James Pyles's Blog, page 111
November 8, 2018
The Devil’s Day
Everybody calls me the Devil, and right now I wish I really was, because the only way I’m gonna save little 10-year-old Gracie Budd’s life is to stop a real Devil. Hard to believe, it being so quiet, green, and peaceful out here, but I ain’t got much time if I’m going to stop Albert […]
Quoting: Learn from All of Life
Be resolved to learn constantly from everyone in your immediate surroundings. When you see someone with positive character traits, learn from him traits you can work on developing. And when you see someone with negative traits, focus on the harm of having those traits! Keep learning from life itself. There is no phenomenon in the […]
November 7, 2018
One Honest Man
“A totem pole? I’ve known you for forty years, and you never told me you were native.” Leon Bell stood, looking incredulously at the creation of his friend and neighbor Marshall Griffin. “I’m not, but why can’t I have my own monument to the symbols that I consider important?” “But this is a public park. […]
Quoting: Breathe in Life
Often what seems to be a depressing situation is due only to the lack of fresh air. Get out into the air and breathe deeply, or at least open the window and fill your lungs. Your emotions become normalized when your body is invigorated by the influx of cool, moist and moving air. This often […]
November 6, 2018
The Ronnenberg Confession
The Haunted Wordsmith proposed a challenge whereby participants would pick the book of their choice (hardcopy or digital), turn to page 62, select line 6, and use that as the basis for crafting a poem, short story, or some other creative work. Since I just checked out Philip K. Dick’s novel The Man in […]
I Voted!
Now before you freak out at the photo, no I didn’t vote for the Nazi party or the Axis powers. My son and I were discussing the television version of the late Philip K. Dick’s novel The Man in the High Castle last Sunday, and I realized I probably hadn’t read the novel since the mid-1970s. […]
Quoting: Take a New Look at Life
The Almighty creates everything anew, every single second. Each moment is like the very beginning of creation. Viewing the world in this light will preserve its freshness in your eyes. Sources: Bais HaLevi – Genesis; Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s Gateway to Happiness, p.143 Advertisements
November 5, 2018
Seven Weeks of the Devil
I was working as a printer’s devil for old man MacPherson, me, an Irish boy of only sixteen, but it was good pay, through my hands became black as night as I sorted the cast metal type in the hellbox and put ’em back in the job case. I’d gotten used to the noise, but […]
Inescapable
Bavet police inspector Borey Seng stood in the market’s bathroom as coroners continued to examine the body of the 66-year-old Malaysian man, murdered by an object that gashed across his face and eyes. “Who would gouge out an old man’s eyes, and what was he doing in Cambodia in the first place?” “I might have […]
Quoting: Way to a Happy Life
The only way to have a happy life is to keep your eyes focused on what you have and not on what you are lacking. Sources: Chofetz Chaim; Kuntros Nefutzos Yisroel; Cited in Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Gateway to Happiness,” p.354 Advertisements
