Month: August, 2007
Thu 23 Aug 2007
ANOTHER THING THAT IS DIFFERENT
ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS
Anybody remember the book “Less Than Zero“? The 1986 breakout novel by Bret Easton Ellis (later of “American Psycho“ notoriety) depicted four weeks in the lives of a bunch of rich Los Angeles kids trying to drown out their existential despair with cocaine, fast cars, and various forms of unsafe [...]
Wed 22 Aug 2007
During a brief stint volunteering in a hospice, I was witness to a whole range of extreme and unpredictable human behavior. As far as I was concerned, folks who were in the last stages of a terminal illness were entitled to be cranky when I raised the bed up too high or spilled a bedpan [...]
Sun 19 Aug 2007
Washington, DC to Agawam, MA
Too many words; just ask Jeff Lageson. Back about 20 years ago, Jeff kindly sent me a book of his poetry. I responded with a scathing written critique of his work in which I enumerated every ill-considered metaphor and misplaced comma. My response was not only pompous and sorta mean-spirited, it [...]
Thu 16 Aug 2007
Washington, D.C.
Friday morning we woke up at the Washington, D.C. Courtyard Marriott, rested and prepared to embark on our D.C. Museum Marathon, but there was one bit of business we had to take care of first. We definitely wanted to take pictures, but the batteries in my camera were dead. Also, we wanted to go [...]
Tue 14 Aug 2007
Cleveland, OH to Washington, D.C.
Thursday morning we woke up early and, with no Panera in sight, contented ourselves with breakfast in the Holiday Inn restaurant. Apparently, I hadn’t made too much of a scene the previous night with my repeated demands for a “REAL Lemon Drop – not just vodka with a lemon slice!” because [...]
Thu 9 Aug 2007
Chicago, IL to Cleveland, OH
EDITOR’S NOTE: Obviously, Max and Robin did a fine job maintaining this blog yesterday, but let’s be clear: This is MY blog. As of now, I am seizing the reins. Unless I get tired again, in which case I’ll make Max do it.
Robin and I have this game we play to [...]
Wed 8 Aug 2007
Onalaska, WI to Chicago, IL
EDITOR’S NOTE: After staying up until 3:30AM writing this blog two nights ago, I told Max he had to write today’s post. Amazingly, he agreed to do just that. Following is Mr. Max’s summation of Day 5:
As of now, I sit typing this in a cozy, modestly adorned urban apartment-style hotel [...]
Tue 7 Aug 2007
In the 1955 Clouzot film, “Wages of Fear,” four lowlife bums have to transport crates of volatile nitroglycerine through the jungle in rickety old trucks. Of course, the crates explode one by one, until none are left to blow out the oil well fire, which was the reason they had to retrieve the nitro in [...]
Sat 4 Aug 2007
The first long night and day of our cross-country odyssey has come to an end, and I find myself asking one question: How did all of my careful planning go so horribly awry?
Thursday night, everything seemed to be going great. AS PER MY PLAN, I stayed up all night, skinny-dipping at William’s, then catching the [...]
Wed 1 Aug 2007
FINAL DAYS
Category: Wheedle in my Rearview
1 Comment
I’m writing this from the couch in our friend Kelli’s apartment. It’s August 1st, and the sun is shining, and I’m looking out Kelli’s window at the Olympic mountains, and right at the moment it doesn’t seem like such a good idea to leave Seattle… Of course, if I step closer to the window, I [...]
