-
Why I Wrote
It all started with King Koala. Well, that and my dad. He’d written a handful of books while he lived and taught in Australia, around the time I was born. Then in second grade, after I was back in the States and had lost my accent, I penned and illustrated a series of stories about…
-
Sleep
Sleep has always been a struggle for me. Okay, to be fair, the struggle it is today with the miracle medication known as Ambien is lightyears away from the struggles I had pre-Ambien. For most of my life it’s taken me on average two hours to fall asleep. Even then, if I woke up, my…
-
Drive to the Beach Day
I know, I know, my journaling capabilities are far from what they should be, what they were, but here goes: Drive to the Beach Day. Today I drove to the beach. That is, after I showered and the wife and I grabbed something to drink at the local Starbucks. It was noon by then, warm…
-
Is it Sunday?
It’s Sunday, but I don’t exactly recall that. Tomorrow’s Memorial Day weekend, so I have the day off, which in itself makes it an unusual Sunday, so it altogether doesn’t feel like a Sunday, as in I hope I’m not too hung over to recoup by Monday, Sunday. No, it’s not that kind of Sunday…
-
Mom’s surgery and a comparison
I’m in Prineville again. Been here for two days now. Saturday. Drove in Thursday. The plan was to hit the charging station in Sandy at noon, have my one-on-one with my manager while I topped off the car, then head to Saint Charles in Redmond to visit my mother who’d just had her gall bladder…
-
A Rainbow Bridge
“Grief relief,” I said, pulling a small bottle of Jack Daniels from the left inside pocket of my black denim Levi jacket. I expected my sister to look at me with her usual, “Okay, little brother, you’re getting yourself into trouble again?” look on her face, the one I’d become accustomed to, but she just…
-
Obituary for Richard V. Phay
Richard Vernon ‘Dick’ Phay passed away at his home in Prineville on September 29, 2021. Dick was born on December 18, 1939 in San Jose, CA to Louis and Gladys Phay. He grew up in Morgan Hill, CA with his two brothers, Will and Bob, and their sister Juanita. He married Lorelei Conlan in 1960…
-
Star Trek V: Voyage to the Biggest Dick
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, was released on June 9th, 1989. I remember that because I was fifteen years old, sick as a dog, and imprisoned abroad in Australia where, at least at that ancient time in human history, blockbuster films (not that this was one) came out three or so months in Australia…
-
Gossiping Around the Kitchen Table
I didn’t think it would end up where it started: at the kitchen table. And why would I? My parents had raised me with one set of guidelines for social correctness and now they were directly contradicting themselves. So what if I was barely a teenager? Hadn’t I earned sufficient years and experience to know…