Well, the meister got the “Welcome to our blog” part right.  Most of what followed was a bit dodgy.  It was actually the middle of the sixth grade when I first met my lifelong pal at the school bus stop where he was having his clothes physically removed by several local toughs who had apparently taken exception to the meister’s boastful claims that he could recite pie to fifty places.  Not that the meister couldn’t back it up, it’s just that the guys we grew up with tended to believe that anybody that smart deserved to be left naked and crying at the bus stop.  The scene I saw unfolding before me that day would  be played out repeatedly over the years fueled in large measure by the meister’s 160+ IQ which made him something of an intellectual square peg in the pedestrian round hole which was our small working class Long Island neighborhood. 

Fortunately for the meister, the “athletically puny” new kid on the block would prove to be his salvation.  Where meister’s geekish ways tended to set him apart from the crowd, my athletic prowess and “regular guy” personality granted me immediate acceptance into the upper echelons of “street” society.  As the meister and I became friends, I was able to introduce him into that society and eventually, because of our association, a slow assimilation process began to occur for my hapless friend.  Gradually the beat downs and verbal abuse began to decline and the meister was able to gain a measure of acceptance in the neighborhood…sorta.

My career as an audiovisual rental and production entrepreneur was another source of regret for my old buddy.  While I was out grabbing for the brass ring risking all in the competitive world of small business ownership, the meister was content to play it safe.  If “rising to the top of my game” means pulling a paycheck and remaining a small fish in a big pond, then I guess you could say the meister did rise to the top of his game.

Reading the same stories from complete opposite ends of the perspective spectrum might lead one to believe that one of us is lying.  To that, I solemnly promise to expose all fabrications,    hyperbole, embellishments, revisionist history and general delusions of grandeur that the meister attempts to pass off as factual information. 

Enjoy the ride