\u2022\u00a0 There are cruise people and will-never-do-a-cruise people.\u00a0 I’m in the second category.\u00a0 The idea of being confined to a ship for seven days with periodic disembarkments does not appeal to me in the least, no matter what amenities are offered.\u00a0 But as I have learned, will-never-do-a-cruise people will never convince cruise people of our essential nature.\u00a0 Cruise people say, “You don’t know what you are talking about — you have never been on a cruise!\u00a0 You would love it if you tried it!”\u00a0 My reply is, neither of us have climbed Everest, but that does not preclude us from dreading the ordeals of the attempt.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Water is often described as a tasteless, odorless liquid<\/em>.\u00a0 But my friend Luxa from Orak disagrees: she tells me that water tastes like cwonri and smells like futi and she hates it.\u00a0 Luxa also says that, on her planet, water would have to be heated in order to liquefy it and make it drinkable.\u00a0 But she doesn’t understand why anyone would want to do that.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 One sure way to identify a racist: he or she mentions green, orange and purple people while claiming to be free of prejudices.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 Some American citizens seem to think that the First Amendment guarantees their right to remain ignorant and uninformed.\u00a0 Freedom From Information, if you will.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 I often ask myself why I still have so much bitterness-combined-with- \u2022\u00a0 I know a woman who used to be a dietician.\u00a0 But she was bothered by the fact that her occupation started with the letters die<\/em>.\u00a0 So she decided to call herself a nutritionist.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 In 2018 and every year after that, I pledge to myself to do something creative every day.\u00a0 I am not going to be famous.\u00a0 I may or may not ever hang one of my paintings in a gallery (as if that is the hallmark of artistry) or sell one from a 10×10 tent at a craft fair.\u00a0 But I do need to create.\u00a0 The idea of devoting the last quarter of my life to doing something creative every day appeals to me.\u00a0 And it seems to be attainable, if health circumstances allow.\u00a0 So, in 2018, I intend to keep a daily record of my creative output, so that no day goes by.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 In 2018, I will also keep a daily record of well-intentioned things I do for other people, again so that no day goes by.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 Americans chronically overestimate the altruism and goodwill of other Americans. Asserting America’s essential decency is a national religion, with Norman Rockwell its honorary bishop.\u00a0 But I am as skeptical of this religion as I am of any other.\u00a0 I would say 20% to 25% of Americans from all walks of life and political persuasions are self-absorbed schmucks who don’t give two damns about the fellow Americans beyond their own circle.\u00a0 Indeed, one’s very concept of fellow American<\/em> dissipates rapidly upon reading the comment section of any local newspaper article.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 People who buy their wine-drinking friends wine aerators for Christmas have no clue what to give them but do remember that they drink wine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2022\u00a0 There are cruise people and will-never-do-a-cruise people.\u00a0 I’m in the second category.\u00a0 The idea of being confined to a ship for seven days with periodic disembarkments does not appeal to me in the least, no matter what amenities are … Continue reading