Muddled Morning

Dearest Rachel – It’s that kind of morning today; I know I’ve said it before, but it never ceases to strike me as topsy-turvy that the one day a week I have to set my alarm is a Saturday. Sure, it’s the one day that I actually have a commitment to be somewhere earlier thanContinue reading “Muddled Morning”

Notes from the Simulation

Dearest Rachel – It’s hard to say how long it’s been theorized about, but there seems to be a growing belief in ‘life as we know it’ being little more than a simulation. Maybe it comes from the popularity of the Matrix movies, where so much more seems to be possible, even for blue-pilled humanity.Continue reading “Notes from the Simulation”

Just Enough That It Hurts

Dearest Rachel – They say that a single hour of working out every week can make a big difference in one’s life, health-wise. That may or may not be true – I do see the results after each visit, even if they are only temporary in effect – but they also suggest that the processContinue reading “Just Enough That It Hurts”

Bad Apples

Dearest Rachel – In the game of Cards Against Humanity that we used to enjoy playing together in large groups, there is a black card that reads “________: Awesome in theory, kind of a mess in practice,” to which the players submit their best white cards with one outlandish concept or another. The point, ofContinue reading “Bad Apples”

What You Get Out of It

Dearest Rachel – Even the most inspirational saying can be rendered ridiculous with the wrong (or, if you’re a comedian, the right) preface. Life is like a sewer; what you get out of it depends on what you put into it Tom Lehrer Such was what’s been going through my mind as I’ve been experimentingContinue reading “What You Get Out of It”

When You’re Deep in the Weeds…

Dearest Rachel – There were plenty of days when I would come home from the office (both when I was actually working at my job, and after I had set myself up with a desk in my folks’ basement after retiring), and you would ask me about my day, and I would have a certainContinue reading “When You’re Deep in the Weeds…”

A Hundred Blurry Photographs

Dearest Rachel – There’s a certain joy in having a project that feels like I could really make something out of it for a change. After having my plans for a YouTube channel derailed, first by a lack of talent (both my own and trying to recruit skilled assistance) and then by outside events (includingContinue reading “A Hundred Blurry Photographs”

Opened A Little Early

Dearest Rachel – It seems a bit inappropriate to make such a comparison, especially considering that it involves you – the idea of thinking of a person as a toy or plaything, when expressed in that way, seems repugnant – but I feel like a kid who has just gotten the chance to open oneContinue reading “Opened A Little Early”

Snippets From the First Night

Dearest Rachel – I try to limit myself to no more than four letters in any given day to you; however, there are so many little things that happen at a convention that are worthy of comment, and there’s no one to comment to anymore. So I’m just gonna put together a collection of paragraphsContinue reading “Snippets From the First Night”

Too Much Like an Angel

Dearest Rachel – Late last week, I received a rather large envelope in the mail from a location that didn’t register with me. To be sure, most mail that arrives comes from such locations; even the bills that I process regularly come from addresses that I forget from month to month – the only reasonContinue reading “Too Much Like an Angel”

The End of the Road

Dearest Rachel – I’m beginning to wonder if my running shoes should have come with an odometer, or some other means to indicate when I’ve gotten to the end of their useful life. They still cover and protect my feet from the elements, both above and beneath, but I can feel the difference in supportContinue reading “The End of the Road”

Dakimakura

Dearest Rachel – I don’t know if you remember it, but even before we were separated, I recall looking at websites that offered to create a custom dakimakura, or body pillow. You know the type I’m talking about; there’s always at least one or two vendors in every anime convention dealer room hawking these things.Continue reading “Dakimakura”

I’m So Sorry, Mrs. Gecsy

Dearest Rachel – There’s a lot of wrenching decisions to be made in the process of cleaning up the house. One of those is the question of what to do with all the artwork. Like with the pictures of your family going back generations and then out several times removed, I have no emotional connectionContinue reading “I’m So Sorry, Mrs. Gecsy”

Of Madness And Memories

Dearest Rachel – In literature, the color yellow seems to be associated very closely with madness. There’s The King in Yellow referenced by Lovecraft, the story of “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Gilman, and so forth. I think that, in some way, it’s why Ellen chose it to serve as the color of what weContinue reading “Of Madness And Memories”