James Yates
@jamesyates.bsky.social
Writer, runner, basketball fan, baseball fan, animal lover, pessimistic optimist, he/him
I think Hobbes is finally over his kidney or urinary infection. Ten days ago, I thought he was dying, now he's back to his sassy self, and we're both exhausted after giving him a twice daily pill since last Tuesday.
He's a senior cat, but I hope we have a few more years together.
He's a senior cat, but I hope we have a few more years together.
November 14, 2025 at 1:26 AM
I think Hobbes is finally over his kidney or urinary infection. Ten days ago, I thought he was dying, now he's back to his sassy self, and we're both exhausted after giving him a twice daily pill since last Tuesday.
He's a senior cat, but I hope we have a few more years together.
He's a senior cat, but I hope we have a few more years together.
Happy discovery: the Y that's five minutes from my apartment has a basketball court. I don't need to drive 20 minutes to the next town over. I ran myself into the ground this afternoon, in a good way. 90 minutes of shooting and legwork. Still working on my handles, but they're getting better.
October 15, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Happy discovery: the Y that's five minutes from my apartment has a basketball court. I don't need to drive 20 minutes to the next town over. I ran myself into the ground this afternoon, in a good way. 90 minutes of shooting and legwork. Still working on my handles, but they're getting better.
I'm on a staycation this week. Getting lots done, but also enjoying supremely lazy moments with the cats.
October 14, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I'm on a staycation this week. Getting lots done, but also enjoying supremely lazy moments with the cats.
Forgot I took a screenshot in August of this weird AI bot, before I blocked the account. I was going to share it when the Mariners won the AL West, but a 2-0 ALCS lead is a good enough time. Snacking on good vibes, indeed.
October 14, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Forgot I took a screenshot in August of this weird AI bot, before I blocked the account. I was going to share it when the Mariners won the AL West, but a 2-0 ALCS lead is a good enough time. Snacking on good vibes, indeed.
This is TOTALLY just as good as watching the game on TV! I'm so glad I paid for Sling and got access to 793 crappy Fox affiliates and not the one, you know, showing the damn game.
October 13, 2025 at 2:32 AM
This is TOTALLY just as good as watching the game on TV! I'm so glad I paid for Sling and got access to 793 crappy Fox affiliates and not the one, you know, showing the damn game.
Ran my second half-marathon in Salem this morning! Set my PR at 2:18:27.12. I'm exhausted, but feel great.
October 11, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Ran my second half-marathon in Salem this morning! Set my PR at 2:18:27.12. I'm exhausted, but feel great.
After over two years, my basketball finally had to go to the Big Basketball Court in the Sky; it was peeling, and the air needle snapped off inside it in the cold. Looking forward to more baskets and footwork with my new one.
October 2, 2025 at 9:13 PM
After over two years, my basketball finally had to go to the Big Basketball Court in the Sky; it was peeling, and the air needle snapped off inside it in the cold. Looking forward to more baskets and footwork with my new one.
Took this picture on my morning run, and I can't explain it, but it feels like the inspiration for a bad "New Yorker" cartoon.
September 28, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Took this picture on my morning run, and I can't explain it, but it feels like the inspiration for a bad "New Yorker" cartoon.
I never doubted the Seattle Mariners.
September 25, 2025 at 4:10 AM
I never doubted the Seattle Mariners.
Took this lovely picture on my late afternoon run. Not pictured: me covered in dozens of dead gnats after running through a swarm of them.
September 22, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Took this lovely picture on my late afternoon run. Not pictured: me covered in dozens of dead gnats after running through a swarm of them.
A happy 34th birthday to my love, @hcohen.bsky.social. She's beautiful, has an infectious laugh, and we keep each other going despite how toxic the world can be. ❤️
September 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
A happy 34th birthday to my love, @hcohen.bsky.social. She's beautiful, has an infectious laugh, and we keep each other going despite how toxic the world can be. ❤️
These next three weeks will be marvelous. Stressful, possibly deflating, and all over the place, but marvelous nonetheless.
At least I hope so. Goms.
At least I hope so. Goms.
September 7, 2025 at 9:34 PM
These next three weeks will be marvelous. Stressful, possibly deflating, and all over the place, but marvelous nonetheless.
At least I hope so. Goms.
At least I hope so. Goms.
Had a grueling day at work, and forced myself to go for a sunset run. I haven't done an evening run in ages, and it was gorgeous.
September 4, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Had a grueling day at work, and forced myself to go for a sunset run. I haven't done an evening run in ages, and it was gorgeous.
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 10: REAL LIFE: A novel by Brandon Taylor.
The secrets, friendships, loves, and hardships of a queer Black graduate student. Brandon's sentences are so good, the way they dig out metaphors, expand, and reveal layers in this story.
Book 10: REAL LIFE: A novel by Brandon Taylor.
The secrets, friendships, loves, and hardships of a queer Black graduate student. Brandon's sentences are so good, the way they dig out metaphors, expand, and reveal layers in this story.
August 23, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 10: REAL LIFE: A novel by Brandon Taylor.
The secrets, friendships, loves, and hardships of a queer Black graduate student. Brandon's sentences are so good, the way they dig out metaphors, expand, and reveal layers in this story.
Book 10: REAL LIFE: A novel by Brandon Taylor.
The secrets, friendships, loves, and hardships of a queer Black graduate student. Brandon's sentences are so good, the way they dig out metaphors, expand, and reveal layers in this story.
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 9: "LIKE LOVE: ESSAYS AND CONVERSATIONS by Maggie Nelson.
Maggie Nelson is one of my top five writers, but this took me forever to finish.
Book 9: "LIKE LOVE: ESSAYS AND CONVERSATIONS by Maggie Nelson.
Maggie Nelson is one of my top five writers, but this took me forever to finish.
July 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 9: "LIKE LOVE: ESSAYS AND CONVERSATIONS by Maggie Nelson.
Maggie Nelson is one of my top five writers, but this took me forever to finish.
Book 9: "LIKE LOVE: ESSAYS AND CONVERSATIONS by Maggie Nelson.
Maggie Nelson is one of my top five writers, but this took me forever to finish.
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 8: TERROR COUNTER: Poems by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi
A fierce collection that balances the speaker(s)' self with a plea for Palestinian agency, and the realization that all our systems are irrevocably fucked. But it's still hopeful.
Book 8: TERROR COUNTER: Poems by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi
A fierce collection that balances the speaker(s)' self with a plea for Palestinian agency, and the realization that all our systems are irrevocably fucked. But it's still hopeful.
July 8, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 8: TERROR COUNTER: Poems by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi
A fierce collection that balances the speaker(s)' self with a plea for Palestinian agency, and the realization that all our systems are irrevocably fucked. But it's still hopeful.
Book 8: TERROR COUNTER: Poems by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi
A fierce collection that balances the speaker(s)' self with a plea for Palestinian agency, and the realization that all our systems are irrevocably fucked. But it's still hopeful.
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 7: CULTISH by Amanda Montell
I went into this expecting confirmation bias, but it digs deeper into cults of all stripes, and stresses how language makes a cult, and we're all susceptible to it.
Book 7: CULTISH by Amanda Montell
I went into this expecting confirmation bias, but it digs deeper into cults of all stripes, and stresses how language makes a cult, and we're all susceptible to it.
June 20, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads
Book 7: CULTISH by Amanda Montell
I went into this expecting confirmation bias, but it digs deeper into cults of all stripes, and stresses how language makes a cult, and we're all susceptible to it.
Book 7: CULTISH by Amanda Montell
I went into this expecting confirmation bias, but it digs deeper into cults of all stripes, and stresses how language makes a cult, and we're all susceptible to it.
Spending the week in upper Michigan with my folks. I try to get up here every June. It's an essential reset, letting me focus on running and reading and writing. It also gets more bittersweet as my parents get older, and retail management means I can't get up here as often as I want.
June 10, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Spending the week in upper Michigan with my folks. I try to get up here every June. It's an essential reset, letting me focus on running and reading and writing. It also gets more bittersweet as my parents get older, and retail management means I can't get up here as often as I want.
I'm doing my longest ever solo drive to upstate New York for my niece's wedding this weekend. Scenes from Virginia, West Virginia, and the armpit of Pennsylvania. I probably could've done the whole drive in one day, but I wanted to break it up so I wouldn't push myself to drive tired.
May 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
I'm doing my longest ever solo drive to upstate New York for my niece's wedding this weekend. Scenes from Virginia, West Virginia, and the armpit of Pennsylvania. I probably could've done the whole drive in one day, but I wanted to break it up so I wouldn't push myself to drive tired.
Took a screenshot of myself from a video I recorded to see my basketball shooting form, and I love this image. I was the only one in the gym, and it kinda captures what I'm aiming for in my basketball essays—how I grapple with good and bad solitude with what's supposed to be a team sport.
May 16, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Took a screenshot of myself from a video I recorded to see my basketball shooting form, and I love this image. I was the only one in the gym, and it kinda captures what I'm aiming for in my basketball essays—how I grapple with good and bad solitude with what's supposed to be a team sport.
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads.
Book 6: BLACK BALL by Theresa Runstedtler
Overall, this is an excellent look at important moments in NBA history, but left me wanting a lot more; the epilogue felt tacked on and unnecessary, or rather, the outline of its own book.
Book 6: BLACK BALL by Theresa Runstedtler
Overall, this is an excellent look at important moments in NBA history, but left me wanting a lot more; the epilogue felt tacked on and unnecessary, or rather, the outline of its own book.
April 17, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads.
Book 6: BLACK BALL by Theresa Runstedtler
Overall, this is an excellent look at important moments in NBA history, but left me wanting a lot more; the epilogue felt tacked on and unnecessary, or rather, the outline of its own book.
Book 6: BLACK BALL by Theresa Runstedtler
Overall, this is an excellent look at important moments in NBA history, but left me wanting a lot more; the epilogue felt tacked on and unnecessary, or rather, the outline of its own book.
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads.
Book 5: GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: A novel by James Baldwin.
I'm behind on Baldwin's novels, when I'm well versed with his nonfiction. This novel is a great study in exposition: Baldwin reveals and doesn't reveal in equal measure.
Book 5: GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: A novel by James Baldwin.
I'm behind on Baldwin's novels, when I'm well versed with his nonfiction. This novel is a great study in exposition: Baldwin reveals and doesn't reveal in equal measure.
April 15, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads.
Book 5: GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: A novel by James Baldwin.
I'm behind on Baldwin's novels, when I'm well versed with his nonfiction. This novel is a great study in exposition: Baldwin reveals and doesn't reveal in equal measure.
Book 5: GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: A novel by James Baldwin.
I'm behind on Baldwin's novels, when I'm well versed with his nonfiction. This novel is a great study in exposition: Baldwin reveals and doesn't reveal in equal measure.
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads.
Book 4: PRETEND THE BALL IS NAMED JIM CROW: THE STORY OF JOSH GIBSON by Dorian Hairston.
A fascinating biography/history told through poems, from various points of view. A great blend of research and poetic forms.
Book 4: PRETEND THE BALL IS NAMED JIM CROW: THE STORY OF JOSH GIBSON by Dorian Hairston.
A fascinating biography/history told through poems, from various points of view. A great blend of research and poetic forms.
April 15, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Documenting all the books I read in 2025, including rereads.
Book 4: PRETEND THE BALL IS NAMED JIM CROW: THE STORY OF JOSH GIBSON by Dorian Hairston.
A fascinating biography/history told through poems, from various points of view. A great blend of research and poetic forms.
Book 4: PRETEND THE BALL IS NAMED JIM CROW: THE STORY OF JOSH GIBSON by Dorian Hairston.
A fascinating biography/history told through poems, from various points of view. A great blend of research and poetic forms.
I ran my first half-marathon today. The Blue Ridge half-marathon is a grueling trek up and down Mill Mountain, then up to the top of the Peakwood climb. I was grateful for the pickle juice station, and I cried like a baby when I crossed the finish line. It was a daunting challenge, and I did it.
April 13, 2025 at 12:07 AM
I ran my first half-marathon today. The Blue Ridge half-marathon is a grueling trek up and down Mill Mountain, then up to the top of the Peakwood climb. I was grateful for the pickle juice station, and I cried like a baby when I crossed the finish line. It was a daunting challenge, and I did it.
I have no emotional attachment to James Bond movies, but all the posts about the film franchise make me think of this Hall of Fame tweet. I was laughing even as I typed the alt text.
February 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
I have no emotional attachment to James Bond movies, but all the posts about the film franchise make me think of this Hall of Fame tweet. I was laughing even as I typed the alt text.