What's been going on around here lately
The Swedish Academy’s decision to not award the Nobel Prize in Literature this spring hit me hard, of course. I figured this would be my year and was counting on the cash prize of a cool million bucks. A man needs a little boost now and then. I know I do. People associate me with radio but I was also a Novelist — okay? Novels. With characters and dialogue. Lonely guys looking out rain-spattered windows at bare trees and wondering, “Who am I anyway?”
I did some of that last Saturday morning. I am married to a perfectionist, and so my faults are more clear to me than necessary. I am 75 years old, people. How many men of 75 are actively engaged in self-improvement? Are there rehab programs for us? Inspirational books aimed at us? No.
I was looking out a rain-spattered window, thinking long thoughts, when a wild turkey strolled into our backyard and onto the terrace as if he owned the place. My love and I live in the middle of a big city, but on the steep wooded slope behind us, raccoons live, and a fox, and wild turkeys who roost in the trees and grow very large because we’re all liberals around here and nobody has a shotgun to shoot them with.
The turkey stood preening himself ten feet away from me, unconcerned about trespassing, and it made me think about freedom, which I experienced for a few years in my childhood. We lived in the country where a boy could disappear into the woods and run around without adult supervision for most of the day. Believe it or not, we had no pagers or cellphones on us to allow our parents to keep close tabs. Kidnappers could’ve descended and taken us away, bound and gagged, in souped-up roadsters and demanded a ransom of a million in nonconsecutive bills. They didn’t because our parents didn’t have the dough. And my parents had other children. Spares. So we were safe, tearing around shooting cap pistols, waving our cowboy hats, and re-enacting white racist violence against native peoples in a way children would not be allowed to do today. When I see a pickup truck with NRA and Confederate flag bumper stickers on it, I see myself when I was eight. Been there.
And in this moment of reverie, my true love said to me, “You really need to do something about your desk.”
I don’t run a perfectionist desk. Like our president, I believe in the creative power of chaos. I thrive on confusion. And my wife is sort of the Washington Post in my life. I come out with a big pronouncement and she says, “But yesterday you told me —” etc.
Marriage to a perfectionist offers many benefits, don’t get me wrong. The kitchen is tidy, the rugs harmonize with the furniture, tools and other necessities are well organized so you don’t run around looking for toilet paper and find it stashed in the china closet.
On the other hand, there are moments when I realize I’m being observed as I perform some simple task such as pouring water out of a boot — she is watching to make sure I do it correctly. She goes through my wastebasket and extracts tiny recyclable things and shows them to me. She has carried on a long-running campaign to get me to take a daily walk at a brisk pace and thereby live longer so she can go on perfecting me into my eighties and nineties.
What I need at this point is a big burst of self-esteem and so I imagined the phone ringing and a Swede announcing that I — me — yours truly — not Philip Roth, not some unknown Lithuanian poet — had won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
And I would walk into the kitchen where the love of my life is standing by the refrigerator, and she’d say, “You left a full carton of milk sitting out on the counter and I don’t know how long it’s been sitting here, do you?” And I’d say, “We’re going to Stockholm this fall. We’ll fly first class. We need to buy some dress-up clothes. I won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Babe.”
This column is a mess and I know it. Very poorly organized. But if I were a Nobel laureate, you’d think it were a work of genius. You wouldn’t think, “Should that be ‘were’ or should it be ‘was?’” You’d think, “He won the Nobel, it must be ‘were.’” And so it is.
I want to share my experience to help others who might be in a similar situation. A few months ago, I fell victim to an online Bitcoin scam. I was approached by someone claiming to be a “Bitcoin expert,” offering guaranteed profits through crypto trading. Trusting them was the biggest mistake I made, and before I realized it, I had lost a significant amount of Bitcoin to this fraudulent scheme.
I was devastated and thought I would never recover the money again—until I came across SPEED SWIFT RECOVERY. After doing thorough research and reading positive reviews, I decided to contact them. From the start, they were professional,asked detailed questions, and explained every step clearly. Within a few days, they successfully recovered my wallet.
To my relief, SPEED SWIFT RECOVERY was able to trace and recover a large portion of the stolen Bitcoin. It wasn’t an overnight process, but their team kept me informed throughout, explaining each step they took. Today, I can proudly say that I recovered what I thought was lost forever.
If you’ve been scammed like I was, don’t give up hope. Make sure you work with legitimate recovery experts like SPEED SWIFT RECOVERY. contact them via Speedexpertcrytocurrencyrecover@mail.com, Whatsapp +12083405828. they reliable and trustworthy
All thanks to Dr Uromi for curing me of herpes simplex virus with his herbal medicine, I do not have much to say but with all my life i will forever be grateful to him and God Almighty for using Dr Uromi to reach me when i thought it was all over, today i am happy with my life again after the medical doctor have confirmed my HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS of 5years is gone, I have never in my life believed that HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS could be cured by herbal medicine.so i want to use this means to reach other persons who have this disease by testifying the power of Dr Uromi that all hope is not lost yet, try and contact him by any means for any kind of disease with his email: ( Druromiherbalhome@gmail.com ) or his whatsapp number +2349157203547 and get your healing.
I must say that i had a tough time online during the process of trying to get access to my spouse iPhone 12 pro max, i got scammed along the process so i needed two job now and that’s how to get my funds back and also get access to my spouse mobile, It all ended well with the help of “RecoveryHacker101 @ gmail com” who you can reach him today and have your funds recovered within 16 hours to 24 hours. I’m Maria Bennett from South Carolina, recoveryhacker101 saved my life by helping to recover my funds back, that was my house rent money"
I am truly grateful to PRIEST OSAS for restoring my marriage. Anny Robert from Washington, and I were separated for three painful months. No matter how hard I tried, nothing worked, and I felt hopeless. During my search for a solution, I found PRIEST OSAS online and decided to reach out. He assured me that my husband would return within hours. Though doubtful, I trusted him, and he performed spiritual works on my behalf. To my surprise, just as he predicted, my husband called, full of regret, asking for another chance. Now, after nine months of happiness, our love is stronger than ever. If you’re struggling in your relationship, I highly recommend PRIEST OSAS.…
WhatsApp him : +1(786) 625 2119
Email: almightyspellcast@gmail.com
https://almightyspellcast.wixsite.com/priest-osas-1
I am truly grateful to PRIEST OSAS for restoring my marriage. Anny Robert from Washington, and I were separated for three painful months. No matter how hard I tried, nothing worked, and I felt hopeless. During my search for a solution, I found PRIEST OSAS online and decided to reach out. He assured me that my husband would return within hours. Though doubtful, I trusted him, and he performed spiritual works on my behalf. To my surprise, just as he predicted, my husband called, full of regret, asking for another chance. Now, after nine months of happiness, our love is stronger than ever. If you’re struggling in your relationship, I highly recommend PRIEST OSAS.…
WhatsApp him : +1(786) 625 2119
Email: almightyspellcast@gmail.com
https://almightyspellcast.wixsite.com/priest-osas-1