THE GREAT GADFLY:

"In Bathtub"

Well, hey there!

Welcome to my alienatingly-different-looking (heh heh heh), completely alien new Intrawebs home, where really, the only things different are the name and the URL. And, well, a few other little things that will make themselves visible once I get this sucker in motion.

So let's start this off with the big question du jour:

WHY THE CHANGE?

I've spent years with the word "Anxiety" in e-mail addresses, in usernames, on webpages...sometimes shortened to "Anx" or "Anxy"...sometimes location-specific, like "AnxietyNY" or "ILLAnxiety" (which was meant to signify moving to Illinois, but just comes off making me look like I need Paxil now more than ever...hmmm)...

...and for, what, seven? eight? nine? years or so, it's been a cute little nickname. If you've known me a while, you've most likely seen me in a situation in which I've been ridiculously revved up and stressed out, and you probably know that most of my best humor comes from my worst frenzies. Hence, "Anxiety". There's a state of mind in which we're thrown over the edge and into the nucleus of chaos, and it is my belief that in that state, I tap into some kind of energy that calls upon the spirits of Dorothy Parker, Salvador Dali and the Tazmanian Devil, all in one fell swoop.

But you can only be a raving freak for so long until the idea of being a somewhat less-raving freak starts to look really good.

I spent six years living in New York breathing anxiety, eating anxiety, speaking the language of anxiety. It was good times. But after a while, I wanted something other than that . So I made a move to another large city, in hopes that I could trade the oh-so-shiny fabric of anxiety for something equally en vogue, but perhaps a wee bit more breathable.

Enter Chicago. I like to tell people that when I moved here a year and a half ago, I landed flat on my face, picked myself up, tripped, and fell on my ass. Ain't it da troof, Roof.

And after that substantially inauspicious intro to the Windy City, a succession of situations and events screwed the razor tipped anxiety tiara even deeper and deeper into my bleeding, buzzing, aching skull until I found myself blindly floating in a super-slo-mo playback of a complete and utter Explosion of Absolutely Everything.

And that just sucked.

So, I'm digging through old things, getting rid of a few tchotchkes here and there, picking up some things I'd completely forgotten about, reclaiming bits and pieces of myself, figuring out what made my life important and when exactly I decided to abandon those things and people and places and how I can dust 'em all off and make them sparkle again, what's out there that's new for me to explore, blah-de-blah-de-blah.

And so I say buh-bye to "Anxiety". If I get rid of that word as a label for myself, then perhaps I can get rid of everything it has entailed, in exchange for something better.

I'm ready to go to the next level, whatever that means. I'm ready to do the work it takes to become a regularly-published working writer, cuz ya know what? When I wanna be, I'm a pretty kick-ass text warrior.

I'm gonna quit letting the rolling eyes of those around me dictate what inspires me, and I'm gonna dig deep back into the stuff that moves me and has inspired me, and maybe even let those old pathways lead to new ones. Don't ever let other people tell you what you can and can't like: they're WRONG.

I'm gonna look for ways to use this here Intraweb as a tool for interaction, for education, for educating, for betterment and empowering.

As much as I'm sure you'd all love to keep reading about my butt-stinky office chair, I think there are some bigger fish to fry and fried fish is a better dish than ass-stink office chairs, don'tcha say?

Let's be inspired.

Let's inspire.

Let's get excited about shit.

There's a bee in my bonnet, and baby, it's ready to roar.

I'm not really sure what comes next. Spend some time checking out that long-ass list of clicky-treats I've included on this page. In some way or another, they've make me possible. And lord knows, that list is a work in progress. Make your own list and post it. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Let's have some fun.