A few years ago I started compiling the best tweets I saw during the year into blog posts. Here’s this year’s version. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. just chased a cup of coffee with a red bull and saw the future for 30 seconds. — Troy McCall (@interzonejunkie) January 6, 2014 To everyone saying “just put on more clothing” about the cold, next 90° high humidity day I’ll say “just sit on the porch and sip sweet tea” —…
The following snippet is from a chapter titled Angels and Devils in my upcoming book Minor King. In it, the protagonist Jim Christianson is having a conversation with his 10-year-old daughter, Abigail. You can order Minor King by clicking here. *** “Daddy?” she said. “Yes, sweetie?” “Is the devil scary-looking?” she asked. “No,” I said without hesitation. I’d given this a lot of thought over the years. Early on in sobriety, the only way I could understand what was going on inside of…
He arrives in a gray Subaru. We ask him to pull all the way into the driveway so we can get kids off to school. He carries a clipboard, camera, and measuring tape. He has a firm grip. My wife stays behind. “He’s in the attic,” she texts me. “Is he nice?” Of course there’s no way to tell because he’s not even human. He’s a machine that takes pictures of doors that need paint and a crack in…
Yesterday I stopped for gasoline and pulled behind a red Cadillac. As I selected my grade of fuel, a young black man emerged from the convenience store and walked to the Caddy. He was dressed in dark baggy jeans, white sneakers, a red jacket with white leather sleeves, and a red baseball cap. He looked good. He put a case of Corona in the trunk and started to pump gas. I noticed a police car at a light on the corner…
Driving home from the park the other day I had a talk with the kids about the idea of serendipity. I told them how saw I four different people at the grocery store the day before who were wearing earbuds. All of them completely focused on their task. None of them making eye contact with anyone else. None of them open to serendipity. It’s not that I think people who wear earbuds shopping are jerks, I just think they’re part…
Last week a friend called and asked me to coffee. He insisted on meeting that afternoon. “I think I’m going to leave.” he said. “Just pack a small bag and move away.” “What do you mean, leave?” I asked, genuinely confused. Across from me sat a man in his forties with everything you could want in a life. A beautiful family. A good job. A house in a nice neighborhood. Insurance. “That’s what men at my age do when their dreams…
