This is a six-part series about my time aboard CrimeWave at Sea 2025. If you want to join us on CrimeWave at Sea 2027, book your cabin now at crimewaveatsea.com/sinister or use SINISTER at checkout. I CAN’T FIGHT THIS FEELING ANYMORE Face washed. Clothes on. Bags dragging behind us. We were back in Florida. My … Continue reading Perpetual Motion: Day 5
Category: Essay
Perpetual Motion: Day 2
This is a six-part series about my time aboard CrimeWave at Sea 2025. If you want to join us on CrimeWave at Sea 2027, book your cabin now at crimewaveatsea.com/sinister or use SINISTER at checkout. BREAKFAST WITH DICK Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025 - 8:10 AM - Dining Room 3 - Breakfast Service Oh my goodness. … Continue reading Perpetual Motion: Day 2
The Gospel According to Bieber
Mid-morning on a Tuesday, I am sitting in Well Grounded Coffee trying to get my morning pages done. At once, I am surrounded on all sides by people. The first is a man in his mid-40s, taking a seat at a table just to my right. He opens his laptop and starts typing on a … Continue reading The Gospel According to Bieber
Sobbing and Rocking
I should be watching the concert in front of me. I can’t. I can’t focus on anything but the couple across the aisle. A diminutive pair, the man is wearing a short sleeve white shirt with a blocky black floral print. His jeans are skin tight. His hair is slicked back. I am across the … Continue reading Sobbing and Rocking
Real Characters
For awhile in the late twenty-teens (what do we even call the years between 2010 and 2019?), I was miserable. Just absolutely down-in-the-dumps, ready to drive my car into a highway median. I didn’t want to die, exactly, but I just wanted to shut it down for awhile, spend a little time laid up in … Continue reading Real Characters
My Application to be a Female Motorhome Travel Companion
This was a post on someone's NextDoor neighborhood app that has been screenshot and shared online. The questionnaire follows a photo of a motorhome parked at a gas pump outside of a combination Pilot truck stop/Hardee’s restaurant, the worst gas station/restaurant combo. Everyone knows the best combo is the TA/Taco Bell Express or the Exxon/McDonald’s if … Continue reading My Application to be a Female Motorhome Travel Companion
The Gifts We All Give
This week, Paris and I caught up on the new TV series Abbott Elementary. If you’re not watching that show, you may be the only one. The runaway hit has been compared to Modern Family and has grown almost as fast. I’ve laughed out loud while watching and teared up at times, too. It follows new and veteran … Continue reading The Gifts We All Give
Spa Day
The most dangerous taco I ever had was a Taco Diner in the West Village in Dallas. I love Taco Diner. They serve Mambo Taxis, which are maybe my favorite drink. A Mambo Taxi is a frozen margarita with sangria swirled in it. It's what you order when you want to get drunk on top … Continue reading Spa Day
Oh Baby
One summer morning, my mom rounded the corner of our hallway and found me, her youngest child, just ten-years-old on the toilet, in turn guzzling soda and grunting."What are we doing now?" she asked, looking from the two-liter bottle of Sprite on the counter to my legs dangling from the toilet."I thought if you ate … Continue reading Oh Baby
Happy Phil McKinney Appreciation Day
Happy early Valentine’s Day and Happy Galentine’s Day! In the past couple of days, I’ve had a couple of people tell me that they don’t care for Valentine’s Day all that much. Either it bums them out because they are single or they resent the holiday for being invented and perpetuated by the greeting card … Continue reading Happy Phil McKinney Appreciation Day
Heather vs. the World 