Walking the Earth

Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

How's the Italian Food in this Place?

"I am sorry. What happened to your father was business. I have much respect for your father. But your father, his thinking is old-fashioned. You must understand why I had to do that. Now let's work through where we go from here."

"Everything all right? I respect myself, understand, and cannot allow another man to hold me back. What happened was unavoidable. I had the unspoken support of the other Family dons. If your father were in better health, without his eldest son running things, no disrespect intended, we wouldn't have this nonsense. We will stop fighting until your father is well and can resume bargaining. No vengeance will be taken. We will have peace. But your Family should interfere no longer."

It Became Evident in June

He has no passions. There is charisma and energy but he wholly consumed by ideological policy and that is it. There is no unchoreographed romance.

True Faith of Sorts

Now I fear you've left me standing
In a world that's so demanding.

Two Days Later

Downtown was not the same, it had evolved differently. There was passenger rail and commercial property along the river all the way to US 61. I'm not sure why we were using that condo with the good view, but I remember trying to make sure we left it just as we found it. Nor am I sure what was going on that caused the trouble. There was loading and unloading of intermodal containers at a dock and then some manner of escape on the passenger platforms east on the east side of the central core. When I was finally arrested, I was relieved and felt that it was less-worse than getting away with whatever I would be getting away with.

It Wasn't in the Numbers

Even though it didn't add up on the form, they went ahead and did it anyway.

Overcast Saturday Night

The back yard would become the resting place for two icons. One hosted the affairs of a family business. The other was a faithful companion. Both had been honored with place in my home for over a decade.

But now is about change. It's different now. Both icons had their time run out on my watch, and both met a similar fate; the pyre.

Both are gone, but life goes on, and they will remain with me in the back yard.

What Radio Problem?

As it turns out, all my concern for which music to roll with became moot once the 348 settled into idle.

Striped in White

She laughed and so did I in our lane
And then she went to a vending machine
To buy a candy cane
But right next to that was a boy I knew
With a spring in his hand
Playing a country pinball machine
Called 'stand by your man'
I saw him talk to her
But I stayed in my lane
And played my game steady
And was thinking of a day
When I'd be too old to throw a ball this heavy

Not Losing is Better Than Winning.

So this thought has crossed my mind recently: In lieu of the expected crash which has not come, I now think I've processed the last month in a way not unlike the way we both looked at casino gambling. Remember the reason we never dove too deep?

If that's the deal in my head, that's really sad, because it makes the shadow calendar go back decades and not just years.