December 2019
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An old friend reminds me that I once kept a cat as a pet. I had forgotten. Here's the story. There was a cat and I was overfond of her. We left the cat with a friend when we went on a three-week vacation. She refused to eat and starved to death before we returned.…
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In the Senior Decathlon also known as the Octogenarian Olympics, there are five events requiring different levels of agility and skill. Events are scored both on speed (as in track) and grace (as in gymnastics). Getting out of bed and putting on socks. Entering and leaving an automobile. Rising from a kneeling position. Driving at…
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We watched the last ten minutes of an early 30s James Cagney crime film. I don't know its title because we came in very late and didn't catch the name. The concluding bit of the film was very good: a chase scene (rather tame by modern standards) and then unrepentant Cagney in the hoosegow, facing…
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For twenty-two of a day's twenty-four hours, I'm a contented kind of guy. Not self-satisfied by a long shot, but by and large reconciled to both my modest achievements and to my inadequacies. Yet between 2AM and 4AM, in the dark insomniac gloom, I'm a different person. I struggle with "what ifs," with "should have's,"…