(For the complete SAT experience see other 3 chapters and a YouTube song parody about the SAT test!) It has been one month since I took the SATs and while awaiting my scores I have been interested to learn more about its history. It turns out that the SAT test was an outgrowth of the…
Read MoreThis spring, on an ill advised impulse, I signed up for a ladies’ ice hockey league, where random teams were formed based on the self ranking of the players. I originally had no interest, but then I was contacted directly and urged to participate. This was the first time I had ever been pursued athletically…
Read MoreFor several years friends have been recommending that I read Nora Ephron’s collection of essays called “I Feel Bad About My Neck,” saying that we have a similar writing style and that both of us seem to be pretty agreeable about making fun of ourselves. I think that they are probably right, but I have…
Read MoreA while ago I wrote about the specialized vocabulary shared by seasoned crossword puzzle aficionados – words that tend to have a lot of “e’s” in them, like epée and ewer, essential to the crossword fill surrounding the theme words. I have come to know exactly what these words mean, even though they have no…
Read MoreAlthough the seven hour car ride to our vacation spot has remained largely unchanged over the past 40 years, the context has gone through several evolutions. As kids, the absolute keyed up anticipation of summer vacation made the trip endless; with 5 kids there was endless fidgeting in the car, siblings crossing imaginary lines and…
Read MoreFor the past 50+ years I have celebrated Christmas in exactly the same way – family get togethers and toting casseroles from suburb to suburb, trying to make sure that everyone had the same quality and quantity of gifts and filling up stockings with crappy little shit. Two years ago as I was gathering stocking…
Read MoreGirls’ grade school sports in the pre Title 9 days of the late 1960s were a decidedly low key affair, and presumably were included in the curriculum on the basis of the “sound mind, sound body” principle. There was no such thing as traveling teams, no parental involvement and no aspirations for college scholarships, simply…
Read MoreFor the past 17 years Joe had rarely looked at himself in the mirror. For a while he had stopped on the way to work every morning to get a shave, but he eventually abandoned this indulgence and just grew a beard. He took a deep breath and looked straight into the mirror and at…
Read MoreFlipping through the channels one evening, I lucked into the Australian Open tennis tournament just as the announcer said, “The effortlessness of Federer’s game belies his mastery of his craft.” The replay showed Federer gliding along the baseline, flicking a lob over a flailing opponent, with gasps and applause from the adoring audience. I surfed…
Read MoreAbout 2 years ago, Costco caused a major fracas in our suburban community when they announced their intention to locate a store here. There was some effort to dress up the controversy as an environmental issue related to the number of gas pumps that were part of the store.
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