Any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.

—George Orwell

The divine lives within the husk of mortal things.

—Simon Schama

I’m in Canada right now (British Columbia to be more specific, [Whistler Village to be even more specific {the Mountainside Lodge to be most specific of all}]), after having spent 5 ½ days trying to get some writing done. How’d it go? Like it usually goes: not well.

So I'm crossing the Canadian border just north of Blaine, Washington, in my silvery and lovely Civic. Nearly every time I cross over, I get hassled.

I've been in a knife fight of a poker game for a little over four years with some guys who are heavy hitters, and this is the record of how I've done.