Me and My Life
stcynic | June 21, 2005This Saturday, we are having a multiple-family reunion of sorts at the home of my parents. We are celebrating four birthdays simultaneously - my brother Rick's 35th, my brother Mike's 45th, my brother Jack's 50th, and most importantly, my father's 70th. All of my family, my father's family, my stepmother's family and dozens of friends will gather together for the first time ever in one place. The night before last, as I laid in bed, it occured to me that I should propose a toast to my father and I began to think of all the things I wanted to say. I could not stop my mind from thinking about…
stcynic | May 21, 2005Chalk up another prediction for Lynn. I told her the other day that I saw a smoker that I really wanted and came *this* close to buying it, but didn't. The first thing she said was, "You'll buy it before long." Hey, I waited three days! This morning I got to thinking that since I won so much playing poker this week, it's almost like I'm not really buying it, the other players in my game are buying it for me as a gift, right? Okay, just humor me and say yes. So I went over and bought it this morning.
Actually, I didn't buy the same smoker that I looked at the other day, I bought a different…
stcynic | December 11, 2004I'm headed to Lansing today for two things: a board meeting for Michigan Citizens for Science and a reunion dinner with some of my old friends from debate. A few of the people who are going to be there I haven't seen in 14 years, so this is going to be a great little nostalgia trip. Hope everyone has a good day, and I'll be back to answer comments tomorrow.
stcynic | December 8, 2004The latest update in my 6 month nostalgia tour, which has brought numerous old and dear friends back into my life, is the best update of all. I've mentioned before that I used to coach debate when I was in college. I coached at Okemos High School, just ten minutes or so from MSU. At our first organizational meeting, we had about 40 kids show up who wanted to join the debate team. By the second week, we were down to 5. By the second year, only two. See, I knew I was only going to be there for 2 or 3 years, so I wasn't really concerned about building a long-term program. I didn't have the time…
stcynic | August 13, 2004One of the most influential people in my life was a teacher, Louis Johnson. He was my French teacher my junior and senior years of high school, but I knew him from conversations before I decided to take the class. He was exactly what a teacher should be - learned, passionate, consumed with the subject he taught but with an incredibly broad mind and education that allowed him to integrate his teaching with the real world. He understood, for example, that teaching French well required not only teaching how to conjugate verbs, but that we also had to learn about the history, literature, religion…
stcynic | August 1, 2004I spent a great day yesterday visiting with old friends in two different shifts. First, I went down to MSU to spend a few hours with my old friends Will and Biza, who are brother and sister and in some ways like a little brother and sister to me. When I coached the debate team at Okemos High school from 87-90 while I was in college, they were the top debate team at East Lansing, so in some ways they were a rival team. But their coach was terminally clueless and they had far outgrown anything he could teach them, so they often traveled with my team and we all kind of worked together and became…
stcynic | July 21, 2004I would like to introduce my readers to an old friend that I have had the good fortune to get reacquainted with recently. His name is Aaron Dworkin and he is the founder and president of the Sphynx Organization, a non-profit group that helps black and latino students find a place in the world of classical music through the funding of outreach and educational programs, scholarships and internships. I lost track of Aaron and have been out of touch with him for the past 10 years or so and I'm very pleased to find him again, and to see that he has followed through on his extraordinary promise.…
stcynic | May 6, 2004In the first installment of About Me, I listed 10 random things about myself. Now I feel the need to reel off 10 more.
11. I actually like to watch pro wrestling. I don't do it often, and I've never ordered a pay per view or anything. But if I'm flipping channels and come across it, I can get sucked in. Yes, I'm entirely aware of how pathetic that is, thanks.
12. I actually tried wrestling when I was in the 7th grade, freestyle (as opposed to Greco-Roman; don't ask me what the difference is, I don't know). I was, quite simply, the worst wrestler in the history of the known universe. I…
stcynic | April 5, 2004I told this story during a real poker game the other day and thought someone might find it amusing to write about it here. The story took place on my first trip to Vegas, about 10 years ago. We were staying at Treasure Island and back then, Treasure Island had a poker room, which is now gone. One night I'm playing a little 7 card stud game and into the game comes Jane, and this is her story. In order for you to understand the story, I have to paint a mental picture of Jane.
Jane was about 60 years old, I'd guess, with a gleaming white afro. On this particular day, she was wearing a pair of…
stcynic | March 31, 2004Following in the footsteps of John Scalzi, I have been chosen to contribute to the Detroit News Weblog for the next month. I will be posting there on a daily or near-daily basis, just brief entries about the political campaign and politics in general. Feel free to drop by and tell me I'm full of it, or read some of the other folks they have blogging there.
Yes, it's yet another thing to distract me from posting here, but I'll try and keep all of the balls in the air at once.
stcynic | March 27, 2004This is my favorite time of the year. The beginning of springtime, with the temperatures going up and the birds chirping and the longer days, coincides with the one sporting event I really go crazy for - the NCAA basketball tournament. I'm a huge college basketball fan, one of those people who knows the names of the top players in the current high school sophomore class and who is recruiting them.
My favorite team is the Duke Blue Devils, which I know is cliche` (they're like the New York Yankees of college basketball), but I'm anything but a bandwagon fan. I became a Duke fan in my early…
stcynic | March 22, 2004The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies were last night and I got to watch the immortal Bob Seger get inducted. I generally have little use for Kid Rock, who gave the induction speech for Seger, but he was actually funny. and dead on accurate when he said that Seger had paid more dues than the entire current Top 40 artists combined. I watched the ceremony with my brother, with whom I share, along with our father, a single favorite rock and roll album of all time - Bob Seger Live Bullet.
When I was a kid growing up, that album was on in our house every single day, and I'm not…
stcynic | March 11, 2004To those of you who come here to read my views on science and religion and politics, this post will probably come as something of a shock. But in the process of dealing with a very painful situation, my thoughts have turned inward. That turning inward is fueled also by the fact that next week will be the 7th anniversary of my mother's death. And it is that story that I feel compelled to tell.
My mother had quite a life. She gave birth to her first child, my brother Jack, at the age of 16. Jack's birthday would forever be a bittersweet day for her, however, because her father died in a car…
stcynic | March 4, 2004My oldest and dearest friend, Rick, recently got the most unexpected news. Rick has never really had a family like the rest of us have. His biological father left his mother when she was pregnant with him and he has never met him (they now live in the same city and Rick knows where he lives, but has no interest in seeing him. I can't blame him.) and his mother died when he was only 4. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, who he grew up calling mom and dad. His grandma/mom died when he was around 11 or 12 and his grandfather was in poor health. He went to live with an aunt and moved to…