It's all in a name.

Ok. There comes a time when things must be explained, such as the title of this page: "All things Skippy".

Well we all have a youthful past. If you knew me you would know that I pretty much have never met a person who was not my friend. I am a very lenient person that pretty much gets along with everyone I meet until as the song goes, "he done me wrong". It takes a bit of effort to get on my bad side. With that said, in my youth, that being high school...(insert dark age remarks here)...I had friends from all over town. Many of whom I spent more time with than those from my own school, which happened to be well know for kids with a privilaged upbringing. So much so that it was locally known as "the bubble". Therefore, many of the kids were a little stuck up and the epitome of the preppie attitude that pervaded a certain part of the city at that time. For many of my contemporaries it was a source of pride, one that set us apart from the rest of the kids in town.

Though I am proud of the education that the school provided me I was not too much onto driving the right car or wearing the right clothes or having the most poplular friends at the expense of being friends with other people whom I enjoyed. Therefore, I hung around with lots of different people.

Well, I started playong softball in a league about this time. It was an all guys squad, but we had a number of girls, ranging from girlfriends to just friends, that would come and cheer us on. Well, they had the bright idea of having our knicknames added to our jerseys instead of our real names. I had never gotten a nickname before...

My name does not lend itself to easy alternatives such as: Roho for Rozales, Arod for Alex Rodriguez, Mighty Mo for Mike Madono, etc.

Or my physical stature such as: Too Tall, Manster, Chubs, or thankfully, Shorty, Little Big Mouth, etc.

And since nicknames are never created by the individual but are given by their friends, or sometime detractors, (One famous example in the cycling world would be Marco Pantani, who wanted to be called "il Pirate" by the media for being a Pirate on the bike. Instead, he was know by many as "elephantante" or "little elephant" for his rather widely projecting cranial appendages...his ears.), I could not give myself one.

Therefore, for the lack of better options and from my schools reputation, I got the name Skip (much better than Biff or Buff) and it translated into my other passion, sailing, as Skipper. However, kids being kids, it degenerated into the girls calling me Skippy.

There it is. Good or Bad. I still have freinds that in weak moment or drunken stoupers still call me by this name. And, I am still freinds with the two girls that initiated that name. Oh well. Terms of Endearment, I guess.