Stress Test

By Larry Teren

Dear Diary,

Just between you and me, I laugh at those celebrities who brag about going to psychiatrists. It’s like a birthright for them. Almost as if it is one of the prerequisites in order to become famous in show business. Me- I don’t need a shrink. I self-analyze, right?

Remember when I wrote that Ma said I needed to go to anger management class? I told her that I needed to go to impatience management class instead but that I just didn’t have the time to do it. Well, now I realize it isn’t impatience I suffer either- it’s stress.
Continue reading “Stress Test”

Austin City Limits

By Larry Teren

I’m no Charles Dickens, but I, too, have a Tale of Two Cities. My cities also have experienced the best of times as well as the worst of times. Now, if I can only get my stories serialized in a magazine like good old Charlie boy. Continue reading “Austin City Limits”

A House Divided

A House Divided

By Larry Teren

I generally try to avoid any discussion of politics in this blog site. There are two things, however, that I noticed in the last couple of days that I cannot leave alone. One is a news analyst on election night using the expression “a house divided” and the other is an idiotic article written by a smug generation x-er on a left coast print media website. Continue reading “A House Divided”

Rat Fink

Rat Fink

By Larry Teren

alansherman
If you are baby boomer, certain words and expressions conjure up an immediate association that those of other age groups cannot relate. Take for example, a very once-popular, one-word adjective that for a short time in the early 1960’s conveyed a feeling of disgust, one person to another. And that word is – rat fink!! And, of course, for any of us hatched in the 1950’s and shaped in the 1960’s, the word is associated with a famous parody song by the master of all masters- Allan Sherman. Anyone interested in hearing this melodious ingenious musical piece can click here. For the sake of accuracy, it should be noted that although it is spelled as two distinct words, it is pronounced rushed together in order to stress the significance of its usage, such as you ratfink bastard, you.      Continue reading “Rat Fink”

I Got (Loga)Rithm

By Larry Teren

Recently a Facebook friend posted that his father had celebrated his 75th birthday and wanted to give others who know him a chance to send greetings. You know that old expression, “a friend of a friend is my friend”. I guess through magic, Facebook is able to let the father see whatever greetings the son swaps with his friends.

What made this birthday announcement more than ordinary is that my friend’s father is my high school chemistry teacher from 40 or so years ago (yeah, do the math). Being forced to think back so long ago causes me to remember only a handful of incidents. (Doing the same math, I did not realize that the teacher was so young at that time because he had prematurely gray hair and acted, well- so mature.)

I do recall that Chemistry was one of the classes in which I got a better grade than others I was forced to take against my will. Those included English, Trigonometry and Home Room. I was better at Chemistry for two reasons: 1) our teacher was hip and fun to hang around. 2) my classmates were not better at understanding it than I was so the grading curve was a little lower. Take that Arthur Lafler. (If you have to ask who he is, I quit.)

There are three memories that I associate with our beloved Chemistry teacher. Continue reading “I Got (Loga)Rithm”