Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 701

A strangers love is worth more

I found an amazing review of UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO online today, courtesy of my Google Alert.  One of my favorite paragraphs reads:

"Why I LOVE this book (and author): Matthew Dicks' and his characters' thoughts about the world are unique, refreshing and, often times, incredibly funny. His main characters are both borderline fantastical and achingly real. They do strange things, but one can't help but see oneself in their strangeness and their humanness. When you read UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO you...

The key to understanding the opposite sex

Years ago, I read the book MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS.  Thinking that I would despise the book, I read it as a farce, hoping to hate it enough to write a counter-argument to whatever ludicrous notions the author made. 

The book changed my life.  In the pages of that book, I came to understand women like never before.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true.  A signle book helped me to understand the female mind, and as a result, my relationships with women have changed for...

Where did all these pillows come from?

What the hell has happened to bedding?

Sometime in the last decade, normal bed linens; sheets, comforters, and blankets, exploded into a vast array of decorative pillows, piled one atop another until you can no longer see the headboard or mattress.

Look at these images. It's absolutely insane.

And who the hell needs decorative pillows in the bedroom? And in such great quantities? 

Other than the painful, awful, dreadful house tour, what is anyone doing in your bedroom anyway? Why...

Three jobs

Whenever I play golf, which I will be doing tomorrow, I find myself meeting new people and having to answer the question, "What do you do for a living?"

This is tricky for me.  I think of myself as having three jobs.

My answer should probably be teacher, which is my "day job," but as a friend pointed out the other day, I've made more money by writing  in the last year than I have made in the last three years as a teacher.

And though teaching is the activity that occupies the most amount...

Litany of addresses

A while ago, I posted a list of all of the previous addresses of my lifetime.  I've added to it since the original posting for today.

I know.  Not terribly exciting, but a fun exercise nonetheless.   

In 1971, during my first year of my life, my parents and I lived in an apartment in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. I have no memory of this home, but I once saw a photograph of the building. It had an ugly green awning.

When my brother was born in 1972, my family moved to a beautiful A-frame in...

I write fiction, and the truth was the best I could do?

I passed on an offer to play golf after work today in favor of coming home to enjoy a picnic in the park with my wife and daughter.

I passed on stopping at the gym, worried that my wife might need a hand with our daughter before heading out to the park.

So I was home, in the midst of changing a poopy diaper, when my buddy called from the golf course, asking me what I was doing.

Stupid me, I told him.  He made sure to tell me how much fun he was having on the links, and I'm likely to hear...

The best kind of advice

Unsolicited advice is the best kind of advice that you can receive.

I was speaking to a friend about how sensitive people can be when it comes to suggesting alternative approaches to parenting. It really is remarkable.

Make a suggestion about the best way to teach a lesson and your colleagues will come back for more and more.

Offer a golf tip and you can become your buddy's hero for life.

Proffer a fashion tip and win your friend's undying gratitude.

But recommend to your friend they he...

Ruining marriages everywhere

There's a billboard that I drive by almost every day that reads:

What Have You Done For Your Marriage Today?

Pictured on the billboard is this image:

 

Billboards featuring the same message around the country look like this:

I ask you: Could the designers have chosen three more stupid-looking poses for this ad campaign?

Or three more ridiculous expressions?

"Assume a contemplative stare!  No!  More contemplative!  Not enough contemplation!  I'm talking stereotypical...

99 FRECKLES in Germany

The cover art for the German version of UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO arrived today, and though I adore the cover art for the US version, I think I love this design just as much! 

The German title for the book translates to 99 FRECKLES, which helps to explain their design.

Middle school inequity

When I was in middle school, kids still enjoyed a before-school and after-lunch recess. That, in itself, is unheard of in today's world.

But get this: At AF Maloney Middle School (formerly my father's high school), located on Main Street in Blackstone, MA (it was later relocated to Lincoln Street, adjacent the elementary school, and it now the site of the town library), the hardtop playground behind the ancient, brick building was divided by a thick white line, segregating girls from boys.

...