C.B. Potts's Blog, page 4

Thursday Morning

Refusenik is one of those words I thought meant one thing but really means another. In truth, refuseniks were Soviet citizens denied permission to leave the country and move to Israel. I'd long thought refusenik meant living the life of no, of observing the cultural and societal norms in play around one and deliberately opting out, the failure to embrace the common motivation, the constant and persistant insistence that life should be other than it is. Refusenik; like Beatnik, but more ob...

Wednesday Morning

Rise and shine, rise and shine, rise and shine! It's Veteran's Day, which means no school; we slept in and it was glorious.

On Veteran's Day one of the things people do is talk about how absolutely shitty our government's treatment of veterans is. And it's true - the VA medical system alone is a nightmare, never no mind all the rest of the benefits soldiers should get. I wonder if that's the case in other countries; I know crappy treatment of soldiers is a constant them...

Tuesday Morning

Solving a problem in isolation is not the same as solving a problem in society. Let's use drinking as an example, as that's what I'm talking about. For much of my life, most of my drinking was done at home; I'm a terrible driver even sober and there are no bars within walking distance, so there you go. So stopping drinking meant largely making sure there was no booze in the house and doing other things instead of drinking. You all know I'm bone-lazy: if getting a drink mea...

Monday Morning

When I talk about 'day job' I mean the client I do the majority of my ghost/copy writing for. Still living the glamorous life; the revenue model's just sort of split into This One Big Job and Everything Else.

It was a crazy weekend with lots of driving & errands & getting things done. There was a special birthday party for my Mom and her sweetheart and that was fun. She was surprised, which is hard to do with my Mom.

We went down to the Catskills, where I grew up, and maybe...

Wednesday Morning

So picture this. You take a coal out of the woodstove; you set it down on a piece of paper.You know what's going to happen. It might go fast, and it might go slow, but that paper's gonna burn. Its solidity will expand into flame, heat, surprise, then memory. This is how language works. Be mindful.

Monday Morning

So now the play witches have hung up their hats, and it's time for the work to start anew, for real. I love this time of year. It's good for study, for focus, for letting the body rest while the mind stretches out.

I've started the process of becoming an EMT. You know that thing about having to do the thing that scares you? I don't necessarily love emergencies. But given the right skills and procedures to follow, one can do anything, and I mean to do this thing. The thought of...

Slow Saturday Morning

I have 40K to write over the next 4 days. I have not started. I have no motivation to start. Expect frantic caffination later.

Nadia is currently carving her pumpkin. I suppose we should decorate for Halloween; I'm just not entirely sure where the decorations are. And by the time we find them? Halloween may be over. Some years, the enthusiasm is just not there. The girls are planning what horrible horror movies they're going to watch after trick or treating - although Halloweentown is...

Tuesday Morning

There are spaces where no one sees you; where no one can see you. Some people are afraid of these locations, other people seek them out. I find them a pleasure; society has a weight, a presence and it's such a pleasure to let it slide from your shoulders. The unobserved space can be a physical locale or a behavioral construct; see China Mieville's the city and the city for an excellent examination of you don't see me because I expect you not to see me.

I like the unobserved space b...

Thursday Morning

My entire inventory would fit in the palm of your hand. Don't squeeze, though. Fortunes are fragile things, and in this game, condition is everything. Crack one of these babies and poof - game over. There's no market for dented dreams.

People always wonder where I find them. You’d be amazed. Dreams are discarded all the time; thrown along the roadside like so much trash. We’re so vigilant about litter – toss that paper cup, it’s a $50 fine – but the specta...

Tuesday Morning

A long time ago now, I used this day to have a baby. We were at the beach yesterday and there I discovered I have aged out of the company of mothers-of-the-young; you gain a lot in terms of time and freedom and even stress reduction when you can give your children direction and then just let them go do their thing, but you lose something, too; it is not ennobling to think that one's purpose entire can come down to keeping Junior from eating seagull shit, but there is a comforting certaint...