The Madness of King George

Somehow, this week's installment of Tom the Dancing Bug seems so much more spot-on after today's news:



Happy Independence Day, everyone ::shudder::

It's my meme and I'll change it if I want to....

You know the basics. She asks for volunteers to be questioned, I volunteer. She asks five of them, I answer. I ask you to volunteer to be questioned, you volunteer. I ask five of them, you answer.

And so on
And so on And so on....

1) What made you want to become a lawyer?

Long-term and short-term causes here. Long-term, realizing that an English degree and a journalism specialty weren't likely to pay the fairly staggering debt I'd gotten into while obtaining that degree and specialty, and that law schools just wanted an open mind and good writing/analytical abilities. By late college, two specific things kicked the butt further along that way: reading Scott Turow's book One L and having it seem not all so horrible, and taking the LSAT and doing well despite having the bottom of a whole page torn out of my exam book when I opened it.

2) What did you want to be when you grew up?

I lacked for role models- Dad had a classic Ward Cleaver job where nobody quite knew what he did, and Mom never worked outside the home- so probably teaching was the only thing I had any notion of ever wanting to do. I've done it in sprints and spurts in between legal gigs; the consensus is, I'm a decent lecturer on an occasional basis, but I'm rather poisonous teaching and grading an entire semester-long course.

3) Tell us about the very first baseball game you ever attended.

Forty years ago, two weeks from this Friday. July 20, 1967, at Shea against the fellow-expansionist Astros. Their pitcher was Don Wilson, who you might have heard of (he died under very sad circumstances a mere eight years later); ours was Dick Selma, who you haven't heard of if you're lucky. They whupped us 7-0. It was Eleanor's 11th birthday, although that fact wouldn't be known to me for another 20 years. And a year minus a day ago, on July 21, 2006, the Mets played the Astros at Shea- and beat them by the same 7-0 score. Justice takes time sometimes.

4) Best Mets team ever?

The '86 championship team. Some would say there was more raw talent on the ones either side of it- Gooden had by far his best year in '85, and David Cone didn't join the rotation until '87- but in terms of chemistry and opportunity, not to mention drama (sorry, Sox fans), nothing gets better than that kind of comeback down to your last strike.

5) Say you were elected County Executive of our fine county. What would your first official act be?

Check Joel's top drawer for a harikari knife? Nah, too messy. I'd propose a budget that would share revenue more equitably with the city, towns, villages and schools, but only on the condition that they join in a real consolidation effort to eliminate the current idiocy here which, literally, has almost exactly the same number of governmental units in Erie County as there are square miles. Either that or give me a square mile around my house and name me king.

6) So you actually remembered one of your favorite peoples' birthdays on time and were gonna post on time but she went out of town?!? What's with that?

Ask her yourself; I think you're the one who introduced me to her. She's by far at the top of all the lists you could put a Friend on here- sweet, funny, whip-smart, loving in all the ways that matter to crotchety Old Married Guy (which is to say, of animals), and despite all available evidence, a year older.  So whether you ask me for questions or not, be sure to wish belated birthday hugs to the Kimmy with the Kimmiest, bluesilverkdg!