Ray Balestri

Is this a real account?

You missed poking him over “to” (too). Would have been perfect to slag something in each of his comments.

I’m mostly spinnaker but sometimes roller reef, cinched in tight.

Happy, happy, happy!

Strong rec on this one.

Thank you in advance! (I was solidly in the latter category for years, but now I find myself more and more in the former category, alas.)

Verily, your selections are pretty spot-on. Would you mind curating your list for those of us without the time (or discipline) to the 10 “must read”? To the more voracious among us, any on your list we shouldn’t bother with?

How do you decide to read a particular book? Recommendation from a trusted source? New York Review of Books? Discovery browsing a bookstore?

ee cummings

He used the stick end on me.

Taking it back down a notch, for the average person, it really is a challenge trying to calibrate the optimal effort needed to build sufficient net worth to afford to do the things you want to do, while sacrificing doing the things you want to do in order to build that level of net worth.

*hear

And IRL.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to everyone. (Flower arrangements by my talented wife.)

Legit made me laugh out loud.

Good one, but you gotta be a Boomer to get it.

Sheesh, why didn't Putin think of that when he initially described his invasion of Ukraine as a "special military operation"? Much better marketing as a "territorial extension."

Ditto.

Sunday morning paper reading with dogs and amaryllis.

Love your posts! Gorgeous pics.

I thought my wife had a lot of shoes, but I think you have her lapped. (She loves your style, by the way.)

Perfect for when you get out of bed to clean it up and cut your foot on the broken glass.

And finding my keys where I left them.

"Queen Bitch of Fuck Mountain"! I'm tempted to unfollow you just so I can follow you again.

Christmas cactus coming into bloom right on schedule.

Preferably, the hardcover is signed by the author.

Any way you can determine how many of the replies on X were AI-generated bots? Also, what was the quality of the replies versus here?

After you master the tambourine, you need to tackle this:

(on the reverse side)

Note from the poet ee cummings (who was eschewing capitalization and punctuation long before texts and tweets) to his wife Marion Morehead (with doodles). It says, “doctors all wrong it was only gallstones everybody amazed and delighted I expect to return tomorrow or next day love ESTLIN”