The Haircut

Some times it felt like he was collecting hair. He had a place to store it, all that hair. On top of and around his head. A mass. Spilling up and out and over until, as his grandfather would say: enough was sufficient. The next Saturday morning he’d bike down to the barbershop and trade … Read more

Announcing: The White Noise Meander

15 years ago today, a crew of mighty readers banded together to tackle a handful of tomes of varying complexity. Among ’em: Gravity’s Rainbow, Don Quixote, To the Lighthouse, and At Swim-Two-Birds. We called these group reads “Deathmarches” and we rejoiced, in bloggy way, as complex books were read, posts were posted, and exciting prizes … Read more

Beating back the darkness, Tokyo style

My wife and I wandered around downtown Tokyo, shuffling through our jetlag. It was Saturday night and it felt like mid-afternoon. 2pm? But it wasn’t the jetlag. And it wasn’t that siesta effect you get in super hot-time-in-the-summer cities — midnight and the locals and tourists out in search of gelato in paper cups. It … Read more

Virtual LP: Happy Talk

I’m back in Cecil mode after a while away from ye old blog, and that’s pulled me back to recording mode. Herewith, a cover of a loverly Rodgers and Hammerstein tune from South Pacific packed into just less than 2 minutes of digitalia. time: 1:54 seconds; specs: 3.7M

Playing Backgammon with My Dad

There was a time when I was serious about backgammon. Not great, but serious. At the serious-but-not-great level, backgammon is played with the reptile brain. For every situation, you learn and lock in a specific right response. Roll, move. Roll, move. Fast. Confident. You parry when you should parry, zip when you should zip. I … Read more