As expected, I’ve been reminiscing about the life I had with my wife before she died. We had so many good times together. I think about our early years together, when I was a sex-crazed young man and every date was a passionate affair. I think about our first decade together, when we were fully…
Author: Steve Ainslie
The Madness Of Crowds
A bunch of people were injured and some died at a concert this past weekend when the crowd of 50,000 (reportedly) surged forward and people were crushed. I heard a crowd control expert discuss this on the news. He said that people will point the finger at the crowd saying things like: the crowd caused…
I Don’t Take Advice From Athletes, Actors, Reporters, Politicians And Singers
One thing that social media has done is given everyone a platform to voice their opinions without being filtered through editors, PR people and media specialists. For people like you and me, who are not famous, social media enables us to shout loudly into the void (instead of writing in our diaries or complaining to…
It’s (Not) The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Today is (would have been) my wife’s birthday (if she hadn’t died). It’s also the day, three years ago, that we made the decision to discontinue treatment for her metastasized lung cancer and called hospice. I wish the date wasn’t burned into my memory. In a few weeks it will be Thanksgiving. This used to…
Curses
The more time I spend alone, the more I talk to myself out loud using a liberal dose of f*-bombs, slurs and epithets. When I’m around others, I am more polite and don’t curse nearly as often. With close friends, I’ll drop a lot of swear words in casual conversation. This is something new for…
Should Shouldn’t
Whenever I catch myself thinking “I should” or “I shouldn’t”, I pause and ask myself “Why?” Most of the time, there’s no logical reason. Let’s take the weather for example. When it is under 70 degrees, I need to wear a fleece or I get cold. When it is 60 degrees, I need gloves to…
Much Ado About … Not Much
Some of the podcasts I listen to discuss politics and current events – along with more intellectual discussions so I am unfortunately exposed to the “news” on a regular basis. I put up with hearing some news because I enjoy listening to podcasts when driving, mowing the lawn and vacuuming. When podcasters start quoting headlines,…
No Kidding
A few days ago,I was out walking Wiggles and watched a husband and wife loading their two kids into the car. One kid was a toddler. They strapped him into his baby seat and handed him something to keep him occupied. The other kid looked to be around 8 years old. He was screaming at…
Even Steven
For most of the past 15 years or so, I’ve kept in touch with a few close friends from my hometown of Pittsburgh via phone calls and an occasional email. Usually, we’d hear from each other around holidays, anniversaries and big life events. For everyday conversations about the big and little things that happen all…
Halloween Halloween Halloween
When I was a little kid in Tamaqua, we went out for Halloween candy 3 days in a row! I don’t know how this became a tradition in my little town, but it was a great one. We would go out for candy 2 nights before Halloween, then 1 night before Halloween and finally on…