I saw my dad’s Harmony six-string sitting there in the corner, festooned with its array of balloon stickers and the ancient Venus and Mars sticker that came with the LP of the same name.

It was the first guitar I ever played, a satisfying little instrument even though it had had its neck snapped off when it was backed over by a pickup truck.

But my guitar calluses have lately been replaced by rowing ones. Music is no longer a big part of my daily work, so I haven’t been playing on the job the way I used to. As a result, days go by when I don’t pick up a guitar.

Read More

I’ve been with family for the last two weeks, making up for lost time. It’s wonderful.

The only problem is that I have only about three hours a day to work. (Yes, I guess I could have taken a vacation, but I didn’t plan ahead, so here I am.)

Working only a few hours a day is quite clarifying. I focus on the tasks that will cause a problem for me or someone else if I don’t do them. Everything else, even the stuff that is important-but-not-urgent, gets postponed.

Read More

The first time my nephew came to visit us in Maine, he kept count of the number of different boats he had been on.

By the end of the first day, he was up to four, including the two he had simply stepped onto for a little while when they were tied up at the dock.

“You’re becoming a boatman!” his grandmother said.

“Maybe I’m turning into a boy who likes boats instead of superheroes,” he said.

Read More

Here we are in late-stage pandemic. God, I hope this is late-stage.

Some of us have made it to the “other side” — vaccinated and ready to party — and some of us are still waiting. But it still doesn’t seem to be over, and there is no clear end point in sight. There’s no armistice to be signed, no bells that will ring.

In times of high uncertainty and stress, humans seek comfort. When our everyday circumstances provide little in the way of natural neurochemical highs, we go looking. Some of these are destructive even in moderation: cigarettes, hard drugs, dangerous places online and offline. Some of them are fine for awhile, but it’s a slippery slope: alcohol, work, gambling, gaming, TV, shopping, social media.

Read More

When I wake up in the morning, if I have been unwise enough to charge my phone beside my bed overnight, my phone is the first thing that I reach for in the morning. After all, it’s my alarm clock, my weather report, and my connection to everything else in the outside world.

It’s also huge distraction. Every morning, under such circumstances, I have to be aware that every moment spent looking at my phone is another moment in which the traffic is stacking up outside; I’m not only delaying my arrival at my office, I’m increasing the total amount of time that I will spend commuting. Unfortunately, my phone is set up so as to increase the perceived rewards of engaging with it and to decrease the sense of immediacy I have about my obligations. With every click and swipe, I get a little hit of dopamine that creates a conflict: Will I listen to the little voice inside the tells me it’s time to put down the phone and go, or will I linger and keep hunting for the next thing that will give me that little neurotransmitter high?

Read More