Retreat into yourself, but first make yourself ready to receive yourself there. If you do not know how to govern yourself, it would be madness to entrust yourself to yourself. There are ways of failing in solitude as well as in society. – Michel de Montaigne Hi, Ghost. A long time ago I read many […]

One of the most bizarre things that’s ever happened to me, happened this week. To start the story, though, I have to go back to two weeks ago, to a completely harmless and kind neighbor experience, which indirectly and unrelatedly led to a hostile and threatening experience with another neighbor. To back up and set […]

It’s been an absolute shit year. My cat died. I miss my ex like crazy. My dad didn’t talk to me for 10 months. I’m lonelier than I’ve ever been. I didn’t take good care of myself, as a rule. My only date was with a felon of the worst kind. I all but stopped […]

I recently attended my first bicycle convention. Held at Portland’s Zidell Yards, the MADE gathering showcased handmade bicycles and bicycle components from makers and artisans. As my friend S likes to point out, all bikes are handmade, but this was a showcase dedicated to the small business owner and independent craftsman, as far as I […]

I recently watched a YouTube video by a man called Al Humphries about embracing the idea of micro-adventures. Al Humphries is a macro-adventurer. Like, we’re talking trips to the South Pole and kayaking across the Atlantic Ocean. One evening, in a tent in a remote wilderness somewhere, a friend of his made an offhand crack […]

I brought Winter home today. Her ashes are in a carved box, and they were accompanied by her paw prints on a card, in ink. I put them on her little bed in the sun, with her hairbrush and favorite toy. The hairbrush still has her beautiful gray fur in it. I feel like our […]

I seem to have made it past the inconsolable weeping phase. Now I just sat around my apartment for the last two days, staring at the places where Winter is so vividly etched in my memory. I see her little bed on the built-in bookshelf. I see her stretched out in the sun, making her […]

Warning, all ye who enter here. This is some seriously sad shit. Regarding the last post: So, I do what I do in these situations, when life throws me an absolute pile of garbage: I write about it. I write. I write immediately, and full of feeling. And in this case I posted about it […]

Walking my dog down my street in Albuquerque in the summer of 2016, I saw a small gray kitten climb up into the engine of a parked car. I took my dog home, and lured the kitten out from under the car with some food (she was very hungry). I couldn’t grab her, and she […]

It started with a potential dating partner. I met someone on Hinge about three weeks ago. He was seriously sweet and we met for a date. I loved the date, we had so much to talk about, so many bike stories to share. His eyes were deeply set and sparkling blue. He had dimples. For […]