About

At Least They're Committed

Author: Tripping Raul

  • S-A-TUR-DAY Night!

    It’s Saturday night and I’m totally rocking it! Soloing it on the front porch, shutting out the yappy-ass dog down the street, taking my first sip of cheap rum on ice in belated honor of National Rum Day and taking a break from the bad novel that I swore I wouldn’t read until I’d done…

  • Confidence

    A delightful gal where I work said to me yesterday that one of the things she likes about me is my confidence, and it has had me perplexed ever since wondering if pretending to be confident and being confident are the same thing.

  • Something tells me . . .

    Wonderful, beautiful, life enhancing scenarios are playing out around me. My friends are doing well, moving up and on and realizing their dreams in their careers, in their retirement and in their lives. It’s just not possible to feel down when I hear about the exciting new horizons they’re embarking on…

  • Trigger

    Hard to tell what the trigger will be and how the assault will begin. The anxiety — the difficulty breathing, mind racing, eyes darting, threat at every turn — that began last night with no sleep and carried through today started casually in a meeting, where I laughed and faux…

  • Archer

    Two full, nine-hour days of work and not one person noticed my fabulous battle wound. It’s fading now, so it’s less likely to be noticed and certainly won’t be as much fun. Bother. What good is having a 3X2-inch green, yellow, black, red and purple bruise if there’s no one…

  • I was . . .

    Many times a day I feel like yelling, “I was attractive once!” But since Kevin pointed out to me that self-deprecation doesn’t suit me and that I should know full well that I am still attractive, I’ve been far more careful of blurting out such things. In fact, when someone…

  • Tripping Raul at the liquor store

    The line is three people deep and I’m thinking, ‘Gads, I hope she doesn’t ask me how my night is going. She don’t wanna know.’ I’m up, she asks, I spill. “I TESTED THE LINKS ALL DAY AND I DIDN’T CHECK THE TEST MESSAGE I GUESS AND FOUR DEAD LINKS…

  • Second verse, same as the first

    Hiking up the killer hill every morning, sometimes again in the afternoon; dollar-sized bruise on the ball of my foot after tripping and stepping on a sharp rock while river wading; awesome; choking on the dust on the second ATV while giggling as we puddle jump going up Red Creek;…

  • Midlife crisis

    Dexter is my midlife crisis. He’s big and brutish and a bit of a bully, but only to people who pick on us. Unlike the 50ish man who gets a red Corvette to compensate for his increased lack of hair (oxymoron!) or his inability to get it up, I have my Ford…

  • The Fox and the Stork

    “Awesome” time, as Dad would quip. One-hundred-plus degrees, sitting in the shade in the front and back yards, talk of Steve McQueen, Audie Murphy, “that God-damn” Duvall, buzz cuts, shooting archery until Edisonsblackdahlia’s fingers ripped open, lamenting that I suffered nary a bruise, homemade soup, teasing, Three Dog Night, speed walking at the mall,…