The house was old; the house was big – bigger in fact than it had ever been. Not much happened upstairs, in the attic, because the attic was full of dust and discarded building supplies, crumbling plaster and lath, and so many spiders. It wasn’t that the upstairs had never
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centre of the universe: The Kids Are Alright
This is what it is to have children: When The Captain was just only three, we took him to see Monsters, Inc.. His da was concerned it would be Too Scary for him, but I was confident it’d be okay. A little bit scary is good for you, I always
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Karaoke and Grief
Here’s the thing: I don’t remember how it came about but we were at a football game and in one end zone there was a stage. Supposedly for the half time show, because it would be irresponsible to just leave a whole stage in the end zone during play. //Irresponsible//.
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Displacement
When I was in high school, I had a friend whose family home was just a few blocks from mine. Three generations of their family had lived there, which, to me, was wild. Nobody in my family had lived in the same house (or even on the same land) as
Continue readingCathie from Canada: Today’s News: Ukraine update
Here is some recent news from Ukraine: While the famine is growing around the world, harvests in occupied by Russia Kherson region are burning all the time. Reported by the media and the local residents pic.twitter.com/95UnIDaZOt — Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) July 9, 2022 Farmers across Ukraine are increasingly feeling the
Continue readingCathie from Canada: Today’s News: Catching up
Sorry for missing posting yesterday – my computer was in the shop for a tune-up. So let’s catch up with the news: pic.twitter.com/tzvU7MH6rM — Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) June 30, 2022 Ottawa update: Pierre Poilievre re-enacts the opening scene from 1977’s Saturday Night Fever, but this time with the Village
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Iskocēs Tipiskak: A Spark in the Dark – Book Review
Have you ever had one of those experiences where something comes at you out of the dark and ends up being a pleasant surprise? A time where you weren’t expecting anything but something happened anyway? Or when a complete stranger found you and you ended up kind of grokking each
Continue readingcentre of the universe: The Kids are Alright
It started out fairly inocuously; Kid the Younger and their paramour, a few friends we haven’t seen in a while, and a few of KtY & P’s friends just hanging out and watching movies, playing games. Some of us were upstairs in my childhood home and some of us were
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Foot Fish and Fetishes
The beach sand was hot; it felt good on the bottom of my feet. Felt like it was scouring off layers of thick, dead heel flesh; the heat in it permeated my skin and warmed and released the striated muscles and tendons. Phalanges, metatarsals, cuneiforms and cuboid, calcaneus et al.,
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Caymanaymans
I had just returned from some kind of an RPG convention where we’d been camping and doing LARP outdoors when it was nice and playing tabletop games indoors when it wasn’t. The Convention was way down Stateside somewhere but not Indianapolis. Like, we’re talking Louisiana or Georgia or something. I
Continue readingcentre of the universe: The Freehouse Caper
I dreamed a dream of games, of gatherings and a labyrinth. I dreamed of sport and game and speeches from the Summer King. He was old, handsome, tired, his power waning. The Winter King was still just a boy but the hunger in him, the desire shining in his eyes,
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Dreamlet
A friend had invited me to the ‘viewing’ of their first grandchild in a community centre, or maybe in the common room of a condo complex. The new baby was teensy, with a shock of bright red hair. We’re talking Beaker hair, here, and it was perfect. When I got
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Olfactory Sense
I was cleaning the bed linens this morning, which always accompanied a spraying down of the mattress with hydrogen peroxide & essential oils (no, not lavender; I don’t especially like lavender). Into the “warsh”, as my great-step-grandmother would say, with the sheets and mattress cover. I love doing the bed
Continue readingcentre of the universe: I wish I were joking
But I’m not. If I wrote this as fiction my editors would cross it out as too far fetched. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/comedy-holiday-horrors-jillian-bell-1.4960005
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Back to Back to School
A Story of Parenting, Told in School Supplies Kindergarten, First Child: I purchased these school supplies over a year ago, have been awake since Friday labelling every pencil, every marker, every individual crayon, every eraser, and every individual tissue in the box. I have labelled every article of my child’s
Continue readingcentre of the universe: The Christmas Story
As told by Teyah T. Dog (aka “Bumblebutt”) Once there was a woman in a kitchen and the kitchen was far from the dogs’ resting place on the chesterfield. The dogs heard the sound of crinkling and knew that the King would tell them they couldn’t have treats, so they
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Sing, O Muse
Hubris is a term that we equate with excessive pride. Not just being boastful. It isn’t regular pride in something you accomplished (I got out of bed today! You bet your butt I’m proud of that). It’s a kind of pathological pride in which you elevate yourself above the common
Continue readingPostArctica: Walk # 18 – The Point Part 4
“If you look for the truth outside yourself, It gets farther and farther away. Today walking alone, I meet it everywhere I step. It is the same as me, yet I am not it. Only if you understand it in this way Will you merge with the way things are.”
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Strange Times
Everything seemed normal. Normal for any road trip you take with your kids. A million stops for the peanut-bladders; a million cruddy road snacks. At one roadside stop, I bought some semiprecious stone bracelets (a couple of mine have broken lately so I guess I needed to stock up). It
Continue readingcentre of the universe: This may be the best thing I have ever written
I found this little gem on my Twitter feed via timehop. Part of me wishes it were fiction. It’s always an adventure when you’re me.
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