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NEW STORY PROBLEMS? CHANGE THE SETTING

New story problems are like cooking a chicken. You know how you’d like it to turn out, but that’s not how it always works. When it’s your Christmas story, and it’s December 24th, you’ve got work to do. Start with your story.

CHRISTMAS CONTRAST: LONGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR

A Christmas contrast happens every year. Whenever some adult says, “I remember when I was a kid. Christmas was different,” is just the start. Different? Compared to what? Was Christmas nicer?

TRUE JOY, A COMPENDIUM

Who thinks of true joy as the day your parents permitted you to ride your bike to your pals house a couple of streets over? They trusted you because you demonstrated proficiency on your street. Now you were one of the big guys. When you got that first bike you wanted to ride it everywhere. […]

ARNOLD RULES FROM TWITTER: YOU SHOULD . . .

The Arnold Rules are an encouraging list of what to do for a better life. If a better life sounds like something you’d like to try, something you’d like to model by example, Arnold is here to help. Could Arnold be a better man, a better person? He’s trying. Maybe you could try, too? In […]

CHRISTMAS HOF: THE COUNTDOWN

The Christmas HOF, or Hall of Fame, began when your dad gave your mom a new car wrapped in a big bow? That didn’t happen where I grew up. The new car back then was a 1968 Volkswagen camper for a family that rarely camped. But it had its usefulness. Eventually. There’s nothing like pulling […]

WELLNESS BLOG vs BLOG WELLNESS

A ‘wellness blog’ does what it says: promote health and wellness to an audience who ignores their own health and wellness. If you’re reading a blog for ‘wellness,’ if you’re doing your own ‘research,’ be sure better ideas come from credible sources. Taking medical advice, or simple health advice, from a moron is not the […]

HEALING TIME FOR BUSY PEOPLE

Healing time isn’t something we clock. Things get messed up, then they get better. Then you have a cool scar to show. Do you ask friends to see their new scar; do you show yours? For me, that’s yes and yes.

KNOCKED DOWN? GET UP AGAIN

After a certain age do we get to complain about getting knocked down? Or is it that after a certain age we get to brag about getting back up. Big D, Blogger Dave, me; I took a dive yesterday and had to laugh. It wasn’t funny, but still, literally falling on my ass was funny. […]

HISTORY WORK NEVER ENDS FOR THE CURIOUS

Doing history work where you live is the only way to get to your happy place. Or at least you’ll know where you are. The Oregon Historical Society’s downtown Portland history museum is just the place. But first ask yourself, “Am I curious?” If you read boomerpdx regularly, you pass the curious test. Take this […]

PACIFIC WAR STORY SCRIPT

The Pacific War, or War In The Pacific, started before Pearl Harbor. Japan warmed up ahead of time in China, Singapore, the Philippines. They already had an awful record of War Crimes before launching against Hawaii. My story begins with the Tizard Mission in 1940.