—YOU ARE MY BEST GUESS AT THE FUTURE

  

…Doesn’t it feel great to laugh, like really laugh hard from your gut?

 

…“Do I wear hats?”

 

…Whatever happened to Richard Branson? He always struck me as one of the good guy billionaires.

 

…No one should ever have a coffee enema.

 

…A good dog can make up for a lot. I hope you have a good dog.

 

…Here’s a headline you don’t see every day: 

            A seal is found wandering streets of New Haven, becomes local celebrity

(I read the article (Washington Post) and the locals took good care of him.)

 

…It’s weird how you can experience something, then remember it mostly wrong.

 

…You have to be a certain type of person to be able to pull off slang. (And I don’t mean that in a good or bad way.)

 

…I found that puppy ad online and have it saved for when times get rough. Yep.

 

…Lemon trees—there’s another happy thought.

 

…In the words of Bob Zimmerman, “It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting’ there.”

 

…Don’t you just miss drive-in movies? Penny bubble gum was pretty great, too.

 

…It’s hard not to wonder what God’s thinking.

 

…I’ve been dragging my feet forever on entering a chapbook contest (judged by Roxane Gay) when on Wednesday I finally pulled the stick out and got it submitted. Seconds after hitting send, I started second-guessing myself like crazy: It said 25-40 pages and mine was 41 pages with the cover sheet, so will they disqualify me for the blank first page? Why couldn’t I have just eliminated a piece or two? Why did I include that story and not this one? Should I have included a Table of Contents in the cover letter? Should I have sucked up more in the cover letter? Why didn’t I elaborate on my accomplishments in my bio instead of only writing fifteen words?

Do you ever do that, second-guess yourself instead of celebrating the fact that you actually did something kind of major?

It felt like I needed a drink afterward.

 

…You put it out there, you have to expect some blowback.

 

…I wonder why Sinead never got credit for being right (because she was) after all she endured.

 

…It’s hard to hold onto a good mood for long. Any tips?

 

…Being superstitious doesn’t help matters.

 

…It’s good to be around young kids. Even if they throw the occasional tantrum, they make up for it in other ways.

 

…If this blog was a car, I wonder how many miles it’d have on it?

 

…Even if you didn’t like him, do you think this many people were depressed, anxious and demoralized when Biden was President?

 

…“I do not mean to be sentimental about suffering…. but people who cannot suffer can never grow up, can never discover who they are.”  James Baldwin

 

…Flash is a little like AI. One minute you’ve never heard of it, the next everyone has.

 

…I always tell myself I’m supporting the art I love when I buy books, but really it might just be another addiction.

 

…I’m not sure if those positive platitudes really work. Like posting this: 

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR LIFE. KNOW THAT IT IS YOU WHO WILL GET YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO. NO ONE ELSE.

Maybe I’m just cynical, but it doesn’t make me want to do a damn thing.

 

…Apparently I look like Townes Van Zandt. I don’t see it, but maybe I’m not supposed to.

Who do people say you look like?

 

…Poor Volodymyr Zelenskyy. No matter what happens, he will always be a hero to me.

 

…I wouldn’t mind bellbottoms making a comeback. Sign me up for anything 70s.

 

…Lou Reed would have been a fun guy to know. 

 

…I think Banksy has the right idea.

 

…From FBK, 2/14/25:

Just wrote a little Valentine's Day text (that I believed was quite romantic) and then accidentally sent it to my mechanic instead of my wife. How's your day going so far?

 

…From BK:

That asteroid that’s supposed to hit earth might actually be a relief.

 

….Bumper sticker I recently saw:

I’M SO GAY I CAN’T EVEN DRIVE STRAIGHT

 

…I’ve got it!—Let’s impeach the judges who won’t let us do what we want. After that, we’ll make sure to call them something degrading.

 

… "There always comes a time in history when anyone who dares to say that two and two make four is punished by death. The teacher knows it well." Albert Camus

 

…It’s pretty hard to pull off a moustache, but if you can, good for you.

 

…FBK:

--“I wish I could block arugula.”

   --“Just lettuce be.”

--“Kale no!”

 

…I guess FAFO parenting is a thing now.

 

…SM:

I could go for some inner peace. Wonder if I have any left in the fridge.

 

…If I’m being honest, I’m probably the least optimistic person I know.

 

…It’s hard to say which is more bothersome—close-talkers or loud-talkers.

 

…Somehow Jimmy Fallon manages to be the happiest person in America day after day.

 

…I always thought tattoos would be a temporary fad, but that was just another thing I was wrong about.

 

…But is it an insult if you call someone a liar when they’re actually lying?

 

 

…IN THE MEANTIME

 

Meanwhile, flowers still bloom.

The moon rises, and the sun.

Babies smile and somewhere,

Against all the odds,

Two people are falling in love.

Strangers share cigarettes and jokes.

Light plays on the surface of water.

Grace occurs on unlikely streets

And we hold each other fast 

Against entropy, the fires and the flood.

Life leans towards living

And, while death claims all things at the end,

There were such precious times between,

In which everything was radiant

And we loved, again, this world.

    --Tom Hirons

 

 

…I remember when I first started writing short, there was a premier publication called 6S which only took pieces that were exactly six sentences long. At the time, it seemed like an impossible task. Now, writing a story that’s more than two or three sentences sometimes feels insurmountable to me.

 

…Do you ever think about that COVID period we lived through? I probably do too much.

 

…I wonder why people self-sabotage themselves. And by people, I mean me.