The (Re)Awakening

"If someone writes a blog and no one cares to read it, is it still a blog?" -Me

Before deciding to start a blog, I had to ask myself: Does anyone really care? I mean it's not like people were exactly clamoring to hear my random thoughts and updates, let alone my mother when I call on Sundays. I almost never update my status on Facebook because, after awhile, I figure it would get lost amongst the plethora of weather updates and statements of general angst. I was relatively late to join Twitter, but have grown to really like it. There is only so much you can do though with 140 characters, particularly when you are needlessly wordy and long-winded like me. In the end, the decision came down to the fact that I feel like I had lost my intellectual edge a bit. Sure, I read the inundation of business, media, and technology blogs that most in the marketplace consume, but at a point I was strictly consuming the writings and information in a two-dimensional manner, like a computer processing data. It took the opportunity for self-reflection and introspection during my recent time-off to really realize I had lost the intellectual curiosity and critical thinking that had once been my lifeblood.

My senior year in high school I joined the newspaper, The Voice, at The Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City. Honestly, the main reason I initially joined was the advice of my College Counselor, Barbara Judd, who suggested I needed more extra curricular activities for my college applications. I had friends on the paper, so it seemed like fun. There I wrote a sports column entitled "If God Were a Sports Columnist...", which really says three things about me: (1) I loved sports; (2) I have a healthy, self-deprecating, sarcastic sense of humor; and (3) I was not particularly concerned with taking the Lord's name in vain (further exemplified by my senior quote: "Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends." -Woody Allen). I loved the creative process and outlet, as there was a certain rush that came with expressing my thoughts in written form, which was only amplified by the arguments/conversations that it stirred with friends and classmates once published. It was reflecting on the joy of those experiences that ultimately led me back to the power of self-expression. And since getting a journalism job this day in age with simply a portfolio of high school sports columns about the Kansas City Chiefs seemed like a longshot, free blog here I come.

So, with the decision now made to start a blog, what to name it? Clearly I can't recycle "If God Were a Sports Columnist..." since (1) I intend to write mainly about non-sports topics (with perhaps a sports rant here or there mixed in); (2) while I still love sarcasm and self-deprecation, the title doesn't work the same this day and age; and (3) it is a new day and place and, thus, time
for a new title. But given my high hopes it should be (1) self-deprecating; (2) cute; (3) a double entendre; or (4) a combination of all or non-of-the-above. So, after a long period of tireless procrastination--much longer than the deliberation of whether or not to write in the first place--
I decided this morning on entitling it: Micropayments for My Thoughts.... So here's to hoping that you enjoy this and future posts, and may they stimulate your own thought, reflection, or creative writing. And if my musings are not successful in any of these areas, let me simply quote South Park: "Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen. If there are any questions you may direct them to that brick wall over there." (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0705920/quotes)