On Finding a Routine

Embarrassment of riches: retired guy has enough time on his hands to do any thing he wants, has a list of such things at the ready, and yet, some of the things he wants to do he doesn’t do–or, more accurately, doesn’t do enough of to satisfy his own self-critical assessment of his productivity. HeContinue reading “On Finding a Routine”

On the Eighteenth Day of 2025…

…I have broken the record from January 2024 by writing eighteen days in a row toward the goal of blogging every day during the first month of the new year, attempting each day to string together a few hundred to a thousand words that form coherent sentences and ideas. I’ve tried to vary the shoeContinue reading “On the Eighteenth Day of 2025…”

On the Twenty-first Day of 2024: The Numbers, Again

Number of bicycle rides in 2024: 5 Number of walks I’ve taken: I wasn’t counting. Let’s estimate that I went for a walk with the dogs maybe 7 times in 21 days. Number of alcoholic beverages consumed: 0 Number of times I wanted a drink really bad but nevertheless resisted: 5 Number of dreams I’veContinue reading “On the Twenty-first Day of 2024: The Numbers, Again”

It’s Been A Long Time . . .

. . .since we rock and rolled. So long, in fact, that my hair color has changed from purple to blue and then to silver. Apologies to anyone who might have missed me. It was April the last time I posted something new. I’m not including July’s essay “Reflections on 37 Years of Marriage” becauseContinue reading “It’s Been A Long Time . . .”

Stop the Block by Writing About the Block: A Resolution

As the song says, it’s been a long time since I rock and rolled. Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of literal rocking and rolling on the drums. I’m speaking figuratively about the kind of rock and roll that typically manifests itself in poetry, fiction, and right here on the blog site. Inexplicably (or not),Continue reading “Stop the Block by Writing About the Block: A Resolution”

Diary of an English Teacher in His Penultimate Year, Redux: It’s Raining and I’m Flying By the Seat of My Pants!

Yesterday I made a video blog so I could test my new microphone, and during part of my little talk there I kind of bemoaned the fact that it had been so long since my last entry, months, in fact. Afterwards, I was struck by this single observation: It took me three and a halfContinue reading “Diary of an English Teacher in His Penultimate Year, Redux: It’s Raining and I’m Flying By the Seat of My Pants!”

#243: A Poem Composed on a Word Processor about Writing by Hand

I read recently that handwriting is better for the brain than typing, what we call in this information age “word processing.” It’s better, handwriting, because the task is more physical, therefore more complex, therefore more memorable, theref more meaningful. Did you notice how I truncated “therefore” on purpose so that I could end the lineContinue reading “#243: A Poem Composed on a Word Processor about Writing by Hand”

#137: Blog Spam

I often get comments on my blog posts that read almost and sometimes exactly like this: “I am genuinely delighted to glance at this bloig postѕ which consists of lots of valuable information, thanks for providing these kinds of data,” apropos of absolutely nothing. I’m puzzled. Is this the deliberate work of a real person, a realContinue reading “#137: Blog Spam”

2013 in review: Not Bad

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.  I’m not sure if people are interested in this thing or not, but the WordPress.com helper monkeys sent me this report and offered me a link that would allow me to share it with my readers, so at least in the opinionContinue reading “2013 in review: Not Bad”

On New Year’s Resolutions, Or, On Having Blogged A Bunch and the Dangers of Repeating Oneself

I began composing a blog entry this morning about New Year’s Resolutions.  The direction I was going felt compelling.  I was proud of the opening paragraph.  I was on to something and feeling clever and witty and all of that jazz. I was also feeling a bit of deja vu, like somehow, I remembered writing,Continue reading “On New Year’s Resolutions, Or, On Having Blogged A Bunch and the Dangers of Repeating Oneself”