I didn't drink  coffee until that  summer KJ and I became best friends. My entrance was not the usual morning pick-me-up.

Instead KJ and I, being underage and not knowing anyone who would buy booze for us, looked for some kind of social stimulation that resembled a bar. We really wished...

When I was 16 my best friend was an 18 year old who lived two school districts away from me. Until that summer I had never thought it possible to have a best friend that was two years older. There had been childhood fantasies where I'd look up to someone...

The company had a policy around employees smoking weed . It was allowed so long as nobody proved that they were smoking it on the job. The company didn't find that it inhibited their employees at all given that their tasks were so simple. Plus it made hiring easier. Word...

Walter met his first girlfriend after moving to Westcity because of his habit of taking afternoon walks. No matter how hot it got he vowed to take a walk during the afternoon when his brain would be fried anyhow. No point in trying to pull of any deep work during...

He thought he could move in one day. He had always been able to move in one day before. This is not to say that he'd have his entire place unpacked, but everything from the truck would be unloaded into the new space.

This was the first time he couldn't empty...

The new guy never did anything. Well, never anything that helped the team. Instead he would ask questions to busy team members, questions that sounded smart and important upon first listen, but it was only after the conversation was over and you had wasted twenty minutes of your time in...

Once it was not so late, but it felt like night, on a Wednesday during the purgatory between Thanksgiving and  winter break , when the semester was still technically ongoing, but everybody had already begun studying for finals.

I hadn't realized how early the nights came until crossing that bridge. I...

Doug Stamper is one of my favorite characters. Quiet like a shadow, but a presence that's felt by those who know him.

I remember the first time I watched  House of Cards wondering who this quiet bald man with an intense stare was. Why was he always getting himself into these...

My job  freshmen year was at McWhirter Hall. I was a janitor. They paid me 7.93 an hour, there was no negotiation. I applied, they interviewed me, and then they told me that was the pay when would I like to begin.

The job was easy enough. My four hour shift...

My  phone sits down the hall from my bedroom, on top of a short stand that has a cedar wood bowl. In the bedroom is a clock, but it shows no numbers. When I wake I can glance at the wall and know what time it is without having to...