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A Penny Dreadful One year, as a birthday or Xmas gift, I received a small popcorn machine. I was around 8. It was just like a mini movie theater version, fronted with clear plastic doors, a hinged popper & lid, a compartment to dump the popped corn below, a scoop & about 200 tiny red Read more
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It was a gradual process getting accustomed to the farmyard sounds here. The chickens’ favorite hang-out, in the huge rhododendron just outside a bathroom of the house, was filled one morning with their preening & clucks. Availing myself of the facilities, I heard sudden loud cackling. It’s disconcerting to have a laugh track accompany one Read more
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A Tale of the West Ever have a neighbor you don’t get along with? In this one place, I was surrounded on all sides. A couple of them detested me from the get-go. The few who took to me, the feeling wasn’t mutual. Perhaps the whole street was thus. I don’t know, since the ones Read more
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It’s been suggested by some biographers that various creative types are a superstitious lot. I take issue with that claim. Anyone who knows what it’s like to use the wrong tool for the job will understand. Here I sit writing with a (gasp!) ballpoint pen. I’m forced to do so because my real pen is Read more
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It started like any brilliant idea starts– with a pile of sticks. & no, I’m not talking about burning someone at the stake. Although, in a way, the holiday is kinda foreshadowed by ritual sacrifice, a quasi-sin eater situation. Otherwise the birth of some random carpenter-turned-preacherman wouldn’t have been a cause for remembrance, let alone Read more
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First time living solo I was 21. This was also my first experience with that strange breed known as landlords. I find a common thread is woven through the tapestry of individuals owning rental properties. It’s the sallow color of ‘get away with what you can,’ as opposed to the deep, solid hue of ‘fix Read more
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In the primordial state, before gelling into the being I am today, I oozed with enthusiasm for amusement parks. Crowds back then didn’t bother me as much because those parks were where rides lived. Even those supposedly scary, yet instead were shlocky, filled me with glee. The so-called houses of horror were always more silly Read more
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At present I sleep on a lumpy, folded futon because my sleeping loft is out of commission. My spine despises me, & rightfully so. This is all my own stupid doing. I have to tear out my makeshift ceiling & insulation (again), install a roof vent, screen the soffit vents (again!), & reinsulate & rebuild Read more
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[Tale of the All Weather Infrared Camera] The idea was to provide a deterrent. Didn’t have to be believable upon closer scrutiny. But it had to be waterproof to be outside. It would be accompanied by a sign to alert of its presence. I swore I read the fine print, but I ordered it online. Read more
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A recent article says fertility rates are down in ‘developed countries.’ My quote marks, because that’s just a euphemism for greedy nations. Even if one of those countries is China, supposedly communist. I’ve yet to believe the true spirit of communism has ever been achieved. Those regimes never accomplish a “dictatorship of the proletariat.” They Read more
humor of the dark
Huh? 