panjianlien ...1. Marriage. One of the finer institutions I've never been committed to. Not that I haven't tried. A few years ago, I was positively bent on getting married. I always feared being the unmarried 50ish guy at a family reunion or my own daughter's wedding, getting fixed up. However, as I started to approach the mystical age of 40 (not yet!) I wondered how much I needed to get married. I settled into myself - for better or worse, for richer or poorer. I don't know that I was entirely happy, but I came to terms with my singlehood - even learned to celebrate it.
But, "Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at it's zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us." Jean Shepherd) Is something afoot? Why yes. Did the butler do it? You know that he did.
2. Writing. I'm writing all the time now. Writing on paper napkins, in my head, while driving, in text messages. I won't Twitter, I just can't. The novel is coming along slowly - more slowly than I'd like. It's not that I've imposed some sort of artificial deadline on the book, I just have two other novels and a collection of short stories in my head. I need to get these out.
3. Fatherhood. This is a tough subject for me. I used to write so effusively about parenting. Now I feel dispossessed, lost, yet I'm settled into it, like a refugee camp resident celebrating his first year in the tents. Remember the day we got the second water bottle! Plastic sheeting! Little triumphs, that's what got me through last year. Little tiny things no one else would notice.
4. Motorcycle. The bike is bold and brash. She (and she is definitely a she, in fact a lady of a certain age who must be treated in the manner she has become accustomed to) takes me wherever I want to go. Except today. Battery problems. Plus a chronic issue with the petcock (get your minds out of the gutter), resulting in vacuum lock. The previous owner tried to solve this using Kawasaki's recommended method - drilling holes in the gas tank. This solved the vacuum lock, but also allows condensation into the gas tank. And there's no windshield or luggage, so long trips are almost out of the question.
Alas for my old girl, I have been eyeing a young, curvy thing. She's built for comfort and speed.
5. Cabin. The little place has become my favorite place in Alabama. It's quiet and isolated, surrounded by woods and open space. It's seductive in its way. It wants me to stay here. But I'm not.