I ATTENDED MY SECOND ANNUAL PIN-A-GO-GO PINBALL SHOW THIS SPRING, a voluntary convergence of pinball heads at the Dixon Fair Grounds. Over 200 pinball machines come in from collectors all over the western United States. Machines are set to free play. Once visitors pay their $20, they can play all day long. It’s a ring-a-ding-ding […]
A Different Drummer: Tony B. Conscious
WE WALKED THE STREETS OF BERKELEY THE OTHER DAY, Gino and I. We had no goals, no destinations, just a desire to stroll down the street and see who we met. We’ve been walking those same streets since the 1970s and were curious about what vestiges of that ’60s era remain. Our final summation: not […]
A Different Drummer: Thinking chairs
Gino, Susan, and I were sitting in the garage on a hot Wednesday sunset cooling off on the couch and chairs from old Don’s apartment, talking about retirement plans. We kind of went in a circle sharing our aspirations. All three of us partially want some mystery in our futures. We want to let the […]
A Different Drummer: I’m a lousy fisherman
I CURRENTLY SUCK AT FISHING. I’ve been skunked for the last several years on opening day. I went with 40 guys. Nearly all of them caught trout and many caught their daily limits. I didn’t get a nibble. In front of them, I act like it’s no big deal, but privately it is starting to […]
A Different Drummer: I’m seeing dots
I HAVE BEEN A BUSY BOY. After a long slogging winter, I’ve finally shaken off the homebound blues and taken to my shoes. When I look down at my phone calendar, the little gray dots scattered across dates that signify a TO DO of some sort have finally started to appear on the weekends. For […]
A Different Drummer: Old dogs, new tricks
OLD PEOPLE BEWARE. The day may come where you will have to purchase a new television or new car. Then, if you’re not a technology wonk, expect to have your world turned upside down and lose tufts of precious hair above each ear from the grasping and the pulling. I’ve written about my new television […]
A Different Drummer: Battle of the sexes
WHO IS RIGHT WHEN GENDERS DISAGREE? When a male’s instinct is counter to a woman’s expectations, or the other way around, and it’s a logical draw, who wins the battle of the sexes? Is it the woman because we’re gentlemen, or because they’re always right in a draw, like a blackjack dealer? Susan and I […]
A Different Drummer: The Pac-Man solution
How many times have you faced a problem or a series of problems and once you mulled it over and considered all your options, your final best-guess decision to solve your problems would be to purchase a 1980s vintage-style cocktail-table arcade game? Yeah, me neither. At least I didn’t have those sorts of problems for […]
A Different Drummer: I’m a slow poke
I’M ABOUT HALF DEAF IF YOU COUNT THE TINNITUS IN MY GOOD EAR. My bad ear is too weak for off-the-shelf hearing aids, and the custom-fit models haven’t been working out for the last 30 years, in only three or four of which I’ve been actively trying to do something about it. I’ve been telling […]
A Different Drummer: One’s a lonely number
ON APRIL 10 I WILL ONCE AGAIN, for the second, actually third, truly the fourth, time begin the long process of trying to acquire an effective hearing aid. My right ear is about shot. I’ve tried again and again to get hearing aids, but it never works out. My need for one has dragged on […]