Walking in no-man’s land

Originally posted July 8, 2017.

Seeing someone in her peripheral vision, the clerk picked her head up, ready to be of service.

And then her face visibly dropped.

I didn’t take it personally. I knew that when she saw me, she realized that I probably wasn’t buying anything, that at best, I was going to have a question irrelevant to what they were selling, and at worst, I was going to be one of those guys with an inane question about buying something for his wife.

For the record, I was looking for directions to the bathroom.

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Some people are great teachers. I’m not one of them.

I recently got flagged for a job that I’m sure paid a good salary with good benefits, for an institution I’m guessing has plenty of resources to help someone succeed.

I probably would have applied for it if I had any interest in or qualifications for being an elementary school principal.

The week gone by — Jan. 26

Suzi was out with friends, which meant I was on my own for dinner.

I was in the mood for Chinese, and since it was just me, I got all three fortune cookies.

I eat … what I eat

Originally posted May 22, 2016.

“I would never get on you for wanting to wear gingham shirts … but we do seem to feel we have the right in the public domain to talk about each others’ foods.”

— “Breaking Down The Science Of Picky Eating,” NPR

Ain’t that the truth!

I am the classic “picky eater,” always have been. The one that gets people’s attention the most is that I don’t eat fruits (except bananas) or vegetables (except corn, which everyone tells me isn’t really a vegetable).

Wherever you’re going, take me with you!

I was sitting on my couch at just the right angle to get a clear view of the blue, cloudless sky outside the window.

And there, tiny in the distance, was an airplane.

Suzi and I have lived in a couple places where we were in the flight path for the local airport, including one where the runway was across the highway from the small deck on the back of our apartment.

I used to sit and watch the planes overhead. I’ve always liked watching planes.

The week gone by — Jan. 19

You probably missed the massive news coming out of Great Britain this week.

”But Bill …” you’re probably thinking. “… even if you don’t pay much attention to the Royal Family, everyone has heard the Harry and Meghan news.”

But that’s not the news I’m talking about.

Where all the best stuff comes from

“Ex nihilo nihil fit.”

Of all the Latin expressions my sixth-grade teacher dropped into his lessons, that’s the only one I remember.

”Ex nihilo nihil fit.”

From nothing, nothing comes.

Starting them young

Originally posted July 5, 2017. A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook about her son’s concern that he won’t get into a good college if he doesn’t take four AP courses as a high school junior. (He’s taking two as a sophomore.)

I’m so old — how old are you? — that when I went to school, classes started after Labor Day and graduation was at the end of June.

If I wanted to play a sport, I signed up. If I wanted to be in an activity, I signed up.

And when school let out for the summer, that was the end of it until my parents said it was time to start school shopping.

Tales of a bad basketball player

There’s a basketball sitting loose, and not enough people for a pickleball game on our side of the gym, so I pick it up, dribble a few times and try a layup.

<<Thunk>>

“C’mon now,” I think. “All I need to do is bounce the ball off the black line at the proper angle. It’s a layup!”

It takes me four tries to make one.

The week gone by — Jan. 12

We’ve had a pretty easy winter so far here in Massachusetts, but this weekend, with temperatures in the 60s and pushing 70, has been just ridiculous.

An optimist would say that every good day is another day closer to spring without a snowstorm or wickedly cold temperatures.

Meanwhile, a pessimist would say that just means the roof is more likely to fall in once the bad weather starts (February 2015 says hi), or that we’ll make up for it when it’s supposed to be spring.