nostalgists

Either they are aghast at the present or afraid of what lies ahead.

not mass enough to ignite

Remember, Earth, that planets are but failed stars.

untested

If you trust, you don’t need to test.

utter clutter

To live through a catastrophe in which everything has been taken away from you except your life. After that, all life must seem a dream cluttered with things, people and events.

house lust

I am desirous of a very large house so that I can have houseguests, and never see them.

paradise wasted

It’s sad to think of a place called Paradise after the fall. A place of great beauty and bounty that just goes on and on, all wasted, with no one there to experience it.

weak tea

What the American middle class most lacks is a sense of appreciation.

skip a step

Young (Gen Z) job candidate to the interviewer: ‘Take me to your loser.’

not front row seats

All kinds of horrors can happen until people’s clothes start to get spattered.

no better

This I can do; I can do no better.

perceived perfect

Don’t demand, rather prefer perfection, ever aware part of it is perception.

skin deep

How can I say this without being insensitive to the hours he spent under the needle, but he was someone who thought of a tattoo as a life-long accomplishment.

scared myself

Sometimes I think I’m scary sane.

o save us uncle sam

Those who are first to complain about ‘big government’, who claim that the private sector is more effective and efficient in all ways, are the same people now complaining that the government isn’t acting fast enough, isn’t using its vast resources, to solve the disastrous Gulf oil spill.