This getting old thing is hard.

Hi Patricia,

It's been a hard week of emotion, mostly based on age. This has burned me from both ends.

First, Elsa is starting kindergarten. Where did that time go? She was just being carried around in a carseat and perfectly happy giggling at those stupid pull-toys that vibrate as they retract. I had been funny then. Now, the rigamarole of playdates and preparatory potlucks has left me withered. At one, she was following along on the monkey bars because she saw her future classmates doing it. Totally covered three quarters of the distance before plummeting, walloping flat on her rump, and needing me to comfort her.  WHERE WILL I BE DURING SCHOOL HOURS?!!

(Let's be honest: drinking.)

In Defense of Ray Rice

Hi Patricia,

Brace yourself, I’m going to talk sports again for a minute. But it's not going to be cutesy. I tried that and it didn't work. I started to write some commentary on sports that opened with a really obtuse perspective about blindly supporting a team and all the people who play for it. It was so hamfisted it needed a nitrogen warning. I need to tap into honesty here because that seems to be the only thing left.

Nanu Nanu, Robin. The Obligatory Suicide Post.

Look, a new posting on FugitiveLex! As elusive and pointed as a unicorn, 
just not nearly as pretty or sought-after.

I Second That Emotion

Hi Ray,

Apologizing for my tardiness, as always, I now offer my follow-up to your Persistence of Cloud Storage post, trying to tackle another of the Great Modern Emotions. The Second Great Emotion, Forgetting Without a Connection, is the foundation of all things. We could dedicate this entire blog to it in perpetuity. And perpetuity is what it's all about, isn't it?

Persistence of Cloud Storage

Hi Patricia,

Today I forgot, and I didn’t fight it. Forgetting without a connection. I believe this is the second of the great modern emotions.

I watched one of those internet videos. It seems to be all I do. And it was Louis CK talking about being sad. But there was a twist to it, he became emotional without picking up his phone. The first very modern emotion. Sadness without disconnection.

God Hates Schadenfreude

Hi Ray,

I want to write about Fred Phelps, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to express my thoughts on him and his passing. Like most things, it's complicated.

I spent years reviling the man and the acts of the Westboro Baptist Church. I thought his message of hate was wrong-headed and un-Christian, whatever that means, and that his tactics were offensive and classless. I seethed with anger when he and his kin would picket the funerals of homosexuals, servicemen, and anyone else that would get them news coverage. When his attorney daughters stood on the steps of the Supreme Court after their victory over the father of a Marine whose funeral WBC picketed and smugly busted out some Ozzy Osbourne "Crazy Train," I actually felt nauseous. It was then that I realized that members of this family have some serious mental health issues.

Half Baked Legal Cookies

Hi Patricia,

This article came across my iPad a couple days ago.  I almost chucked the thing. I find the idea of cutting down the length of law school to be excellent.  Tying it to public service is fantastic.  It is the nibbles and baby steps that piss me off.