"Law school. Marriage. Domestic tranquility. A blessed triad to some. Me? Personally, I found I lacked the appetite for all three of 'em." #bravewrite

For years Maeve had sworn off marriage and children entirely. Figured she lacked the patience and the constitution. Life deals in a brand of irony all its own. At 35, she married. At 36, she birthed twins. And on her 39th birthday, another blessed bundle arrived. #bravewrite

The field was once barren, and the soil unsuitable for germination. We prayed. We embarked on an arduous routine of handiwork and restoration. After a season, a vast garden took shape. Its fruits and vegetables were nourishing miracles. #vss365

"Oil n' water. Business n' pleasure. Elevators n' jazz music. Of all the things that make ungodly messes once entwined, those three are the most odious pairings I know of." #bravewrite

"You ask for forgiveness. You'll get that from me. But my forgiveness doesn't come with amnesia. Your may have a short account with your maker, but the one you keep with me is long n' inglorious. Takes time to appease." #vss365

The record store. The greasy spoon. The make-out spot in the park. ll landmarks of our cultural and social upbringing, each one possessing inviolable sentimental value. Sadly, each of the landmarks is now facing decimation. #bravewrite

The record store. The greasy spoon. The make-out spot in the park. ll landmarks of our cultural and social upbringing, each one possessing inviolable sentimental value. Sadly, each of the landmarks is now facing decimation. #bravewrite

Quack. Crank. Madman. Murderer. The doctor, once a keen and forthright man of medicine, wore a different title, to the utter confusion and heartbreak of us all. #bravewrite

Death and sorrow haunted us. Lamentation became our native tongue. We cried reservoirs of tears until we could no longer produce them. #vss365

"A misfit is how they brand 'im. Prejudice n' supposition render him captive to their impositions. Cryin' damn shame. For all they know, he could be of an inspiring kind: somebody who adds to, rather than takes away." #vss365

The innocence of a child: upended by age and noise. Pure at the outset, then violently riled, by devices the wicked dutifully employ. #bravewrite

"I befriended trouble, though it took a friendly, innocent form upon introduction. The chaos brought by this would-be comrade took time to surface, but when it did, life got more n' more hectic. Cutting off the source was a dear relief." #vss365

"A man with a propensity for quietude and reservedness will one day, without warning, shout and announce himself with force. And all at once, he will make himself worthy of fear and dread." #bravewrite

On replay, the sequence seemed even more brutal and prolonged. Stradlater tore ligaments in both knees; a sad early end for him and an immeasureable loss on the line. But our mantra was "Next Man Up", and we had the uttmost confidence that Holden was capable. #bravewrite

"Goodness n' badness, darkness n' light. All within me. All at my disposal. I may stand among the right n' righteous, n' I cash checks signed by many in those precincts. But don't mistake me for one of 'em. My fury you couldn't fathom . . ." #vss365

"I've no regard for the self-declared arbiters of what is hip and what has cache. I come n' go to my own beat, played in my own key." #bravewrite

"If this reality is too bland, too disturbing, or too unfulfilling, then the remedy upon which many will rely is refutation of the whole deal and replacement with a more pleasant alternative. Cost matters not." #bravewrite

We were perched near the terminus of the coastline as the storm began to take shape. Wind, grey skies, thunder and lightning all worked in concert and wreaked havoc upon us. A sprinkle became a deluge; we ran like hell, seeking shelter. #vss365

"My art has received only the harshest of dismissals from the world at-large. Yet, I will not tarry, and I will continue to create. This modern era may have no use for me, but a generation not yet born just might." #bravewrite

"What's on the agenda?" "I'm gonna have a salty, fatty dinner, n' a night-cap. I'll spend an hour missing the sex-fueled, action-drenched life of a gun-toting vagabond that I should be living. Then it's ocelot videos 'til I sleep." #bravewrite www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oSh...

"Howyalldoonther!" Gramps' voice, gravelly and paternal, was a most welcome sound. I was down home. First time in a few. Heat. Moss trees. Good fishing. And the patter: "That dog don't hunt!" "Col' grits what the thing comes down to." Fam. Gotta love 'em. #vss365

A war of wills unfolded during training camp: Rookie in one corner, veteran in the other. Future of the franchise vs. incumbent longtime hero. The young buck sparked fires that the old head was quick to extinguish. Blessedly, beefs were squashed by opening day. #bravewrite

"Never show weakness. There's wolves out here n' summa them are friends of yours. Game over if they sense even a little weakness." #vss365

"Raconteur. Fabulist. Yarn-spinner. Been called all three. All titles are actual n' factual. All are the result of me being bold enough to let my imagination run wild n' reckless, n' sharin' with the world." #bravewrite

The room was appropriately dressed-up and smelled of floral oils; lavender and jasmine had particular prominence. She appeared in a jade kimono, carrying a ceramic kettle full of warm, aphrodisiac tea. I was piqued on several fronts. #vss365

#bravewrite #vss365

The sights overwhelmed me; paracosmic cannonballs, matter taking shapes and colors and dimensions beyond the tangible world. Disquiet initially consumed me, but soon I relaxed, and achieved a bliss resembling ataraxia. #firewords280 #bravewrite #scifisat

"Sure, a lotta academics put out alotta books on fatherhood. But it's an enterprise you can't pick up inna book. It's an investiture, commitment, and honorific rolled into one, and you work n' learn for it over the long haul." #vss365

"Weekend at last! Fair weather in the foreast, work a non-factor for a bit! Can't help but beamish about the possibilities . . ." #bravewrite

Perla was of Rubenesque build; she embraced her curves with gusto. Any despairing word leveled against her form would earn the offending party a heartfelt invitation to get fucked in both ears. #vss365

"The letters are dancing on the page in two-minute intervals. I misspelled 'acute' with a q. I called a trigger a gunfire doo-hickey. I've been up for 27 hours straight n' it shows." #vss365

"All work n' no play is the disciplined drudgery to which I reluctantly adhere." #bravewrite

"A man wiser'n you n' me both once said: 'This life, ya either swim with a falsehood or sink with the truth. Either way is devastatin'." #vss365

A harpist took the stage. Her dexterous hands plucked the strings of a fine Camac Hermine. "What Child Is This" poured out in confident, lilting notes. Few in the audience weren't moved. Faint sniffles and tears became more pronounced. #bravewrite

"Rates goin' up again. Saw it on the news. Percentage points are miniscule to the writers n' signers of the bill, but the sufferers of it see clearly. What's the greater crime, I wonder: robbin' a bank or foundin' one?" #vss365

"I've traversed three continents, two oceans, n' more shady characters than one oughtta deal with. Not enough pages n' ink to detail my Hell. That urn in your possession is why. Ashes of a great forebear of mine are in it. I've come to reclaim it." #vss365

Metamorphosis yields improbable, stunning beauty; look no further than the transition from caterpillar to butterfly. More improbable is an agent of dark becoming a promotor of light. Heinrichs, through grace and reflection, became such a luminary. #bravewrite

Never had I seen a transformation as dramatic as Steedle's. Once a sunny optimist, he steadily embraced nihilism. He became entranced with gloom, seeing nothing worthy or worthwhile in his fellow man. #bravewrite

Moonlight on the beach. Me. Her. Bare feet in sand. Waves provide pleasant ambience. We dance to a tune only we can hear. The opener to a certain good night. #vss365

Lloyd more than held his own in the weight room, on the track, and especially in the ring. No joke on that last one: man may have thirty years on me, but his jabs and shuffles bear neither dust nor rust. 'I should be so lucky to age like that', I thought. #vss365

"If you see me merely as a thing needing repair, some restoration project for you to undertake --" "I don't. I'm in the same boat as you, in my own way. But 'tween us both, there's a magnetism worth exploring. N' my life, yours too, might be enhanced through it." #bravewrite

"A stork. Or was it a crane? Or maybe an ibis? Or was it some mutant cousin in that phylum? Anyways, in the dream, I'm holding a conversation with one of 'em over coffee. He was generous enough to take care of the bill." #vssdaily

He cracked open a pale ale -- his first in many moons -- and with each sip was taken back to those halcyon days as an undergrad, where responsibilities were fewer in number and irresponsibility seemed easier to forgive. #bravewrite

Neither black hat nor white hat, but a shade of nebulous gray. The mope's quite the raffish rat, and his moves are dreadfully fey. #vssdaily