In what ways do you communicate online? If there was a photo I could take that would capture my content with where I am today I would share it on social media but a picture worth less words is more likely to show that I am living a life imagined without you.
What is your mission? Yesterday I was thinking that people who have a green way of living will always just be green but if you start off yellow in life and become more green over time you could wind up being blue one day. If yellow is cowardice then how does blue become more magnificent … Continue reading Fortitude Over Uniformity
How are you creative? I don’t know. I don’t fall out of my chair any more!? I recline and use my thumb to poke out my thoughts instead of using my thoughts to say that I’m dumb. When I do speak I speak wisdom like a child instead of poke fun at other adults for … Continue reading Graduated Elf
What are your feelings about eating meat? If meat is murder then why do I like it so much? Because I don’t have to do the butchering there is a disconnect between what is tasteful and what is real. There is a real possibility that because I can send something to the slaughter then sit … Continue reading Free From The Table
What podcasts are you listening to? Originally posted on October 15th, 2019. I could sit here and listen to a podcast where people discuss AI or ancient civilization but the more I listen the more I understand how science and God are connected which traditionally goes against some moral coding, so I will continue to … Continue reading The Lure of Podcasts
What would you do if you lost all your possessions? I will rejoice in the wind at the seaside while it cools me from the blazing sun that dries my well fed body after taking a deep plunge into icy water that takes my breath away. The opposite way I feel when my stuffy car … Continue reading Keep Me Out Of The Sun
Where did your name come from? I used to go around for years, even as early as a month ago, saying Erich is right after Enoch in the genealogy portion of the Old Testament. I learned a few minutes ago from “ye old AI” that it is indeed false. I’m not sure what I did … Continue reading Know Thy Name
What do you love about where you live? I love frogs and crickets. I love wind and cool air. I love when the stars come out of hiding from everywhere. I love the taste of apples. I love the smell of leaves. I love when the sun goes down even over trees. I love shade … Continue reading Lakeland
There, in an alternate universe, I am a giant. I use tree trunks to pick wild game from my teeth. I eat whole herds by the handful that I roast by tossing towards the sun then open my mouth quickly to catch them like I catch peanuts here, in the universe of shrews, bugs, and … Continue reading The Alternative To Growth
Describe your life in an alternate universe. I’d be a shrew with no insects, worms, or fruit around who washes nuts off in a pool of algae that never gets them clean enough to eat. I would spend the rest of my days slurping the algae, never finding out that salt from the ocean goes … Continue reading A Shrewd Comment
What are your future travel plans? There is a town I used to live, Where I nearly lost my mind. I took a chance on leaving there To a place I’d never find. Once unbound, I found my heart Was truly what I left. I took a chance on going back To where my mind … Continue reading The End of the Road
If humans had taglines, what would yours be? I’m in a tough, vulnerable spot. There are plenty of people I come into contact with who know far more than I do about living right and who hear exactly where I’m at. There are also many others who don’t follow the rules, yet can see that … Continue reading “Pray For Them”
What's a job you would like to do for just one day? You can watch a man get great satisfaction from doing hard work he hasn’t done yet before but you'd have a hard time convincing a man who has always done that type of work to do extra when it’s not at the same … Continue reading Another Thought To Consider
When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out? There once was an acid I put in my head. It took years for the molecule to take effect. It eventually did and fit like a fiddle in the middle of a dj set. I tried to poke at the strings … Continue reading One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure
What is the last thing you learned? If you cut a worm in half it doesn’t die. Time is somewhat of a worm. If you cut your time in half you have more of yourself to go around but there is still half the time you have to make do without.
What experiences in life helped you grow the most? I grew up one day when I was 22 years young. I stepped into a bar and was told the meaning of life by a dead person who was lingering in the corner speaking to everybody but only I could hear. I was sober but insane. … Continue reading The Difference Between Insanity and Death
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why? I would like to be any man who pokes his head into a heated argument to say “there may not be many differences between you two men but there are plenty of people who see right through your differences.” Then … Continue reading A Three Way Tie
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months? Look at me Ma, I have above average looks. Look at me Pa, I’m above average at sports. Papa, I have above average intelligence. Gamma, I’m kinda nice. But that was then and you guys are all gone. I’ve been slipping ever … Continue reading No Hands
Do you need time? She lost her mind when she walked into a cavern in the middle of the desert where a heart had emerged with the promise of a new story. With new eyes he let go of her hand and went to gather water, for once, the moment should never end.
What’s something most people don’t know about you? There was a time in my life when I thought I was divine. Imagine how difficult it was to overcome a delusion like that as a young man. And as a middle aged man I still believe some of that to be true because it’s easy to … Continue reading 12 – The Peak
Do you see yourself as a leader? I am no Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I’ve never read his work but I am positive he wrote in the style of his own time - all writers do. There is not a specific quote to describe his personal style in any language but his own. Just his name … Continue reading This is Me Longing for Longfellow
What TV shows did you watch as a kid? Sitting on a porch, older, thinking back to what I wanted to be when I was a younger man who could still make things happen for myself I remember I wanted to go into advertising. I wanted to write a catch phrase here and a jingle … Continue reading “Who’s the Boss will be back in a moment.”
How would you design the city of the future? I see walkable communities. Cities with energy-generating sidewalks that power buildings tailored to your chosen algorithmic habits from the fibers of your socks that tell the motherboard who and how to entertain in an immersive work-like environment. Some will have generated enough energy in a lifetime … Continue reading Be Careful What You Wish For
What is a word you feel that too many people use? I feel like people take this word and overuse it to the point where the meaning of the word becomes filler for where lengthy answers should be and if not an answer the word could also be used as a question. You tell the … Continue reading Can You Solve This Riddle?
If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go? I would like to give one plane ticket to my ego and the other to my pride. I’d have my pride fly to Europe and my ego fly out West. That way when my pride is smashed to smithereens and my ego is dissolved … Continue reading That Was Then, This Is Now
What would you change about modern society? If I could, I would change the rules of baseball. I’d make it so you only get three good pitches to hit the ball. If you get two strikes right away you forfeit another try. Two strikes and you’re out. In that way we'll always wonder what the … Continue reading There Is No Crying In Baseball
What bothers you and why? Eric didn’t tangle the hose and he wouldn’t untangle it either. He hates hoses. Any time an impossible mess of string or wire, chain or hose comes across his hands or feet Eric would rather cuss at it, like cussing at the moon in the daylight when it can’t be … Continue reading Just Another Day On The Job
How do you practice self-care? The “incessant fine line” is torturing yourself with history you have no control over when that history is what you can't accept so you try to cure yourself by getting better at acceptance and the current story is all that’s left.
What’s the one luxury you can’t live without? They say I’m supposed to hit the lottery. They think I’d be dead within a year. There is no guarantee I won’t leave this world but it won’t be in arrears. I could take the winnings and get a big old house where I’d do all the … Continue reading Time Is A Luxury I Can’t Afford
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why? The Doors of Perception, Slaughterhouse-Five, Crime and Punishment. Three books. 781 pages. What I remember from each book can’t even fill the last page. I remember that the way one ought to see is revealed in the folds and wrinkles of khaki pants worn … Continue reading One Ought to Read More
What makes you nervous? Walking on grass. Listening to the neighbors listening to me walking on grass. Listening to myself walk on grass. Listening to the grass that has me listening to my neighbors on grass. Grass walking during the day. Grass walking at night. Grass walking without any neighbors in sight. One blade of … Continue reading Silentries
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like? My feet hit the floor. My knees to the ground. My fingers clasped tightly. My voice whispers “how.” My legs find their footing. My arms in a sleeve. My breakfast is waiting. My book opened to read. My friends are … Continue reading Back to the Basics
What do you wish you could do more every day? It’s more like what do I need to do more of every day. I’ve been fortunate enough to find out that wishes only come true if you take action. I have had no problems asking for things my entire life. I’ve had success at getting … Continue reading Caution – this mental health post has religious undertones.
What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance? My name is Erich. I am the same Erich your hero asks, “are you still driving that same piece of shit, Erich?” That is me. The reason I can say is because your hero is my hero and saying “that” piece of shit puts … Continue reading What’s In A Name
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? In the land of make-believe it’s the little dog who comes up with bright ideas that the big dog rejects, at first, then the big dog comes around to grapple with big ideas the little dog doesn’t see as courage but instead … Continue reading Fear, Failure, and Success (Interpreting Visual Art – Animation)
Do you enjoy your job? Yes. There is a profound difference between modern architecture that is built in months or years and ancient architecture that is built throughout decades or centuries. The amount of time it takes to build a structure sometimes reflects how long the structure will last. Ancient architecture showed the wealth of … Continue reading Scribbling for Livelihood (Interpreting Visual Art – Architecture)
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why? Let’s focus on the word “vehemently” for a minute. I do not use that word in a sentence because it doesn’t accurately depict the feeling I get when saying or doing something emphasizing force and strength. “Vehemently” flutters from … Continue reading Butterfly-Wing-Like-Words
What advice would you give to your teenage self? If I could go back and give my teenage self advice I would tell him to continue writing down any ideas, thoughts, poems, songs, jingles, titles, and stories you have throughout your entire life so you know what you were doing, what you were like at … Continue reading The Game of Fatherhood
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you. I have favorites for a lot of things. Favorite girl. Favorite friend. Favorite musician. Favorite song. Favorite post. Favorite place. Out of all my favorites in life it is most difficult to pinpoint my favorite pair of shoes because I’ve gone through … Continue reading In The Interest of Shoes
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why? I would like to put a stop to falling apples. I would silence anyone who makes a dastardly assumption that fruit from a tree is somehow responsible for modern science being tied to anything outside of this planet. If fruit … Continue reading I Don’t Like Atoms
Write about your first computer. This is all I did on my first computer. Seems to be all I still do, listen and smile, smile, smile … originally posted in May 2023. Yeah, I can tell everybody why I went back to college. The Grateful Goddam Dead that’s why. In the Fall of 1996 the … Continue reading Daily Dose
What is your favorite animal? I have an animal scurrying around inside my head that keeps dropping musical notes for me to read while I scurry around my house breathing the sounds of how a song could go after reading notes the animal would have me play if I was musically inclined. I’m only interested … Continue reading Sounds Plain Nuts
Share five things you're good at. I sauntered right up to the toughest guy on the block and told him to look at this little tiny jewel I have clasped in my hands here and when he did I kicked him in the shin so hard that he pummeled me into the ground until I … Continue reading Four Stones from a Guru
If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why? If I could meet people throughout history I would like to meet the first President of the United States over the 13 colonies, John Hanson. I would fill him in on the fact that in the future of this great nation he … Continue reading Make Scrolling History Mandatory
Name the most expensive personal item you've ever purchased (not your home or car). It is this. Tapping at a window. Looking into the living room of any household. There is perfectly maligned furniture to perfect angles of confining space. The confining space can be as large as you want to make it or as … Continue reading Tapping At Your Window
What podcasts are you listening to? There is a cure but listening to podcasts has given me ADHD. All of them. I can’t listen to people out here in the real world without waiting for the response before realizing I’m the one who is supposed to be responding. My family thinks I’m losing my hearing … Continue reading There Is A Cure
Francis Erich McElroy 