Category: Fiction/Humor
Fiction/Humor Retirement
Sports in the Age of Orthopedics
Pickleball has become extremely popular and continues to be America’s fastest-growing sport. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) Topline Participation Report, there were an estimated 19.8 million pickleball players in the United States in 2024, which represents a 45.8% increase from 2023 numbers. Pickleball has been named the fastest-growing sport in the US for the fourth consecutive year. The growth has been phenomenal over the past few years, with participation increasing by…
Fiction/Humor Politics
Sticky Fingers
Fingers are a funny appendage. They pretty much dominate one entire human sense, our sense of touch. They have to be very sensitive and tactile while being very rugged and durable since they are used every day for multiple chores. For instance, tomorrow morning I can think of three distinct things I will use my fingers for. The obvious one is that they are my preferred mechanism for inputting my thoughts into stories via keyboarding.…
Fiction/Humor Memoir
Clubbing in Retirement
Don’t worry, you will not be hearing about Rich and Kim at Brooklyn Mirage or the Butterfly Room in SoHo. My first real dance club ever was in 1979 when on my first trip to Europe for business. We had just formed the World Corporate Division and I was one of the new offices assigned to cover the world’s multinational corporations. The bank thought it important that we all get a taste of the international…
Fiction/Humor Memoir
Curry in a Hurry
Many years ago at a time which I presume was an era of higher than normal immigration into the United States by people from India, there were many cab drivers in New York City who hailed from the subcontinent. I’ve always felt that the pulse of immigration trends are often felt most clearly in the cab driving population. I’m wondering how Uber and Lyft have changed that, but I’ll bet not too much. It’s tricky…
Fiction/Humor Memoir
Trippin’ Along
Few words manage to embody more stages in life than the word “trippin’”. I grew up in the 1960s and came of age in the 1970s. The early 60s for me were about returning to the United States from Latin America, where I functioned under the watchful eye of a German governess with strong ties to Latin America (not sure what that history might have entailed in the post-WWII era) and with the name of…
Fiction/Humor Memoir
Squeaky Toys
Every morning, our routine is that Kim and I sit across from each other in the living room between 6:30 – 8:30am. The time is never exactly the same, but the venue is consistent and the activity is pretty much the same. Everybody has their morning time and this is ours. It is a very pleasant time for both of us. Kim spends her time reading the news on her iPhone and doing her full…
Fiction/Humor Memoir
Das Bagel
The bagel has a rich and complex history that spans centuries and multiple countries. While its exact origins are debated, bagels are believed to have emerged in Jewish communities in Poland, though they have connections to earlier ring-shaped breads from other cultures. Some food historians trace the bagel’s ancestry back to the Arabic world. The earliest known mention of a boiled-then-baked ring-shaped bread can be found in a 13th-century Syrian cookbook, where they were referred…
Fiction/Humor Memoir
The Perfect and the Good
There is an old expression about the perfect and the good that states that “Perfect is the enemy of good” or in its original French form, “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.” This is attributed to Voltaire and his famous quote has an interesting origin and meaning. He actually attributed this saying to “a wise Italian” in his moral poem “La Bégueule” (1772), where he wrote: “Dans ses écrits, un sage Italien Dit que le…
Fiction/Humor Memoir
Ablution Central
Ablutions are ritual washing or cleansing practices, typically performed as part of religious ceremonies or personal hygiene routines. The term comes from the Latin word “ablutio,” meaning “a washing away.” The purpose of ablutions generally relates to spiritual purification, preparing oneself for prayer or worship, or marking transitions between states of ritual purity and impurity. In modern usage, “ablutions” can also refer more generally to the act of washing oneself, particularly in British English. When…