The strangest experience of my apartment living days — I loved the apartment where I used to live. I didn’t have to worry about home maintenance, and I had great neighbors who were also good friends. I lived on the second floor, in a corner unit, so I got extra windows. …

Things are not always what they seem — I’ve been thinking a lot about the years I lived in my apartment. I certainly met some interesting people while I was there. In the building next to me, two young guys shared an apartment. One guy was dating a woman named Suzy (name changed), who was an exotic dancer. …

Because the world is loud and exhausting — When was the last time you sat in silence? Those of us with a meditation practice may spend a few minutes each day in silence, but do we spend time in silence outside our meditation? Probably not. If you’re anything like me, you wake up and reach for your phone…

Learning to see the good in an unpleasant situation — Last week was awful for a lot of reasons I won’t get into because I covered most of them in previous pieces. Despite the yuck, I am grateful. Why? Because I learned I can take it, adapt, and keep going. …

Check out this interesting test — Did you struggle in school? I did with some things, but not others. I was an early reader and breezed through spelling lists. French was a standard class in second grade. I loved it and did well. I could write and speak the language. Words were easy for me. In…

I sure hope not! — There’s an old saying. Bad things come in threes. Do you think that’s true? I wrote about my plumbing mishap here. I even tried to put a positive spin on it. Hey, it could have been worse. My plumber came today and replaced the garbage disposal. Annoying, but not earth…

So I’ll learn how to swim — I love experimental photography, so I took pictures through my rainy windshield one day. I think the results are pretty cool. This was one of those happy accidents! Sometimes accidents aren’t so happy. Like what happened last night. I was cleaning up the dishes to put in the dishwasher, and…

Life is not a meme — I saw another one of those lovely inspirational memes on Facebook today. You know the kind I mean. The ones with all the “Amen” and “Thank you Lord” comments. Everything happens for a reason. This phrase is number one on my hit list. It makes me cringe, and it makes…

There’s a name for that — My friend loves ASMR videos. LOVES them. He keeps sending them to me to “help me relax.” Well, they don’t. They creep me out. I don’t like the sound of crunching, rustling, crumpling, spraying, or whispering into a microphone. I don’t know how anyone can find that relaxing. No offense…

It’s never a good idea to cut giving — I received an email last night from Amazon notifying me they are discontinuing the charity donation program Amazon Smile. In case you didn’t know, you could make Amazon purchases through smile.amazon.com and 0.5% of money from your purchases would go to the charity of your choice. …

And I feel incredibly guilty — Tomorrow is the memorial service for my best friend’s mother, and it’s going to wreck me. My mother died at the end of last August, and I haven’t remotely processed her life, illness, and death yet. My friend was there for me through all the stuff with my mother. My…

It’s difficult, but worth the effort — The memorial service for my best friend’s mother is this afternoon, and it’s going to bring up a lot of feelings because my mom died only 4 months ago. Both my friend and his sister-in-law told me they would understand if I couldn’t handle coming. I seriously considered watching the…

I feel worse because I realize how alone I am — I must be on the verge of some huge personal breakthrough. Either that, or I’m having a mental health crisis. I’m angry today. Furious, in fact. Everything has finally “hit the fan,” and I’m fed up. This isn’t how I wanted to start the new year. I wanted to take…

Everyone knows this means you dislike all (fill in the blank) — I’m seeing more and more pieces on here that are obvious attempts to mock certain groups of people, and it’s disturbing. Political satire is one thing, but that’s not what I’m discussing. The articles I’m seeing are much more personal. Nobody wants their race, gender, faith, sexuality, or lifestyle openly…

I couldn’t believe my ears — Edit: Somehow, this article has become controversial. Rather than deleting it, I’m closing the comments. My friend and I went to the local pizza buffet to eat this past Sunday. We got our food and sat down at a table near two other people. We thought little about their presence…

And don’t look back — There is a big reunion of my youth group today. An opportunity to see all those people who ignored, or worse, bullied me when I was a kid. I’m not going. I considered it. I even opened up the registration form. But when I got to the question, “What was…

They never deliver on their promises — There’s a popular article floating around this morning that appeared in my home feed. It’s a long read about how to make money online, written by an online marketer. That’s your first red flag. Marketers promote products that increase their bottom line. They don’t give a rip about helping you. …

It’s better to be alone than with someone who doesn’t love you — My friend Greg and I have been taking a break at his request. The last time he pulled away, it destroyed me. It was during the height of lockdown and the beginning of my mother’s descent into paranoid dementia. I was deeply frightened and alone. But I’ve grown a lot…

If you apply this principle, your life will change for the better — I recently had one of my articles go viral. It resonated with a lot of people who have strong opinions about LinkedIn. I got comments, private notes, and emails. Things got overwhelming for about a week. I’ve been distancing myself from social media to reduce my anxiety. Well, I got…