waves away

In 2016 I stopped doing things. I didn’t know blogging would be one of those things, but the year was full of surprises. If 2016 had just one word: unexpected. Before the unexpected barged in, though, there was the Monthly Stop program. It was inspired in part by my sabbatical quarter. In January I stopped going to work (more precisely I stopped going to class; you have to do something that resembles work during sabbatical in order to keep getting paid). Another inspiration was Drynuary, the awkwardly-named abstinence movement which hip people join each New Year’s morning to pardon all their holiday splurging. But I was going on two fun trips in January, so I decided Sobruary -- a sonic improvement and a shorter month, even in leap year -- would be better. In February I stopped drinking for 29 days. Not going to class and not drinking was so illuminating that I decided to stop doing something different each month all year. This is the kind of program you get to pass the time wit...

A bit late, a brief log of the June visit to Seaside : Eight days, seven nights, twelve women, and one adventurous man. Three dips down to Cannon Beach , one breakfast at Gearhart's bakery, six anchovies flung at the aquarium sea lions, one free pass to the Astoria column, and two stops for road work at the peak of the Astoria bridge. One forgotten novel, a clutter of trashy magazines, one prepped syllabus, and three pages of coloring book filled in. One game of Celebrity, four games of Quiddler, two games of Cards Against Humanity, and one sick celebration for Dumpers the hobo clown. Five long walks in the surf and one glorious bonfire. On the first true Monday of summer I took the scenic route to meet up with Kriste, my Junior High conspirator and still most reliable meet-up coordinator. While friends and family came and went for a night or a few, Kriste and I spent the whole week two blocks from the beach, in a house across the street from the one we rented last year. Th...