stephenschrum

A Fatwa on the Patois

I had a dream last night in which I was flipping through a number of documents. Each seemed to have at least one typo or misspelled word. One of these was “agressive” and I found this particularly annoying. While it didn’t occur in this dream, I’ve been seeing too many badly worded instructions from ChineseContinue reading “A Fatwa on the Patois”

Roboshop

My late wife was an avid shopper. She would start moving through clothing racks in a very methodical way and you could see her calculating fabric, color, etc. as she went. I called this method “Roboshop” because she reminded me of the Peter Weller character as he would move and swivel his head to takeContinue reading “Roboshop”

Notes About Dreams

In a recent blog post I mentioned finding old notes about various things that might become future blog posts. Well, the future is now! Four of the notes begin: “Dream:” and have some mention of what happened in some dream I had years ago. Often when I take notes, such brief phrases are enough toContinue reading “Notes About Dreams”

“She Tipped Me A Crystal”

At Berkeley, we had a summer lunchtime theatre series. Each show rehearsed for two weeks (one week in the morning, one week in the afternoon) and then a week of performances. I directed two shows in two summers: Noel Coward’s We Were Dancing (in the Durham Studio Theatre) and Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost—which I cutContinue reading ““She Tipped Me A Crystal””

What Should I Write About Next?

One of the toughest parts of maintaining a blog is coming up with topics to write about. Lately the prompts have been repeating* so I sometimes struggle to come up with material. And then I go through boxes from my storage unit, and something falls into my lap, sometimes literally (like the index card, picturedContinue reading “What Should I Write About Next?”

Honk Put the Phone Down!

I realize that we are all Sovereign Citizens in our automobiles. A car is simultaneously a conveyance and a sanctuary. This explains why we can pick our noses or belt out our favorite songs and not worry about anyone watching. I once saw a woman driving with a cigarette in one hand, phone in theContinue reading “*Honk* Put the Phone Down!”

Change is Apparent…in my Pocket, in my Climate

Sometimes I forget to take change out of my pocket because I’m waiting until I get to my office desk and I can dump them into the little box I use to collect coins. I can feel the weight of them in my pocket, yet I tend to forget that they’re there—until I undress andContinue reading “Change is Apparent…in my Pocket, in my Climate”

An Assassin for What??

Years ago in Northeast PA (which does seem like a galaxy far, far away at this point), I had to walk to the end of the street to get my mail. As I exited my house and entered the road, two dogs across the way would bark at me from a badly-built enclosure. When IContinue reading “An Assassin for What??”

Peristalsis in Excelsis Deo. Amen.

Going through a box from my storage unit, I found notes in a variety of notebooks. I tore out the relevant pages—so few in each book—and am donating the books to Goodwill so someone will get more use out of them than I ever did or will. See, I would purchase them thinking I’d getContinue reading “Peristalsis in Excelsis Deo. Amen.”

Negative to Positive ZZZZAP!

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings? I’m sorry to say that I sometimes find myself in a situation when I get a bit overwhelmed by negative feelings. I often express this (silently, mentally) by wishing Russia would just release their nuclear arsenal and we wouldn’t be bothered by all the day-to-dayContinue reading “Negative to Positive **ZZZZAP!**”