Exasperating | Mostly Bright Ideas

Browsing All Posts filed under »Exasperating«

Dealing with a Wait Problem

September 12, 2014

I’m seated in my car. There is another vehicle in front of mine, a Toyota Corolla with a small dent just below the left tail light. The word Corolla on the back of the other car reminds me of corona, which is the fuzzy glow around the edge of the sun. I’m pretty sure it’s also […]

It Goes Without Saying

November 28, 2013

Sometimes I’ll be seated at my desk, pretending to be working or lost in thought, and someone will walk by and say, “Is it okay if I steal your pen?” As they ask me this, they’re grabbing one of the hundreds of pens that I’ve acquired over recent years, and that are now scattered around […]

Borderline Abuse

October 10, 2013

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About two months ago, a close friend and fellow blogger left her home in the United States to visit us in Canada. And while it was great to see her, it was also somewhat upsetting, because she’d set out on the trip with her husband, but she arrived alone. He’d been detained at one of […]

Inexplicably Irritated

August 3, 2012

We all have them. Those insignificant things that drive us so crazy, they make us want to yank out our own hair by the fistful. But we don’t do it, because we know how painful a little paper cut is, and we can imagine that tearing out clumps of hair and scalp would have to […]

The World Needs More Grown-Ups

July 26, 2012

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Yet again, we find ourselves horrified and confused by an unprovoked shooting in a public place. We look for explanations, and someone or something to blame. We’re sure there must be a reason for these events, a way to understand their causes, and a means to prevent them in the future. I don’t think so. […]

Don’t Ask, Don’t Yell

September 30, 2011

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As a young adult, I once heard someone say that “there’s no such thing as a stupid question.” This came as a great surprise to me, because not so many years earlier, stupid questions had been quite common. In fact, my parents had pretty much convinced me that I was a natural spring of inane […]

Secret Meetings, and Debriefings

August 31, 2011

A paranoia has spread across the land, a fear that we’re being monitored and manipulated. Every time we type a word or product into a search engine or online retail site, some sophisticated software tracks our activity and stores it for future marketing purposes. Purchase a box of Frosted Flakes at your local supermarket, and […]

An Endless Wonder

August 14, 2011

As a child, I was puzzled by life. Not to say that I was constantly puzzled. The feeling was tempered now and then by milder states of bafflement, bewilderment, and, on days of relative lucidity, simple confusion. Still, I’d imagine a time off in the distant future of adulthood, when the dust would settle, the […]

Born Out of Sync

February 18, 2011

It was October 28, 1955. The planet Mars had just entered the sign of Libra, Venus was moving into Scorpio, and the Sun was in the Fifth House. I don’t know what any of that means. Honestly, I don’t think it means anything. All that seems to matter is that I was born one day […]

Jammed and Stretched

January 22, 2011

This is a dumb post. It isn’t really about anything except a car door, a small chunk of ice, and a seat belt. And to a minor degree, Thomas Edison, but that’s really pushing it. Let’s start at the beginning. I had big plans when I got up Friday morning. I made a list of […]