This is a sappy blog, and it was well overdue.

April 12, 2010 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Deep South, Everyday, faith, life 
Link to This is a sappy blog, and it was well overdue.

The last good day I had was back in 1994, in October, on a Thursday afternoon. I was in line at McDonald's waiting for a milkshake, and the man in front of me turned around and gave me $15 because he liked my smile. That is an absolute lie. I have no record of good days versus bad days. I just try to get through them, either way. Like the rest of the herd. I was reared by a bona fide cynic. I got it honest. Our world view was as follows: Bad day…well, at least, it’s only got 24 hours to live....

Read More »

Excuse me, did you just call me a fad?

March 23, 2010 by · 7 Comments
Filed under: Deep South, Everyday, faith, family, life 
Link to Excuse me, did you just call me a fad?

I learned what the meaning of fad was the hard way.  And I don’t just mean having to look it up in a dictionary. Since, I come before the mandatory use of home computers. I had a personal encounter with the word. It’s surprising, though, what one’s personal history of fads says about oneself. For me, in retrospect, my string of passing fancies was equivalent to that annoying solid beep of an emergency broadcast—“ in the event of an actual emergency, contact information will be provided.” That second part there, that never happened. Some of my “interests” were rather unique to me and me alone....

Read More »

A word about lesbians…

March 11, 2010 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Deep South, education, faith, family, humor, life 
Link to A word about lesbians…

So, Mississippi’s made the news, again. Have you heard? Itawamba County’s School Board has decided to cancel the local high school’s prom because one student, a lesbian, wanted to wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend as her date. Of course, the media is licking its chops, I’m sure, over this newest political deep-fried Panic Button. All the more so because it’s straight from the Heart of Dixie, also known as the Buckle of the Bible Belt. It was only a little more than a decade ago, wasn’t it?, when we were splayed across the nation’s newsrooms (again, the culprit being North...

Read More »

Nothing but the blood: Tigi

March 2, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Deep South, faith, family, humor, life 
Link to Nothing but the blood: Tigi

Kirby thinks I ought to pen a few character sketches for you. He and I were talking the other day and he said it’d be nice to explain who some of these people are that I keep writing about. He said it’d increase reader-interest if I described in some detail the repeated members of my sweet, dogged family I refer to so often in my memoir-esque blog. I think that’s a great idea.   For several reasons: first, it’ll certainly help those precious few of you who read this thing with any regularity to have some reference points, and secondly, it’ll be a...

Read More »

Phenergan’s Wake

February 16, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Deep South, faith, family, food, health, humor 
Link to Phenergan’s Wake

I’ve had an ill-behaving stomach, as of late. Which has kept me up at nights, uneasy and nauseous. I couldn’t eat much of anything yesterday; I had to practically force myself to eat the leftover cheese sticks, a bowl of soup, and half a chocolate bar (with hazelnuts). So, I did. But, I couldn’t bear to go another night with fitful sleep; so last night, to combat this, I took a Phenergan.  It’s a pill prescribed for upset stomachs, etc. We fear I might have IBS. (That’s quite a conversation-starter, there, is it not?) It took a couple of hours, but it did the...

Read More »

Yes, Virginia, I am a vegetarian.

January 5, 2010 by · 6 Comments
Filed under: Deep South, education, Everyday, faith, family, food, health, humor, life 
Link to Yes, Virginia, I am a vegetarian.

You know what’s hard? Yoga. You know what’s harder than that? Trying to explain yoga to your precious family of aging Southern Baptists. Because if it’s not explicitly typed in the King James version of the Holy Bible then it’s most likely of the devil, who probably created yoga to trick Christians into performing exercises that would get them into positions they couldn’t get out of, thus holding them in place so he could catch them. But, yoga is a later issue. First, we have to address a more pressing item, though there are several items overall, not the least of which is the fact...

Read More »

I don’t have to use a walker to pump my gas.

December 11, 2009 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Deep South, Everyday, faith, humor, life 
Link to I don’t have to use a walker to pump my gas.

I have realized, lately, that I am, at best, a third cousin once removed from my own definition of self-awareness. I like to think I'm savvy and a smooth operator, most of the time, but I had a bit of a bitter pill to swallow yesterday, when, on my way back from Scooba (perish the thought!), I had to stop and get gas. This is hardly a new thing for me, but unlike my usual stop-and-gos at the Scooba Junction gas station, I had neglected to look at my gas gauge until I was in Brooksville, about twenty minutes north. I had no choice but to pull...

Read More »

Sometimes, it’s a lonely thing. And sometimes, it’s like being Jesus.

December 7, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Deep South, Everyday, faith, humor, life 
Link to Sometimes, it’s a lonely thing. And sometimes, it’s like being Jesus.

I really ought to be on top of the world, right now.  (And so, that’s why I am). I am 33 years old. And I’m OK with it. I had a great birthday, hobnobbed with artists, all my favorite people around me, and a chocolate cake that could create world peace. And, I didn’t do anything I had to apologize for the morning after, although there were some broken dishes in the middle of the street before the night was over. (And none of the guests were Greek, either). It was a weekend full of good things, good, true things. And despite this lingering...

Read More »

“We’ll just draw names again. Except for the babies.”

November 20, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Deep South, faith, family, food, humor, life 
Link to “We’ll just draw names again. Except for the babies.”

 I’ve never really cared about the gift exchange element to Christmas.  Time and time again, as a child, I’d be asked what I wanted and time and time again, I’d say I didn’t care. I’d be pressed until I crumbled and rattled off some random item. A typewriter (which I ended up loving), board games (which I’ve since donated to high school theatre departments), books (I still have every one of these), a video recorder (I used it once six years ago to document a living will). I’ve never really put that much focus on material things. Not to say that I...

Read More »

I’ve never had a mullet, and other Things I Can Brag About [...]*

Link to I’ve never had a mullet, and other Things I Can Brag About [...]*

* The full, real title is I've never had a mullet, and other Things I Feel I Have the Right to Brag About and also Things I Cannot Stand. Just, you know, FYI. You should know that what follows is a) a partial list only, and b) they’re not in any particular order of Cannot Stand vs. Brag. I would say to put your Big Boy Panties on and read carefully, but it’s odd how similar the things I can’t stand and the things I want to brag about actually are. I’m not sure what that says about me, but anyway – to be safe –...

Read More »