Category: Uncategorized

• Route 66, Hotels, and Donkeys – Thoughts from September 15 and 16, 2024

  

  September 15, 2024 Today is not only Patti’s birthday, but it is the beginning of our Route 66 trip. We’re driving to various locations in Arizona and New Mexico. After we hit Roswell, we head back to California. We finished packing last night. I’m not sure I have enough clothes for the return trip, but…

  Brian Kirwan

  August 19, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, American diet, Arizona, birthday, Brooklyn 99, California, complimentary breakfast, donkey food, donkey-related merchandise, donkeys by name, earplugs, eating out of your hand, eye mask, free-roaming donkeys, gas prices, giant guitar, Glenn Frey, hand sanitizer, Holbrook, homemade hummus, Lake Havasu, loud air conditioner, Netflix, New Mexico, normal breakfast, Oatman Arizona, old western town, on the corner, Patti, podcasts, pushy donkeys, regular metal key, Roswell, Route 66, Route 66 memorabilia, Route 66 trip, small hotel room, Take It Easy by the Eagles, taking pictures, tepee-shaped hotel, thoughts, TV volume, vacation breakfast, Winslow Arizona, YouTube

• Fires, Professor Sprout, and the NME Charts – Thoughts from September 7 and 8, 2024

  

  September 7, 2024 There are flames in the hills near our house. Only a freeway separates our house from the evacuation area. Patti is home and freaking out. She can still see the flames from our house. My sixth-grade teacher showed a picture from his front yard of the smoke billowing up as if from…

  Brian Kirwan

  August 12, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2020, 2023, 2024, 83 years old, A-holes on the freeway, artsy songs, audiobooks, being a lesbian, being Jewish, British artists, distraction, documentary, Duran Duran, evacuation area, expectations of the world, expecting each day to be the same, fear of thunder, few filters, fires, Harry Potter, liberally opinionated, living alone, magazine from the UK, Miriam Gargolyes, negative or positive opinions, new music, New Musical Express, NME charts, no belief in God, Patti, Pixies, problems to solve, Professor Spout, radio listening, rare events, refusing to leave, seeing flames from our house, Simon Le Bon, sing along with songs, smoke billowing up, songs in stereo, swearing, thoughts, throat problems, thunderstorms, top 100 albums of all time, Velvet Underground

• Project Families, Automatic Urinals, and Self-Diagnosed Autism – Thoughts from September 1, 2024

  

  Here we are at the beginning of Patti’s birthday month. I’m still waiting on an itinerary of our Route 66 trip. Does this make me nervous? Of course it does. Patti is very good at keeping me in the dark about specifics. Projects we do together always winds up with me trying to find out…

  Brian Kirwan

  August 5, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, anxiety, authentic form of communication, autism, autism spectrum, autistic traits, automatic toilets, automatic urinal, behaviors of autism, birthday month, covering the sensor, depression, doing projects, easily distracted, exact sequence, going to concerts, happier being myself, hiding who I am, lack of control in life, learning to sew, looking people in the eye, loud noises, manual button, masking, mental health, official diagnosis, Patti, problems with crowds, removing myself, Route 66 trip, self-diagnosed autism, sensory issues, sensory overload, special allowances, thoughts, water keeps running, working with wood

• Creativity and Shyness – Thoughts from August 19 and 31, 2024

  

  August 19, 2024 I’ve talked with several people about my throat. I told them about the polyp on my vocal cords. The singer I talked to said she has had them on her vocal cords. She had them removed with surgery. A former nurse said trying the dietary changes made sense before going right for…

  Brian Kirwan

  July 29, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, animations, autism, autobiographies, balsa wood, being gay, being shy, building things, creating candles, creating crap, creating songs, creative pursuits, creative skills, depression, dietary changes, drawings, encouraging environment, encouraging parents, encouraging people, experimental ideas, hippies, introduced myself, LGBTQ, musical creations, new person at work, new situations, painting ceramics, polyp on my vocal cord, shyness bubble, signs of autism, singing, singing too much, surgery, thinking is my favorite hobby, thoughts, Thoughts paper, throat problems, vocal cords, Wordscapes, Wordscapes tournament, writing, writings

• Singing in the Car was My Downfall – Thoughts from August 17, 2024

  

  The first thing I must talk about is my doctor’s appointment to look at my throat. I finally got the camera down my throat and saw an image of my vocal cords. They gave me a numbing agent in my nose that went down my throat. Before they gave it to me, they asked if…

  Brian Kirwan

  July 22, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, alcohol, ball on my vocal cord, camera down my throat, carbonated drinks, cayenne pepper, doctor’s appointment, gradual change, gross, moratorium on singing, my first surgery, nasal passage, nodules, numb nose, numbing agent, Patti, polyp on my vocal cord, singing in the car, straining my voice, thoughts, vocal cords

• My Fantastical Reality – Thoughts from August 12, 2024

  

  This Thursday, August 15, is my appointment to see a throat specialist. I mostly just want to find out what is wrong with my throat. After that, I want to find out what they can do to fix it. I’ve been experimenting with different toothpastes to see if they could be irritating my throat. My…

  Brian Kirwan

  July 15, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, acting properly, acting rude, Alice in Wonderland, anti-hero, boring story, characters, contrariwise, Disney version, doctor appointment, fantastical things happen, fantasy stories, griffins, history teachers, how magic works, magic and magical creatures, magic is reality, magical creatures evolution, metaphors, new to this world, rules of your universe, science fiction, slapping together existing animals, stories, stuck-up English girl, the reality of the story, thoughts, Thoughts from Life, throat problem, throat specialist, whitening toothpaste, writing

• Politics and Route 66 Trips – Thoughts from August 4, 2024

  

  August 4, 2024 This is going to be a different kind of Thoughts paper. These might look like the regular words I use, but don’t be fooled. I’m writing them under a change tree. What’s a change tree? It’s the tree of change, of course. I’ve never been a fan of change. It always comes…

  Brian Kirwan

  July 8, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2020 election, 2024, anxiety, being liberal, birthday, caring about others, change, complaining, conservative, conversation, enough old white men in politics, interrupted routines, it is not perfect but nothing is, itinerary of the trip, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, liberal, looking conservative, non-religious, Patti, prepared for change, Reality Acceptance party, religious beliefs, respresent all Americans, Route 66, routines, running for President, sad and miserable people, scientific facts, talking points, thoughts, Thoughts paper, under a change tree, vacation, vice president, winging things

• Loud Laughter, Ugliness, and Cat Fur – Thoughts from July 23 to 27, 2024

  

  July 23, 2024 There was a group of people who were talking about 100 feet from me. One member of the group had a laugh he bellowed several times which I could hear from where I was. Eventually, the entire group erupted into laughter at an equal volume to the bellower. Some people enjoy being…

  Brian Kirwan

  July 1, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, bad ear, being allergic to cats, bellowing, blocking fur, cat allergy, cat fur, cats, cool numbers, day matches the year, disgust, fictional beings, four cats, good ear, group discussions, group insults, group topics, groups of people, Halloween candy, Halloween decorations, Halloween season, hearing aids, hearing test, humidifier, I thank myself for being weird, loud laughter, loud leaders, loud noises hurt my ear, mono hearing, parties, Patti, proper descriptions, scientific chart of ugliness, summer season, take a mental picture, the cats, the end of summer, thoughts, ugliness, ugly, ugly has no scale, ugly things don’t exist, unattractive things, wearing masks at night, weird squirrels

• Inflatable Slides, Thinking for Myself, and Smelling Others – Thoughts from July 22, 2024

  

  I saw a billboard from the freeway that was advertising an inflatable slide that you could rent for your party. The billboard was in Spanish, so I don’t know what it actually said. It made me smile because Patti was talking the other day about getting an inflatable slide in our backyard. She saw that…

  Brian Kirwan

  June 24, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, advertisements, billboards, body odor, boredom, choice is a privilege, disgusting smell, doing things my way, elevator smell, expressing thoughts, filling in downtime, free will, gorilla smell, inflatable slides, nerdy problems, nerdy thoughts, no pleasing me, paralyzed by choices, parties, Patti, pleasant smells, thinking about doing something, thinking for myself, thoughts, Thoughts paper, too much information, too much perfume, unexpressed thoughts, unexpressed topics, writing about indecision

• White Lineage, Personal Planners, and Shoe Racks – Thoughts from July 21, 2024

  

  Yesterday, I was coming into work, and I saw a personalized license plate on a white Ford truck in front of me. I stared at it and figured out the weird combination of letters. It could only be one thing. I couldn’t think of anything else it could be. The license was as close to…

  Brian Kirwan

  June 17, 2025

  Uncategorized

  “white lineage”, 2024, acting, birthday, building, built a shoe rack, bumper stickers, collaboration, cordless drill, embarrassment, focusing, Ford truck, happy wife, I need a manager, making doctor’s appointments, music, Patti, personal assistant, personalized license plate, phone calls, planning skills, planning vacations, race cars, racist phrase, rage, recent obsession, speedway bumper sticker, tennis shoes, thickness of the wood, thoughts, vague memory, white lightning, white racists, writing, writing details