Why I Write

Okay. I guess I do know why I’m writing this.

When my daughter was born in 2001, I began writing a journal for her. My mother had done a similar thing for me…but her journal was more of a listing of teachers, vacations and trips to the emergency room. My journal for Clare describes her first foods and first movements, our holidays with family, her friends at “playschool” (what we call daycare), and some plain old day to day activities. I haven’t been very good at keeping it up though.

This blog is a continuation of Clare’s journal. It’s a record for her of what she’s done, what I’ve done, what we’ll do together. It’s something for her to look back at when she’s 20, 30 or older…in whatever archaic or new technological form it may be in by then. The rest of you are here to keep me honest…and to keep me working. It’s easy to put a journal away in a drawer…it’s a lot more interesting and entertaining (for me anyway) to check out Clare’s journal online, to see who else is reading, and to get some feedback.

It seems like a common enough practice for new bloggers to post a list of 100 things about themselves. That seems pretty appropriate here. Not only will anyone reading this learn a little about who I am, but it’ll be a source for Clare to know who I am too. So here, in some particular order, are 100 things about me.

1. I was named after a TV sitcom character.
2. I am an only child.
3. I spent 19 years in Catholic schools including graduate school.
4. I am Catholic but according to the Belief-o-Matic quiz at Beliefnet my beliefs are liberal Protestant.
5. I once won a spelling bee in grade school and went on to a statewide Catholic school competition.
6. I spelled cemetery wrong.
7. I am Italian on my mother’s side.
8. I am Irish on my father’s side.
9. Our last name is actually English (a result of the English trying to populate Ireland in the seventeenth century).
10. I was an altar boy.
11. I was a boy scout.
12. I took piano lessons for about 10 years.
13. I'm a lousy piano player.
14. I’d like to play guitar but never got past learning a few chords.
15. I love television.
16. One of my favorite shows ever is The Waltons.
17. I was a geek in high school.
18. I started college as a biology/pre-med major.
19. I dropped out of organic chemistry.
20. I graduated college as a Spanish major.
21. I spent a summer living in Madrid.
22. I spent two spring breaks in Puerto Rico.
23. I don’t speak Spanish very well anymore.
24. I acted in lots of plays and musicals in high school and college.
25. I also produced, designed and built sets, stage managed and worked backstage.
26. I got chicken pox from a girl during a show in college when I was 20.
27. It was so bad I had to be hospitalized in the school’s infirmary for about a week.
28. I went to graduate school for a degree in theater management and production.
29. I interned and worked in professional Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters.
30. I wrote a thesis about not-for-profit theaters producing on Broadway.
31. I never made money working in theater.
32. I went to law school.
33. I published a legal note in support of the publicity rights of Joe Montana.
34. I passed the bar exam in two states.
35. I passed the New York bar exam by writing songs to remember laws.
36. I practiced law for seven years.
37. My practice included entertainment law, corporate law, banking law, debtor and creditor law, and bankruptcy.
38. I don’t currently practice law.
39. I currently work in a theater.
40. I manage productions and facilities.
41. I love my job now (usually).
42. I’ve worked in a grocery store, the automotive and sports departments of a retail store, a bank, a factory, a theater, an arts advocacy organization, a hospital, a court, and a law firm.
43. My father died of pancreatic cancer when I was 22.
44. He was sick for several months and I didn’t handle it well…there was a lot of denial.
45. He got sick shortly after I deleted an email that claimed it would bring good luck if I forwarded it.
46. I don’t believe that forwarding or deleting chain emails changes anything.
47. I believe in prayer.
48. I believe in fate.
49. I believe in karma.
50. I believe that everything happens for a reason.
51. I’ve lived in three different states.
52. I lived in Manhattan for 8 years.
53. I loved walking through every part of the city.
54. I’d walk for 100 blocks rather than take the subway so I’d have money to go out.
55. I’d get my hair cut in the cheapest places I could find including an old hotel lobby and in the Columbus Circle subway station.
56. The first apartment I lived in on my own was smaller than my current office.
57. I currently live in the town I grew up in.
58. I've been married for 7 years.
59. Our first apartment was in a basement.
60. Our second apartment was in a “luxury community;” this was Clare’s first home.
61. Our third home was a condo.
62. Our fourth and current home is our first house.
63. I didn’t own my first car until I was 30 (because I lived in Manhattan in my 20’s).
64. I give my cars names.
65. My current vehicle is John Boy…the Envoy.
66. My wife and I went to high school together.
67. We never dated in high school.
68. We got married 12 years after high school.
69. My wife is my best friend.
70. I’ve written poems to my wife.
71. I’ve written a full-length play that got some interest but was never produced or published.
72. I’ve written a children’s book that received honorable mention in a statewide competition.
73. I love staying up late.
74. But my daughter turned me into a morning person.
75. I hate when days get shorter.
76. I hate winter.
77. I love summer.
78. I love swimming.
79. I love body boarding.
80. I love playing in the sand.
81. I want to learn to surf and sail.
82. I think that anything over 40 degrees is warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt.
83. I rarely wear socks.
84. My favorite color is green.
85. I love going to the movies.
86. And getting popcorn.
87. My favorite movies are Star Wars and True Romance.
88. I’ve always wanted to run a marathon.
89. I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo.
90. I am a New York Yankees fan.
91. I went to my first Yankees game in 1978.
92. I went to the World Series parade in 1996.
93. I haven’t been to a game since my daughter was born.
94. I can’t wait to take her.
95. I’m a long range planner.
96. I like to make lists.
97. I’m borderline obsessive compulsive.
98. I’m a perfectionist.
99. But I sometimes don’t finish things that I start.