My Life As A Hobby

Of all the toys a boy could have growing up, one of the worst had to be the plastic model kit. This so-called toy seemed to exist solely to prepare kids for frustration later in life. If a man ever finds himself clinging to a dead-end job just long enough to land something better, maybe he should thank those model kits. Not that it did me much good at the time—because as an eleven year-old, all I wanted was to build a model of Dracula. The first lesson a pre-adolescent learns about model kits is that looks can be deceiving, starting with the box. The Dracula package was incredible. It featured a lifelike, full-color illustration of the Lord of Transylvania, clearly preparing to bite the neck of some unsuspecting villager. Then I opened the box. Inside was a mishmash of pale gray plastic body parts, stacked haphazardly on top of one another. It looked like a miniature version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. What a letdown. And no one told me I had to paint the stupid thing. That meant a...

  Wait for a rainy, cold, black and white movie kind of afternoon. Have a box of tissues handy, then grab a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. If you’ve got time, watch Casablanca. Now, go back in time and think about a break up - the one that wounded you the most, and then ask yourself, “what song could I absolutely not listen to during that sad time of my life?” Now you have a serious candidate for my list of  break-up songs.  I’ve listed a number of my breakup songs below, almost exclusively from the sixties and seventies.  There are many great ones from the eighties onward, but this is my list.  There are probably some you don’t know. I’m sure I’ve missed some, and I’m sure I have several you don’t agree with. That’s ok - because music is so personal. It’s like asking who has the best barbecue - there’s a wide variance in the answers, and all of them are correct.  To make my list, the singer needs to sound like they were  hurt. In many cases ...

  I would guess most kids growing up today wouldn’t want anything that their parents had. We had three channels. They have about 300. We barely had black and white TV. They have color and high def. We had a single home phone that was tethered to the wall with a cord. They have one on their wrist. But we had one thing that I’m sure most of this generation is missing out on - the drive-in movie.  What a wonderful thing it was - watching a motion picture under a starry sky while you were in the comfort of your own car.  It was almost magical. Rows of cars and speakers facing a giant silver screen. Being indoors  and outdoors at the same time.  As a child, going to the drive in was a major event. My sister and I would put on our pajamas (the kind with sewn-in feet), get blankets and pillows, and head for the back seat of our 1963 Chevy Impala. Mom, always the thrifty homemaker, popped a copious amount of popcorn and placed it in a brown paper grocery bag. No n...