End of the Map

Monday, 3.26.18 1:55pm 36 years old 185 pounds Life according to John Cena: Hustle, Loyalty, Respect Life according to Kurt Angle: Integrity, Intensity, Intelligence Life according to the puppy Rousimoff: Play Time, Nap Time, Food Time At the edge of town About a six minute drive from what passes as Main Street Over the train tracks that have needed a weeding since before they were laid Between the eroded farmhouses and the marsh that follows the river to the south Down the road just a piece from the best slice of pie baked west of the mountain Behind the masks of the alcoholics that stagger in and out of the two bars that drain love and wallets and marriages where sunlight doesn't touch Beyond the reach of all but the sheriff department, and he only comes 'round when there's real trouble like murder trouble like that summer that no one talks about when Jimmy and Paige were found with their.... Into the teeth of a wind that bites, and a sun that beams like Je...

Thursday, 3.22.18 1:11pm 36 years old 184 pounds Daniel Bryan in-ring status: active Emotion level at Daniel Bryan's return to active status: overjoyed It is a source of annoyance to the author's compatriots and associates and friends and colleagues that frequently, he is caught whistling the theme music of the circus. Its association with clowns and what that imagery invokes for some folks notwithstanding, it is a catchy tune that adheres well to one's audio faculties and proves difficult to shake. As far as commercial jingles go, it is devastatingly effective. But the author whistles this tune as a reminder to himself: this is all just a circus. The author raised his Twitter app yesterday afternoon to discover that the nation's former vice president, Joe Biden, had said in an interview that had they gone to high school together and had he behaved then as he does now, Biden would have beaten the hell out of President Donald J. Trump. The ridiculousness of that...

Wednesday, 3.7.18 11:38pm Favorite Oceans, ranked: 1. Atlantic 2. Pacific 3. Frank 4. Indian 5. Billy Denver, CO The night summer air is sticky and still warm. He's making the walk again, crossing the stretch of road that manages to skirt the shoreline and ocean at one elbow, and contours into the overpass that extends to the suburbs along another. Strapped to his back in a knapsack are the clothes from the day's workout in the spin studio, and a Tupperware container of the night's leftover dinner cooked alongside his lady love, and a thirty-two ounce water bottle filled to the brim and fastened tight. It's a Tuesday night, but because it's July, the city streets are thick with tourists and couples and families. The business day crowd is sparsely represented - loosened ties and flip-flops beneath pencil skirts confessing to some bit of happy hour fun - but these suburban commuters are a focused group. They maintain a margarita buzz while figuring out a tra...

Monday, 3.5.18 12:31pm 36 years old 188 pounds (Oscar party excess) Meteorological conditions: windy enough to blow Odysseus home Puppy conditions: Rousimoff is occupied with a chew toy, and is happy Denver, CO The author has not yet met a person without a ghost story. These tales of specters and ghouls and supernatural spirits have spanned the spectrum from spooky to surreal to silly to seriously weird. The author's former residences in Boston were frequented with otherworldly visitors. In the neighborhood of Dorchester, the author dozed and made a home in a former crime scene. You see, reader, the previous residents of the home had been a mother and father and son. The story has it that son tried to execute mother and father by way of arson - a ghastly bit of business, reader, the author agrees. So one can imagine what sort of energies flowed through that home - macabre vibrations abounded. It is the author's second residence in Boston that bears the most interest...

Friday, 3.2.18 12:49pm 36 years old 187 pounds Daily coffee intake, in cups: 2.71 Job status: underemployed Emotional status: underwhelmed Denver, CO Reader, the author wonders today if the current state of things is designed to complicate life in such a manner as to keep liquor sales trending ever upward, and mental health professionals in BMWs and furs. Surely if one wanted to make such a case, the evidence at hand would prove more than adequate. The author would like to submit this morning's events as an example. While the author was once upon a time gainfully employed at a very large IT company that insured his health, dental, and vision, those days have passed. Since then, employment has been gainful enough, but the insurance benefits have not been so easily come by. Without insurance, a primary care physician is not something one is able to have on speed dial, and it is those same physicians whose expertise is needed to procure a physical examination attesting to o...