Tag: Alex Diaz-Granados
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2,557 Days Redux
2,557 days. That’s how many days have passed since my mother, Beatriz Diaz-Granados, died at the age of 86 from a combination of age-related illnesses, including dementia, heart issues, and the effects of being confined to bed for half a decade after back surgery. She died around five in the morning; I’m sure the death…
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Musings & Thoughts for Wednesday, March 9, 2022, or: Waiting for ‘West Side Story’ to Ship (and Other Concerns)
Hi there, Dear Reader. It is late morning in Lithia, Florida, on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. It is a warm, muggy spring day here in the Tampa Bay area. Currently, the temperature is 85˚F (30˚C) under mostly cloudy skies. With humidity at 70% and the wind blowing from the south-southwest at 13 MPH (22 KM/H),…
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Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, March 8, 2022, or: On Hitting the Half-Century Mark After a Life-Changing Event…and Unreliable Memories
Hi there, Dear Reader. It’s early afternoon in Lithia, Florida, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. It is a hot early spring day in the Tampa Bay area. Currently, the temperature is 88˚F (31˚C) under partly sunny skies. With humidity at 61% and the wind blowing from the south-southwest at 6 MPH (10 KM/H), it feels…
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Tempus Fugit – New Year’s Day 2022, or: Looking Back on the Last Half-Century
Greetings and salutations, Dear Reader. It’s early afternoon here in Lithia, Florida on Saturday, January 1, 2022. It is a warm winter day in west-central Florida. Currently, the temperature is 81˚F (27˚C) under partly sunny skies. With humidity at 68% and the wind blowing from the south-southwest at 11 MPH (17 KM/H), the feels-like temperature…
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Tempus Fugit, or: How I Was ‘Persuaded’ to Sing a Solo at a High School Christmas Concert 40 Years Ago
Hi there, Dear Reader. It’s late morning here in Lithia, Florida on Tuesday, December 14, 2021. It’s a cool early winter day here in the subtropics. Currently, the temperature is 69˚F (21˚C) under cloudy skies. With humidity at 95% and the wind blowing from the northeast at 9 MPH (14 KM/H), the feels-like temperature is…
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Thoughts of Thanksgivings Past, or: My Very Worst, Very Bad Thanksgiving Story of All Time
Hi there, Dear Reader. It’s late morning here in my corner of west-central Florida on Tuesday, November 23, 2021. It is a chilly – by Florida standards, at any rate – day. Currently, the temperature is 58˚F (14˚C) under sunny skies. With humidity at 68% and the wind blowing from the north at 11 MPH…
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A Writer’s Tale: Truth or Fiction?
“Yeah, I know what your English Professor tried to tell you. But if your English Professor could make a living writing fiction, they would have been doing it.” ― Dean Wesley Smith Where do you get your ideas from? All writers of fiction, from Jane Austen, Herman Melville, Jules Verne, Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Harris,…
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A Writer’s Tale: Birth of a Short Story
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been a tad over three years since I self-published my short story Reunion via Amazon’s CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Originally written in 1998 at a time when I was feeling nostalgic about my teenage years and, among many things, prompted by the recent death of one of my…
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‘Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss’ Inspires a Twitter Poet!
Hi again, Dear Reader. As you know, actor-director Juan Carlos Hernandez, his wife Adria, their son Anthony, and Yours Truly collaborated on a short film – “about today,” Juan likes to say – titled Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss. The Hernandez family did most of the heavy lifting (acting, revising, editing, mixing…
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Tempus Fugit…Again, or: My ‘Colombian Childhood’ is a Half-Century in the Past
Hey, there, Dear Reader. Welcome to another nostalgia-filled post in my occasional series, Tempus Fugit, in which I look back at certain periods of my so-called life, usually to remark that half-a-century has elapsed between Then and Present Day. Last night, while I was attempting to watch the first disc of Zack Snyder’s Justice League…