Welcome To Blogsville

This is my first blog.  When I was in the Peace Corps, once a month or so when I could find Internet access, I would send a blast email out to family and friends describing my latest mishap, misadventure or learning experience.  At the time I am not sure if the term “blog” even existed.   Either way it certainly wasn’t part of my awareness sphere.  Knowing what little I do now of this widely embraced flat-world communicative device, I suppose those initial Peace Corps email blasts were technically my first foray into the blogging realm.  But based on the responses, or lack thereof, I got back from those winded sagas, I came to the conclusion: “This is something I really shouldn’t be doing.”  So I scaled back and decided it would probably be better for all parties involved if I just kept to my old-word messenger ways and limited my written expressions to more suitable territory like birthday card salutations or brief need-to-know-only emails.  Things like, “Roses are red and violets are blue, I’m tired of this aging business baby – how ‘bout you?” or “Great, meet ya in Vegas.  I’ll be standing by the slots.” etc.

But life sure has a funny way of pushing one forward and sooner or later making us face old demons.  Blogging is something I never planned or figured on doing the rest of the way out, right up ‘till the exit door.  But here I am nonetheless, being dragged with a weak kick and scream through a new found head portal that leads to you.  And frankly I think it’s a good thing.  Too much of my time is grounded in bad judgment and poor decisions so now is a as good a time as any to start being more open to that which I am not always comfortable, to think of the opposite of what I think is right.  It’s about time I embrace the things I once rejected.  The world is round or the world is flat, I suppose it all depends on perspective and attitude.  I once bet a friend I’d never own a cell phone.  I lost that one pretty quickly and glad I did.  I once rejected punk rock and then I heard The Clash.

So I will not wallow in self-loathing blog misery but instead choose to embrace the experience and see how it can enhance my life, maybe even help me out in the classroom.  But I will do so with a plan.  My goal is to use blogging as a means to listening and reacting to all of your thoughts as well as to work on tightening my prose and getting to the heart of matters without a lot of long-windedness.  I’m pretty positive I’ve already mastered that form, now I need to embrace the opposite.

“It's my head, Schwartz, and I will see you in court!” – Being John Malkovich