Every so often, I come across a mind blowing idea during my reading that completely alters my perception of life. Off the top of my head, I can quickly come up with three significantly impactful to how I perceive and conduct my life. The earliest I can remember occurred in High School when...

have a sick and twisted relationship with the concept of war. The twisted way it affects my soul leaves me sickened. On the one hand, I admire the valor of the combatants and the high ideals that sees a person put their life on the line to protect their comrades in arms on the battlefield. It is an act of self-sacrifice that is typically viewed through the lens of heroism. Being a bit of an adrenaline junkie, I imagine myself traipsing through dangerous territory with an awareness heightened to its peak knowing death is imminent and one mistake in the future could render me an insignificant statistic in a massive spreadsheet lost to the archives of time.

It seems all the rage to identify a GOAT, a Greatest of All Time, for athletes or others deemed exceptional in their arena, claims vociferously defended with myriad statistics. This is despite statistics being last in the increasingly false sequence of lies, damn lies, and statistics...

Growing up Catholic in the 60s and 70s, I attended parochial grammar and high schools. Prayer was required at various times, particularly on First Fridays of the month when we were dragged to mass. It was nice having classes shortened despite the tradeoff being less than invigorating. Prayers in mass were recited by the congregation in concert with the Priest or in response to the Priest acting as intercessory between the commoner and the almighty. The recitation was all rote, a mindless...

My dog is currently a canine version of Schrödinger’s cat. I do not know if the thirteen-year-old Shih Tzu is alive or dead. She puked three days ago, stopped eating that night, then lost the ability to walk eventually suffering spasms like an alligator in a death roll....

It is beyond my ken that anyone would deny trees have a heartbeat when the thump, thump, thump is palpable to anyone listening deeply with their soul. The same people, uneducated in medicine though they are, who will jump through hoops justifying an electrical blip on an oscilloscope screen is a cell blob's heartbeat, and refuse to raise a finger to protect our sentient brethren trees from death and destruction....

I have been saddled with an angst for most of my cognizant life that I’m not where I am supposed to be thus can never realize the destiny of who I am supposed to be, to become. Despite knowing exactly where I am, I’m perpetually lost, seeking...

One of my all-time favorite TV shows is the original Star Trek. Including an affinity for the subsequent versions showcasing iterations of the original characters, especially Mr. Spock. Recently, I sat down and watched an episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds where the crew intercepted a force that had them singing in a way reminiscent of musicals from the 1950s, with hidden emotions exposed to anyone within earshot....

I have been hunting for decades but have never been able to bag my prey. There are no heads mounted on my wall, no high stories of stalking, wrangling, or capture. My quarry is illusory in the way the monster beneath my bed can be heard breathing raspy breaths but is always invisible to the eye except for an ephemeral glimpse floating on the periphery reflecting off dust motes hovering in shafts of moonlight...

I spend what most people would consider an inordinate amount of wasted time writing words that will only ever be read by me. I have dozens of notebooks filled to overflowing with my musings many of which have made their way into the more than 4,000 blog posts published under three personas. Despite countless hours invested in my writing, I have not recouped a single cent from anyone...