personal journal

First and foremost, my brother died in December. We weren’t especially close, but we loved each other and he helped me whenever I needed him. Everything else that happened this year is background noise. And the background noise is mostly pleasant. But for the bummer headline, this was another great year for me and mine. … Continue reading »

Watching season 3 episode one of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars. In All-Stars, the elimination gimmick is: each week, instead of the bottom two queens lip syncing and the loser getting eliminated, the top two lip sync and the winner of the lip sync chooses which of the bottom two queens to eliminate. Ben De La … Continue reading »

It’s 2020. In early 2010 I was -unmarried, but dating Mary for about 3 years and that was going well.-still in college. I graduated later in 2010.-Still driving a taxi-working at the Show-Me Institute.-not yet a person who had played in more than one pro tour. I q’ed for paris in December 2010-living in St … Continue reading »

House We bought a house this year. We got very lucky in getting a house that was nearly everything we wanted. After 7 months, it seems to have worked out well. It will continue to be a source of projects and pride and occasional stress forever, most likely. Relationship Mary and I continue to get … Continue reading »

Eric is gone. Like my father, he was taken by a sudden heart attack before age 50. He wasn’t family and we never lived together, but I felt closer to him than most people who are in those categories. His friendship meant more to me than I can ever say. I learned so much from … Continue reading »

I’m reading Reflections on the Guillotine by Camus. It’s phenomenal and disturbing, as I should have expected. This part really got to me: The State cannot escape the dilemma Beccaria described when he wrote: “If it is important to give the people proofs of power often, then executions must be frequent; but crimes will have … Continue reading »

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Simpsons episode The Last Temptation of Krust. That’s the episode where Krusty realized he’s completely out of touch and no longer the behemoth showbiz success he used to be. He has a moment of panicked clarity when he sees Bart’s room, overflowing with his merchandise. View post on … Continue reading »