I was on high ground during a hike today. The trail was on a ridge that allowed for a 360-degree view of Lakeside, full of houses, streets, commercial buildings, schools, and the like. Beyond were mountains, all around — it was a beautiful view. My carpool group had split. One had gone back to the car early, and half of the rest of us decided to make a loop and go back by the streets. Me, I decided to take…
I’m a reasonable and an emotional person, like most people, and it’s taken me four decades to finally look at myself in that way and start to see my reasoning and emotions in a more objective way, to try and detach myself from the processes of my mind and my heart and balance the two. It took meeting certain people, being with them, and learning from them to get to that point, but I had to see for myself the…
I recently read someone’s answer on Quora about cancer, and it reinforced my belief that the body is very much like its own planet and ecosystem. We can treat it carelessly, without regard to possible long-term ramifications, in the interest of whatever short-term benefits we might want; and for a very long time, if we’re lucky, we may not even notice the damage done. Raze the forest for land and building materials — you get a great place to live…
Once, in a comment on an old blog post, I joked that the phone used to be surgically attached to my sister’s ear. At the time, I was referring to a phone attached to a land line, the kind of phone that had a cord and physical buttons, back when that was the norm. I was exaggerating, obviously; it was the sort of phone you left at home when you went to school or work, so she couldn’t possibly have…
Two of the TV shows I watch remind me of how old I am. Not just old, mind you, but super have-gotten-irrelevant-and-obsolescent kind of old. They are Younger and The Great Indoors. Younger is about a woman in her 40s, like me, who has to re-enter the work force after being out of it for so long, but even though she’s capable, no one hires her because of her age. After being mistaken for someone 20 years younger than she…