On the United States Open telecast, Sean McDonough just said that Jordan Spieth was “a revolution shy of a share of the lead,” and I thought, well, he’s in the same predicament as Castro in 1958. Then I heard another announcer say, “Once the ball has moved, you are deemed to have moved it,” and …
Author: wastedpilgrim
I'm a writer.
Blogs. Novels. Journalism. Songs.
It's all I know how to do well.
They Shut Down Easy Street
Big cities have no monopoly on anything. Here in my town, we like to think we don’t have similar problems, but we do. The folks who used to work in factories now ask me if I’d like to try the new Three-Cheese Double Bacon Burger on the fresh-baked bun with curly cheese fries and a …
NASCAR Will Never Find Another Leprechaun
Clinton, S.C., Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 9:51 a.m. In many years of watching NASCAR and writing about it, I knew saints and sinners, workaholics and con artists, contenders and pretenders, but I only knew one leprechaun. I never saw Junie Donlavey dance, and I doubt he thought Lucky Charms were “magically delicious,” but he …
Facebook Friends
The world is changing / Always rearranging / From birth to the end / With my Facebook friends. It’s not that Jerry Lennart opposed Facebook. He spent a goodly amount of wasted time on it. It wasn’t that it was worse than Twitter or whatever new flavor inevitably followed. It was that word that followed …
Facebook Friends, Part Six (Final)
I'll put the whole story together and post it soon. Thanks for reading. Nathan McLure had never entertained the notion that a motel might offer free breakfast for its guests, and he took to the Red Roof Inn’s morning offerings as if they were at a Shoney’s breakfast bar. He also didn’t know what to …
Facebook Friends, Part Five
I thought this might be the final part, but turns out it's going to take at least one more. The boy drank both soft drinks, his and the Diet Doctor Pepper Jerry had fetched for himself. No matter. His voice cleared up, though still raspy. Jerry asked him what he’d been doing. The boy said …
Isn’t It Ironic?
I was in the kitchen when I heard Anthony Mason, on CBS This Morning, say a music group played “vibronic pop.” I thought, why isn’t it “vibratic”? I understand why it might be “symphonic.” But neither music nor anything else “vibrons.” It vibrates. The reason words often don’t make sense is that they are usually …
Facebook Friends, Part Four
This one sat off to the side for a while, mainly because I was working against a deadline with “High, Wild and Handsome.” This one also required some reacquaintance. Reorientation. I had to get my head back in it. You can “page down” a while and find the first three parts. Jerry Lennart set …
Buffaloes in the West
Sure, I tweet. I partake of the social media. It keeps me in touch, perhaps, to a fault. Nowadays it’s possible to get a job in which all that is required is to tweet. They claim it’s “devising a social-media strategy.” They’re too smart merely to “tweet.” I tweet. I tweeted. I have tweeted. I …
Those Fracking Cliches
“Let’s see if the Braves can exact some revenge on the Seattle Mariners.” I just heard Chip Caray say this. Seldom is anything “exacted” except revenge. Seldom is anything wreaked except havoc, and if havoc is in town (or, oh, on a page), it is invariably wreaked. Mothers are seldom sick without also being …
Nightrider's Lament 