I last emptied my trash on December 25, 2019. My current load is close to full, though if I squeeze it, it compresses. That is, it doesn’t weigh much. I consider it too much so I hope to impose less waste on future generations next time. I’ll wait until at least January 1 to empty it so I can say I didn’t empty a load in two consecutive calendar years.[…] Keep reading →

An auspicious beginning to my second decade of my calisthenics sidcha: my heels reached the ground in one of my stretches, the downward dog. I did yoga regularly for a few years before starting burpees. Yoga means a lot of downward dogs. In all those years, my heels never touched the ground while doing them. At best I reached something like this: This morning my heels reached the ground. I[…] Keep reading →

I just finished my second set today of twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics. Normally, I do my second set in the evening, but since I started the habit on December 22, 2011 and today is December 21, 2021, today completes my first decade. I already finished my first decade of publishing blog posts, nearing 5,000. Here are all of them. 20 percent of the time has been on a single load of[…] Keep reading →

This morning as I walked to Washington Square Park to pick up litter, then to drop off my food scraps for compost in Union Square, I saw someone on the steps of a brownstone, curled up, fiddling with something. I’d seen that look before, of someone concealing doing drugs. Sometimes they pull their shirt or jacket over their heads. When not that many people are around, they just do the[…] Keep reading →

Someone suggested I learn about a writer named Pico Iyer. In an interview I listened to he talked about the musician Leonard Cohen, who apparently spent time living as a monk. Cohen’s practice, according to Iyer, included scrubbing the floor. The practice doesn’t sound glamorous. You can hire someone to do it. Why bother if you can afford not to? The movie Amazing Grace, about William Wilberforce, showed John Newton[…] Keep reading →

As a vegan who also doesn’t fly, having seen the suffering to humans, animals, and other life flying causes, I don’t understand how vegans who say they are for ethical reasons don’t apply it to their flying. Stopping flying was just like stopping meat and animal products. I thought it would be impossible and a sacrifice. I’d learned others did it so tried. In less time than I expected, I[…] Keep reading →

Every time I look at my floor sponge I think, “it’s beyond the end of its life. Time to get rid of it.” Below are pictures of the front and back. It’s in tatters. But look at the third picture. It still cleans the floor. Why get rid of something that works? I’ve cleaned my floor every fifth day without fail for about five years, maybe more. I do it[…] Keep reading →