More people than I realized don’t do traditional Thanksgiving. I never noticed this before. I seemed like everyone I new did. My family, my peers at work and most of my friends all got together with family for a Thanksgiving dinner. Occasionally I’d hear of someone who was on their own for the holiday. Usually…
Homebodies
While listening to a recent Solo podcast with a self-described homebody, I recognized that we shared more than a few traits. I was somewhat surprised how many things I had in common with the guest that I had previously thought were unique to me. Unlike me, the guest is a tenured professor, nearing retirement who…
Fishing In A Small Pond
Ever since I quit the dating apps 6 months ago, I have not regretted that decision at all. I’m not cut out for the dating app experience – for many reasons that I’ve written about previously. Plus, I’m ambivalent about dating in general. I’m not sure what I want or and what I am prepared…
Where’s The Monkeypox Pandemic?
After all the hype about Monkeypox a few months ago, I am glad to see it is no longer in the news. Which means 1 thing: it’s not so bad after all. The CDC, the news media and public health experts all warned us that this would be a major problem for the US and…
Microaggressions, Microplastics And Misfocus
It is easy to get distracted by the little things – especially when we’re busy, when we don’t have bigger problems or when we don’t take take the time to think and be intentional with our actions. I learned how to focus on the most important thing first as newly promoted sales manager for a…
It’s Beginning To Feel A Lot Like…Nothing
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and Christmas is a few weeks away. If it wasn’t for the disruption to my pool schedule, I would barely even notice this year’s holiday season. For that, I am grateful. Since my wife passed away, this had been a rough time of the year for me. I tried various ways of…
Engrossing
Every night, at dinner, I wind down. Back when my wife was alive, I loved winding down around dinner time. We’d take a leisurely evening stroll with the dog, holding hands, talking, enjoying nature and each other’s company. Then we’d then pickup takeout or cook. We’d feed the pets and then all of us would…
The Weather Report
When I was in high school, my friends and I had an inside joke about conversations with people you didn’t care about. We’d say, “Hi, how’s the weather?” It started because I noticed that many times when someone in a social situation was “forced” to make conversation with me, they’d talk about the weather until…
No Offense Meant
My blog doesn’t have a lot of readers. I don’t use keywords, tags, special formatting or any other search engine optimization techniques to drive more traffic from Google searches. I don’t advertise or promote the site anywhere. This past year, I’ve had 1500 visitors which works out to 4 visitors per day. My most read…
I Don’t Need To Be Told I’m OK
One of the themes of the Solo Podcast, is that it is OK to be single and unconventional. The host and his guests frequently discuss lifestyles of solo people who don’t ride the “relationship escalator” (dating…move in together… engaged…married…have children…have grandchildren…together until death). Peter refers to being solo as being unapologetically single and unconventional. From…