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Roots Above The Stones
Every year at this season we watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and their Christmas concert. Last night we watched it; we had recorded it the night before, and I was grateful because I was able to fast forward through much of it. The vibe of the show was very different from what we usually experience. First of all, we noticed that the word “Mormon” has been expunged from the group’s title. They’re now The Tabernacle Choir. This seems logical, given what I have read in recent months about the LDS church bending over backwards to fit in with the rainbow regiment people. Also, the tone of the programs was…off. The…
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Update On Mrs. Orr
I wanted to thank all of you who took the time to leave comments and email me about my wife’s health issues. I am especially grateful for those of you who have been praying for her. Just a small point of clarification, because I realize that in my haste to get the post up, I inaccurately described one of Mrs. Orr’s symptoms. In fact, her throat has not been swelling. She describes it as a sort of spasming. And she believes it may be psychological, a sort of panicked reaction. Any time she swallows wrong and, for example, aspirates water, the terrors just wash over her and it’s difficult for…
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Honing The Edge of Loss
These are days of depletion, of withered hopes, of long hours, of loss. That feeling that the little ship inside me has run onto a jagged shoal and now there is a little slick of acid growing in the waters around it. I have been interviewing for a new job, and have been quite hopeful that I was going to get it. But because of some remarkable bureaucracy jiggles and inflexibility, the moment has passed and I did not get the job. I made the mistake of allowing myself to believe that I was going to be awarded the position, and that belief lightened my mood at work and made…
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A Briefness
Two acquaintances of mine have died within the past week. One of them died of the China virus, according to the doctors. The other one was killed when he misjudged and turned into the path of an oncoming car. Not wearing a seatbelt, he was ejected from his vehicle and thrown against the unforgiving surface of a suburban street, and he died enroute to hospital. The alleged covidtality and I spoke on the phone a week before his death. His final words to me were, “Goddammit, SK, I don’t understand it. They tell me I’ve got the Covid, but I had both of those damn shots. How in hell can…
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The New Holomodor
Friends and family send me videos and podcasts all the time. I watch or listen to very few of them, simply because I’m not interested in most of the topics, or because I can see in advance where the topic is going, and I don’t have time to wade through something that’s not going to provide any genuine insights or epiphanies. I am confronted daily with the international scam known as Covid. I don’t mention it much on this blog because the topic is like evil in the world: it is pervasive and spending too much time thinking or talking about it tends to depress and defile the soul. But…
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Last Weekend in Standard Time
Jinx didn’t let us sleep in too late today, which was a pity because I was still exhausted from yesterday’s little stroll. But spotted dogs with small brains and enormous personalities cannot be denied, and we laughed together as he bounded around the room, growling and moaning. Yes, moaning. Jinx has a peculiar noise he makes when he’s trying to provoke us into playing with him, a noise that sounds quite a bit like the timbers in the HMS Indefatigable with HH on the bridge during a storm. A deep, creaky, groany glissando up and down three octaves. Moaning will have to do as the noun here. The moaning. Oh,…
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Cause And Effect And So Forth
While getting ready for work this morning, I thought of the bicyclist I used to see every morning on the side of the road near my office. It’s been months since I last saw him, and I spent some time speculating about where he is and what happened to him. Did he find another job? Move? Get injured? I put the bicyclist out of my mind and went about my morning routine. I left for work and spent the drive in the half-daydreaming, half-praying state so common to me. About a mile from my office, there he was, on the side of the road, pedaling steadily up the incline. I…