—ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF WE STAND THE TEST OF TIME

  

…Hey, Micah, how about some good news?

 

…If you can make the algorithm happy, you’re pretty savvy.

 

…Maybe all you can do is try.

 

…My mom divorced my biological dad when I was not quite five. I don’t remember saying goodbye. I do vividly remember driving in the back of my stepdad’s truck from Bismarck to Spokane and being frightened the whole time, with strange headaches and hallucinations. 

I remember wondering if it snowed in Spokane. I remember thinking it was pretty neat that I’d have two more brothers and sisters. 

I don’t know how my stepdad did it—raise ten kids on a mechanic's salary. I know he loved my mom for being a stunner who’d won some beauty contests. He just didn’t know what he’d bargained for.

 

…Joy in spite of everything. Yep.

 

…Sometimes mortality becomes a thing.

 

…What’s embarrassing is knowing someone pretty well online but not knowing how to pronounce their name when you finally meet them.

 

…What’s also embarrassing is a thousand things I’ve done that I can’t take back now.

 

…Maybe getting a compliment is so rare that people think you’re trying to pick them up rather than lift them up by saying what a great writer you think they are.

 

…No one needs two pink jean jackets. Do they?

 

…If the easiest way to respect someone is to respect their time, why don’t people show up when they say they’re going to?

 

…What’s baffling, genuinely baffling, is having to explain lunacy to someone who’s hearing it, and looking it, straight in the eye. 

 

…“The world is sick, and yes it can be cruel, but it would be a whole lot sicker and a whole lot crueler if it were not for painters and filmmakers and songwriters, the beauty-makers, wading through the blood and muck of things, whilst reaching skyward to draw down the very heavens themselves.” Nick Cave

 

… From FBK:

two things I feel a little bad about: 

Every time I see the word “misogyny”, I get happy that it contains the word “miso”, and I get hungry. 

Every time I see the word “hospice”, all I can see is “Ho Spice” and it tickles me to death. What is Ho Spice??? Prolly garlic powder and pre-ground black pepper.

The point is, I can’t stop thinking about food, even if it’s serious words like misogyny and hospice. Something is wrong with me.

 

…I don’t know blood pressure. I really don’t. Every time they take it when I give blood and they tell me mine, I just ask, “Is that good?” But sometimes I can feel those whatever-they-are numbers shifting in my throat.

 

 …“It’s a folk singer’s job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people.” Woody Guthrie 

 

…Is there romance in the air, or is it just allergies?

 

…I haven’t lost my cool in a long time. One thing’s for sure—I’m  going to need more practice on how to do it better.

 

…I have this FBK writer friend I’ve never met. I read his posts fairly regularly and so I had a pre-conceived notion about him, but then the other night I sat in on his reading and stayed to the very end of his Q & A with students. I was spellbound. It was one of the most riveting things I’ve ever experienced. Aside from that specifically, it makes me wonder how many other people I think I know but really don't. 

 

…“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Mark Twain

…Even if you’re an optimist, you have to acknowledge that things can get worse, and probably will. Just look at today.

…It’s a strange world, isn’t it?

…That piece I posted Wednesday was easy enough to write but super difficult to cull. I wrote it specifically for a journal that only takes pieces that are exactly 75 words, title included. I write short, that’s what I do, but it was tough.

…“All writing, all art, is an act of faith.” Truman Capote

 

…I wish I knew how to worry less.

 

…It could be all in my head.

 

…What you never want to be asked is, “What’s your problem?”

 

…No one really wants an answer to that question.

 

…The wind making the trees sway—now that’s beautiful, and hypnotic.

…It’ll probably sound silly, but I think Squid Game has a lot to teach us.

 

…I’m really not a just-pick-up-the-phone-and-call person. Was I ever? Are you? 

…“Love is all you need.” Yeah, not really.

 

…Some people can cry on demand. Now there’s a gift.

 

…There are your favorite movies, and then there are the ones you think about a lot.

 

…“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” Rumi

 

…I hope you’re surrounded by love this Valentine’s Day.