Book of Daze Archives - Page 13 of 18 - Postcards from The Pug Bus

Postcards from The Pug Bus

Lifting a satirical leg on popular culture

Persons in the Ether

Question of the Week

Passion or stability?

Mavis Drouk, emotional escrow officer

Believed to be near Harrisburg, PA

Stability. Passion is what people choose when they still believe a staircase can be made entirely of sparks. Stability may not sing outside your window, but it does remember where the insurance cards are.

Rufus Clenn, freelance thunder consultant

Last reported west of Tulsa, OK

Passion, obviously. Stability is just boredom wearing shoes with arch support. I want life to arrive late, smell faintly of lightning, and explain nothing until several lamps have been broken.

Nora Vell, deputy curator of small regrets

Possibly sheltering in Eugene, OR

Passion is useful for beginnings, stability for the paperwork afterward. I prefer both in moderation, which is another way of saying I would like to be ruined briefly and then driven home safely.

a head shot of a man with kimchi all ofer his face

"'Kimchi' means 'the devil's ecrement' in Korean.>

Book of Daze

Book of Daze Kimchi Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze 9 months

Celebrating the one fermented food that can simultaneously cure a cold, start a fight, and summon ancestral spirits with gastrointestinal issues. Book of Daze Kimchi… Read More

"I did it my way."

Book of Daze

Book of Daze Work Naked Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze 9 months

MEMORANDUM To: All EmployeesFrom: HR Department (now partially clothed)Date: July 19, 2025Subject: Book of Daze Work Naked Day – A Gentle Reminder of Boundaries, Decorum,… Read More

a bed in a darkened room with a single lamp on

"Yada, yada, yada ... "

Book of Daze

Book of Daze Overthink Everything Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze 9 months

On Book of Daze Overthink Everything Day, we honor the sacred spiral. The noble tradition of turning a simple “k” text into a twelve-act Greek… Read More

an image of a woman crying in the shower

"Crying or peeing, the shower's got you covered."

Book of Daze

Book of Daze Cry in the Shower Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze 10 months

(Because sometimes the only thing getting rinsed is your will to go on.) Today we honor the sanctuary of sobbing, a place where no one… Read More

a young woman sitting barefooted in a Wendy's parking lot

"Ommmm."

Book of Daze

Book of Daze Lie to Your Therapist Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze 10 months

(Because personal growth is exhausting and honesty is overrated.) We celebrate today the time-honored tradition of paying $150 an hour to perform emotional stability like… Read More

"Spice is the variety of life."

Book of Daze

Book of Daze Passive-Aggressive Cleaning Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze 10 months

(Grab your sponge, clench your jaw, and let the resentment sparkle) Today we honor the ancient art of weaponized tidiness. The sacred ritual of scrubbing… Read More

"Whoa, are you sure that doesn't break the 11th commandment?"

Book of Daze

Book of Daze Skip Church and Watch Porn Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze 10 months

(Because salvation is subjective and sometimes comes in 1080p.) Today we cast off the itchy wool of piety and slip into something more comfortable–like shame-resistant… Read More

A cat staring sadly at an empty food bowl. There's man smiling next to the cat.

"Is this your idea of a joke?"

Book of Daze

Book of Daze: Gaslight Your Pet Day

philmaggitti bookof-daze, dog 10 months

(Because unconditional love is no excuse for emotional stability.) Be honest: our pets have had it too good for too long. Endless treats, belly rubs… Read More

The Pug Bus Breaking News

The Pug Bus Breaking News requires no email address, no mother's maiden name, no first pet's nickname, and no DNA sample. You simply mash the link below and read.

Deliver It

⚡ Scholars at the Royal Institute for the Advancement of Obvious Things have concluded, after eleven years of exhaustive inquiry, that people who speak at great length in meetings do not thereby become more correct. The findings have been submitted to a committee for review.

⚡ It has been determined by authorities in several jurisdictions that the phrase "I just want to be honest with you" reliably precedes the portion of the conversation one would most prefer not to have. Legislation is pending.

⚡ The Bureau of Perpetual Reassessment has announced that this is not, in fact, the most divided the nation has ever been, a distinction that continues to belong to a prior era when the disagreements concerned rather more consequential matters and people occasionally died over them.

Adverse Effects

The following lines of prose cleverly arranged as poetry may induce brief clarity, misplaced certainty, and the sense that something has already been decided without your approval ...

By seventy you know which doors you walked past without opening,
can name the rooms you never entered,
hear the echoes anyway.

Read It All

By seventy you know which doors you walked past without opening,
can name the rooms you never entered,
hear the echoes anyway.

The years do not accuse.
They simply pile up like newspapers you meant to read,
each one carrying news that is no longer news.

You think: I should have said that differently.
I should have stayed. I should have gone.
The mind is efficient this way,
filing the same cases under the same wrong headings,
finding them again at 3 a.m. in perfect order.

What surprises is not the weight of it
but the patience —
how regret waits,
how it has nowhere else to be,
how it sits across from you at breakfast
and asks for nothing,
knowing you will offer it everything
on your own.

The body slows.
The catalog does not.
You carry the unlived lives
the way old houses carry
the smell of people who are gone —
not haunting exactly,
just present,
just there,
just refusing
the simple courtesy
of leaving.