Periscope Depth

building up steam with a grain of salt

For two weeks this July, I kept a food log. I’m not concerned about my weight. If anything, I need to gain about ten pounds of muscle to reach “healthy.” My blood pressure was fine last time it was tested, and my “bad” cholesterol rarely reaches triple digits. I don’t need a change in diet [...]

if someone asks, this is where I’ll be

I was sitting in the doctor’s office, waiting my turn, when a little boy came in with a woman who wasn’t his mother. He had one of those wet raspy coughs that makes you want to clear your own throat, just to make sure it’s still working. The woman asked if a doctor could see [...]

you know the escape. you know the escape.

The best forms of exercise almost never come in a gym. This is because you really have to work to master them. Sunday morning was the monthly black-belts-only class at jiu-jitsu. We ended the class with some freestyle grappling: start off mounted, then reverse your opponent. Once you end up on top, switch roles. After [...]

I save coupons from packets of tea

Tuesday was a marginal evening: if I’d felt any worse, I would not have gone to jiu-jitsu. As it is, I still ended up taking an open-handed biff to the head and a shot to the gut in the course of scrapping that evening. Not to mention the eight to ten chokes that were demonstrated [...]

and I ain't never scared; I'm everywhere, you ain't never there

Thanks to Mike Shapiro and his lady Eleanor for teaching me the following technique to unkink your back: Take a book of about “Harry Potter width” (2 inches). If you don’t own any Harry Potter books, then your copy of Murray Rothbard’s Man, Economy and State should suffice. Lie down on the floor, face up, [...]

it doesn't matter; put your fists up and instigate it

Every night after jiu-jitsu, as I stagger into the tiny curtained room that two dozen men change in, I play the where-am-I-bleeding game. We practice at a kids gymnasium; our practice space is four inches of foam rubber, atop flexible plywood, atop another four inches of foam rubber, the whole affair covered by a thousand [...]

april, come she will

I forgot my camera battery when going to Mia and Bob’s wedding in Dublin, NH this Saturday. So now I have to weblog about it to remember it at all. It’s not my fault. Rachel V. and Steve were kind enough to give me a ride up. We listened to Steve’s XM radio and Rachel’s [...]

it longs to kill you; are you willing to die

Allergies have struck back with a vengeance in the last forty-eight hours. Itchy eyes, congested nose, gravelly thick voice. Things got so bad this morning that I took one of my jealously hoarded pseudoephedrine. I have given up trying to predict allergy reactions based on the weather. Two Saturdays ago, the weather was sunny, 80 [...]

and now it's time for the breakdown

My body’s starting to disintegrate around me. Last week I caught my third cold in three months. This from a guy who used to go years between colds. This one has no sinus presence – just a steady, unproductive hacking from deep in the back of my throat. Last night the muscles of my neck [...]

don't touch that dial; we're in denial

In a dream this past Thursday, I accompanied some crooks on some complicated robbery in this compound up in the mountains. Law enforcement showed up, including the President in a VTOL jet. I had a rifle handy, so I took a shot at the President – not out of any particular dislike of Geena Davis, [...]

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  • Periscope Depth

    The website of John Perich, author of TOO CLOSE TO MISS and editor for Overthinking It. He's learning about writing, marketing, publishing and promotion, and he encourages you to learn along with him.

    perich@periscopedepth.com

  • TOO CLOSE TO MISS




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    Mara Cunningham knew that sleeping with a married man was a bad idea. But when her lover shows up in the hospital after his wife and son are murdered, the rumors about her turn dangerous. Now she's the prime suspect in a double homicide, and the real killers will stop at nothing to silence her ...

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