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Winning Without Trying

Posted on November 3, 2010February 23, 2022 by KZ

Recently one weekend, while Diana and I were driving home after running some errands, we got into the usual argument over which radio station we were going to listen to. At some point, I relented and let Diana choose the music. Even though Diana eventually got her way, I’d still like to think I came…

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Sarcasm and Sincerity Preceding Halloween

Posted on October 29, 2010October 11, 2022 by KZ

Here we have it, friends. This is my Halloween tribute to my dearly departed grandfather. I call it, “The Most Sarcastic Jack-O-Lantern of 2010”. “But KZ,” some of you are probably thinking, “that pumpkin doesn’t look very sarcastic to me.” For those of you not in the know, the name of my pumpkin is a…

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Messages from the Dark

Posted on October 25, 2010October 11, 2022 by KZ

Inexplicably, I woke up this morning with a large scratch running lengthwise down my chest and stomach. It wasn’t there before I went to bed last night. My friends, if you didn’t believe me before about the authenticity of my previous ghost wound, then get a load of this. Yeah, yeah, I know — I’m…

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Lessons Learned from a Broken Blog

Posted on October 20, 2010October 14, 2022 by KZ

I broke my blog late last week while attempting to enhance the layout template. At the lowest point, my homepage was taking twelve agonizing seconds to load, and the comment box would send you to a blank error page when you clicked the submit button. The worst of it, though, came when I rushed through…

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Comments are Broken, and WordPress Sucks

Posted on October 15, 2010October 11, 2022 by KZ

WordPress 3.0 is giving me all kinds of trouble with the comments. Whenever I attempt to post a reply through the comment form, I’m taken to a blank error page. Not good. I may not be able to fix the problem before heading to sleep Thursday night, so I’ll probably have to leave the blog…

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This Writing Thing is Harder than it Looks

Posted on October 14, 2010October 11, 2022 by KZ

One of the earliest lessons that I learned as an aspiring writer is that the key to writing well is never losing your nerve. Although writers are separated from their audiences by distances of time, proofreading, and revisions, there is an undeniable element of performance in the act of writing which can make a writer…

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“Abbott & Costello” Ain’t Got Nothing on “Dawn & KZ”

Posted on October 8, 2010May 11, 2026 by KZ

This is how the conversation went, to the best of my recollection. This is probably the last time that Dawn will ask me to do her a favor. Dawn: Can you remind me to take my sewing machine home when we come back to your place tonight? Kevin: Hey Dawn, don’t forget to take your…

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Fear of the Dark and Subsequent Scars

Posted on October 7, 2010October 11, 2022 by KZ

For a good while during my early childhood, it never occurred to me that the darkness of night was something to be afraid of. Back then, I had no idea that malevolent spirits lingered in the shadows, or that vampires and demons flourished under the cover of night. How could I have known that spectral…

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That’s Right, I Said “Boo”

Posted on September 27, 2010October 11, 2022 by KZ

With October nearly upon us, my thoughts inevitably turn to all things Halloween. I’ve resigned my fate to a month full of weekends visiting the holiday haunts. I’m also trying my best to reconcile those plans of mine to lose fifteen pounds, versus my expectations of eating fifteen pounds of chocolate over the next four…

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This Is the Way it Begins

Posted on September 17, 2010October 11, 2022 by KZ

Much of this life is tinged with misdirection, mistaken notions, unconscious resentment dressed in justified indignance, as if the validity of civil rage were any better than the ferocious roars of primal urge. We monsters of monstrous insignificance, blips of uncertain near-certainties, existing by the nature of collapsed intention, explosions and collisions of particles gathered…

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Recent Posts

  • To Troll a Mockingbird
  • What Comes Tomorrow
  • Abundance in Perpetuity
  • Carry On
  • So Long, Nicky

Favorite Posts

  • KZ's Very Un-Merry List of Christmas Music Complaints
  • A Fine Romance
  • Boy, Are My Legs Tired
  • Origins of Greatness: The View from My Bathroom Window
  • On Bad Legal Writing
  • When KZ Proposed to Diana
  • The Kind of Conversations I Have While I'm Not Writing
  • Call Me a Messenger
  • "Abbott & Costello" Ain't Got Nothing on "Dawn & KZ"
  • An Excerpt from My Conversation with God

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Because he'd wished my mother dead, my father said, God had punished him; God had taught Pastor Merrill not to trifle with prayer. And I suppose that was why it had been so difficult for Mr. Merrill to pray for Owen Meany -- and why he had invited us to offer up our silent prayers to Owen, instead of speaking out himself. And he called Mr. and Mrs. Meany "superstitious"! Look at the world: look at how many of our peerless leaders presume to tell us that they know what God wants! It's not God who's fucked up, it's the screamers who say they believe in Him and who claim to pursue their ends in His holy name!~John IrvingSource: A Prayer for Owen Meany
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