What commences are a pair of unconventional episodes for Valentine’s Day. Oh? You expected different? Continue reading Wilted Flowers
Category Archives: Lost Wages
Water Finds Its Own Level
Only in America is free time frowned upon. No matter how deserved. Anytime I read or hear about a cubicle slave or some other automaton bound to his/her job by invisible chains, I say, “Poor sap.”
Where else but America do workers “brag” about their unused vacation days? Of course, where else but here do employers also grudge awarding those days which have been earned?
Deferring purchases is often wise. Deferring vacation days robs our humanity. Continue reading Water Finds Its Own Level
Wassail!
Not a lot of quiet reflection in Las Vegas. This really isn’t the place for that. The environment is unsuited for contemplation or reassessment.
In Las Vegas, that takes effort. So, even thinking twice is a rarity here. Continue reading Wassail!
Slapdash and Slipshod
During the three-day period of November 16th-18th, Las Vegas may experience terrific examples of faulty vision leading to lousy execution. If so, these will become prime lessons in reputable urban planning programs throughout America.
Lessons in what to avoid.
In November, the Big Mayberry will host a Grand Prix Formula One race. The first of what’s now scheduled as annual occurrences. The 2023 version portends to be Fiasco One. Continue reading Slapdash and Slipshod
Let the Music Play
Relocating to Las Vegas has given me greater appreciation of classical music. Growing up, many compositions heard today often provided the ambience to my 1960s boyhood in Quarropas, New York.
Besides the expected rhythm and blues records mother selected for our turntable, she also purchased 120 Music Masterpieces. If you’re old enough you should recall John Williams, the plummy English actor not Star Wars movies composer, who pitched them. Classical orchestrations filled this four-album compilation. If remembered correctly, mother usually had these spinning while cleaning house.
For some reason I still hear them best from summertime. Likely being home from elementary school on summer vacation increased these observances. Amazing how she could make and leave me lunch in the icebox before going to work, then return home after a full day of toil and freshen our home.
Now I can fully appreciate her efforts. Then it was simply “normal.” That is if the younger me ever contemplated it. Oh, quite unlikely. Continue reading Let the Music Play
Ten Years Forward
No way I ever saw myself relocating from New York to Las Vegas. But that’s why it’s called “life,” not “sure thing.”
As I’ve written elsewhere, after cushy foundations in New York fell apart, I needed a nice soft spot to land. Ten years ago in August, Las Vegas became that new cushion. Continue reading Ten Years Forward
No Alms for the Unworthy
At times one feels besieged by human wreckage in Las Vegas because it seems one is besieged by them here.
The common questions that should cut across all social, economic, class lines are “Who doesn’t have a hand out? And why is that grimy hand always in my face?” Continue reading No Alms for the Unworthy
Garbage Begets Garbage
Insouciance is too sweet a word to perfume what seemingly transpires in random encounters among Las Vegas residents. And often that aroma sours with proximity. Continue reading Garbage Begets Garbage
Moxie
As I’ve written before and will remind in the future, Las Vegas is a metropolis churning with transients. Unlike elsewhere few people are from here. Roots are so shallow hydroponic growths probably have greater depths than the majority of human flesh and emotions calling Las Vegas “home.”
Home. What a loaded word. Continue reading Moxie
If the Shoe Fits Get Kicked by It
February has provided the results of a lesson imparted late last year. On a 2022 autumn afternoon, a recently arrived resident at my complex surveyed the then scene. A younger man of the immediate gratification generation, he disparaged our home. To him it looked “ghetto.”
Seeing the property through his eyes, I understood. Continue reading If the Shoe Fits Get Kicked by It