Wherein I ooze my way into JoeUser
Travel, they say, broadens the mind. (I, for the record, hate traveling. I read a lot. That tends to do the job for me.)
I blogged elsewhere for about two years and some change. Over time, I lost my way. Grew discontent. I never accumulated a vast audience; this was never my intention, though. The small handful of readers I had were among the best people I'd ever encountered in this lunatic asylum known as the Internet. The fellowship I shared with them made it worthwhile.
Eventually, though, things began to grind to a halt. I couldn't string two coherent words together to save my life. I by no means had anything of value to impart on my readers.
Just before the end of the year, I abandoned ship. And I know I upset some people in doing so; my periodic checks on the access logs show me that they keep coming back to see if I've just been having a New Year's joke with them, I suppose. And, of course, they see that I'm not.
I just had to step away for a time. I fully intend to go back and start back up again in the future sometime, but I need a break. On the other hand, I love to hear the sound of my own keyboard. And I'm in the midst of great changes in my life. Need to put it all down somewhere, don't I?
So I traveled over here to JoeUser in order to...I dunno. Get my groove back? Find my voice again? Broaden my mind? Who knows. It seemed like a good idea, though.
So. Who am I? Just some guy, really, who has a lot to say about very little of value. I'm interested in practically everything: Theoretical physics, with an eye toward superstring theory; ancient history, particularly Egyptology--the legit stuff, not the aliens building pyramids; linguistics and philology, with a particular interest in the Afro-Asiatic language family. Middle Egyptian, Akkadian, and Hebrew especially. I dabble in Latin and classical/Biblical Greek when the need arises, but I don't like them. I love astronomy--my favorite constellation is Orion. I give blood in exchange for jelly babies. I'm an avid Mac person, but I won't rub it in your face. Much. I am an uncompromising and unapologetic Anglican Christian who loves all of his Christian brothers and sisters and who tries to love everybody else, too. My favorite prayer is the Prayer of St. Francis, and the saint I wish I could be most like is Jeanne d'Arc. (Either she was insane or she was so on fire with bravery and was utterly committed to following God's plan for her to the exclusion of all else, including her life. In this world, I'm willing to risk being the former to strive to be like the latter.) (By the way. Has anybody noted the sweet irony of an Anglican really digging old Joan? Heh.)
And then there's chocolate. Most studies seem to show that females who consume chocolate have certain...physiological reactions. I think I'm the only man who has those, too. It kinda spooks me out. But I so dig it. The less said about the whole thing, the better, really.
So there it is. A big, quick, dirty, amorphous glob of me. More will be added in time, and shape will eventually emerge. In the meantime, I do hope you'll pardon me posting stuff here as I find my way back to the joy of blogging I had back at my old place.