Layovers & Empty Glasses

Fluid pouring in pint glass

We tend to strive for the other side of our achievements.

A clean in-box
An empty desk
The celebration after the speech
The exhale after the test

But then, we get there, to the other side, and after the euphoria subsides, we tend to resent the emptiness and crave the clutter again.

In… Read more...

The Right Metric

I was moping around the house, half-sick and taking stock of all of the things I should have been doing but wasn’t.

Clean off the bookshelf
Leaky showerhead
Touch-up paint for the door trim
Laundry

“Can we read tonight, Daddy?”

Hazel’s to-do list is a mile long … Read more...

Space for Egos

The facade of an office block removed to expose office spaces, cables, rooms and the structure.

It doesn’t take talent to destroy things.

Only ego.

And a deaf ear to the screams of the architects and the residents.

Even the ugliest of buildings has some good bricks, some ingenuity worthy of replication.

Innovation comes from working above and beyond the thing before it.

No… Read more...

Mid-Life Crisis

I really hate this term.

I prefer a different phrase for something so inevitable that happens to all of us at the same point in our timelines.

Doesn’t it make sense that halfway through our lives we’re going to self-evaluate?

Just because we take the time to recognize th… Read more...

Two Prisoners

Sunset over an Australian Beach

I don’t get get. How can you smile in here?

Because smiling is better than frowning.

But we’re locked in this room all day and beaten and tortured at night. We’re fed the same rotten food every day. We are ridiculed and yelled at. We are forgotten.

This is all trueRead more...

Anxiety

Grayscale photo of chair inside the establishment

Anxiety is a trapped THOUGHT in a straight jacket banging against the walls of your mind, trying to get out.

It’s relentless, constantly moving, and doesn’t care what time it is.

When the outside world gets quiet, the banging and slamming and SCREAMING get louder.

The mo… Read more...

Future Clogs & Such Things

Gray surface

Neighbors are great for impromptu chats, standing in the street with dogs, with trash bags, with full bottles of wine (I had a French neighbor once).

Dave noticed the pipes that had just shown up running along my fence, down the garden, and letting out onto the sidewalk.

“Ar … Read more...

The Day After Today

Silhouette of golden gate bridge during golden hour

The dark cloud has been over us for so long, I think we’re used to it.

Even when it’s sunny, it’s not really as sunny as it used to be.

But all of that can change.

Some decisions are hard, but not the ones where love is all the way on one side.

I’m tired of th… Read more...