So I get home from work a little after midnight. I’m sitting on the porch sipping rum and listening to Thrill Kill Kult on my iPod. I’ve settled comfortably into a particular position when two very young men walk into my line of sight, arguing with each other vociferously. I can just barely hear their raised voices over the music, but not well ( Read more... )

Some time ago I was walking to the grocery near my apartment. In the parking lot I was suddenly accosted by a police officer. “Hey, Damon,” he said to me with a meaningful (and not entirely friendly) look.
“Who’s the hell’s Damon?” I asked.
“Oh, come on, Damon,” he said. “You can’t fool me. I’ve been looking for you for a while now ( Read more... )

Hey, everybody. Well, it’s my birthday, and as you guys know I usually post something about all the other important things that have happened on April 4th over the years. But this year I’m doing something different; I’m thinking not about the day I was born, but the year.
Birthday dinner, as always, is at Waffle House (the Happiest Place On Earth), ( Read more... )

Eventful week here in Richmond. The planet has been kind of gently toying with us. We had our big earthquake on Tuesday, which was a lot of fun. I always felt cheated that California didn’t have an earthquake while I was out there; had to come home to get one, I guess. It was interesting. I don’t know what I expected, but I was really shocked by ( Read more... )

Oh, man ( Read more... )

I’ve mentioned in the past that I have a deep affection for Virginia Commonwealth University. Both of my parents attended school here when I was young. They both worked here, too, during my very early years, and though Pop moved on, Mama continued working here ‘til after I left high school. Hell, Pop helped build the school’s old basketball ( Read more... )

Them amongst ya who’ve been reading this for a while might possibly remember that I sometimes get irritated by the growing legion of people who, now that the prudes and the paranoids have driven up the price of cigarettes to “take out a loan” levels, can’t afford to buy their own, and lie in wait to pounce on smokers and try to bum one. I don’t ( Read more... )

Just got in from my nightly walk. Halloween isn’t the best possible night for walking around. It’s a bit crowded, especially if you go as early as I did. There are lots of little people in strange clothes underfoot, and some of the pretty redheaded girls you see aren’t actually pretty redheaded girls ( Read more... )

My apartment is the back half of the second floor of a house that, a hundred years ago, belonged to a very rich family. This sort of place is rather the rule in the Fan, which used to be a wealthy suburb of Richmond back before the City swallowed it up between the World Wars. Nowadays the Fan is mid-town, and although the stylish rich still live ( Read more... )

Had an interesting conversation on the way back from the library today ( Read more... )