Those who know me well and some who don't probably know that I think sleep is an unnecessary silliness that plagues our society. How much more could you get done with an extra 5, 6, 8, 12 hours in your day? Althought, since I there is no living with me if I don't get my Sunday afternoon nap, allow me to amend that: Sleep between the hours of 10PM and about 4AM is an unnecessary silliness etc., etc. I'm already up (being productive I'm sure), so why should I go shut my eyes when it's likely going to take me another forty-five minutes to actually fall asleep anyway?
At that I see visions of not too many years ago when I was but a humble undergraduate student, easily pulling off two or three all-nighters a week writing papers on song cycles, making powerpoint presentations on Bronfenbrenner's behavioral theories, or arranging for Not Too Sharp. Granted, there were many a nap taken on two chairs pushed together on the 2nd floor of the Dimond library or sometimes even during Rob Haskins Music History course, but sleep always seems so unnecessary when it's most... necessary. The all-nighters don't work as well anymore, be it age or the rigorous schedule of a high school band director, but sleep is still little more than an annoyance (between the hours of 10PM and 4AM).
So now I sit here at my desk at 2:31 on a Monday morning with a little project I'm trying to finish up for a marching band rehearsal that starts in less than four and a half hours and counting. The project isn't entirely beyond me per se, but it's just frustrating enough that I can't quite get myself motivated to finish it. That was a few hours ago. The project did force me to sit at the computer however, and looking at the latest pictures of my sweet, 1-year-old niece seemed like a lot more fun. But how long would it take me to check out my sister-in-law's blog? Five minutes? Yeah, for each post I haven't read over the last month, so that's at least a solid half hour right there, but why stop? There's got to be something entertaining on Facebook for sure. What's that? A former student's blog post? And that blog can lead me to other blogs? It already seems like a bloggy night, so why not?
About a dozen blogs and only 1 or 2 comments on said blogs later and here we are. I have been entertained, inspired, confused, offended, hurt, enlightened, upset, and elated. All of those emotions from the writings of friends, family, and strangers. I have learned things I never knew and heard some things I'm sure I said first and all I can think about are all of the other people who have touched my life that I haven't heard from in months or years. I could start naming off at least fifty names of people that I wish I knew where they were, what they were doing, and how their lives were turning out. My beautiful wife sleeps but a few feet away from me and I realize that none of those fifty people I'm thinking of have met her or even seen a picture of her. None of those fifty people know about the Dimond library, my cutie-pie niece, or my band directing. On Saturday a good friend I see about once a week was shocked that I was driving a truck. I've had that thing for six months.
What else have I not shared? Who have I not shared it with? Somewhere in all of the comic book movie nonsense that makes up a majority of my chosen topics of conversation there must exist something worthwhile, something that ought to be shared. Something to entertain, inspire, confuse, offend, hurt, enlighten, upset and elate.
And so I blog. I blog the bloggy night away while the project looms over me as the even more loomy rehearsal looms ever more loomingly with its looming loominess. I hope this begins a tradition of sharing and isn't just yet another worthwhile activity that I step into but for a moment and immediately leave to be forgotten. There is so much that I haven't shared, so much that I'm not sharing, and so much that I fear I won't share, and it has to stop. However, it would be foolish of me to go and start from the beginning, so the sharing of my many adventures won't proceed in chronological order, and it will more seem like Marty and Doc Brown are drunk at the wheel of the DeLorean. I will write about the events that have happened, are happening, and will happen in my life as I see fit (and yes, it's entirely possible and common, even, to write about the future ye naysayers).
I tried to stretch it out as far as I could, but it seems my ramblings are all rambled out for now. Guess I should finish that project.
And so my blog begins.
