Honesty is the best policy

I'm a big fan of University of North Alabama football, and I'm a big fan of grammar. Unfortunately, the two don't always mix. Below is one of my favorite grammatical atrocities from last year:

This time, I'm sticking with my gut

Published: Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 11:08 p.m.

Take it from me: always go with your gut instinct.

Click to enlarge

I learned that the hard way last week. In this very column, I pointed out that UNA, despite playing like national title contenders all season, was due for a letdown at Delta State. I held that opinion for three weeks, but changed my mind at the last minute and went with the Lions.

That was dumb.

UNA did just what I expected. It went into Mississippi and looked like a team that had played three games in 13 days. Delta State won, and I found myself slamming my head into my desk at an alarming rate.

I felt just as strongly that UNA would rebound and destroy defending national champion Valdosta State at home. This time, I'm stinking with my instincts.

I've got to give it to him. At least he's honest.

And so it begins...

You can only look at the screen for so long, wishing something would appear there, before you realize that you might as well just start and be done with it. I'm not positive why the task of "the first post" seems so daunting, but daunting it is. What if I sound too bookish? Not bookish enough? What if this new "hobby" has absolutely no inherent value? What if (perish the thought) there's a misspelled word in the VERY FIRST POST? All melodramatic and yet actual fears.

So, why throw my hat in the blogging ring anyway? Well, hmm. I think that, at least partially, the reasons will reveal themselves as time goes by. While I'm waiting for them, though, I can't help but think of a scene from my favorite movie of all time - You've Got Mail. (Sue me.) Joni Mitchell is singing about wishing she had a river she could skate away on, and Meg Ryan is hanging twinkle lights and popsicle ornaments from a little Charlie Brown tree and reminiscing about her mother and her valuable-but-small life. "So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?" I still think about that question, and I still am not sure of the answer. In any case, she finishes out by saying, "I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So, goodnight, dear void."

I suppose that that is what this blog will be for me. A place to throw out the things my overactive brain wonders. A place to share my somewhat unthought thoughts about the books I'm reading and the people I'm meeting and the places I want my life to take me. (It will likely also be a place to share the quite large collection of "grammatical atrocities" currently shoved into a manila folder in my office desk, but that hardly seems fitting here.) Maybe, somewhere in the void, someone will be interested in what I have to say. Maybe not. Either way is okay. Like Meg says, I don't really want an answer. Just sending it out there is enough.

So, goodnight, dear void.