My Adventures in Blogging Begin

dear erik,

tonight i am learning how to make a blog.  i don't leave for my trip for another two months, but a few friends suggested that maybe i should write a blog while i'm gone, so that anybody who cares can check in and see all the exciting and wacky hijinks that i am certain will abound on my journey.

now, i apologize in advance to my friends who are bloggers, many of whom are very talented writers.  in all honesty, i don't much like blogs, but i feel like a bad, unsupportive friend if i don't read them.  that being said,  i want to make it clear that NO ONE IS UNDER ANY OBLIGATION TO READ THIS, EVER.  

seriously.  there will be no quiz, there will be no checking in on my end.   i am also looking at this as a way for me to process and remember the trip, so if not a single person reads it, it will still have been worthwhile to me.

i thought it might be nice because this way if anyone is interested in what's goin' on, they have a way to find out, but if not, they can go their merry way (no pun intended) and never have to think about it again.  i can share any highlights when i see them in person.

why, you may be asking, am i (erik) the lucky addressee of these missives?  i'm so glad you asked.  i dunno.  in my head i often converse with you.  you know, just to get your opinion about stuff, so i figured i might as well write out loud to you.  (for those of you without an extensive back-story, erik is my brother.  he's great.)

and, you may also be asking: why are you not capitalizing words properly?  well - i do have some annoying and fairly pretentious reasons for it, but mostly it's just laziness.  as someone who has a tantrum when people don't know how to use an apostrophe correctly, i realize it's a little out of character, but there you have it.  work with me.

in the spirit of the thing, i will tell you a little bit about where and how i am, just to get in the mood for when i'm actually off on my travels and have more exciting news to report.

at the moment i'm in solar cafe, which is the crepe/coffee shop near my house where i go to write one night a week.  they have free wi-fi, the food's not bad, and they're nice about letting you sit here for seven hours tapping away at your keyboard.  at the moment it's about midnight on a tuesday, and the place is packed.  there is an unfortunate loud-talker a few tables over.  she's pretty upset about a friend who was "talking shit about his wife in her house."  good to know.

earlier tonight i was working on a screenplay, making some piddly little changes throughout, which is simple but time-consuming, when my computer froze.  when i restarted it, the file had disappeared completely from my computer.  when i did a search for it, i could find the shortcut to the file, but not the file itself.  happily, all the edits can be easily redone, but it makes me cranky nonetheless.

my back is hurting a bit, and i'm not sure if it's from hunching over my computer having a silent tantrum about my disappearing file, or if it's from my impressive exertions at the gym earlier today.  yeah - that's right.  the GYM.  'cos i'm that kinda person.  

anyway - i think it's the universe's way of telling me to get over myself and bring this to a close for the evening.  my hope is that on my travels i'll be able to post updates every day or two, but i am also being very careful to not set any rules for myself about being productive.  if i get over there and don't feel like breaking this damn laptop out a single time, that's how it's gonna be.  i'm feeling kind of liberated at the whole idea, and hoping that i can actually commit to that when push comes to shove.  :o)