The Fluffbucket Diaries

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:13:38 -0500

Alix Wagner on MS NOW: “We are in the Fat Elvis phase of this presidency.”

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:26:50 -0500

I need to get out of the habit of announcing my life to Threads periodically. Theoretically, that’s what this space is for.

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:24:53 -0500

This was yesterday.

I bounced back from my follow-up endoscopy yesterday a lot quicker than I did a few weeks ago from my colonoscopy/endoscopy combo, which required twice the sleep drug.

Still taking an extra day off from freelance work today. My Etsy shipments aren’t gonna pack and mail themselves.

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 20:27:39 -0500

A few thoughts found in the Sunday socials.

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 18:01:09 -0500

Time to unleash the “My 9 Films” list. Remember: This is about the movies that “made you” at a particular time in your life. Like it or not, three Woody Allen movies made the list. I saw them well before I learned what a creep he was.

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 03:14:58 -0500

Another way to use this space: as a public, wholly owned commonplace book collecting noteworthy social media posts.

To wit: these two Threads comments copied here; the socials are helping me redefine my faith in ways arcane theological tomes and banal “Christian living” bestsellers cannot.

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 03:03:01 -0500

I came across a Threads post mentioning Lucy Lawless. I never watched “Xena: Warrior Princess,” so whenever I see her name, I remember this one SNL skit where she did a bang-on Stevie Nicks impression. I can no longer listen to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac without thinking about burritos.

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 16:50:54 -0500

Rewatching scenes from the last episode of “Ted Lasso” season 4. It just dawned on me who Tanya Reynolds (Alice) reminds me of: the late, great Shelley Duvall. A muted, less eccentric Shelley Duvall. That’s still a compliment.

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 16:48:44 -0500

Since I’m populating this space again, it’s time to re-identify myself. From a Threads post I uploaded a bit ago:

I’m perennially on the lookout for fellow fans of

Animation (including Studio Ghibli and other anime)
MLB (Padres)
Journaling/collage/mixed-media art
NO AI “art”
Cats & dogs, living together
Neurodiversity
Mental health
Baking
Pope Leo XIV
Chicago & the Midwest
Ted Lasso
SNL UK
Cheering on a postcapitalist society

In addition, I explore (in my head, anyway)

Aging
Chronic pain
Weight struggles
Dysthymic depression
Disillusionment with career, religion, family relationships, and ethnic/cultural identity
Faith deconstruction

I also nurse a lot of disgust with the ways I’ve wasted my life up till now. After I turned 60 in March, my sense of mortality intensified considerably.

Even with – or perhaps because of – all that, I remain a barrel of laughs.

I generally use spaces like this for stream-of-consciousness ruminating and publishing updates on my life for the handful of people who wish to keep up with me. I had a Substack newsletter for a while – after I was laid off in March 2025 – but became disenchanted with the platform as well as annoyed with the marketing and self-imposed deadlines involved.

This looks like the making of a new “About” page for this site.

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 15:06:41 -0500

Noodling around with some of these “My 9 [fill in the blank]” things going around. First off, music – the hardest list for me to whittle down. (And for the record – pun unintended – that seventh one should be “Township Swing Jazz! Vol. 1,” but I couldn’t find the cover.)

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 15:18:37 -0500

Huh. This space is still here.

I’ve been thinking about ditching Micro.blog. I’ve long since stopped posting anything to its shared timeline because the “community” has become largely insular and uninspiring, and its user-friendliness as a customizable blogging platform is lacking. Unless you’re a coding nerd with lots of free time, it’s not for you.

That said, I’m probably lodged here for the long haul because of sheer laziness, and I need space for posting. At 60, it feels like time is too short to bother downloading my data here, exporting it to a new platform, and starting over. At least for now.

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:42:04 -0500

I can think of a few people in my world right now.

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 08:53:48 -0500

I need to watch “The Big Lebowski” again.

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:47:25 -0500

I don’t always enjoy my birthday, but I do appreciate that it falls on International Women’s Day. And this year is my 60th, which also dredges up mixed feelings, especially as it precedes the anniversary of my first ever layoff.

That said, I will mark this event today with family, the unhinged Pixar beaver movie, and Indian takeout. And then I head to my favorite Franciscan hermitage for a couple of quiet days this week.

Thanks for being here for me this past year of weirdness and upheaval.

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 01:36:14 -0500

Welp, I’m a week late in starting my first #100DayProject. But it’s a nice way to start one of my favorite months of the year.

I found a box of 100 blank business cards and decided to attempt doing something with those. It’s been a while since I created anything, so I’ve reverted to my old collaging habits with scraps and stamps and stickers.

I’m clearly rusty, but it’s nice to have fun again. But I have 90-something more days to play with other media or ideas on these things. It’s nice to have a distraction to look forward to.

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:49:18 -0500

I will be spending a penitential Lenten Friday afternoon watching an anime movie about Japanese horse girls. Pray for me.

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:48:03 -0500

Is sushi supposed to have a ton of mayo and enough cream cheese to choke a bagel?

Also, I think the crunchy topping may have been Funyuns. Which I think is the name of one of the historic Edo period dynasties.

Happy Lenten Friday.

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:04:05 -0500

Been largely static for the past few weeks. Didn’t bother with a newsletter last week, and I spend much of my mornings in bed with abdominal cramps. My right hip and lower back hurt. Minimizing caffeine in case that’s aggravating gut issues.

A post on Bluesky pimping a former freelancer’s workshop triggered me this morning. The freelancer went ballistic on us a couple of times with angry emails after getting negative feedback on their work, even sending ostensibly whistleblowing complaints to the agency we were contracting with.

In short, that person is nuts, and yet they’re working somewhat and I’m not.

It’s been almost a year since I was laid off. I’ve been up and down about it. I’d like to think that recalibrating and recovering from burnout would take less than a year. Yet it feels like I have yet to recover much at all. If anything, I’m in even more of an existential crisis than I was a year ago.

Who am I, really? I mean, almost all the people who told me who or what I should be are dead. And I’ve effectively cut out of my life whoever else insists on telling me what to do with myself. I’m not sure I’ve ever taken the opportunity to really decide for myself who or what to be. And on the verge of my 60th birthday, that’s an overwhelming feeling.

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:53:41 -0500

This Peacock live stream makes me wish I could catch the CBC Olympic coverage like I did two summers ago during a Detroit hotel stay.

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:51:39 -0500

NBC just reminded us that Snoop Dogg will be making an appearance with the Jamaican bobsledding team. Of course he is.

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:47:06 -0500

Based on the wrapped-in-aluminum models bearing the names of the countries, apparently the theme of the Opening Ceremony is “hostage situation.”

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:10:34 -0500

Bleah. Riding a writing wave in the wee hours took me down. Hoping the antibiotic I just took will help.

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:45:05 -0500

Currently preparing for a client meeting later this afternoon with the soothing sounds of Olympic curling on my PC. Never has the sound of sweeping calmed my soul so much.

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:43:56 -0500

I once interviewed with the Post’s online operation. Worst interview of my career; I was catatonic during most of it. Fortunately the Tribune came along and I landed there.

The Post’s demise is a gut punch. Finally pulled the plug on all my Amazon subscriptions. Done with enabling crap like this.

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 15:16:36 -0500

Finally got to a dentist today for The Toothache of All Toothaches. Now amped up on antibiotics, Tylenol/codeine, and generic Ora-jel. Whee.

Anticipating a 2-tooth extraction in the coming weeks.

Happy February, friends! 😬