Beginnings

How do these things (blogs) get started?

Some people, I imagine, just want to see their words in print.

Others might be "mad as hell and can't take it anymore."

For me, it is to simply mark an occasion.

For the past four years or so, my life has been like floating down a river, being buffeted once in awhile by the rocks in the way, but flowing gently onward: work, home, work, home--lazily absorbing what life has to offer, offering little in return but my attendance.

Prior to that, I was often described as the "smartest guy in the room" (apologies to the movie about ENRON), though I have to admit that the rooms were often not all that smart to begin with. Fortunately (or not), I never had to put in too much effort to succeed. And I didn't--in school, or at work--unless I was really taken by the subject matter: I could never get myself up for it, unless I was really interested in it.

Fortuitously, two of my hobbies (personal computers and motorcycles) led to fifteen years of fairly rewarding employment. But as all things must pass, I looked at what I had available for eventual retirement--not much--and decided to become a bureaucrat for the State of California. And although retirement was now addressed, the job turned me into a zombie bureaucrat.

Until this past weekend.

I happened across a blog (NSFW, though: http://www.chicaandhervan.blogspot.com/) where blogger Chica's words smacked me right up alongside my head. Simple, direct, full of love and empathy. Years ago, we'd have called her a hippy, and I don't think that sobriquet would bother her at all--in fact from her writings, I believe that's how she really sees herself.

It happens that she and I have a lot of the same likes and dislikes, a lot of the same viewpoints, so why cannot I apply Chica's same energy and joie de vivre to my own life?

Thank you, Chica! Hopefully I can fulfill my reawakened desires and become a mensch once again.

You can help Chica by purchasing some of her extremely beautiful photographs at RedBubble: http://www.redbubble.com/people/chicachica? (also NSFW).