The Crayon Box Time Machine
One of the hardest things about growing up is striking the right balance between conformity and nonconformity. Every person who’s ever lived has an innate desire to fit in. We are, after all, social...
Tagged: friendship
Meeting Friends through Meetup
Somehow, in the six years I’ve been doing this blog, I neglected to write about a topic that’s near and dear to my heart: Meetup.com. I’ve met almost all of my friends through the...
Growing Up with the Cub Scouts
There wasn’t a whole lot to do in Dupo, Illinois back in the late 1980s / early 1990s. Thankfully, I got involved in Cub Scouts. Most of the boys in my core group of...
Katamari Ball of Friendship
In case you’ve never played it, Katamari Damacy is a video game with a simple premise. You start with a small ball that can magically “pick up” objects smaller than itself. As you pick...
The Death of a Friend
My good friend Rachel Bjorklund passed away yesterday after a car accident in Indiana. Rachel stood out with her bright red hair and her quiet but acerbic wit. I met her a couple of...
The End of Long Lost Friends
When I was twelve years old, my family moved to Michigan. I had to say goodbye to all my friends in Dupo, Illinois. A few months later, they wrote me a packet of letters...
Friendship by Proximity
When you’re a little kid, it’s easy to make friends. For the most part, your best friend is the kid next door. Or the kid who sits next to you in kindergarten class. But...
The Dive Bar
Franziskaner “Can I get a Franziskaner?” “A what?” “Franziskaner,” said my friend Jerry. “Franziskaner Hefeweizen.” “I’m not familiar with that,” said the waitress, who was 30 going on 65. “What’s in it?” “It’s not...
Dallas is a Moveable Feast
I’m a big Ernest Hemingway fan. While my favorite one of his books is The Sun Also Rises, I’m also a big fan of his posthumous memoir, A Moveable Feast. And in fact, that...
Another Dead-End Date
“I had a date the other night.” “Really?” “Don’t sound so surprised, Fred. It’s been known to happen.” “I didn’t mean it like that, Bob. I haven’t had a date myself in over two...
