All articles filed in Reflection

I need to tell you this story. It’s all true. And nearly 45 years after it happened, it still hurts inside. As many blog readers know, I had a very difficult childhood. The home life was tough, and classmates in the South Colonie School District (otherwise known as Schools 7, 9 and 10 of The…

Preparations are set. My 2013 Chevrolet Cruze “Dracourage” is filled with a full tank of gas. My satellite radio station is cued up to SiriusXM’s “Holly” channel, so I can stream tons of holiday music on my travels. I’ve got my Equinox baseball cap, and a fresh clean face mask for COVID-19 safety. Oh, and…

It’s Thursday morning, and for some reason, I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. I think it’s another round of stress-induced insomnia. For me, insomnia happens when I’m over-anticipating something, or a personal event has me all twisted up in angst. Then, in the middle of the night, I’m awake,…

As a kid, I enjoyed visiting the New York State Museum. At the time, the Museum had moved from its previous location at the State Education Building on Washington Avenue, and was now in a modern building. There were dioramas of life in the Adirondacks in the new building, and they were just adding exhibits…

In the end, Crash Moreau lived his life the way he always wanted. Whether it was on fire, or surviving a horrific car crash, he performed stunts and thrills for decades, at county fairs and stunt shows throughout the Northeast. Example. Here’s a video of him from 2011, at the Orange County Fair. And if…

It’s 1:30 in the morning, and I’ve been awake for the past two hours. Bad nightmare. More like a flashback than a nightmare. It was a moment from my teenage years. Approximately the spring of 1978, if we’re being reasonably accurate. At that time, I was attending school at Lisha Kill Junior High School, a…

I know there will be a ton of Father’s Day photos on Facebook today. Many of my Facebook friends will either celebrate their fathers (living or dead), or they’ll be in pictures with their kids. And that’s all fine and honorable. Longtime readers of my blog will know that for me, Father’s Day is a…

Even though the words were written two years ago on someone else’s social media account, I knew who they were aimed at. And they stung like barbed wire. This is what they said. “Some people like to write blogs. They even make it the most important thing in their lives. You read what they say…

It took a very, very long time for me to appreciate Chinese food. At least to the point where I can go into a Chinese restaurant and order something without worry. That initial distrust of Chinese food came thanks to my stepfather. I shall explain. At one point in time, mostly between 1971 and 1973,…