This is really happening. Gosh dam* it.

Well folks (and I'm not sure who I mean by that exactly...who's reading this anyway?...maybe you could comment afterward and let me know...thanks),

What better time to start a blog then summer? Wait let's back up. I should start by telling you what you can expect from my blog. Nothing, anything, and everything. I often ramble and indulge myself in my own self-important thoughts. I contradict myself frequently. I have strong opinions that I often don't believe in. And I'm going to be frank in my speech (Gordon actually, but you get it). Oh and corny. I also tend to place commas and periods wherever the he** I feel like it. And I'm going to edit all of my f**cks and sh*ts and dam*s and even he**s for my friend Mason, whose stance on foul language I have the uppermost of respect for. And I'm going to word things oddly often (and probably make up my own words too...write them down when you find a new one...maybe we can catalog them). Now that I've prefaced my blogging style, I expect no complaints.

I guess one of the things that kept me from starting up a blog was not knowing who the he** was going to want to read my thoughts. I often don't even record them for my own purposes. Not that I don't find my thoughts important, or wish to impart them to others (I do!), I just can't imagine who would VOLUNTEER to do so. But hey, it's summer...maybe some of my friends will check it out (after first checking out Charlie's, Dan B.'s, Mason's, Seye's, Anna's, and all the rest). I'd imagine Lanny would still be after me though. Oh yeah, I'm also unrelentingly sarcastic (in the over-the-top, bad way, not the good, lighthearted way...but I try to turn that off for certain audiences...considering I won't know my audience with this form of communication, I'm warning you all upfront). I gotta be honest, I barely keep up with all the blog postings of my friends. There's so many! I don't know how you guys do it. But I may be inspired by this new blogging experience to really embrace all those posts out there. Am I gonna have to catch up? Maybe you guys could like condense all your past posts into one summary (under 500 words or something). And maybe a last thing that kept me from starting a blog was the idea that a blog indicates right off the bat that the author found their own dialogue (devoid of anyone's opinions but their own) to be so important that they would solidify those thoughts electronically, and not for their own purposes (which could easily be recorded via Word or something [I actually prefer WordPad myself]) but for the purpose of exposing those thoughts to the world, without even giving that world the decency of hearing it in person. I guess that's kinda harsh, but I'm sure the idea at least stands true for a chunk of bloggers out there. I'll put good faith in thinking that my friends (and now myself it turns out) simply look at blogging as an extension of ourselves to others...a convenient and organized way to share an abundance of pictures and information with our friends that we would have otherwise not been able to.

Speaking of pictures...I think they're great. I love photography. You probably wouldn't know that...as I'm reluctant to tote my 35 mm around...it's big, and I'm scared of hurting it. I'm clumsy. Have been since toddlerdom. I have no problem however grabbing other people's cameras and damaging them (ask Mason). And if my blogs lack pictures, it's because I lack a digital camera. But that's a problem that I expect to be solved soon, as my good-natured mother intends on helping me get one in the coming days. That'll be a nice addition to what would otherwise have become quite the boring blogpage. While many of the pictures on my computer are not my own, I'm rigorous in my organization of pictures on my computer, most of which I snag off of Facebook about a week after whatever event has transpired. I like documentation...I think I somehow believe that when I'm 80... ...I'm going to have nothing to do except look back on these documents and organized memoirs I've created for myself over the years (hey, maybe this blog will serve that purpose too).

To conclude, I'm taking a 2-week break from work life (ok part-time work life) to be in Maine, the state where I smile more. I consider it at least as much home as Maryland. I've come every year since I was a fetus. I'll bore you with all the reasons I love it in a later post...hopefully with pictures. This could be good. But I really dig back-and-forth dialogue...the exchange of ideas (a good argument even)...so maybe you guys could help me with that in making this blog an interactive experience...where people can reply and tell me what a dumbhead I am (and I can delete your comments thereafter). Talk to you soon.