Writings
Essays, stories, and reflections — philosophy, fiction, and the occasional unhinged thought.
Why I Chose the Name Qaizoku: The Code of a Modern Pirate
Names carry weight. When people see my nickname—Qaizoku—they usually think of Hollywood clichés: peg legs, buried treasure, and lawless chaos.But if you look past the pop-culture paint, the reality of the pirate is entirely different. Historically, they were the world’s original labor refugees—people who looked at a cruel, oppressive, and deeply unequal society and chose to sail right out of it to build something fairer.
Names carry weight. When people see my nickname—Qaizoku—they usually think of Hollywood clichés: peg legs,…
Random Quotes over the years
These are random quotes that I have read, or heard or misquoted on purpose over the years.. Enjoy
These are random quotes that I have read, or heard or misquoted on purpose over…
The One That Got Away (and Didn't and Then Did)
My cousin Don was about eleven years older than me. When I was in my early 20s, we'd go fishing together all the time—backwater lakes, military reservations, random rivers we'd find, sometimes the Gulf of Mexico, sometimes off a bridge, sometimes under one. It was usually normal fishing, but we found ourselves in some very interesting situations. This is one of those stories.
My cousin Don was about eleven years older than me. When I was in my…
Roadtrippin' To Georgia
My friend Earl.. yes the same one from the Alligator.. He was in his fifties while I was in my mid-twenties. He was Native American, a Vietnam veteran, and almost always stoned. He lived a life that most people wouldn't dare to live, and he didn't ask permission for much of anything.
My friend Earl.. yes the same one from the Alligator.. He was in his fifties…
More Than a Signature
When my family came down to visit me in Saint Petersburg, I always tried to plan something beyond the theme parks. One Sunday, I took my dad, mom, sister, my niece and nephew to an afternoon game at Tropicana Field—the Tampa Bay Rays against the Texas Rangers.
When my family came down to visit me in Saint Petersburg, I always tried to…
Fishing for Gator
I had a friend named Earl. He was older than me—in his fifties while I was in my mid-twenties. Earl was Native American, a Vietnam veteran, a lot of PTSD and slightly unhinged - and always medicated - prescription and self. He wasn't the kind of guy who asked permission for much of anything.
I had a friend named Earl. He was older than me—in his fifties while I…
My Cancer, Not Your Comfort
Whispers on the Breeze
In a small, secluded town swallowed by the woods, Emily Turner lived alone with the silence. She was forty-three, a widow, and she had made silence into a kind of home. Five years had passed since Daniel's heart had stopped — quietly, in his sleep, with no warning and no mercy — and in those five years she had narrowed her world to the four walls of a rustic cabin overlooking a lake so still it looked like poured glass.
In a small, secluded town swallowed by the woods, Emily Turner lived alone with the…
Options
The thing about making decisions is that even if you DON’T make a decision, you have made a decision. (Getty Lee said that)
The thing about making decisions is that even if you DON’T make a decision, you…
Original Poem: The Journey
Darkness growing, changing, flowing, Leading into nothing. Yet nothing worth leading.
Darkness growing, changing, flowing, Leading into nothing. Yet nothing worth leading.