A Load of BS

  They say a picture is worth a thousand words. To quote a dearly departed songwriter, if you could read my mind, what a tale my thoughts could tell.  The catch is I don't remember some of the finer details, nor do I want to.  The photo you see above here was the last picture taken from what would become my last author signing event. I learned from my friends and colleagues to leave a piece of your work behind as a way to thank the hotel staff for their hospitality.  I didn't know it at the time, but maybe this was a case of foreshadowing. I always loved using that tool in my stories. I'm a lifelong pro wrestling fan. When I found this photo yesterday, the first thought that popped into my head was that of a veteran grappler ceremoniously taking off his boots and leaving them in the ring. This is a time-honored tradition and a clear sign that he has just competed in his final bout.  I didn't realize it until last night. This photo symbolizes me leaving my boots ...

There are landmark days that stand out in people’s minds, for a variety of reasons. Your birthday, your wedding day, your high school graduation day, or the night you drank the blue liquor and nearly blacked out at a bachelor party. Authors tend to commemorate these occasions by releasing a book on their birthday, or perhaps re-releasing a book on the same day for continuity purposes. I published my first book on February 26, 2016. Even then, I wasn’t an author. I was simply a guy who wrote a book. Some years later, I published another book on April 20, 2023. For all intents and purposes, that was my first day as a “real” author. However, the day that truly sticks out in my mind is July 29, 2023. Facebook likes to tell you what happened "On This Day". You see, a year ago, I boarded a plane to visit my family in Florida and enjoy a trip to Walt Disney World. I landed at approximately 1:30pm, walked for a thousand years through a brand-new concourse at Orlando International Air...

I should be working on my newsletter right now, but I wanted to blog instead. I'm actually multitasking; I'm listening to an interview with an author friend as we speak. As fate would have it, I found an unpublished draft on here from March. Wouldn't you know it, this is exactly what I want to address here and now.  I often look at people and wonder what drives them. What makes them great? What makes them different? What makes them keep going?  The answer is usually considered a positive trait. Determination, focus, love, desire. While all of this holds true for me, those answers also come from a dark place.  The primary one is fear. Fear of losing. Fear of failure. Fear of being inadequate. Most people know I deal with High-Functioning Anxiety and Depression. Imagine caring too much about what's not important and not enough about what is. Imagine sabotaging yourself and then falling to pieces when you lose. That's the genesis of it.  The term "neurospicy"...

On this rainy Tuesday, many of our young friends in New York are going back to school. Football season is upon us. Thankfully, hockey season is fast approaching as well. This is the time of year where I look back on my time at University of New Haven. You know, the "best years of my life" that I'm still paying for? We all know some people who are venturing off to college for the first time. I'm here to tell you it will be fine... just as long as your parents have money to send you. Back in my day, I had to wait for the check to come in the mail, the mail that took an extra two days to go through the UNH mailroom. It was either that or go to a random convenience store to collect via Western Union.  It will be fine as long as you have a car. This doesn't apply to those who go to John Jay and take mass transit. It does apply to those who go to school upstate or in New England. Don't rely on others to drive you. Don't rely on the bus to take you to the mall. Y...

I'm not going to lie. I forgot I had this blog. I'm not even sure if people still blog. Well, I'm going to do so, because I need to. Twitter is too toxic for me. Don't get me wrong. I've met some great people through the bird app. They are the only reason why I still have it. I've recently realized how dangerous it is for my mental health (and, for that matter, my relationships with my friends) to tweet a spur-of-the-moment missive and wait for three random people to like it and nobody to comment. It's designed to make you beg for validation that will never come. It's a drug and we know what happens when you become addicted to drugs. You crave it more and more until you become overbearing and self- loathing. It only gets worse from there.  Maybe this blog is the rehab I need. I used to write a lot. In fact, for those of you whom I've recently met, I wrote a book. Yes, a real book. It's available on Amazon and everything. It totally sucks. No self...

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting the new state-of-the-art studios of 88.7 FM, WNHU. It was impressive seeing new equipment being put to use in a renovated house. The annual alumni meeting was held in a nice, newly- constructed basement. It was a far cry from the old days where I spent the majority of my four years in a dilapidated basement. Allegedly, a deceased janitor walked the halls and ghosts of old orphans from the 1950s bounced dodgeballs in the bowels of the building. We were encouraged to share our experiences and stories of the past. It's hard to encapsulate four years of memories in an email without the reader losing his or her focus. I did my best to summarize my life at WNHU to the new station manager. Here's what I wrote: In September of 1994, I walked through those glass doors in the basement of Maxcy Hall and began the greatest four years of my life at WNHU. I loved sports and new alternative music, two distinct entities that garnered the la...

As a baseball fan, the beginning of every new year brings the anticipation of the announcement of a new Hall of Fame class. For the past few years, I have yearned for that moment when Mike Piazza's name is called. Since 2013, yours truly, along with other Mets fans, have cried foul as rumors and innuendo have kept Piazza from his rightful place amongst the game's immortals. It appears that, finally, the haters have been swayed by a lack of proof and an infusion of common sense. As reported via social media, Piazza has about 90% of the support of all writers on Twitter. There's a good chance that, at this time tomorrow, he will be among the newest inductees at Cooperstown. I will be amongst the many basking in the glory as the first ever Mets position player is enshrined. I will watch from my home, avoiding the annual apocalypse that overtakes Otsego County. I shall bide my time until my wife and I travel to upstate New York a few weeks later to prostrate in front of Mr....

Well, look at what the cat coughed up! Keith Hernandez calling the Mets games in San Diego this weekend has made me recall his lowest, and most bigoted, moment as a broadcaster. Once upon a time, there was a massage therapist named Kelly Calabrese, who was essentially a de facto assistant trainer for the Padres. Trainers are, of course, allowed to be in the dugout. The problem was somebody forgot to tell Keith... "Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair?" "What's going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout."... "I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout..." This created quite a stir, which led to a swift yet awkward on-air apology by the former Met. In a bizarre and ironic twist, it was then-Padres CEO Sandy Alderson who fired the loudest shot .... "The San Diego Padres are disappointed in the remarks of Keith Hernandez on a Mets telecast ...

I would like to direct all of you good people to a fine gentleman's debut article on The Sporting News. For those of you who know pro wrestling, you probably know Scott Keith. He is a longtime scribe with several books to his credit. He's also famous for his rants and his other literary creations via Scott's Blog of Doom . I give the man some free publicity because I had the honor and privilege of being featured in his premiere article, in the form of an anonymous question in bold italics. :) Presenting The Sporting News Column #1 . Enjoy!

I am blessed in one regard. Every time I write something worthwhile in my blog and give my wife or my friends a sneak preview, they tell me what an amazing writer I am. Believe me, the compliments are much appreciated. They often wonder why I don’t write for a living. This is where I run into problems. For starters, how does one find a suitable outlet for a rant disguised as an “article”, written by a “professional writer”? How does one get paid for writing? A while back, I wrote the occasional sports “ranticle” (if you will) for Bleacher Report. Of course, I wasn’t paid for my contributions, but I received plenty of exposure. Some of it was positive, like Kendrys Morales’ offensive prowess. Another issue was the quantity of my submissions. The main reason why I’ve never pursued a career in writing is because I can’t just write for the sake of writing. If nothing motivates me to the point of putting fingers to keyboard, what do I do? I didn’t want the quality of my work to suffer b...

So, I started writing my book recently. I don't want to say too much about it, or reveal its contents. I will say this. Part of the book is a story that I've been forming in my head, wanting to write for several years now. Another part is one that I am loosely basing on the life of an acquaintance. From there, I'm adding autobiographical elements. The story is more or less a setup for the overall thesis, which will be revealed at the end. All in all, I believe it will be a book worth writing. I have no timetable for it's completion. It'll take however long it takes. As long as it's finished, that's all that counts. To be continued...

I know today is a football day, but I've just come across an amazing story worthy of a best seller and/or a Hollywood film. Wouldn't you know, she has a book and a screenplay, but has faced multiple rejections. Her name is Shellie Blum. Please feel free to check her out! http://www.linkedin.com/pub/shellie-blum/27/560/106 http://shellieblum.com/home.html

So, here the deal. I asked the nice people at Bleacher Report to delete my profile a few weeks ago. I figured that I didn't know if/when I'd be able to contribute anything substantial. I work. I work out. I watch the Mets suck. I do other things. After all that, I still need to talk to my wife. ;-) I love to write, but I've never been one to write just for the sake of writing. If I did that, I would put undo pressure on myself to post an article once a week. Without proper motivation, it would be crap like "Top Ten Mets to Wear Number 50", and I don't want to write crap. Thus, I have unearthed my new & improved blog. I can post whatever whenever. It'll be the quality of writing that I want it to be. This brings me to one more dilemma. My Bleacher Report articles are no longer available on their website. Since I don't want my old works of art to die in vain, I'll be looking for old cached versions of my articles and posting them here. If you...