Living in a coastal area that tends to be hurricane prone, events like Hurricane Earl always stir up lots of activity. Everyone refers to the storm by it’s second name, as in “Earl,” not “Hurricane Earl.” and it sounds like they’re referring to a person: “Where’s Earl?” “Reckon Earl will get here before tonight?” “I [...]

Staying in a motel, the alarm clock in the neighboring room goes off. There is no one in the room and it doesn’t turn itself off, even hours later. At first it irritates me but after awhile it disappears into the background and I only occasionally even notice it. I’m able to go about my [...]