LFS: The Storyteller

"This is the end, my beautiful friend...." I posted my  first blog   piece on November 2, 2007. Today, after 165 posts and nearly 45,000 visits, I'm shutting 'er down. I'm sure at least two of you, including my late mother, will be upset by this. Mom, I'm not saying that my creative juices have dried up. In fact, my creative cup runneth over and that is why the blog must end.  I've had an adventurous life. You've read about many of my adventures on this blog. Over the years I've tried to turn these adventures into a book. I've started and stopped writing a memoir at least three times. I want to share my stories and if people find them entertaining, that's great. My real goal, however, is to wrap these stories around a message of hope - 35-years of drinking and drugging and now 20-years of sobriety. If someone reads my book and decides they can make it if that Somerstein guy made it, I will be a successful author. Abou

Hi. It’s me, Rip Van Somerstein. I haven’t posted here for a year. I’ve avoided reading, listening and watching any real or fake news for most of that time. I’ve been distracted by the single worst year of my life. That’s the past. It’s time to bring my cynical and critical eyes/fingers back to the keyboard and the so-called real world. Unfortunately it’s a lot of the same crap I left a year ago only in many cases it’s worse. What’s-his-name (whn) is still squatting in the Oval Office surrounded by his criminal buddies, many of whom have been indicted. I can’t wait to see which one will flip first. It seems like school shootings are more frequent – if that's even possible. I’m constantly seeing flags at half-staff. It sickens me. I have no thoughts and prayers going out to the victims’ families. That’s bullshit. SOMEBODY PLEASE DO SOMETHING!   Which reminds me, Congress still has its collective head up its ass with the 2018 mid-term election fast approaching. From my p