2012-08-09 – I, Stephen David Froikin, am Eightoh9! You can call me Steve.

I don’t really make a habit of using pseudonym, or do I? When I started my first EightOh9 blog in 2004, I wasn’t really sure if it was a good idea to use my real name in a public online forum, so I created a nom de bloguerre for myself out of my birthday—August 9—8/09 (gifts are graciously received). And if I was a little paranoid about revealing my own name, I was even crazier about revealing the names of my family and friends. So my wife was ThreeThree0, my boys were TwoOne4 and NineTwo7, and so on. But I’m done with that mishugas now. Still, I like the name eightoh9 as the title for my new blog (now, all lower case). So shall it be.

While I am confessing pseudonyms, let me tell you about one that is not really a pseudonym, but requires some explanation. I just finished writing my first novel, called Cain’s Mother-in-Law. If you read it (and I hope you’ll get a chance to do that soon), you’ll see that it is a story begging to be written by someone with a Hebrew name. And it just so happens that I have a Hebrew name. So I amusing my Hebrew name on this book. The name is Tsvee Froikin. It’s not really a pseudonym because it is in no way false. It was given to me at my bris, when I was eight (OH!) days old, when they clipped my foreskin. (Interesting fact: If you type my last name Froikin into a Microsoft Word document, the spell checker will attempt to correct “Froikin” by changing it to “Foreskin.”)

So who am I?

I am a husband and father of two boys (remember ThreeThree0, TwoOne4, and NineTwo7). TwoOne4 is 20 years old and just entering the world of work. He’s still living with us, but his work schedule is totally out of sync with mine, so I don’t see him much. NineTwo7 is 18 and will be leaving for college next week. So ThreeThree0 and I will be empty nesters.

I’ve been preparing for this day for several years. In 2008, I began writing my novel, which has now gone through seven drafts and I’m done. I’m looking for a publisher. Last year I enrolled in a masters program in education and I graduated just this week. The degree supports what I do for a living, which is managing a group that designs online courses for adult education.

In years past I’ve worked as a lawyer, done volunteer work as a community mediator, been active in my kids lives, started a neighborhood children’s soccer league (without even the rudiments of knowing how to play), presided over a local school council, written plays, played guitar and piano, and sculpted clouds out of papier mache.

Now I’m writing a blog. I’ve done this before, under the same name, but the hosting service went belly up and I lost my files. That was four years ago. This time . . . who knows?