As I walked out of the grocery store, I was approached by a young man in a Boy Scout Uniform. He had a Tenderfoot rank patch and was probably in his first year of scouting. “Would you be interested in supporting the Boy Scouts?” he asked. I said I would and let him make his [...]
#Life
a story blog
Author Archives: JPS
I went to the woods for my sanity, but I came back for the air conditioning
Two weeks ago, I tried to go camping. I’ve been having an itch for the outdoors lately. I’m used to summer being an awesome time to get outside and get on the water — but it’s not so easy in Florida. It’s too damn hot in the summer to do anything in the direct sunlight [...]
LINK: Uttered prayers for our uniformed youth
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/us/sept-11-reckoning/troops.html These are a few stories of soldiers and sailors who have served since 9/11. The stories are honest and touching, and they highlight people who have contributed more than their fair share. Ryan talked about how news organizations are treating this anniversary, and I’ve been living through those complex decisions. I work for The [...]
The only thing I regret is the french fries
Last evening was a night on the town. Nine of us went out for dinner and drinks and adventuring about the city into the morning hours, when the final four of us called it quits after eating at Steak ‘n’ Shake. It was a normal night. We had dinner at a place downtown, then moved [...]
LINK: One of the craziest stories I’ve ever heard
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/323/the-super This week, while listening to the podcast of This American Life, I was amazed at the tale I heard. It’s a replay of a show from 2007, and it’s all about building superintendents. The whole episode is very good, but Act 1 in particular is captivating and thrilling. That section comes in at 21 [...]
Smearing peanut butter on my face
This is not a metaphor. Earlier today, inspired by a post on the usually sage Lifehacker.com, I decided to use peanut butter to shave my face. I was a bit suspicious of the technique, but I thought it might be worth trying. After all, peanut butter is one of the most wonderful substances ever created. [...]
Absent-minded ranting
My girlfriend came to visit this past weekend, Thursday through Tuesday. It was wonderful to see her and we had a lot of fun, even though most of our planned activities got rained out. It was also the first time she had seen me perform my poetry in front of an audience, which actually made [...]
Fending for myself on the gulf coast
The mesh of the net wasn’t tight enough. On Saturday, I went crabbing with some friends near Cedar Key on the gulf coast. We went with the goal of catching 20 blue crabs (5 a piece) of edible size, and two of the other actually had some experience fishing for crabs, but we didn’t know [...]
Who cares when school is out?
Every writer for #Life has recently or will soon be moving. Each of us has put all our shit into boxes and duffel bags and those funny string backpacks they give away for free but aren’t actually useful for pretty much anything and we’ve relocated. One of us even bought a house. Who does that? [...]
I promise it’s not as gross as it sounds
Lately, I’ve been cleaning up my apartment and packing in preparation for a move to a new complex (a whopping .8 miles away) that will better suit my needs. Namely, I won’t have to carry my 14 foot kayak up and down from the third floor and then wrestle it into it’s tight fit against [...]