Boogie-woogie Feng Shui

07 Sep, 2026

Raison d'être

Kathairein, meaning “to cleanse” or “to purge”, from which we get the word catharsis. Aristotle used the term in Poetics to describe how tragedies (of the theatrical variety) helped the audience release heavy emotions like pity and fear.

Writing is cathartic. That might sound obvious, but it wasn’t to me until just now. I’m at my best in the morning, and like the wicked Texas sun, this idea of “cathartic writing” dawned on me as I rolled out of bed. Unfortunately, from here on out it’s nothing but cognitive decline until I get stoned and go to sleep. Get it while you can, I guess.

So, there it is. I don’t need a better reason than that. I don’t need a point, a goal, a message. At least for me, so much of life is dictated by results. What are you working towards? How much will you make? What have you accomplished today?

We should all have a place free of such concerns. I think it’s healthy. I guess for me that would be the blank page. Is it little more than mental masturbation? Perhaps, but you’re reading it, you little voyeur you.

Bold adjustments

I am plagued with an incessant wanderlust. It’s actually quite strange. I’m someone who wants little more than a comfy seat, good coffee, and a book... except I want it all to be somewhere else. It drives my wife crazy. “You took us thousands of miles away so you could read?”

Indeed, I did. From my open window I can hear a different language, the Family Mart jingle when the doors open across the way, kei trucks sputtering along. The atmosphere is enough for me.

The point is, I need it to change regularly. Otherwise I start to feel trapped in my own skin. Restless, irritable, almost mad. I’m the kind of person who will spend a year or two furnishing a big home – art on the walls, books on the shelves, big TVs and nice furniture – only to sell it all at a loss so I can move and start over.

My memory is shite, but there’s one phrase from my time in the service that has taken on an almost mantra-like quality for me: Bold adjustments. On the range, while sighting in a new rifle, we were taught to make significant adjustments to the front sight to get on target. Hit paper first, then start dialing it in.

Of all the bullshit I was taught as an infantryman, that struck me as a profound life lesson. We can get caught up searching for perfection when we’re not even in the ballpark of good. Get on target first, then start worrying about the bullseye.

So, I think that’s what I’ve been doing with my life for the last 40-odd years. Making bold adjustments. Ignoring the status quo and cranking that front sight all the way up or down. Have I ever been on target? That's beside the point. Don't take my metaphors too far. Hic sunt dracones.

My unsolicited and irresponsible advice to anyone reading this is to do the same. Remember, there are two universal truths¹:

1. Everything is Empty and Awake.
2. Everybody hungry.

What does that even mean? The universe as void-consciousness, fundamentally predatory/appetitive. Yum yum yum.

Labor Day

I have time to write here today because our corporate overlords so graciously granted us this time in honor of the social and economic achievements of workers. I LARP as a productive member of the American workforce, so the day is mine to do with as I please.

Tomorrow though, forget it. Get your ass back in the office. Make those shareholders happy. Pump them numbers up.

I don’t have any plans for the day. I’ll continue reading Langan’s short stories, maybe pass the ball around with the boy. I feel like lifting, but today and tomorrow are rest days. Recovery is important; you grow at rest, not in the gym. It’s hard though because I love the feeling of moving iron around. The pump, the exhaustion.

Sun’s out, guns out. Curls for the girls (or bi’s for the guys). I don’t discriminate.

Something kind of weird

I was scrolling through BearBlog, a couple of pages into “Most recent”, when I stumbled upon a particularly interesting post. It was one of mine, almost word for word. The title was different, but the content was about 98% the same.

I don’t know how to feel about that. It’s not as if I’m making money from this, so I guess it doesn’t matter, but still... kind of strange.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it was still a bit surreal to find my words so thoroughly adopted by another.

#reflections