The Red Sox front office understands they have to bat at least 27 times a game, right?

I've been digging Vigil well enough, but while reading it, I can't shake the thought that the very style that makes Lincoln in the Bardo work is dragging this one down. Like, Saunders' ability to wrong-foot readers in Lincoln puts us on entirely the wrong footing in Vigil.

If Epstein’s emails have taught us anything, it’s that the Christmas Adventurers are real as hell.

With the Red Sox ownership, it's salary dumps all the way down.

Struggles to believe that last night, some 87.5% of Conservatives assembled in Calgary voted in support of a leader who's salivating at the prospect of licking every last jackboot in the White House. Like, he would so blithely spit and polish every square inch of leather there.

I wasn't a bright kid, so I was ridiculously exited to visit Minneapolis because I thought that's where Superman lived. Turns out I wasn't all that wrong -- there are so many People of Steel living in that city.

Speaking as a Mennonite and a former Winklerite, I'm pretty convinced the last thing anybody needs is a Christian Heritage Month. And I would daresay that my forebears would be appalled by the thought of such a performative display of faith.

No, YOU just wasted 20 minutes on ebay mulling whether it's worth spending $20 on an autographed rookie card of the only big-league ballplayer to ever come out of your hometown.

Am beginning to worry I only live an hour away from a rogue state.

Looking for a reason to believe this year will be better than the last.

Are your spoiled kids bored during the holidays? Hit play on Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach and watch them lose grip on reality when the choir repeats 6-7.

I haven't done anything teaching related for 5 days, 21 hours, and 21 minutes, but every few minutes my adrenal glands pump a little cortisol, motivating me to, what, grade non-existent assignments?

Haven't yet had the chance to see Marty Supreme, but I'm listening to the Daniel Lopatin soundtrack while doing some Christmas dishes, and, yep, this is for sure what a panic attack sounds like.

Not as much yelling today as Christmases of yore -- oh well, I suppose there's time.

And the Extra-Terrestrial, who did NOT die . . .

Just hung the stockings by the chimney carelessly.

NAtHAN ... ... ... (The joke is I have low-T.)

"With tinsel in the air, Mary looked upon the young child with a sparkle in his smile, and lo, Joseph knew they had to return to the city called Nazareth. 1/2

I left page proofs lying around, and the 10yo picked them up. It was genuinely gratifying to overhear him chuckle while reading a few pages, but it was considerably less gratifying that he had some notes.

You can't spell fascism without AI.

I spend altogether far too much time factchecking my memories.

Felt the ultraviolet warmth of God smiling when I poured eggnog into a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

[Sincerity Alert] The last time I saw my grandma, she chuckled at the bright green-and-red cap I was wearing, & she asked to try it on. In the spirit of the season, I'm wearing it today, & I just discovered a silver hair tucked into the band. Sometimes life shows you a little mercy [Sincerity Alert]

Je me souviens.

I find myself singing "So Long, Frank Ge-hr-y" to the tune of "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" right now.

Momentarily pondered tossing a handful of Advils into the coffee pot this morning — in case you’re wondering how the end of term is going.

One Battle After Another's a Christmas movie, you cowards!

Remastering the Beatles Anthology in HD deepens the dusty-rose splendor of Paul McCartney's interior decorating, but it also sharpens the hair curling out of George Martin's left nostril. 4K may have been a mistake.

The thing about leaving a cult is that the cult never leaves you.

I was working so late at the College late last night that the security guard asked if I was planning on sleeping over -- "NO FRIEND, THIS IS WHAT TEACHING EXCELLENCE LOOKS LIKE (ALSO, I'M SO TIRED)."

Wag the Dog (that Didn't Bark) www.npr.org/2025/11/15/n...

I have this ungodly stack of essays to grade, but all I want to do is stream One Battle After Another again and again.

Happy 80th, Old Man youtu.be/OKNCAQQaNP8?...

I'm thinking about adding a line at the end of anything I write to ensure readers "These words were written by a human."

Was raised by believers to live in mortal fear of Satanic pedophile rapists, and now some of these same believers are looking at a pedophile rapist and complimenting the youthful appeal of his ruddy complexion, extending all the way from his cheeks, forehead and chin around to his ears and neck.

Would appear as though there’s one fewer warmonger on the planet.

A high-minded ball fan would quote A. Bartlett Giamatti about baseball breaking your heart, but I'll quote Paul Giamatti: "Un-f*cking-believable."

We were warned about the Willenium . . .

I'm ~3 yrs older than Max Scherzer, and I'll be grading intro-English essays all day while he preps to pitch game 7 of the World Series. I suppose what I'm saying here is that, in our own way, we're both heroes.

I just graded a C+ essay, but I can’t bring myself to write 67 because who needs that in their life?

[Nathan materializes in Hell] Satan: So, you like reading, eh? N: Um, yeah. S: And, you think you're pretty perceptive about rhetoric and logic in the deployment of argument, huh? N: Yeah, I guess so. S: HOW 'BOUT YOU GRADE FIRST-YEAR PAPERS FOR ALL OF ETERNITY! ENJOY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Wpringer Aukes Muerrero Jr. Cichette Oarsho

The Dodger Stadium organist probably thinks it's sick to play a few bars of "Not Like Us" when the Jays are in town, but the joke's on him: nobody north of the 49th can stand Drake either.

So, the Jays have to walk twice in the same at bat to get on first, and the Dodgers have to strike out twice at the same at bat to walk back to the dugout. Cool.

Cart waaay before the horse here, sure, but I'm already worried about how many of my beloved Blue Jays will voluntarily shake Trump's desiccated hand should they actually win this thing.

You just know that Trump wishes he could force enslaved people to build his ballroom.

I can't say whether the Land of Liberty will survive MAGA, but I will say with 100% confidence that Evangelical Christianity won't.

Last night, in the miraculous metropolis of Winnipeg, the brightest light in the dreary prairies, Miriam Toews launched her new book while accompanied by John Samson and Christine Fellows -- and I was here, 14 hours away, clearly NOT LIVING MY BEST LIFE! Gah! A thousand times gah!

Pledges for the Christmas Adventurers Club

Canada’s made exactly two good decisions over the country’s history: 1) Pearson’s Auto Pact of 1965, and 2) Thanksgiving celebration on the second Monday of October. 1/3