The Clumsy Interloper

Blog

theclumsyinterloper.com/

Profile

theclumsyinterloper.com/author

Homepage

theclumsyinterloper.com/

  • The Charlottesville Loop (Rivanna Trail): Trail Twilight

    I set off at 6:15AM from Riverview Park. The first 30 minutes are a familiar asphalt path that hugs the Rivanna river. I walk with purpose, breathing deep the cool morning air and eagerly nodding at all joggers traveling in the opposite direction. Once I near Cosner Brothers Body Shop at the 250 bridge I…

  • The Charlottesville Loop (Rivanna Trail): Pre-Amble

    When people ask me where I’m from, without pause, I tell them Chicago. After all, I cut my teeth in the Second City and continue to possess a lasting reverence for her architecture, culture, food and sports. Then, in my next sentence, I mention that I also lived in San Francisco for several years (4th-8th…

  • Practicing Non-Dualism on the DTM

    After a 7-mile Saturday afternoon hike at Ragged Mountain it appears that my car, without consulting my brain, has driven itself to the Downtown Mall and parked on a dimly lit side street. I have no plans, no dinner reservation, and no companion to meet. I spend a few moments in silence staring at my…

  • 72 Hour Water-Only Fast Diary

    Sunday, 6pm (Father’s Day Meal) MK made a delicious dinner of steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and chocolate cake. I ate until I was completely stuffed causing me to unbutton my pants and gently unfurl into a reclined position to watch McIlroy choke away the US Open to DeChambeau. I hadn’t slept…

  • Kota the Friend

    Speaking on behalf of all elder Millennials out there: If you have contravening evidence, please see the comments section below but be warned I’ll be over here like Juror 12 with my arms crossed and nothing but a glower for your efforts. Hip-hop used to have an outsized impact on my life. It was this…

  • Meditation Recommendation #1: Just Be

    My meditation practice is like a smoldering fire. The frenzied dance of modernity dampens the spark and that ember dwindles over time. Then, with a gust of inspiration, it can catch hold and drive my life for a few months, burning bright. The fickle flame speaks to my frenetic mind and my unconscious need to…

  • Cold Comfort

    Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter has penetrated my daily thoughts and made me critically examine my relationship with comfort and hunger. Consider the spoils of modern living – the climate controlled dwellings, the vehicles that transport us anywhere we wish, the array of food delivered to our doorstep, the handheld devices that contain the entirety…

  • Creative Biting

    Let’s face it: AI is everywhere. From your smartphone suggesting what you’ll type next to your car reminding you that it’s time for an oil change, there’s no escaping it. But when the WGA went on strike last year to defend creative writing as a profession from the digital creep of AI “authors” – that’s…

  • Guilty by Procreation

    The following is an excerpt from Glennon Doyle’s book “Untamed” poking fun at the societal expectations of parental responsibility throughout the last few generations: My grandmothers’ memo: Here is the baby. Take it home and let it grow. Let it speak when spoken to. Carry on with your lives. My mother’s memo: Here is your…

  • 🔥 & 🧊

    I change into my swim trunks and enter the sauna. An unforgiving wall of heat hits me as I gingerly sit upon the long wooden bench and cast a furtive glance at the thermometer – 220 degrees. My body is supple and my nostrils sting with each nose breath. I make pleasantries with my five…

  • Sober Curious: The Naked Mind (Part IV)

    When I came across a non-drinker in the wild, especially in a social setting where everyone was drinking, my mind instantly started churning out assumptions. Recovering alcoholic. Religious. Pregnant. Raised by Alcoholics. Designated Driver. Uptight. After all, these were the only possible reasons why a person would abstain. I had a highly ingrained narrative about…

  • Sober Curious: The Insidious Creep (Part III)

    Your Thirties. They sound so official. You have a partner, a mortgage, a child, a job with responsibility, a nice outfit for every occasion, a savings plan… finally, you have your shit together. However, this perceived arrival into adulthood is imbued with the angst of the dog who caught the car and now must decide…

  • Sober Curious: The Middle Way (Part II)

    “Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you’re allowed to return to life…

  • Sober Curious: The Inception (Part I)

    My relationship with alcohol started in the summer of 1998 while living in the Delta Upsilon fraternity house at the University of Virginia. It was the summer before my junior year of high school and the totality of my drinking career up until that point was having two screwdrivers at a sleepover freshman year while…

  • Ikigai

    I recently read Rob Bell’s How To Be Here and he highlighted the Japanese concept of Ikigai, pronounced “ee-kee-guy,” which integrates the joy and purpose we seek in our daily life. The term is a combination of the Japanese words ‘iki’ (to live) and ‘gai’ (reason), which together signify “a reason to live.” We’ve all…