Ten Golden Moments chronicles the life of broadcast-journalist Gary Alexander Azerier through the unique perspective of a series of extraordinary and unforgettable "moments" in his life. Spanning the years from the 1940's to 2012, these formidable episodes are not only replete with an up-close view through a closed window of time but are recorded specifically to resonate with the reader, culminating in the discovery of his or her own Golden Moments and passion for life. Ten Golden Moments By Gary Alexander Azerier AuthorHouse Copyright © 2013 Gary Alexander Azerier All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4817-4583-3 Contents The Great Bubble-Gum Discovery 1 The Car 3 Roy Rogers 5 The Five O' Clock Radio Shows 7 The Great Premium Rings 10 The Woolworth Book 12 The Sledding Day 14 Dickie Dare and Oaky Doaks 16 Fog and American Adventures 18 The Cub Scout Uniform 21 Patrol 23 My Father and Captain Marvel 26 The Birthday Watch 28 Lenny's Acme Gun 29 Captain of Exit Five 31 Harmonica Lunch 33 Learning and Riding the English Racer 35 Sailing on the Peter Stuyvesant 37 Five Dollars in the New Wallet 38 The Indian Ring 40 The Thirteenth Birthday Walk Home 42 Train to Narrowsburg 43 The Camper King Knife 44 Gene's Bookshop and Ella 45 Finding Super Comics #115 47 Rip Van Winkle, Three Musketeers, and Edgar Allan Poe 49 Home from Camp, Sixty-Five Cents to Spend 51 Crossing the George Washington Bridge 53 One Sunday Morning 54 Wild West 55 Jules Levine 57 Svengali Deck 59 Black and White Turtlenecks 61 Malagueña 62 The Coming Together of the Fantasy Impromptu 63 Brubeck, Benny, Bix, and Louis 65 Diane 66 Nora 67 The Great Pipe Purchase 68 Geometry Regents 70 Lunch at Zane Grey's 72 Acceptance to NYU 74 A Camel Back to the Bunk 76 The Fort Tryon Paper and Dr Gatch's A 78 Campus Theater's Sheila 80 A Walk through Loch Sheldrake with $10 82 Green and Gray Sweaters 84 Acceptance to STD 86 Rosenthal's Existentialism A 88 Outside Journalism Lab 90 Ice Skating in Lakewood 92 College Avenue Pizza 94 Green Check Lumber Jacket 96 Hunter Morning over Danish 98 Graduation from Hunter 100 Acceptance to Iowa 102 Waiting for Leopold in Paris 103 Vending Machine Marlboros in Lucerne 105 Music Store in Florence 107 Smoke 108 Date with Vikki 110 Marines This Way 112 Washington DC in Uniform 114 Final Sunday at the Range 115 Parade at Lejeune; Eyes Right! 116 "Escape" From Base under House Arrest 118 WJNC & I'll Take Manhattan 120 WFAS Saturday ... Sal's Hot Dogs 122 San Roc & Ginny 124 T-Mark Jazz on WFAS One Late Night Drive along 9A 126 WFAS Xmas at the Waterwheel 127 Listening to Shep ... Driving to Peekskill 128 Durgan Park 129 Chrysler Newport to Boston; Music till Dawn 131 First Supper at the Seidleburg 133 Dinner at the Pilot House, Bahamas 135 Mark Twain's War Prayer 136 Duke Ellington at the Rainbow Grille 138 Neary's 139 First Morning in Moscow 141 Stopping in at Manny Wolf's 143 Walden's Call 145 Riding Bikes from St. Georges to Hamilton 146 The Near Miss on a Snowy Pocono Mountain Road 148 Maxims of Paris with Rose and Noah 150 Celebration Beer at Gleason's 152 Gaithersburg Summer Night 154 Driving to the Poconos Following a Christmas Eve Dinner 157 Phillips Doulton Clowns Auction 159 Ring and Pin Auction, and Lunch at Sotheby's 161 George and Rube's Pins 164 First New Year's Eve at the New York Friar's Club 166 Minnesota Escape 168 Realizing What the Kayo Pin Was 170 Brimfield, the Indians, and the Yellow Kid 172 The Lady Pins and Sarasota 174 Home to Mail and the Dick Tracy Pin 177 Finding Churchill in Nashua 178 Train to San Francisco 180 Writing Nosebleeds at the Friars One Night 182 Wolfville 184 Skagway to Yukon 186 First Dawson, Yukon Dinner 188 End of Alaska Trip 191 Reading and Finishing Durrell's Alexandria Quartet 192 Sartre's Roads to Freedom Trilogy 193 Ride to Roland 194 The Panama Rose on July Fourth 196 Docking, One Dark Night 199 Letter from James Kalafatis and His Heights Site 201 Reading Nosebleeds to the Friars 203 The Review of 4313 205 Barry and the Sugar Daddy Stories 207 Contact from MacDougall 4313 209 Auld Acquaintance 211 Reading at Riverdale Terrace 215 Flying New Jersey 217 Eighty-four on the FAA Flight Exam 218 First Drive to Dinner in the 325ic 219 Surviving a Snowy Drive from the Mountains to New York 221 Sacred Heart Graduation 223 Arriving Home from Florida in 22.5 Hours 225 Driving AIA in the Z4 227 Bob Shepherd and the Little Man 229 Appendix 233 Afterword 237 Excerpt CHAPTER 1 The Great Bubble-Gum Discovery I couldn't have been very much more than three, possibly four, yearsold when my mother waltzed me into Stern Stationery and UnitedCigars, better known as Dave's candy store (it also had a bookie joint inthe back). I stood tentatively in front of the stooped, round-shoulderedDave, who always gave the impression that he was talking on atelephone clamped between his cheek and his shoulder. My mother,who seemed, mysteriously, to know things, said, "Dave, give