Many of the cartoons I watched growing up were largely repurposed for children after being created for adults.
The Flintstones was a prime-time TV show from the 1950s that got shoved into 1980s Saturday morning time slots as awkwardly as a parrot forced into a rock-carved intercom. Bugs Bunny was a beloved childhood icon, but I’m just old enough to remember him regularly drinking and smoking. Read More
The four stages of addiction are categorized as experimentation, regular use, risky use/abuse, and addictive dependency.
I cycled through the first three stages repeatedly throughout my teenage years and the starting point was my freshman year of high school when Mom gave me a brand new Nintendo 64. Read More
Coffee shops are a remarkable spot in the modern landscape. I respect that they have the courage to stay open late into the night, unlike those bagel-making sissy shops that close at two in the afternoon.
Their nature is ever-changing from a hurried bustle in the early morning hours to temporary office space in the afternoon and peaceful sanctuaries at night. Read More
I spent a considerable amount of time last year empathizing with a bird who kept flying into my basement window. It wasn’t clear if he was trying to fight with his own reflection, or mate with it, but either way I could relate. Read More
If I could make one wish for a happy couple on their wedding day, it would be that they’ve found someone who will be as loyal to them as I am to my brands of toiletries.
I don’t think my brands of toiletries are the best; I wouldn’t even necessarily recommend them. I just keep buying them because they work and are what I’ve always known. Read More
Graduation season is upon us. That seems surprising in a year when I’ve just gotten the lawn mower out of the shed and not yet “summerized” the snow blower, but the earliest ceremonies commence next weekend. This includes the University of Connecticut, where my wife Jenny will walk for the MBA she completed last summer. Read More
I recently learned that I do spring wardrobe cleaning wrong, which was a big surprise to me because I didn’t know I did any spring wardrobe cleaning at all.
I’ve also been told that I say that every spring.
Apparently, there are two days each year where many items of my clothing switch closets, some are thrown away, and some are even donated. I was outraged to find this out. Read More
Among my biggest regrets in life is that I didn’t keep a journal of my earlier years.
As a writer interested in memoir, I try to remember the person I used to be, but can only do it through the prism of the person I am today. I lack the authentic source material and end up with a book report version instead of first-hand narrative accounts. Read More
In high school, we were required to do a Senior Mastery Project that explored the human condition. I did mine on professional wrestling tying into archetypal character types. I’ve since learned that it isn’t the characters that connect to the human condition, but the storytelling itself.
Wrestling is never about what has happened; the action always hinges on the suspense of what’s going to happen next. Appreciating this fact is essential to understanding why today, Wrestlemania Sunday, is the greatest entertainment day of the year. Read More
Most of the time, I have refrigerator mind, which is where my brain is just quietly humming along, kicking in and out as necessary with no external prompting needed to maintain operations.
For a while, this seemed to be increasing with my age, which worried me somewhat, that it could be a warning sign of memory loss or worse. I feared it could signal that my attention span was getting shorter or that my personal ambitions were being curtailed. Read More