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July 31, 2015

The chronic malcontent flirts with terminal uniqueness

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I'm sitting in the Love Shack, hunkered down under the ceiling fan with my feet in a bucket of cold water. The temperature outside is 96...
July 26, 2015

The chronic malcontent tries to avoid the consequences of living

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Today I cried. Just a little, not for long, but it was an unexpected shock, to find myself sobbing into my hands. I haven't cried, reall...
July 20, 2015

Two shank's mares walk into a bar

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A friend dropped by briefly today. He laughed when he saw me. I thought that was odd, but didn't say anything. We concluded our business...
July 16, 2015

Gains and losses, but sometimes it's hard to tell which is which

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Yesterday Mom and I went to the retirement village (more like a small city) to look at a one-bedroom apartment. After a long walk through th...
July 05, 2015

You know it's hot when the cat sleeps in the tub

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During the spring, winter, and fall, I often try to remember how it feels to swelter in 90°+ heat. I never can. I know for my friends in Ari...
June 29, 2015

Hunting and gathering in the heat of the day

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This morning I had a choice: take a bus to buy groceries at Gateway, or walk a mile to the big store on Glisan. Choices, choices. Waiting fo...
June 26, 2015

Feeling the heat? Let's all scream like babies!

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When I got home from a walk in 98° sunshine, I saw a strange shadow on the drape that hangs across my front door to shield my living room fr...
June 18, 2015

It's official: The chronic malcontent is old

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Welcome to the summer of carlessness. Mine, that is, I hope not yours (unless you want to be carless). I spent time this week embracing my n...
June 13, 2015

Poverty is not a moral failing

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As I nodded off on the bus today on my way across town, I remembered that 40 years ago, I took Portland buses everywhere. Long before the MA...
June 07, 2015

Last rites for my four-wheeled friend

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I'm sad to report, the Focus is dead. Long live the dusty, dirty, moss-covered, drippy, leaking Focus. On Saturday I flogged the old bug...
May 27, 2015

The chronic malcontent suffers from a vestibular disturbance

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I had to get out of the Love Shack for a while today. Three reasons: The morning clouds dissipated around noon, good time to go out for a su...
May 18, 2015

The chronic malcontent leans in... and out

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As I shake the cat hair and fingernail clippings out of my keyboard, I reflect on the possibility that sometimes vertigo is just vertigo. It...
May 12, 2015

Slow boat to hell

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Last week my family came together to talk about Mom. Mom was there, in case you were wondering. It's not like the kids met in a secret c...
May 05, 2015

The perils of cleaning

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Our scrawny maternal parental unit is preparing to move into a retirement place. More on that another time. Earlier today I was sitting in a...
April 24, 2015

Let's make like squirrels and get flattened

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Today the maternal parental unit and I went on our fifth and likely final tour of our local retirement community options. I prepared myself ...
April 17, 2015

I'm back... in the land of the upright, that is

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Maybe my throbbing right inner ear knew that I meant business when I made a doctor's appointment. Maybe my ear decided to cooperate, kno...
April 13, 2015

Sail on, sailor

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This just in: getting old sucks. Where do I start? Well, let's start with the reason I haven't blogged this week. I'm sailing ro...
March 29, 2015

The chronic malcontent runs in circles

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I ran the paths in Mt Tabor Park yesterday. Well, let's be honest: I trotted. First, I trotted around the big reservoir on 60th Avenue (...
March 26, 2015

Going to the hardware store for bread

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Events conspire to reinforce my belief that everything is going to hell in a stinky hand-basket. Planes. Mountains. Smithereens. Blown head ...
March 21, 2015

Tethered to the wreckage of the future

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I should be editing right now, but my head hurts. When I start thinking I should do a find-and-replace to swap out every other word with shu...