title: Laughing at the Sun: The Story of a Man Who Changed His Spots
author: Michael Nejman
description: Like a lot of guys, I had this 12-year-old pleasure-seeking self always wanting to get out and distract me. My YOLO lifestyle from 1981 through 1996 led to an enthusiastic pursuit of a Ferris Buellers Day Off spontaneity and an Ill sleep when I die existence. Most men grow out of this stage in their late 20s. I had matured to a point, mostly in my professional life as I had a driven and highly responsible career in the academic world. However, I guess I was a late-bloomer when it came to making mature, responsible decisions when it came to the romantic partners I pursued. After a string of failed relationships, I turned 40 and realized it was time for me to change my ways and become a better man, a better person. Much of this journey is documented in Laughing at the Sun: The Story of a Man Who Changed His Spots. I am the author of well-regarded academic works, as well as a freelance writer of life-style articles. I have written for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, L.A. Times Syndicate, and Programming magazine, with some of my articles being nationally and internationally syndicated. I currently reside in a Chicago suburb with my wife.
zlib_text: The GM Effect
  Frank Herbert, 1965
  It was a balmy fall evening and as Dr Valeric Sabantoce  seated himself at  the long table in
  Meade Hall's basement seminar room, he thought of how the weather would be sensationalized
  tomorrow by the newspapers and wire services. They would be sure to remark on the general
  clemency of the elements, pointing out how Nature's smiling aspect  made the night's tragedy
  so much more horrible.
  Sabantoce was a short, rotund man with a wild shock of black hair that looked as though it
  had  never  known  a  comb.  His  round  face  with  its  look  of  infant  innocence  invariably  led
  strangers to an incorrect impression -  unless they were at  once  exposed  to  his  ribald  wit  or
  caught the weighted stare of his deeply-socketed brown eyes.
  Fourteen  people  sat  around  the  long  table  now  -  nine  students  and  five  faculty  -  with
  Professor Joshua Latchley in the chairman's seat at the head.
  'Now that we're all here,' Latchley said, 'I can tell yo