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Author Archives: John Swinburn
Incoherent in English
It’s twenty minutes after five o’clock and I’m tired of being awake. I woke up just before four and have been writing and thinking uncomfortably ever since. I have posted my two requisite blog posts but still don’t feel like I’ve accomplished a bloody … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
2 Comments
Disappeared
Every once in a while I have this fantasy in which I simply disappear. Not literally, but close to it. One day I’m here, the next day there’s no trace of me; I’m just gone. I don’t know just why … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
2 Comments
Fifty-Seven
Fifty-Seven. That’s what I label this post. That must mean this is the fifty-seventh day of the year. Time ticks along, shedding a second or a minute or an hour or a day at a time, moving inexorably toward the moment … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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A Little Bit of Winter
Cold weather is not my thing, but I do love the look of the fourth season!
Posted in Weather
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Art & Fear
I met a woman last week who suggested I need to face, and overcome, my fear. She knows virtually nothing about me, except that I write and that I do not call myself a writer. When she was told by … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
1 Comment
Fifty-Six
Things could be worse. Celebrate the fact that humanity hasn’t incinerated itself. That’s a celebration worth having. And any such celebrations call for meat pies and sausages spiced with jalapeños, wrapped in dough. Hell, yes, life is worth living! Drink … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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Drawing the Line on Twisted Thinking
Certain topics are so imbued with social radioactivity that we have learned sharing our curiosity or our thoughts about them in most social environments and in most person-to-person interactions is unsafe, emotionally or psychologically. What are these topics? The sex act. Homosexuality. … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking, Religion, Secular morality
2 Comments
The Breakfast Project
I have gathered basic information about common breakfasts in sixty-two countries. I am now beginning the process of checking whether the information I’ve gathered is legitimate (most of it came from the internet, though some from my own experience). I … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Food
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I Need Hands on My Body
WANTED: Full-body massage, followed by regular hour-long back-rub leading to focused manipulation of hands, feet, and back of head and upper neck. Willing to pay up to one hundred million dollars, or trade for the eternal rights to my soul, … Continue reading
Posted in Health
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Fifty-Five
Messages are not messages when sent, they are intentions. They are messages when received.
Posted in Ruminations
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Inside Out
Garmish Sly awoke with an awful, horrific headache. He recognized it as either the aftermath of, or a prelude to, an episode. It wasn’t unusual, but it was unwelcome. He spoke, out loud. “I think they scalded my brain. The thoughts, … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing
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Trainstation Dreams
I jotted notes about the following dream one night several weeks ago; maybe it was months. At any rate, here’s another of my dreams, recorded here for posterity, or the mental health training program. I wrote this post about the … Continue reading
Posted in Dreams
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Fifty-Four
You cannot cause a person to love you, or even to like you. You can attempt to influence another’s emotions by the way you behave, but you can’t cause an emotion to arise in another person out of the sheer force of your will. The best you can do … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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Memories of the Border
Memories of my childhood are rare. For reasons unknown to me, much of the stuff of my childhood seems to have simply vanished from my brain. I do have memories, but it’s quite possible the majority of those few are not … Continue reading
Posted in Memories, Mexico
2 Comments
Fifty-Three
When I’m the only one I can find who’s interested in a topic, I may decide to discuss it with myself. And when I’ve of two minds on the matter, I’ll argue with myself. It’s annoying when I lose the argument.
Posted in Ruminations
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Tamale Fest
I spent almost the entire day yesterday—well, from 11:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m—working in the kitchen, preparing for today’s long-awaited tamale fest. A couple of friends who have been after me to have a tamale party for more than twenty years (long … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Friendship
1 Comment
Fifty-Two
Some people tend to choke when swallowing their pride, so they avoid doing it, at all costs.
Posted in Ruminations
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Found It
In spite of my efforts yesterday to find my phone, in my car where I thought I must have dropped it, I couldn’t find it. But, this morning, I decided to have one last look. Armed with a flashlight, I … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
2 Comments
Recycling
There’s a vast middle ground between brand-new and broken, between useful and useless. If we allow ourselves to reject the notion that new equals better, we open up a world of possibilities in every facet of our lives. There is wonderful … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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Lost It
Somehow, I managed to lose my new cell phone. Like, it vanished into thin air. I was standing in the parking lot of the Hot Springs Village Chamber of Commerce, talking to someone about the fact that I sometimes fail … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
Fifty-One
As I sit at the table, listening to the sound of the fan pumping warm air from the floor ducts into this voluminous room, I wonder whether it makes sense to have such tall ceilings in the winter. And I … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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Love and Compassion
I subscribe to Zen Habits,a blog dealing with “living in the moment” and being content with, and productive in, one’s life. Recently, a post reminded me that people tend to define themselves by what they do, what other people think of … Continue reading
Posted in Compassion, Happiness, Love, Purpose
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Fifty
Return the affection that is laid on you. If it is honest, it will grow and consume any doubt; if it is not, it will smother the pain and leave sweetness in its wake.
Posted in Ruminations
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My Response to Right-Wing Fanatical Religious Hysteria
Maybe I should have held my tongue (or put my fingers back in their cases, as it were), but it struck a nerve with me. So I responded to the email, which was the following message that was forwarded to me by … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
1 Comment
Forty-Nine
Words you don’t want to hear from your wished-for lover after informing her you narrowly missed being killed by a jack-knifing big rig on a slick, icy highway: “Oh yeah? Do you think the roads will be clear enough tomorrow … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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