The universe is vast beyond imagining, and thoroughly apathetic toward everything happening on this infinitesimally insignificant hunk of rock orbiting a random yellow dwarf in a random galaxy. There is some chance that consciousness can influence reality on a quantum level, and that might possibly be a vehicle for how prayer or "magic" could accomplish something, but that's probably just my primitive magical thinking grasping at some kind of primeval straw. I don't put much stock in the notion, but I haven't strictly ruled out such things.

Well, that's the philosophical stuff. Biographically, I got a BA in foreign literature, and married my pregnant girlfriend after college. My employment options weren't up to the challenge of providing for a wife and the two kids we went on to have, so I went to a vocational school and became a truck driver. We went our separate ways after 27 years together. The kids are grown, we've been separated for going on eight months, and the divorce is all but a done deal at this point. Technically, I'm still merely separated, but I listed myself as divorced, because this thing is cold and dead, and neither of us has any interest in reconciliation. She's the kind of person who thinks a "Greek" is a member of a fraternity or a sorority, and I'm the kind of person who thinks a "Greek" is somebody who was born in Greece. I can't manage much Greek, but I can read a little. I can occasionally work out a few words in Russian. Mostly, I'm a Romance language guy.

So I learned how to live on my own, and I'm fine. I did a deal that puts me in debt until I'm 80 years old, but I saved my home, my killer drum kit, my guitars, my brass and woodwind instruments, my machine shop, and all my trees and flowers. I have to work a lot of hours to pay for this stuff, but I'm doing well enough. I have a few of the usual age- and lifestyle-related health issues, like high blood pressure, but everything is well-managed. Apart from the mandatory maintenance visits, I haven't seen a doctor in quite a few years.

So that's it in a nutshell. I'm self-sufficient and self-contained, lonely, and quite horny. I live with my adult son, who is my tenant. I have two cats my daughter left behind, and a dog.

Ah, finally, I might as well disclose that I love my tobacco, even though it's not healthy. Just as much as I love tobacco, I hate onions, and most of the usual things adult humans consider food. I'm not big on exotic dining, because there's nothing to eat at most fancy restaurants, but I can cook a sous-vide steak 1" thick that you can eat with a spoon. I'm not starving to death by any means, but I'm definitely a meat and potatoes and fried food kind of guy. It is what it is. That's why my doctor prescribes the pills!