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I'm an avid tenpin bowler, having returned to league play in 2008 after about 15 years away; I won the monthly house tournament @ Westgate Lanes in Oct. 1989 and cashed in the 2021 state senior tournament. League highs are a 288 game and a 707 series, with a 290 game bowled during open bowling. I also write a blog (mostly) about the local bowling scene (homepage link) and serve on the Bristol-Plymouth USBC Board of Directors, managing their Facebook page. I am also a member of the International Bowling Media Association (IBMA), which accords me votes for that organization's Bowlers of the Year and (due to my status as a veteran bowling media member) the USBC Hall of Fame (on the national Superior Performance ballot).
This website recently became special when an older half sister I had only heard rumors about contacted me through the site looking for me. I look forward to watching her daughter bowl Special Olympics every year now.
I recently reconnected on Facebook with Ms. Varrieur, whose journalism English elective I took junior year, and what she taught I've been able to apply nearly daily now. :)
A bit more recently, I've been involved with Bill Hogan (BHS Class of 1975) by assisting with various Brockton tourism projects, particularly researching the city's rich sports history, leading to the creation of a new Brockton Athletic Hall of Fame, the first members of which were inducted in 2019. Other civic organizations I'm involved with in the city are the Lions Club and the Executive Board of the Brockton Library Foundation. Of course, I'm also a Brockton "superfan", supporting everything in the city whenever I'm able, and, especially, this now includes Brockton FC United, one of the best amateur soccer clubs in the nation.
In 2020, I was appointed secretary of the Brockton High School Alumni Association, my duties of which include those of social media manager, a "dream job" I would have never expected, and one working with the bowlers has helped me prepare for. I hope to keep the alumni informed on what's happening at BHS, and, in turn, the students on what our alumni are doing, to keep them motivated. I've grown fond of using the #BoxersForever hashtag in posts about the alumni, and, for me, it really is true. ❤️🖤
Two things came back for me in the COVID pandemic, one of which was video gaming, and the Star Wars space sim interest in particular. Since my entry into the online world, almost, I've been associated with perhaps the oldest video gaming organization online, now known as Renegade Wing, formed around interest in the older X-Wing PC game series and the newer EA game, Star Wars: Squadrons. Even though my health currently poses challenges to actual gameplay, I've been a valued member, finding many of the "veteran" members of the old online squadrons and letting them know we reorganized as Renegade Wing.
The second, paradoxically, was karaoke, which was an activity that started in the live world, but that I had my interest in renewed because it could be done online, primarily on the Zoom videoconferencing platform. I've made many new online friends among the hosts and performers, and the reps online have even helped my live act, most of which these days takes place at Ben's PourHouse in Avon. Being a performer who is also aware of the social media, I've posted some of my performances on Facebook, both on my own profile and a dedicated performer page. Later last year, I had the honor of re-opening one of Boston's great karaoke destinations, Limelight, under the new name of Viva Karaoke. Since I see that I can only post YouTube videos, I'll see if I can copy my content on other sites (Facebook, Smule) to my new-ish Boxer Rebellion Productions channel, which has some karaoke music video I've created recently.
