Author Archives: diestl

I gave her twenty-five years, my prime, my promise, my patience. Walked away from a career to raise children, to build a home, to be the anchor when the waves hit. And still, she threw it all away. Everything we built together, gone. At fifty-five, I was standing in the ashes, trying to start fromContinue reading “The unbroken root”

Once upon a time, cars were machines. Steel, grease, and human touch, not software updates and warning lights. If something broke, it was because a bolt stripped or a gasket failed, not because a line of code forgot its purpose. Back then, a recall meant something mechanical, tangible, a brake line, a seatbelt, a tankContinue reading “The recall of progress”

As I approach the midpoint of my life, I find myself trying to balance the pull between machismo and compassion. It’s a quiet fight, but not without passion. Letting go of the toughness that once defined me as a younger man isn’t easy. The old self resists, clinging to the pride and armor of youth,Continue reading “The transformation of my years.”

I’ve recently had the urge to go to the theater again. My first choice was Frankenstein, but it wasn’t showing anywhere nearby, and the few places that did have it only offered one evening show around 6:30 or 7:30. So I looked up the latest Leonardo DiCaprio film, which also wasn’t playing close by. Instead,Continue reading “Truth and Treason”

Somewhere between the paycheck and the bill, a nation exhales. You can almost hear it, the quiet sigh that comes when the math doesn’t work anymore. It’s the sound of exhaustion disguised as normalcy, of people holding up the sky with maxed-out credit cards and second jobs that still don’t pay enough. It starts withContinue reading “The facade of stability “

Look at every local liberal campaign ad, the entire message boils down to one thing: hate Trump. That’s their identity now. That’s their platform. They’ve already proven to be pro-crime, pro-illegal immigration, pro-sanctuary cities, and pro-trans ideology, the same issues that cost them support in November 2024. Instead of learning from that and fighting forContinue reading “What else you got?”

Yesterday, on my way to the cigar lounge, I realized I had forgotten my iPhone at home. At first, I felt lost as something was missing. A void, an emptiness. My mind began to race, “How would I communicate? How would I stay connected during the day? What am I missing?” I felt sick. ButContinue reading “Delusional illusions”

Jokes used to divide a room into who laughed and who didn’t. Why do we care where a comedian performs? Because outrage needs a stage to generate revenue through reaction and the brainwashed cattle chew it up as usual. Many times the “controversy” is either drummed up by someone who benefits from the attention or amplifiedContinue reading “The buffet of outrage”

Working script title. The world was flawless, and lifeless. Towers of glass glowed without stars, streets swept themselves, drones drifted in perfect arcs across the sky. The Neural Mesh ruled it all, thought, movement, desire. To most, it was salvation. To the Patriarch, it was his life. He had never known a world without it.Continue reading “The Blood of the Mesh”

Sixty years lived. The sixty-first begins soon. Childhood. Youth. Adulthood. Colleges, cities, California. Marriage. Children. A short time. A long time ago. Chu The Cud All Rights Reserved