Today Is ...

Today (September 25, 2024, at home) is National Comic Book Day.

I became a big fan of Jughead comic books (digests) in the early 1990s, when I was in my early 30s. During that time (1992 to 1996), I was a reporter, writer, editor, and researcher for a weekly, international magazine on the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry. I needed to read something simplistic for a change to offset the complexity of the chemical industry, so I chose Jughead.

Jughead Jones and I are very much alike. He's lazy, awkward, clumsy, and a free spirit, plus he likes to eat, especially hamburgers, and is not popular with the ladies. He is just kind of ... "there," being somewhat superfluous.

I have been a fan of Jughead since I was a kid in the 1960s. I enjoyed the comic strips, which I still do, and The Archies Show cartoon TV series that aired for one season in 1968, when I was seven years old.

Today (September 25, 2025, at home) is National One-Hit Wonder Day. What is your favorite one-hit wonder? Mine is "Ariel" by Dean Friedman from April 1977. I was 16 years old when it was released.

Although it's about northern New Jersey in the 1960s, I can absolutely relate to it because I grew up not far away on Long Island, New York. (Both areas are quite close to New York City, so the experiences were similar.) The images in the video are from the1960s and also seemingly from the 1950s.

I like this video and the lyrics of the song because both really capture the time period, and also both somewhat remind me of my childhood, although I'm not Jewish and was decidedly younger than the guy in the song at that time. Friedman had other minor hits, but "Ariel" is by far his most famous.

https://youtu.be/WSkX2o__7VU

I like lobster, but I haven't eaten it in many years.

September 25, 2025, at home

My wonderful wife makes delicious quesadillas.

September 25, 2025, at home