My sister was dying. She was in hospice care. I’d just finished visiting her. She had only a couple days left. My cheeks were red with tears as I walked through the lobby.* Someone, I don’t even remember who, waved and walked over, slapped me on the back and asked, “Hey, how you doing?” My …
Author: wastedpilgrim
I'm a writer.
Blogs. Novels. Journalism. Songs.
It's all I know how to do well.
Winnowing Out the Bad Words
Every writer makes a transition in which he goes from being bold and erratic to precise and accurate. I don’t mean facts. It’s the words, stupid. It used to be the economy back before it became a football to be tossed back and forth between political parties. Everyone has memories that cause shudders of regret. …
The Trouble with Taxes Is They Are So Taxing
Income taxes should be done by now. Necessity is the mother of completion (okay, okay, it’s really invention), and I’m going to get some righteous bucks back, and, God knows, I need them, but the motivation required to do taxes quickly and industriously is a virtue I lack. I chip away. One morning I go …
Continue reading The Trouble with Taxes Is They Are So Taxing
Consequences of a Crazy World
What if it is discovered, oh, in a decade or so, that the smartest people are the ones in prison because they aren’t allowed to use Twitter? What if the language changes, veering in the direction of mindless simplicity by means of the use of “u” instead of “you,” “2” instead of “to” or “too” …
A Book, the Highlights of Which Were …
Sometimes reading is a pleasure. Sometime it is more an investment. At the moment, I’m fairly racing through Frank Deford’s Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter. He’s been my favorite writer of sports since I read his first novel, Cut ‘n’ Run, when I was about 15. I’ve been using a highlighter, as if …
World Is Crazy, Wrong Reason
Occasionally I hear someone ask, “Why should marijuana be legal?” It seems obvious the question should be, “Why shouldn’t it?” The status quo is more stupid than the Vietnam War, and it didn’t cost us 58,000-and-something lives. It definitely cost us 58,000-and-something happy lives. It’s equally as stupid as Prohibition, and marijuana, as President Obama …
Mainly Running in Place
Last week I was driving through the middle of town, traffic slowed down to a crawl, and I looked to my left where the owner of a new Chinese restaurant was standing on the other side of the window, holding his smiling little boy. The toddler was giggling. I waved at him. He waved back. …
At Least I’m Writing This
I might as well admit it. I’m in a bit of a slump. Or maybe it’s a rut. My wheels are spinning. Sand, perhaps. I’m lapping away. I have a picture of where my writing needs to go. It’s just in soft focus. I’m getting Monet when I need a stark, black and white photograph. …
Just Another Motel Morning
When I walked into the lobby, my first impression was that the woman was mentally deficient. The second was that she was emotionally unbalanced. The third was that she was chemically unbalanced. Valentine’s Day is not all sweetness and light. According to the woman behind the desk, the biggest bunch of drunks you ever saw …
Fight the Good Fight
What won’t we do? We hold the Super Bowl in the open air of wintertime New Jersey. We hold the Winter Olympics at a beach resort. We hold an outdoor NHL match in Los Angeles. What won’t we think? We glance at our backyards and proclaim that climate change is over. We think guns will …
Nightrider's Lament 