I’m tired all the time. I’d say I don’t want to complain, but this is the Internet, and complaining to perfect strangers is what Al Gore had in mind when he invented it. Still, I wouldn’t mention it if I didn’t feel it was getting worse. My wife, she’s tired too. Most of the people […]
On Saturday, my wife and I took the kids to the arboretum to see the taiko drumming for the cherry blossom festival. Early in our relationship when my wife and I first started dating, we saw taiko drumming at the Institute of the Arts and enjoyed it. One of our early trips together was to DC […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about discipline lately. How I go about it. What are the most effective means. Whether I’m being to strict or too light-handed. Last week, my daughter spent the day with my mom. Since my daughter entered daycare, she’s spent two days a week with my mother to help us manage costs, […]
The first time I saw Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, I recognized it was a beautiful film. One only need to watch Chihiro crossing the creek and see the stream, the way it ripples and moves to understand Miyazaki’s great attention to detail. The visual splendor of Miyazaki’s work has been well-covered. What I didn’t realize until I […]
Remember when you used to be able to go to a rock concert on a Sunday night, have a few drinks, maybe even stop at a diner afterward and still make it to work the next day without a hitch? Then, of course, you cut out the diner and drinks and just went to the […]
Over time I’ve used different metaphors to describe my editing process. Maybe not aloud, but in my head. And here I’m going to mix them in a way they warn you not to when you’re writing a story. Sometimes I think of my first drafts in terms of filming. I get as much footage as I […]
There are mornings as a parent when you feel like you’ve lived a full day before getting out the door. On Wednesday before leaving for work, I heard my wife call from upstairs. “Can you come take a look at this?” Generally, these words are never good. But there are levels of bad. Obviously, you would […]
One of the stories from my youth my Uncle Joe likes to tell is how we were watching The Blob. It must have been sometime in the first three years of my life since my mother and I still lived with my grandmother. The blob had eaten a dog, and my uncle said, “Isn’t that sad, […]
My wife had provided clear instructions before she left the house to go shopping with our daughter. “Sit on the play mat with him. Put the bottle in front of him and see if he plays with it. If he does, tilt it to help him drink. Don’t try to make him. If a half hour […]
Saturday morning I wake at 5:30 to my son cooing in his crib. When I get him, he’s happy to see me. His face brightens as if to say, Oh, you’re still here? I’m so pleased about that. I change him and bring him back to the bedroom where he starts to cry until I put […]