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Gratitude journal (with a sprinkle of spite): Fountain soda and NOT COFFEE

Tonight I am grateful for the joy of the unexpected Diet Coke that was delivered to me this afternoon. It was having an especially challenging day at school, mostly the result of an unexpected deadline and significantly reduced time frame in order to meet the demand, when my colleague surprised me with a large, plastic…

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A tickle. Not a tissue.

Clara had been in her crib for about fifteen minutes when she began calling for Mommy. Elysha thought that she was asking for a tissue, so she went upstairs to give her one. It wasn’t a tissue that she was requesting. It was a tickle. Much cuter but considerably less okay since it was well…

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I am an upright, though occasionally marginalized, Pacific Islander.

When I am asked to indicate my race on an official form, I almost always check Samoan, or if not available, Other Pacific Islander. If none of these are available, I usually go with Other. When asked for my position on an official form (the intent being to  determine my occupation), I usually write Upright,…

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Gratitude journal: Many hands thrust Budo and his friends into the light

Tonight I am grateful for the many, many people around the world who are working hard to put my next book, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, into readers’ hands. Today I exchanged emails with my Spanish translator, who wanted to better understand the intricacies of, among other things, bathroom bowling (the act in which you…

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Skating on linoleum: A future Olympic sport

We are not sure where she learned about ice skating, but she clearly understands a few of the more artistic aspects of the sport, at least when it comes to skating on linoleum. 

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Rules for surviving a zombie apocalypse (based upon ACTUAL EXPERIENCE)

I dreamt about a zombie apocalypse last night, not unlike the one that takes place in AMC’s hit show, The Walking Dead. It was quite realistic. I survived the apocalypse, at least until I awoke, and I learned a few important lessons along the way that you may find useful in the event that zombies…

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Gratitude journal: Unexpected reader response

Tonight I am grateful to the readers who take the time to write to me after reading my books. I received three emails today from readers who recently finished one or both of my books, which is a lot of responses for a single day but not uncommon at all. I probably hear from about…

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Rage against the dying of the light, damn it.

Yeats once asked, “Why should not old men be mad?” In his final broadcast for A Point of View Clive James offers his answer.  With his granddaughter and her friends bouncing on the furniture, James looks back on his own childhood to a time when the modern world was at its worst and countless millions…

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Gratitude journal: Recycled furniture

Someday my wife and I will spend the money to furnish our home with new furniture. This will probably happen when the children are a little older and less likely to ruin it. Maybe in our next home. Until that time, I am grateful for the friends who have so generously passed on their furniture…

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