The Runcible Blog

Despite coming from ancestors who braved harsh winters and long nights, I'm not built for this weather. Perhaps if I ate enough to turn me as stout as my elder French Canadians, I'd fare better outdoors. Underneath the covers, I will myself to warmth through tension and concentration, quickly becoming my own space heater, but in the open air, no amount of willpower can overcome the thermodynamics of the situation. Speaking of the covers, or rather, the business under the ......
[ Read More ]

Two tears in a bucket, mother fuck it....
[ Read More ]

 ...
[ Read More ]

  Or, how to lose 5 pounds in one week... Everybody handles loss and pain in different ways. I'm still trying to figure out how I should best handle these situations, but the approach I've taken in the past week has teetered between an introspective confusion and near-meltdown. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances mostly (entirely?) out of my control, I lost a great friend and companion for the foreseeable future and possibly forever. I've spent the last week cycling ......
[ Read More ]

From my hero, Don McCullin: Every time I went to war, I came back a little more damaged. I'm quite a resilient person, and I've got a lot of hardness in me when called upon. But there's another side of me — not actually soft, but as if my nerve ends are hanging out. I met the photographer Eugene Smith once. When someone asked me what he was like, I replied that he was a man whose nerve ends were ......
[ Read More ]

I've just been looking over some old entries, and I just noticed how angsty I can be. Well, I didn't just notice that. I don't think I could've imagined keeping a blog for 4 years, but there it is. Although there are probably some entries I wouldn't want to find in the wayback machine, it's not as if I'm going to run for president some day... The point of tonight's emo-post is to recognize that I think my eagerness for ......
[ Read More ]

The sudden death of Coach O on Tuesday has made me think not only about what he meant to me but of the entire grieving process.  First of all, Peter O'Sullivan was one of the few people -- never mind teachers -- I respected greatly during high school.  As my track and cross country coach for four years and Sophomore Geometry teacher, I got to know him as a humble man of integrity.  Like many of my track-mates, there were ......
[ Read More ]

When I stopped in Lawrence yesterday I checked in with my grandfather. He's still kicking. It seems like nothing has changed back home. He gave me some no-nonsense, septuagenarian relationship advice: "when you meet the right person, you'll know. until then, keep looking..." Life must be so much simpler once you have more than 70 years under your belt. I've been thinking about lots of stuff lately, and my visit to the old homestead brought back a few memories. It ......
[ Read More ]

sunrise on the blue line I can remember when I first saw you You said in my photograph I looked more far away I laughed and smiled and didn’t say “I am a bit afraid to be here.” Setting free the anchor and looking past the shore It’s a sea of horses on ships with no sails, no motors, no oars Now we’re cleaning the windows between us two Funny, you do it once, and then again, and pretty soon ......
[ Read More ]

Uh-oh. I can see a pattern emerging in my life. Now, what should I do about it? Hmm, maybe I should run off and do this Road Scholar thing. Maybe they sent me the brochure for a reason......
[ Read More ]

Here's the deal: I've met someone whom I really dig, warts and all (not literally). We seem to think alike -- she could be my doppelganger (which, from reading the definition, is probably not the right word to use, ever, but it hasn't stopped me yet). And although it's early, I feel that it'd be difficult to grow tired of this person. My "only" problem is that I don't know how to proceed. If it were up to me, I'd ......
[ Read More ]