25 Random Things....

I'm not big on fads, but I was intrigued when I got a "25 Random Things About Me" from a friend on Facebook. I thought it was a challenging exercise, so I did it. I know that sometimes it’s sent “chain letter style”, with encouragement to the recipients to write one. I did not send it that way on Facebook, and I would not post it that way on my blog. However, considering that some of my blog readers know me a bit, and some not so much, here it is......

25. I have a passport, but have never had to use it.

24. My father had a sister who was 26 years older than him, who died at age 17 as a nurse in World War I, nine years before he was born.

23. I can drive a stick shift car, and drove my Bug back and forth from Texas....twice.

22. When I was in high school I had mono, and missed three months of my senior year.

21. During college I worked two summers loading and unloading trucks at a leather warehouse on Spring Street in Soho.

20. In Forest Hills Little League, they used to have a system where boys could be "drafted" by a "major league" team (up to age 12). Each team had points they used to draft, and once you were drafted, if you made the "majors", you were that teams property. You could be drafted as young as age 9. When I was 11 and my brother Brian was 9, we were drafted as a "brother package" for the then record number of points. I was told the record stood for many years. Brian was a fantastic player. By the time he was 12, his team ("Breakstone") went undefeated and won the championship.

19. I decided to go to Stony Brook after reading a book called "The Underground Guide to the College of Your Choice". In that book, Stony Brook was described as "a freaky campus where the dorms are like brothels".

18. The first concert I ever went to was....The New Riders of the Purple Sage. It was at Queens College, I went with my friend Ronnie.

17. In the late 60's, for two straight seasons I went to every Jet home game at Shea Stadium.....by SNEAKING IN.

16. I played the string bass in the Junior High School orchestra. I even took lessons in the summer, but stopped when other kids in summer school stole my money.....RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY DAD!!!!! (who had just dropped me off)

17. I played roller hockey as a kid, and can still roller skate pretty well.

16. All my life I was really skinny, and now my whole family gets on my case for being fat.

15. I love country music.

14. When I opened my own practice right out of law school, I felt like I was faking being a lawyer. That feeling finally left about a month ago.

13. So far I've survived a heart attack, cancer, and had some other "challenges" in my life. I was once shocked when someone said I've had some bad luck. IT HAD NEVER OCCURRED TO ME!!!

12. I'm really good at solving other people's unsolvable problems. This skill does not pay as well as it should.

11. I'm writing a novel. Am I getting ahead of myself by knowing who will play the leads in the movie?

10. Fate is real. In 2006 I had been diagnosed with throat cancer. The day I found out, a white dove came and sat on our air conditioner. It didn't move for 36 hours. The second day we saw some neighbors walking their dog, with a second little white dog we had never seen before. We found out they had the little guy in "foster care" after he had been abandoned at Kennedy airport. We had been talking about getting a dog, and I wanted to show the family (and myself) that I expected to stick around. I looked at the white dove on the windowsill and said, "I think we are SUPPOSED to adopt that dog". We named him "Dov". Dov has meant more to our family than words could capture. Fate is real.

9. My mother was born in Berlin, Germany in 1932, and came to the U.S. in 1938. I've known a lot of people in my life, and I realize I'm prejudiced, but.....greatest person I have ever known....by far.

8. Back in the late 80's, I represented country music star K.T. Oslin in a civil case where her dog bit the ear off her vet's assistant. She was unknown prior to this time, and became famous during the case. After we won, not only did I get paid, I got to see her at Carnegie Hall, with Clint Black as her opening act.

7. I am not a religious person, but maintaining the continuity of Judaism strikes me as important. We sent Rebecca to Solomon Schechter School for grades K-8, hoping she would feel a part of something worth continuing. I think this succeeded. We had a secondary reason for sending her there....to make friends and become part of a community. In this, we succeeded beyond our expectations.

6. My brother (Brian) is a harness racing trainer. He drove over 300 winning races as a driver, but no longer drives due to an injury. He started for the Forest Hills High School basketball team (that's a pretty high level of play), and also pitched, caught and played shortstop for the baseball team. That stuff is all cool, but even cooler is that you would be hard pressed to ever meet a nicer, more decent person.

5. My birthday is the same as the year I was born 1/9/57.

4. When Emilie was about 4 years old, we went to the "Option Institute" for assistance in addressing her "issues". We gained a different world view, and were able to do an 8 hour a day home school program for her, with 25 recruited volunteers who we trained and supervised, for a year and a half. Sometimes when I think about it, I still can't believe we did that.

3. On December 27, 1999 (approximately, but who can remember such things?) I was featured in an article on the front page of the New York Law Journal, where I was called "The King of Queens".

2. One of the greatest joys in my life is reading my daughter Rebecca's writing, and talking to her about anything and everything.

1. Life is a series of decisions, large and small. In my freshman year of college, I lost my keys in the laundry room and some funky chick from upstairs found them. I decided to take the advice of my hallmate Joe Norbury (a 23 year old freshman Marine veteran), and asked the funky chick out. I have now been on a 34 year date that gets better every day......with the love of my life.