In Which I Blog About Something Other Than Blogging

An Undetermined Number of Things of Varying Degrees of Importance About Me:

I am married to an actor/theatre artist. It comes with about as many benefits as you’d expect.

I am totally unbiased in saying that I have the most gorgeous, roly-poly butterball of a baby, who for now I am calling Tankbaby (um, here on the blog, that is. He has a real, less cruel name as well).

I am also considering pseudonyms for my husband. So far, I have come up with the Man Of The House, or the MOTH. He is neither winged nor fluttery, but he does have a rather obsessive love of flames.

If you want to get in good with anyone in my immediate family, reference the Muppets, the Beatles, or Law and Order.

My mom died of ovarian cancer about two and a half years ago, at the age of 55. My great-grandmother also died of the disease. My grandmother has survived breast and uterine cancer. When I’m sure I’m done having kids, I’m planning on getting all my girly innards scooped out with a melon baller.

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and lived in the city for several years after college. We moved across the country to the Pacific Northwest on basically a lark. That was six years, one house, and one baby ago. I love where we live, but I still wrestle on an almost daily basis with the idea of raising my son so far from family.

I cannot be trusted with most candy.

I am an early intervention specialist. Don’t that sound all fancy-like? I work with kids birth-five with special needs (autism, Down Syndrome, general developmental delays). I see some kids at home and also teach some preschool groups. I especially like working with young kids with social/emotional/behavioral issues, so I work with a lot of foster kids, a lot of kids who were prenatally exposed to drugs, etc. Some days this means that the job is really heavy. Other days it means I get to wear Chuck Taylors and play with playdough.


Seriously. I really like candy.

Great Blogging Experiment Ought-Nine, Day 2

There's an inside joke/running gag/motto in improv theatre: "Bigger, faster, funnier!" Instructors have been known to shout it out in the middle of a dragging scene. Which is ironic, really, because there's nothing to make you be less funny, less free, less open and willing to take risks than, say, someone shouting at you to be BETTER, DAMMIT!!

Knowing that, I'm already second-guessing my decision to start blogging during NaBloPoMo, because I want each and every post I write to be brilliant and funny and perfectly articulated. But posting daily (with a full-time job and a full-time baby) isn't going to allow me to edit myself (read: obsessively rewrite) to the extent to which I am accustomed. So I will keep floundering, hearing in my mind, "Bigger, faster, funnier!" Which is, of course, not the intent of NaBlo...etc. In fact, I like that they point out that we're going for quantity, not quality. That's the kind of standard I can meet.

Last night I was IMing with a friend, confessing that I'd eaten entirely too much Halloween candy. She absolved me of all guilt, pointing out, "It's not meth." And we decided that this was the perfect response for all kinds of justification. She decided to order food rather than eat some of the perfectly good food in her kitchen. Ordered unnecessary takeout? Hey, it's not meth. Spending too much time dicking around on Facebook? Hey, it's not meth. Forget to send your grandmother a card at her new assisted-living facility, even though your aunt specifically told you that Grandma "is afraid no-one will know where she's living"? Hey, IT'S NOT METH. See? It really is a useful catch-all for any behavior you might need to excuse.

So that's what I shall cling to as I write what are likely to be 30 posts that fall short of my totally reasonable expectation of perfect. My writing may be haphazard, poorly planned, boring, hopelessly derivative, but, hey, it's not meth.

Tune in tomorrow for actual things! About me! That aren't all weird and meta about blogging!

Because What the Internet Needs Now is More Navel-Gazing

Ahem.

I am not what you would call an early adopter. I am not the first anything. I am the one who, when the drill sergeant says, "Any volunteers, take one step forward!" takes a step back. This applies to TV (I only watched West Wing once it was on DVD, loaned to me by my far hipper father), fashion (although, so help me, I don't care how outdated it makes me look, I will not wear skinny jeans), and all things technological (although I am considering getting one of them new-fangled iPhones...next year). So it is only now, in 200fricking9, that I am finally getting around to writing a blog.

It's not that it hasn't crossed my mind. My move across country, my mom's five-year battle with cancer, my work with kids, having my own baby...oh, the entries I composed! In my mind! And never wrote down! You should see 'em. They're really quite good--humorous, but with a touch of pathos. Biting, witty, completely fresh and original...it's a shame, really, because chances are that my talent has already peaked and I have naught to show for it.

But I do have a baby now, and interestingly, I find myself more productive in some ways. Probably because I can't just loll about in my preferred state of inertia; if I want to get something done, I have to make time and the necessary preparations to do so. Being aware of this, I don't just assume that I'll get to something--I deliberately plan, strategize, and delegate as necessary. Otherwise, I neither eat nor bathe.

So I thought I'd give this a try. Coincidentally, this is November 1st, traditionally the first day of NaBloPoMo, so it seems like a good opportunity to get in the habit of posting and publishing.

So here I go! Into the Great Blogosphere! I follow my illustrious predecessors, full of both optimism and humility! I shake off my fears and trepidations, screw my courage and look to the east! With a deep breath, open mind, and nimble fingers, I LEAP! THUS IT BEGINS!!



So, um, what do you guys have to eat around here?