Author Archives: John Swinburn

My very long-time habit of waking extremely early seems, unfortunately, to be dissolving. This morning, I woke just after 6:30, a full hour later than my normal “latest” time to wake. The loss of an hour or more of my … Continue reading →

Last night, I slept only intermittently. During those brief periods when I slept, I was semi-conscious; my so-called sleep was a troubled amalgamation of wishes and fears and reactions to imprecise concerns going back to my childhood—a nasty brew that … Continue reading →

What delights will 2023 bring? What pleasures? What pains? There’s no value in anticipating the unknowable, nor use in wishing for circumstances over which I have little or no control. Hopes and dreams and dreads sometimes seem such wasteful expenditures … Continue reading →

Whether it was the flu or a fierce cold, I’ll probably never know. Whatever I had—have—kept me from writing coherently for a few days. I chose not to try to post anything the last couple of days of 2022, opting … Continue reading →

Millions of people are in far worse shape than I. People around the globe live in extreme poverty, are exposed to existential dangers posed by war, face climate disasters that could bring utter ruin, or any combination of other horrors … Continue reading →

Yesterday’s creative void turned into a series of naps, punctuated by coughing, nasal decongesting, and other such symptoms of a cold. After said naps, I felt somewhat better. This afternoon, after another night’s and morning’s sleep, I feel considerably worse. … Continue reading →

Usually, even when my mind is blank, I can sit down at my computer and write…something. Not so this morning. I have run into a wall ever since I awoke. An immoveable wall; solid concrete blocks laced together with steel … Continue reading →

It’s Christmas Day. Last year on this day, I spent a good bit of the day making a variety of Spanish tapas for the day’s celebratory meal. However, the day was a bit rough, as one of my brothers was … Continue reading →

The Great Deception. Every year, millions of children are introduced to variations on a long-living lie sustained through collusion and delusion. Parents—intentionally and purposefully—lie to their children, never considering that modeling is far more effective in molding future behaviors than … Continue reading →

Brutally cold air—currently in the neighborhood of 1°F—surrounds my warm, cozy house. The wind chill value is and will continue to be considerably lower than that, between -15°F and -30°F, according to hyper-local weather reports and forecasts. So far, water … Continue reading →

Waves in the ocean, generated by wind, are said to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles. The language used to describe waves—their genesis, and their demise—is unique. Terms like fetch and swell and contact distance and stochastic process are meant … Continue reading →

Today is the winter solstice, when one of the Earth’s poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This is the day with the northern hemisphere’s shortest period of daylight and the longest night. Perhaps I would have figured … Continue reading →

Yesterday would have been an appropriate day to light a cone of patchouli incense, but I failed to think of it. Today, though, for a variety of reasons, it came to mind. So, as I sit here, the scent of … Continue reading →

Never. I have used the word without considering its finality. It was just another word; a throw-away term for an abstract concept. But today, on the second anniversary of my wife’s death, I understand it. My understanding did not occur … Continue reading →

I tried to get back to sleep, but I failed. So I got up about 3:45 and played Words with Friends with another insomniac. And I noticed the very moment a different insomniac liked a photo I posted on Facebook … Continue reading →

Hunter S. Thompson took his own life. He committed suicide at age 67. Something I read early this morning mentioned Thompson in passing. For some reason, that casual aside about him led me down a rabbit warren. I refreshed my … Continue reading →

My DNA reveals things about me I once thought were somewhat-private. Now, anyone with access to certain data in the records of ancestry.com can know my DNA suggests: I like the taste of cilantro, I tend to remember my dreams, … Continue reading →

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? ~ Edgar Allan Poe ~ +++ Writers are not unique in their seeming preoccupation with … Continue reading →

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. ~ Bertrand Russell ~ I have said it before and I’ll say it again: FoxNews and CNN never fail to disappoint me. In my view, neither of the two “news” organizations … Continue reading →

Several months ago, mi novia and I launched a search for a dining table. We wanted something more modern, more attractive, more appealing. We found one we liked quite a lot, but several considerations caused us to keep looking; the … Continue reading →

Ancient, long-buried memories of what seemed, at the time, insignificant thoughts and emotions can erupt like geysers. Those recollections flood the consciousness with forgotten mental images that drown the present in pools from the past. So it was this morning … Continue reading →

Ten years ago to the day, as I sat at my desk, I mused about words written by a young woman I knew only superficially from occasionally reading her blog. She occasionally read my blog, as well. If memory serves, … Continue reading →

Thunder and lightning accompanied the pounding rain. But that is not what got me out of bed at 4:00 a.m.  The storm arrived two hours after I woke. And now, the light show and jarring claps of thunder have moved … Continue reading →

Autumn is a metaphor for wisdom. And a forecast of rebirth. Watching trees shake off their dead and dying leaves awakens the observer to transformation. The buds to follow could not emerge in the presence of spent leaves that are … Continue reading →

Relying on one’s memory to recall moments from the past introduces deviations from reality. Time and experience mold and shape recollections of our own histories. Only by intentionally capturing experiences—through photographs or video recordings or contemporaneous written documentation or a … Continue reading →