Month: September 2026
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Indulgence
When I think of this word, the first thing that comes to mind is Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour, an American ice cream parlor and sandwich chain that was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1963. The parlors had an early 1900s theme, with employees wearing period dress and straw boater hats, and each location featured a player piano. From…
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Permission
At some point in adulthood, I apparently forgot that I don’t need permission for most of this shit anymore. When I was a child, I needed to ask permission for everything. Then I became independent and needed to as myself… which seemed redundant. Adulthood arrived and told me to stop asking. But then something happens,…
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Comfort
I went camping again this weekend. No, I have not changed the futon out for an air mattress. Yes, my back hurts. The end… of the weekend anyways. I am now back home and can sleep in a bed that has at least some recognizable layer of padding between me and the structural components underneath…
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Imperfection
I have spent a considerable portion of my life trying to fix things. Computers. Cars. Photographs. Problems. Other people. Myself. The computers usually deserved it. Teenage Jason was being evaluated constantly. Too tall. Awkward. Bad at basketball. Smaller feet than expected. Poor coordination. Other kids made fun of me. Yet the exact same supposedly defective…
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Practice
Puberty hit me so hard that I went from a normal child to a walking disaster of awkward angles and sudden loud noises. I didn’t grow up; I was violently assembled like IKEA furniture with missing instructions. Growing in general was painful and full of surprises, but what I went through over the course of…
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Priority
For much of adulthood, priorities almost arrive preassembled. You get married, have children, need an income, and suddenly there are bills, things breaking, people needing you, work needing something, kids needing something, and a house that apparently has its own endless list of demands. Somewhere in there, you are supposed to figure out what matters…
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Effort
At one point in my life, my mother referred to me as “the original joiner.” I would join a group or try a sport, only to discover that it was harder than I expected, wasn’t as much fun as I hoped, or simply required more effort than I wanted to put into it. I’m pretty…
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Direction
When I first found out that I was going to be a father, I decided it was time to think about which direction I wanted to head in my life. I knew the things I liked and had started building a career in that area, but I now had to add the additional component of…