It was just last year at this very time that I was balls deep in unemployment. It's impossible to forget the embarrassment of filing for weekly unemployment benefits. I fortunately landed a few short-term contracts to make up the difference between what I was pulling in (unemployment-wise) and my expenses. Ask any professional salt, though, … Continue reading In thanksgiving
Category: A little extra carrying
Stuff
Initiation
Johnny Lipp was a year older than me in grade school and furthermore this kind-of male counterpart to Ms. Piggy. He was loud and influential and porky in aspect. Johnny Lipp, which of course wasn't his real last name but damn near close, was all that, plus he was the school bully. Nobody tried tackling … Continue reading Initiation
Lie down in darkness
There are the suicides we understand. The terminally ill, the obvious addict, the flagrantly depressed, the murderer or criminal. Even the overdramatic teenager. But there are others that throw our whole perception of reality off axis. The singer Chris Cornell, comedian Robin Williams before him. Both enormously successful and widely adored. Why would Williams, who smiled so much and elicited even more … Continue reading Lie down in darkness
A wish
I remember that one night when my dad was stabbing his new girlfriend with his romance. He was around the same age I am now. I was downstairs watching tv or something. The bed creaked and squeaked. I was an odd mix of cheerleader and grossed-out kid and anxious seeker of an ages-old answer I … Continue reading A wish
Anatomy of a civil war
My boss is chubby and a red neck. Same chubby, same redneck as when I was his boss. Instead of puffing on the cigs these days he's got this flasky-looking vessel he fills with oil or syrup that makes it impossible for him to take his mouth off of it. If that's not enough, he's … Continue reading Anatomy of a civil war
Six on six off
https://videopress.com/v/Cm5G02zi?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true On my first day back on the water, we putter by the Time Bandit on the way out the harbor in Homer, AK. The sky is beginning to show. Seagulls are joyful or fussy I can never tell. I look it up--Time Bandit is the boat that featured on the Deadliest Catch for years. … Continue reading Six on six off
Whatever it takes
I take this call. I'm told that I'm going somewhere in Alaska. I hear the word "Nome" at one point. Nome? Sounds a little too much like 'no' and 'home' put together. For those who know better, it is. I'm sad about it. Summer’s going to come and go while I'm up there. I’ll probably … Continue reading Whatever it takes
About tmc
I got kidnapped. For real? Twice And you don't write about it? Dude, it's not who we are around here? Dude, what are you talking about? I mean we're not about all the chest thumping here. There's plenty of places to go to for that. Fuck you we're not. Dude, dudes do thump their chest … Continue reading About tmc
Che
Years back, on New Year's Eve, in a crowded and cramped apartment in downtown Havana, my then wife and I partied with a family of Cubans that covered about three generations. They loved dancing. The spread put out by a big-butted matriarch was comprised of okay-tasting beans and yucca and expensive chicken and enough rum … Continue reading Che
So what if I am
When you're out in the streets and this guy is having one hell of a conversation with nobody other than himself, that's like schizophrenia, right? When someone else is screaming at the top of her lungs in rage, that's schizophrenia, too, you think. A simple greeting snaps them out of it, you've noticed. You've tried … Continue reading So what if I am
