Happy Belated Birthday, blog

Happy Belated Birthday, dear blog.

You've grown up, boy, from the living room in Aliso Viejo, California to the staff room in Nakayama, Tottori. Isn't it ironic how your very first entry was about completing the JET application?

You have taken me through some rough patches, blog. I remember, amidst going-nowhere unemployment and going-nowhere-slowly Saddleback classes, how my daily compositions let me go from day to day with a sense of purpose and placement. The act of writing and recording served as a ballast that prevented me from capsizing, something marijuana and alcohol and PS2 and poker failed to achieve.

It is possible that, 235 posts later, I have learned more about myself. At any rate, I now have pretty good reference materials.

It is also possible that I have forced myself to expand beyond who I was before, or who I might have been without the blog. I really never thought that a year of my life might be worth 64,570 words.

It's a milestone, a'ight. Let's take a moment to slow down, reflect, and feel the keystrokes.