I always swore that I'd never be one of the people who started a blog.  Swore. Up, down, and sideways.  I never felt informed enough, intelligent enough, motivated enough, articulate enough.  I felt that it would seem self-important: "Come! Read my opinions! Marvel at my natural depth and profundity!"

And more: how dare I present myself as someone who had the right to comment on...anything, really?  I have no expertise, and I (as will, undoubtedly, be discussed at some point) loathe this growing trend of internet writing that allows anyone to come off as an expert, simply because they had the wherewithall to figure out how to set one of these damned things up.

And even more: most days, I'm so fed up/pissed off/blown away by what's going on that I can't even find the words, let alone a whole bunch of them, that could even begin to comprise something that anyone would actually want to read.

And finally: I know that often, my opinions are unpopular. I've lost friends, lovers; I've pissed off family members, alienated myself at jobs--because of how I see things.  I've learned, through painful experience, to just shut the hell up already.

So it's come to this: wake up, go to work, try to ignore everything, go to job number two, try to ignore everything, come home, and fall asleep to another Chopped rerun so I don't think too much.

But I do think, all the goddamned time, and so when left to a monotonous task for too long without the distractions of teevee or another chat about how the kids next door are doing, I'm writing--composing essays that never find their way to the page, practicing perfect responses to bosses, friends, professors, exes, that will never be given breath. The whole living under a rock thing is not really working.

And then a chance moment poking around online reminded me of the sad fact: that almost everyone I know is in a similar boat--broke, pissed off, frustrated, and about ready to implode.  

So.

Herein will be rants, raves, and outlandish statements that can, at any moment, be revised or retracted. If you feel compelled to comment, if anyone ends up actually reading this, go right ahead.  Disagree, but respectfully, because we've all been there, and that shit ain't going down here.  And who knows.   Maybe we'll come up with some answers, find some expertise, or at the very least, make the drudgery of the work-work-sleep cycle a little more bearable because here, finally, is a place where we can all say the shit we hold back.  Where we can leave our rocks behind and find, if only for a moment, a bit of solidarity.