in the desert? Well, it turns Read more [...]