Month: August 2019

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Encouragement

From John Pavlovitz:

This is your first time being here, being a human.

You are in the middle of a day you've never been to, in a life you've never lived—which means the learning curve every morning is massive.

Show yourself some grace for the mistakes you make, the times you drop the ball, and for the wounds that never seem to heal. There isn't anything you can do, other than the best that you can do.

It is an unprecedented act of courage simply to wake up in the morning and to brave the difficulties of the day, to fight like hell to get it right, and to get up the next morning and commit to doing it all over again. That's where the victory is.

Being a person of compassion while surrounded by so much cruelty, loving relentlessly in the face of so much hatred, and choosing to care when apathy would be the less invasive path—these are superhuman endeavors that you've chosen, so be gentle with yourself.

This life is not for the faint of heart.
There isn't much about it that is easy.
Congratulations on getting up and living.

Yes, being human is hard—but you are being it beautifully.

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Quote of the Day

I'm tired… I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand?" ~ Stephen King

Every damn day, Stephen. Every damn day.

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I Remember You

This was playing when we walked into Starbucks this afternoon. I haven't heard the song in years.

I always associated it with my life in San Francisco, especially in regard to my 1998 return to The City. It was pumping out of my car stereo as I first crossed the Bay Bridge that one particular afternoon, and is forever burned into memory in that context.

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Alligator Hunting

No, not that kind of alligator hunting. I would never. (And it would be a little difficult in Arizona in any case.)

No, I'm talking about alligator shirts. As I wrote about a month ago, I've been picking up gently used LaCoste polos from eBay because back when they were the rage I couldn't afford them at $25 and while I probably can afford them now, I refuse to pay upwards of $100 for new one.

I noticed, however, that the third shirt I bought seemed a bit…off. The sleeves were longer than usual, the fabric thinner, and for some reason it had three collar buttons instead of two. It was obviously a counterfeit, a knock-off that had an alligator sewn on the chest, but it was not a genuine alligator. That led me online of course to do my due diligence.

There are several markers of authenticity for the solid color pique shirts, including 2 (not 3) vertically-stitched buttons on the collar, a specific location and pronounced teeth and claws on the alligator patch, a multi-language use-and-care label on the lower inside seam of the shirt, and a two-part label at the inside collar. The buttons are generally white mother-of-pearl, but they also apparently used a dark mother-of pearl with darker colored fabrics and color-matched buttons at times. So…based on all this, of the 6 shirts I've purchased, four are most likely the real deal and two (including the most recent one I bought) are most definitely not.

Caveat emptor.

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The Dog Days of Summer*

I hate August in Phoenix. It's this time of year I really miss Denver (or the Bay Area.)

It's miserable. The "dry heat" disappears and humidity descends like a… well, like a wet blanket. Almost every afternoon we're teased with the promise of rain, and yet nothing happens. (Or if it does, it's just enough to dirty everyone's cars.)

I'm really looking forward to winter.

*The "Dog Days" are based in astronomy. The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days: the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius.

The rising of Sirius does not actually affect the weather (some of our hottest and most humid days occur after August 11), but for the ancient Egyptians, Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile's flooding, so they used the star as a "watchdog" for that event.

Since its rising also coincided with a time of extreme heat, the connection with hot, sultry weather was made for all time.